Hugh Jackman's Final 'Wolverine' Movie Targets R Rating

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ (Everett)

By Pamela McClintock

When Fox turned up at last summer’s Comic Con to promote Hugh Jackman’s upcoming and final Wolverine movie, the studio revealed a teaser image showing the brooding mutant superhero giving the middle finger, or rather, middle claw.

That early piece of marketing was a signal that Jackman and the filmmakers wanted to up the intensity factor and make an R-rated movie — long before Fox’s Deadpool proved this month that superhero movies don’t need to be rated PG-13 to become mega hits at the box office.

Insiders say the untitled Wolverine threequel, which James Mangold begins shooting in a month, was always designed as a movie that would receive an R from the ratings board once finished because of the level of violence (and likely language) in the script written by Michael Green.

Related: Ryan Reynolds Jokingly Makes Last-Minute Push for ‘Deadpool’ Oscar

Though the success of Deadpool can’t hurt. The Ryan Reynolds-starrer has amassed more than $500 million worldwide since opening in theaters less than two weeks ago, and is virtually assured of becoming the top-grossing R-rated title in history, eclipsing The Matrix Reloaded($742.1 million), not accounting for inflation.

Wolverine 3 is scheduled to hit theaters March 3, 2017. Mangold also directed Jackman in The Wolverine (2013). There had been talk of making that film, as well X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), R-rated, but both films went out with a friendlier PG-13.

Speculation about Wolverine 3’s rating hit social media last week after the New York Toy Fair, where a pamphlet allegedly distributed by Fox revealed that the film anticipates receiving an R rating.

Fox has not commented on the pamphlet or the movie’s intended rating.

Below is the teaser material from Comic Con.

Related: 'Deadpool’ Success Leads to Big Paydays for Ryan Reynolds and Team

Watch Jackman talk about Wolverine last May: