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Fox dropped a bit of a bombshell last week, announcing that not only would Dark Phoenix be February 14, 2019, but an Untitled Deadpool Movie would hit theaters on December 21. The completely kept-in-the dark surprise project will reportedly be rated PG-13, a departure from the decidedly raunchy Merc with a Mouth adventures in Deadpool and Deadpool 2. Ryan Reynolds teased the film with an image of Deadpool reading a bedtime story to actor Fred Savage, leading to speculation that the upcoming project will be a Princess Bride-style revisit of Deadpool 2 that skips over the more R-rated aspects.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

As it turns out, Reynolds himself is primarily behind keeping such a massive piece of news hidden from Hollywood. Collider's own Steven Weintraub recently sat down with Dark Phoenix writer/director and Deadpool producer Simon Kinberg, who had nothing but awe for Reynolds' ability to both stir up the media and keep them in the dark:

Ryan Reynolds and his studio—but I will give credit to Ryan Reynolds more than anyone else—is extraordinary at figuring out ways to get around the system. And be clever, both in terms of getting attention when it comes to viral stuff and in terms of deflecting attention when it comes to something like this. In the same way that Beyonce and Kanye can drop an album out of nowhere, Ryan figured out a way to drop a movie out of nowhere.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Kinberg had much less to say about what the still-untitled Deadpool film is about, offering up nothing about plot or structure other than Reynolds' impressive behind-the-scenes savvy.

"Zero percent am I answering anything. Zero percent am I answering that," Kinberg said. "You’re going to get nothing on that than my admiration for the way that Ryan and the studio has managed to keep it a secret up to this point."

The producer was a bit less tight-lipped when it came to another under-the-radar superhero project, the Doctor Doom movie from Noah Hawley, which the writer is juggling with his feature-directing debut Pale Blue Dot and the third season of FX's Legion.

He’s writing it. Right now he’s directing a different movie and so that’s his focus, is directing another movie, and obviously working on season 3 of Legion…Noah’s a genius. And he’s a lovely guy, too, which is a nice combination.

For more on the untitled PG-13 DeadpoolDark Phoenix, and Doctor Doom, check out the links below:

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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox