Living in Japan, you get accustomed to scrolling through a film's release dates on IMDb, only to discover that it's arriving here months behind the rest of the world. Such has been the case with "Deadpool," which opened everywhere from the U.S. to the Republic of Macedonia back in February, but has taken nearly four months to make it to Japan.
"No. 1 in 120 countries worldwide!" screams the movie's publicity, which merely begs the question: Why are Japanese cinemagoers constantly being shunted to the back of the queue?
The marketing folks at Fox Japan have used the generous time lag to mobilize some proper promotional muscle behind the film, including TV spots and a giant statue of the title character that could be seen touring the streets of Tokyo last month. Presumably, they're hoping "Deadpool" can surpass the recent box office hauls of "Captain America: Civil War" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and instead replicate the success of another R-rated comedy that did stellar business here back in 2013: Seth MacFarlane's "Ted."
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