Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance actor Nicolas Cage put in the extra effort to bring Ghost Rider to the big screen. But now he wants to do the character justice by having him return to the big screen with a R-Rating.
The first film did decent at the box office bringing in a worldwide gross of $228 million. However, the second outing didn’t do as well. Spirit of Vengeance only brought in $132 million worldwide for Sony Pictures. With the poor performance of the second film, the rights to Ghost Rider reverted back to Marvel Studios. Kevin Feige talked about it back in 2013:
“Whenever a character comes back to us, it’s usually because the other studios don’t want to make the movies anymore — and that usually means the [previous] movies may not have been particularly well received. They all have potential, but we’re not going to say, ‘We got it back — make it!'”
Ghost Rider would go on to appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
But Nicolas Cage wants him back on the big screen and in all his glory. He recently spoke with JoBlo.com about Ghost Rider:
“Y’know, Ghost Rider was a movie that always should’ve been an R-rated movie. David Goyer had a brilliant script, which I wanted to do with David and for whatever reason they just didn’t let us make the movie. But that movie is a still a movie that should be made, not with me obviously, but it should be an R-rated movie-heck, Deadpool was R-rated and that did great. Ghost Rider was designed to be a scary superhero with an R-rating and edge and they just didn’t have it worked out.
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R-Rated comic book movies have become wildly popular since Fox’s Deadpool and Logan proved their is a hungry audience for R-Rated comic book fare. Fox is already following up Deadpool with Deadpool 2.
Marvel and Netflix have also found success with their television series including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders which are rated TV-MA. But could it work with Ghost Rider?
The premise of the story to me should work. A man selling his soul to save someone he cares about. But part of the price is becoming Ghost Rider. There is plenty of R-Rated potential there, but potential doesn’t always equal reality.
What do you think? I’m a fan of more adult-friendly movies. Logan showed it can work in the dramatic sense. And Deadpool showed it works on the comedic side. I also think there is a big gap in supernatural hero programming in general. Shows like Charmed and Supernatural were wildly successful showing there is interest in the genre. Even Constantine performed well for NBC before they cancelled it. But the popularity of the character has earned him a series regular spot on Legends of Tomorrow. I know I love good supernatural fare and I would love to see an R-Rated Ghost Rider.
Would you give a rated-R Ghost Rider movie a chance?