Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine is breaking box office records but not everyone is a fan — starting with Brian Cox.
During the Edinburgh International Film Festival in Scotland on Saturday, August 17, Cox, 78, shared some surprising hot takes about why cinema is “in a very bad way” right now.
“What’s happened is that television is doing what cinema used to do. I think cinema is in a very bad way,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it’s lost its place.”
Cox cited the “grandiose element” between Marvel and DC as the possible problem, adding, “I think it’s beginning to implode, actually. You’re kind of losing the plot.”
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Despite movies such as Deadpool & Wolverine earning “a lot of money” for studios, Cox questioned whether the work has become “diluted” after the fact.
“You’re getting the same old — I mean, I’ve done those kinds of [projects],” the actor, who appeared in 2003’s X2: X-Men United as villain William Stryker, said about the comic-based projects that “make everybody happy.”
Cox’s past participation in the Marvel franchise hasn’t left him very impressed.
“It’s just become a party time for certain actors to do this stuff. When you know that Hugh Jackman can do a bit more,” he noted. “But it’s because they go down that road and it’s [about] box office. They make a lot of money. You can’t knock it.”
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After it was brought up that technically Cox’s character “created” Wolverine because he gave him the adamantium skeleton, the Succession alum joked that he has “often” forgotten that detail.
“Deadpool meets Wolverine, who I created, but I’ve forgotten,” he quipped. “Actually, when those films are on, there’s always a bit of me [as Stryker], and they never pay me any money.”
The third Deadpool movie, which brought in over $1.14 billion worldwide since hitting theaters on July 26, marks Jackman’s return to the role of Wolverine a.k.a Logan alongside Ryan Reynolds‘ titular character, who is also known as Wade Wilson. Deadpool 3 reunites Reynolds, 47, and Jackman in their Marvel roles for the first time since 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Jackman originally portrayed Wolverine in eight films before announcing his retirement from the character in 2017. His return was a pleasant surprise for fans who weren’t expecting Jackman to return to the franchise.
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“I’d announced Logan was my last, and then I went to see the Deadpool movie and I was 20 minutes in. I was like, ‘Christmas.’ First of all, I loved the movie, but all I could see was Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours,” Jackman shared on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show in December 2022. “I was like, ‘This is something I haven’t done, we haven’t done, with the character. That’s the kind of dynamic we haven’t had before.’ But then I just put it aside.”
Jackman recalled contacting Reynolds as soon as he made his decision.
“It just came to me like that. I rang Ryan as soon as I arrived and he was floored,” Jackman continued. “Interestingly, he was just about to have a meeting with Kevin Feige at Marvel at 5 o’clock that afternoon about the Deadpool movie. And so he goes, ‘This is really good timing, but are you really sure? ‘Cause I don’t wanna say anything.’ I said, ‘I’m 100 percent sure.’ And I dunno why, because I was 100 percent sure I was out before. And then all of a sudden I was 100 percent in.”
