Marvel Studios Has No Plans To Release R-Rated Movies

20th Century Fox’s Marvel films such as the “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” franchise have been less successful than their Marvel Studios counterparts, but as of late, Fox has found success with the release of R-rated superhero movies. While films full of graphic violence and explicit language are proving to be a hit for Fox, Marvel Studios has no plans to release any R-rated movies.

In 2016, Fox’s R-rated “Deadpool” became the studio’s most successful film, making more than $782,000,00 worldwide and landing in the top 10 most successful Marvel films at the box office. Fox continued the R-rated trend in 2017 when it released “Logan.” The film proved to be another hit for the studio, earning more than $603,000,000 worldwide.

According to studio head Kevin Feige, the R-rating isn’t the reason for the success of Fox’s films. Instead, Feige said the films succeeded because of the risks they took.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Feige said, “My takeaway from both of those films is not the R rating; it’s the risk they took, the chances they took, the creative boundaries that they pushed. That should be the takeaway for everyone.”

R-rated Marvel films did not begin with “Deadpool” and “Logan” — that feat goes to 1991’s “The Punisher” — but Fox did find a way to make them big earners at the box office, something that Feige said had to do with the films themselves. According to Feige, it wasn’t the rating that made “Deadpool” and “Logan” hits, it was the breaking of the fourth wall and the ending of Wolverine’s story that made the movies stand out.

While some Marvel fans would love to see Marvel Studios feature some of its properties such as The Avengers and Spider-Man in R-rated films, the studio isn’t having any problems at the box office. The top three highest earning Marvel films of all-time — “The Avengers,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Iron Man 3” — all belong to Marvel Studios.

The studio's latest releases have also found success, with 2016’s “Doctor Strange” making more than $677,000,000 worldwide, while “Captain America: Civil War” brought in $1,153,304,495 worldwide.

Feige credits humor as the key to success with Marvel Studios’ films. “I also believe that laughter is the way you hook the audience,” he said. “Then you can scare them. Then you can touch them deeper than they were expecting to in a film about a tree and a raccoon and aliens that don’t understand metaphors. Humor is the secret into the audience’s other ranges of emotions.”

Marvel Studios’ streak of box office hits should also continue in May when the studio releases “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” According to a report from Deadline, the PG-13 film is expected to make $150 million in its opening weekend.