Twentieth Century Fox is determined not to take its marketing for Deadpool at all seriously. And it's making for one of the more entertaining movie campaigns in a while.
The most recent development happened Wednesday, when Patton Oswald posted a photo of a Deadpool billboard in Los Angeles with a skull emoji, poop emoji and a blocky letter L. So simple, so dumb—yet hilarious. (And no, the movie is not called Skullshittle.)
This idiotic/brilliant billboard is why I'm all in on the DEADPOOL movie. I'm an easy lay. pic.twitter.com/jSRorPvaCp
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 13, 2016
That followed a Deadpool tweet earlier this week showing a billboard-style ad positioning the Marvel movie as a romance flick (because it's being released around Valentine's Day).
This Valentine's Day, fall in love with #Deadpool. pic.twitter.com/ScQWrpXXmx
— Deadpool Movie (@deadpoolmovie) January 11, 2016
The movie's star, Ryan Reynolds, then posted an Instagram photo of the same image on an actual billboard, framed by Deadpool's hands making a heart shape. "In 32 days, let's cuddle the shit out of each other," he wrote in the caption.
The tongue-in-cheek campaign has been a big hit with fans dating back to the character unveil—in that amusing Burt Reynolds/Cosmopolitan spoof—from last March. (It's well worth a look at the meta trailer as well.)
The love-story stuff has been particularly popular, though, and has led to a number of fan-made spoofs, including the mock trailer below.
Don't miss the Brandweek Sports Marketing Summit and Upfronts, a live virtual experience Nov. 16-19. Gain insights from leading sports figures on how they navigated a year of upsets and transformation and what's in store for the coming year. Register.
