The bad boy of Marvel roared to life on the big screen with the crowd-pleasing release of Deadpool. Starring Ryan Reynolds as a former special forces operative turned mercenary who becomes an unlikely hero after suffering disfigurement at the hands of a supervillain, the outlandish film shattered all the rules and broke the fourth wall with its unique, tongue-in-cheek humor and deliciously vulgar tone.
Filmgoers knew that something special was coming as soon as the first trailer launched at Comic-Con, which lit up the Internet. To keep the momentum going, Fox asked AvatarLabs to get subversive with online media executions that brought Deadpool’s one-of-a-kind sensibilities to life. Working closely with Fox, we generated concepts, developed copy and executed media that featured the wise-cracking hero in a wide array of digital placements.
Online Media
A slew of takeovers dominated the internet opening weekend, featuring Deadpool in hilarious poses - a different one for each publisher. These included a take on the iconic Tom Selleck “fireplace” pose, an over-the-shoulder “come hither” look, Deadpool making a heart shape with his hands, and a variety of other male model-worthy mugs.
To further convey Deadpool’s off-the-wall personality, we worked with Fox to produce satires of "clickbait"-style ads that featured Deadpool in ads for a dubious dating service, a high-school “Classmates”-style friend finder, a bro-tastic protein powder and more.
For the homepage of IMDb, we utilized carefully selected clips from the film’s signature action scene which we then edited and rotoscoped to create an eye-catching transparent video takeover.
Snapchat Filters
Deadpool came to Snapchat just in time for the Super Bowl with three themed filters. These were released throughout the day, timed to match how people would be experiencing the big game.
The film premiered the next weekend, which was commemorated with a geofilter available exclusively in theaters that depicted Deadpool sitting in the front row. The seat to his right had a sign that said, "Reserved for you”, the seat to his left, “Reserved for your mom.”
Deadpool was a worldwide sensation, earning a over of $762M. The number one film in the US, it broke a number of box-office records including the largest February opening weekend, the largest four-day Presidents' Day weekend, and the largest single day earnings of any film released in February. Fox immediately greenlit a sequel.