Deadpool 3 Apparently Nearly Completed With Filming

The Writers Guild of America is already on strike, and if a deal isn't struck by midnight PT tonight, the Screen Actors Guild will join them, grinding most of Hollywood to a halt. That makes it a sprint to the finish line for Deadpool 3, which apparently is [thisclose] to completing principal photography. Since the writers strike started, a number of productions have been halted, while others have tried to sneak in under the wire. Deadpool 3 was one of the latter, in spite of WGA member Ryan Reynolds serving as the film's lead, and now it looks like the plan is either to wrap production, or at least get as close as possible, in the hopes of maintaining the movie's planned May 2024 release date, according to Deadline.

With the multiverse taking point on so many big blockbusters, Deadpool 3 seems to be parodying the phenomenon, with unconfirmed rumors that various former X-Men actors will appear in the film, along with Fox's Deadpool star Ben Affleck. The movie is closer to completion than other big tentpole blockbusters, leading Disney and Marvel to give it Captain America: Brave New World's release date, moving it up by a few months.

Other movies that are either done, or so close to done that they hope to beat out a potential strike, include Sony's Bad Boys 4, which recently wrapped in Atlanta and is currently shooting pickups in Miami; Warner Bros' Beetlejuice 2, which is wrapping soon, and the recently-wrapped sequel to Sony's Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Focus Features' Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black has also wrapped principal photography already.

Deadpool 3 will be written by Bob's Burgers' Wendy Molyneaux and Lizzie Molyneaux-Loeglin, with Deadpool and Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick reportedly also returning to contribute to the script. Emma Corin (Pennyworth) will star, alongside Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. The film will be the first in the franchise to be released by Marvel Studios, following the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney.

"It will be rated R and we are working on a script right now, and Ryan's overseeing a script right now," Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shared in a 2021 interview, in which he said Deadpool was "a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life."

Barring any complications, Deadpool 3 is set for release on May 3, 2024.