The title for Fox's mystery Deadpool movie coming out this December is reportedly The Deadpool Before Christmas. Last week, the studio mixed up their upcoming release schedule, shifting the dates for a trio of upcoming tentpoles. One of those projects in question was Robert Rodriguez's Alita: Battle Angel, which was supposed to premiere this holiday season. In its place, Fox will debut a surprise Deadpool movie, which is allegedly a PG-13 cut of this summer's Deadpool 2, which grossed $734.2 million worldwide during its theatrical run.

In addition to being a toned down version of the R-rated blockbuster (violence and language can't be nearly as rampant with a PG-13), it's believed the new Deadpool 2 will change things up in regards to the story structure. On the day the new film was announced, Ryan Reynolds posted a photo on Twitter of Deadpool in a Santa hat, reading a story to Fred Savage. The image brought to mind the 1980s classic The Princess Bride, and there's also a reason why Wade Wilson is sporting festive attire.

Related: A PG-13 Deadpool 2 Can Prepare Wade Wilson For the MCU

According to the BBC's Lizo Mzimba, the Deadpool film has the title The Deadpool Before Christmas. While this obviously isn't confirmation from Fox, it wouldn't be the most surprising development. Given the movie's release date and Deadpool's sense of humor, it would be fittingly on-brand to run with this angle.

The first two Deadpool movies riffed on classic Hollywood genres through Wade's unique lens (romance and family drama, respectively), so it should be amusing to see the Merc With a Mouth's take on the Christmas movie. Even if Deadpool Before Christmas is simply Deadpool 2 re-edited, there should be some humorous wrinkles that make it a worthwhile experience in its own right. No doubt, Wade will provide his trademark meta commentary on holiday movie tropes, which should be the source of some outrageous comedy. Deadpool may not be able to use some of his favorite words with a more family-friendly rating (you can bet there will be a "one PG-13 f-bomb" joke), but he should be able to make audiences laugh through a story they've already seen.

It will be interesting to see how Fox handles marketing for Deadpool Before Christmas, which is supposed to hit the big screen in a little over two months. Obviously, this isn't a make-or-break tentpole for the studio, but they still want awareness to be high so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of the bevy of releases this December. Of course, the Deadpool franchise is renowned for its ingenious promotional tactics, so it's safe to say the studio has something special up their sleeves to get the word out.

More: The Highest-Grossing Films of 2018 (So Far)

Source: Lizo Mzimba

Key Release Dates