Deadpool 2 to start shooting in Vancouver in May 2017

The Merc with the Mouth is set for a return to Metro Vancouver with news that Deadpool 2 will begin shooting in the city this year.

According to the latest issue of Production Weekly, work on the much-anticipated movie, which is being produced under the working title Love Machine, will begin on May 1.

The working title is probably a joke about the comic character Cable who is expected to feature in the upcoming sequel. For those of you who are not in the know, Cable is a futuristic assassin with psychic abilities and a host of cybernetic parts, who is a regular co-conspirator of Deadpool’s in the Marvel universe.

Vancouver native Ryan Reynolds is set to reprise his starring role as the antihero, but both director Tim Miller and composer Tom Holkenberg (aka Junkie XL) are no longer involved in the project due to irreconcilable differences with the writers and lead actor over the creative direction and casting.

Deadpool, which was released in time for Valentine’s Day in 2016 and was critically lauded, quickly became the highest grossing R-rated film of all time with a total global haul of $782.6 million – more than 13 times its slim $58-million budget. It surpassed the previous record of $742 million set by 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded.

The movie was filmed in Vancouver and involved the two-week closure of the Georgia Viaduct in downtown for the completion of a major road chase and fighting sequence. Throughout its 58-day production in BC, the film’s activity boosted the local economy by an estimated $40 million and employed 2,000 local cast, crew, and extras who earned $19 million.