• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 2, 2024

Movies and TV entertainment are getting racier -- more rough and violent, laced with profanity and more adult content-driven. Viewers/theatergoers want this -- including the younger set.

Think about “Deadpool & Wolverine” -- the monster hit movie from Walt Disney, which just opened to an eye-popping $211 million in its first weekend domestically -- and is now the best opening ever for an R-rated theatrical movie.

Ryan Reynolds, a big star in the movie (along with Hugh Jackman), recently told the Hollywood Reporter: “Disney probably doesn’t want me to frame it this way, but I’ve always thought of 'Deadpool & Wolverine' as the first four-quadrant, R-rated film.. Yes, it’s rated R, but we set out to make a movie with enough laughs, action and heart to appeal to everyone, whether you’re a comic-book movie fan or not.” 

"Four-quadrant" movies typically are films that have the broadest appeal -- with young and old, male and female. Movie marketers love to hit these targets because it means not only big box-office revenues, but longtime franchise opportunities for other films and/or other creative content. This is to track younger theatergoers turning into older theatergoers.

More traditional R-rated movies that are filled with intense action and violent content, as with this latest “Deadpool” edition -- usually bring in significant numbers of young and old male theatergoers.

In TV land, we have had the likes of HBO, Showtime and others that for years, have programming heavy with adult content -- filled with violent and/or sexual storylines and images. 

HBO’s longtime marketing tagline -- "It’s not TV. It’s HBO” -- has been an obvious tease here.

Currently, much of this has been normalized. While warnings about "adult" content still exist, watching TV shows and/or movies on Netflix, Prime Video, or content on other services, seemingly brings less of a backlash from subscribers or potential customers 

And perhaps advertisers have lowered their sensitivity bar as well. Ad-supported Peacock runs the popular reality show “Love Island,” where muscle-bound young men and bikini-dressed women frolic in the sun and on the beach. In theory, anyone  and everyone can watch -- old and young.

In screening his R-rated movie recently with his son, Reynolds said to The New York Times: 

“I’m not saying that other people should do this, but my 9-year-old watched the movie with me and my mom, who’s in her late 70s, and it was just one of the best moments of this whole experience for me.” 

Expanding boundaries for young people to explore and learn is a good thing. And it helps to have an adult nearby to help explain things that may seem shocking, violent, weird -- and yes, human.