The final Wolverine movie Logan will be R-rated, but that wouldn’t have happened without a sacrifice from lead star Hugh Jackman.
After the huge success of the famously R-rated Deadpool, you’d think the X-Men producers would be keen to try to repeat their success with upcoming franchise installments.
And Logan, the final movie in the Wolverine saga, would seem like the perfect candidate for an increased boost of blood and violence, right?
Yet the movie wouldn’t have been able to escape its PG-13 confines if it hadn’t been for Hugh Jackman taking a pay cut to help compensate for the risk 20th Century Fox is undeniably taking by cutting out a large chunk of its younger audience and alienating more squeamish viewers.
Related: First Logan trailer heralds the arrival of a new Wolverine
It was director James Mangold who revealed the details of Jackman’s decision, while screening some Logan footage at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon in Austin, Texas (as reported by Comic Book Resources). The publication notes that the studio will likely be pleasantly surprised by the performance of Logan, if Deadpool and social media buzz is anything to go by!
Logan is set in a distant future where Wolverine and Professor X (Patrick Stewart) are the only mutants left standing. But they discover a new mutant, a little girl with the same abilities as Logan, and must now find a way to keep her safe.
The movie premieres March 3, 2017, and also stars Boyd Holbrook, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant, Eriq La Salle and Doris Morgado, with Dafne Keen as X-23.