Release date switch-ups are becoming par for the course as the SAG-AFTRA strike that has shut down the industry for 97 days continues. Actors in the major guild are asking for streaming residuals and protections against artificial intelligence for the use of generating digital performances, among other things. The guild’s membership reportedly waited months for the AMPTP, the organization representing companies like Netflix and Disney, to come to the table, but talks that began in early October eventually broke down. Just today, news broke that a group of A-listers including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry, and Emma Stone proposed a potential quick fix that would allow them to pay higher dues that would help offset the new contract costs.
Until a new deal is reached, though, the return of Wade Wilson — and the reintroduction of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine – will have to wait. “Deadpool 3” began filming in May 2023, and director Shawn Levy told Deadline the movie was halfway through its shoot when it shut down in compliance with the strike. “It was a joy every day and that chemistry is as relentless as we all hoped it would be,” Levy said of the two unexpected antihero co-stars. He also assured the outlet that, although “Deadpool 3” is the first installment in the franchise made under Marvel Studios instead of Fox, it’s still going to be “raw, audacious, very much R-rated and we went to great lengths to not shoot it on sound stages with digital environments.”
We’ll keep you posted when we hear about the new release date for “Deadpool 3.”