By George Robbins
For many years now, the Pixar company has been one that has created a lot of different content for people to enjoy and their films are usually pretty well acclaimed critically. They got there start back in the 90’s with the creation of the first ‘Toy Story’ film and from that point on they just kept going on making acclaimed films. When the first ‘Toy Story’ film released in 1995 it quickly ended up being the highest grossing film of that year. They would go on to make a sequel, ‘Toy Story 2,’ that would release in 1999 with similar levels of success that rivaled the original film. It wouldn’t be until 2010 that ‘Toy Story 3’ would eventually come out, but it ended up being a movie that was well worth the wait.
The third film in the franchise would not be the last as ‘Toy Story 4’ ended up releasing in 2019 after a length of time almost as long as the gap between the second and third films. Despite the saying that sequels usually don’t do as well as their predecessors, every film in the franchise has done well both critically and at the box office. ‘Toy Story 3’ is where everything changed for the franchise though because it was much more emotional than the first two films as it saw the toys’ owner growing up and going to college. This was a major moment for people, especially those who grew up with the original films.
There were several moments in the film that give a perspective usually unseen in media when we see the growth of a character and the beginning of the next generation. The original films were already interesting enough given their backgrounds that toys come alive when their owners aren’t around. For those of us who misplaced our toys when we were younger and thought they simply moved on their own, it was something that we all thought of when watching the movies. Often times we would imagine what kind of adventures our own toys were having without us and this movie only fueled our imaginations.
In the third film though, we saw a moment where we as the audience weren’t really sure what would happen and we watched as the toys thought they were going to be incinerated. Ultimately this does not come to pass, but this brought up an interesting question that people have been wanting an answer to ever since the movie’s release. Many people have wanted to know if the toys in the movie could actually die, because we know they can be taken apart, but we don’t know if they are just immortal or not. ‘Toy Story 3’ director Lee Unkrich answered this question posed by a fan this past weekend by saying that they can die, but only if they are destroyed. So it seems the threat in the movie of being incinerated was one that was very real and we should now be glad it didn’t come to pass.
By George Robbins
Many films over the years have gone on to have sequels and franchises based on how well the reception of their first outing was. These films then go on to usually make their studios a lot of money and then they are always remembered for this fact. One film to do relatively well, but never had a chance at a sequel was the comedy ‘Pineapple Express.’ The movie followed a stoner and his dealer being caught up in a murder conspiracy that they accidentally stumbled into. What then follows is a journey that sees the two of them getting closer to one another while trying to deal with the dangerous situation that they have been put into. The movie itself did fairly well but never really had much time in the limelight to really stick out for audiences at large.
Overall, the critical response for the film was that it was a pretty well received movie that a lot of people actually liked. The film did pretty well when it first released in 2008 and has since then gained something of a cult following. People have loved the movie ever since its initial conception and it continues to this day as one of the most interesting modern day comedies out in the world. Beyond just whether or not the film was received well or not, it was also a financial success as it had a budget of around $27 million and it ended up making a total of $102.4 million at the box office alone. Fans have looked at this film for years as a movie that more movies should take inspiration from and they have wondered just why there was never a sequel.
Those wondering why the movie never actually got a sequel will no longer have to try and guess what the reason is that they didn’t get to see a sequel to the cult loved film. Recently, Seth Rogan, who both wrote and co-starred in the film, explained what the reason was for why they didn’t get to make a second movie. While sitting down on the ‘The Howard Stern Show,’ Rogan was asked about the potential of a sequel to the original film and Rogan answered that the crew of the movie was very much willing to make a sequel. Unfortunately, the amount of money that they asked for in order to make the film was too much and Sony decided that they would not fund the film. Rogan admitted that they may have asked for just too much money, but we’ll never know because Sony was not willing to fund a sequel to the first film.
By George Robbins
Movie productions are starting to really get back into things ever since they first had to shut down due to the pandemic back in March. Now that restrictions have been lifted a little bit, studios are doing their best to get their crews back to work and it is working out pretty well. Not every production has gotten back underway just yet due to the fact that those projects might have large crews behind them and some are overseas. Those that are not overseas have pretty much gone back to filming already and it is going relatively well for the time being. There is not much that can stop productions now even as cases spike unless a member of the crew tests positive for Covid-19. In the meantime, productions will carry on as they always have before.
One of the largest productions to get back underway is the production of the newest film in the ‘Jurassic World’ franchise, ‘Jurassic World 3: Dominion.’ They were among one of the larger productions to have to shut down not too long after they had started filming and they started back up again recently. Unlike many other productions, however, they were not really affected all that much by the shut down because they had filmed scenes before the shut down that needed VFX. So when the shut down happened, they didn’t get set back as that work could be finished at home without any kind of hitches getting in the way. Now that they are back on set, they are shooting the newest scenes that will be added to the film.
The scenes that will be done this week are those involving one of the original actors, Sam Neill, who will be making his return in the final movie to round out the trilogy. Neill has been looking forward to getting back to work on the project because it is one that he was genuinely excited to work on. He has said that he has a relatively prominent role in the film alongside his other former co-stars and he is excited to get back to work on a film a wants to keep working on. Hopefully what he has said will actually happen in the film and the character he plays will have a presence throughout the film and hopefully it will not just be a glorified cameo. That being said, it seems like the movie is going to be interesting and it might just meet its deadline so that it can be shown to the public by the end of next summer.
By George Robbins
Many people can agree that probably the worst entry for the DC Extended Universe was the 2016 film, ‘Suicide Squad.’ What we are discovering even more as of late is the fact that it was meant to be a very different film from the one that we ended up with. A couple of months back, fans received word that the Snyder Director’s Cut of ‘Justice League‘ will be coming out on HBO Max some time early next year. When word of this came out David Ayer, the director of ‘Suicide Squad‘ started revealing on social media that what people expected had happened did happen. This means that Warner Bros., the studio behind the release of the movie, had a lot of interference in the project and basically changed the whole thing.
Ayer let it be known that if he was able to make his own director’s cut for ‘Suicide Squad’ then he would since he has it pretty much almost done. Ayer has said that the only thing he needs to do to finish his cut of the film is add VFX and the film will be ready for a release, so he has been advocating for people to ask the studio for this version to release. Based on the response of the studio in regards to ‘Justice League’ he is hoping that they will relent and allow him to put his vision for the film out to the public. In the meantime, in order to get people on his side and to try and get people more onboard with the film, he has been putting out information on the film’s production.
Whenever a fan asks about the film in some way, he does his best to respond in order to make sure people know exactly what happened when the film was made. For instance, when asked about what he wanted in the film versus what actually made it in, he said that Diablo’s backstory is the only thing to make it in. Much of what he already filmed was thrown to the wayside and reshoots were done by order of the studio in order to make the film more light-hearted. What he had in store for the film was a much darker tone than the one we ended up with and as such it didn’t fit in with the story of the movie. This muddled tone is one of the biggest complaints people had for the film and is one of the reasons it didn’t do well.
Overall, there were a lot of changes to the film that cut out entire parts of the story that Ayer wanted to originally be left in. Of these many things, there was a theory that Joker had replaced Harley with other women while she was locked away in prison and Ayer said that this theory “is not wrong.” This is just one of the things that would have made Joker more interesting as a character; which apparently he was supposed to have a much better story than he did. Many of his scenes, according to Ayer, were cut from the film which was a shame considering how much hype there was for the character. Hopefully he will be able to release his own version of the film in the not too distant future and it ends up being a much better version of what we got originally.
By George Robbins
Much of the world is currently in a state of discord and unrest due to both the pandemic and numerous other issues that continue to plague countries all over. During these troubled times, businesses are still trying to thrive or at the very least, keep their heads above water. Among those is the movie industry which has been struggling ever since the pandemic started back in March of this year. The biggest issue they have been having as of late is the distribution and showing of new films due to theaters having been shut down. As time goes on, this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue because they lose money the longer they don’t show anything. That being said, many studios have still opted for delaying their films until they can have their proper theatrical releases.
When the U.S. began getting a large spike in new cases starting last month, states became even more weary of actually opening up public venues. With many public places reopening, the number of cases jumped tremendously and things had to either start being shut down again, or they would have to wait longer before they could reopen their doors. Not being able to open their doors back up again, many theaters are thus unavailable and this makes it pointless to really try and release new films. While many theaters are still going to be keeping their doors shut to the public for some time, AMC has decided that by about mid-August, they would open up as many theaters as they can domestically. Even though they are opening, the current social climate is too dangerous for studios to release any new films.
Among the studios that have been pushing back their releases as much as possible is Warner Bros. who have been trying to pick good release dates for their films ever since all of this started. One of those films that they have been trying their best to release has been one many people have had on their minds as of late due to its mysterious nature, ‘Tenet.’ The upcoming Christopher Nolan film is one that, like some of his other previous works, is mostly shrouded in mystery. Nolan is known for making interesting films that seem to bend the current reality that we all reside in and turns our heads upside down. We have no idea what the film is about and this secrecy is what has people hyped to see the movie, but unfortunately the release date has kept getting pushed back.
Eventually, after pushing back the theatrical release date for ‘Tenet’ multiple times, Warner Bros. decided to delay its release in the U.S. indefinitely until they know they can release it with no trouble. That being said, they will be instead releasing it internationally in 70 other countries and a few select cities in the states. They even managed to get approved for a release in China which was unexpected given the length of the movie. Movies that are shown in Chinese theaters can only be shown if they are under 120 minutes long, but ‘Tenet’ hits at 150 minutes so they weren’t sure if they could get into the market. They managed to do what they wanted and the film will get to show, but the U.S. will not see a full release for the film until they get better control of the virus situation.
By George Robbins
Despite the fact that we are still in the middle of a pandemic, companies are trying to figure out any ways they can to keep business going. During this time, the entertainment industry has been doing its best to try and keep up with what has been going on in the world. They have had no choice, until recently, but to delay working on anything simply because they couldn’t do anything at all without breaking rules. Now that guidelines have been, at the very least, put into place, the entertainment industry is doing its best to adapt to said guidelines in order to get back to work. This seems to have worked out relatively well for studio productions, but not so much for finished products.
Studios haven’t really been able to get their movies out into the public eye because theaters have mostly been shut down. If most of the theaters are closed and another wave of the virus is spreading, then they have absolutely no reason to put their films out. Putting films out now in such a volatile climate is spelling disaster for the box office returns that the movies would see. Instead, many studios have opted to take the longer route and wait for things to settle down before releasing the films when all theaters open up. Warner Bros. is even going so far as to indefinitely put a hold on their newest movie ‘Tenet’ in the U.S. and they will be releasing it internationally first. This just shows what companies are willing to do if they are insistent on getting their movies out in theaters.
Another option that some studios have opted for is the release of their films to digital VOD and they will forego any kind of theatrical release for those films. One of the biggest proponents of this is Universal who admitted when the pandemic began that they have been wanting to try this approach for years, but the pandemic gave them the perfect chance. They decided that releasing films straight to digital would end up working out better for them in the end and they made that known to everyone. Universal also said that they planned on concurrently releasing new movies on VOD and in theaters which theater company AMC took issue with.
Almost immediately after the announcement was made by Universal, AMC issued a response to that announcement by saying that they would no longer show any Universal films. Universal then issued a response correcting what they had said as it sounded more as though they completely preferred VOD releases over theatrical releases. A couple of months had gone by and there was no word from either company about the aforementioned statements, but recently an announcement was made. AMC will allow Universal to release their films digitally after a film has been in theaters for at least 17 days. This would drastically lower the amount of time that it would take for films to come out after they hit theaters, and now AMC is offering that option up to all other major studios.
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