By George Robbins
Marvel Studios is now world renowned for the countless hero films that they have put out over the past decade plus. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, now known simply as the MCU, is one of the biggest and most popular franchises to ever exist. They have pumped out at least a movie or two a year ever since the release of ‘Iron Man’ back in 2008. That film’s release was one that was plagued with almost no backing and a filming schedule that would ruin an ordinary production. With that in mind, it would be the film that started it all and would go on to make a huge change in the movie industry. Without the MCU, the industry would probably be very different than it is now.
With the MCU, eventually there came Marvel Studios which was entirely devoted to the production of new films and television shows that focus on the established universe. If not for the efforts of the writers, the universe could have ended up differently from the end product that we got after all. There is much to look at when it comes to examining the MCU and the efforts put into the inter-connectivity of it all. This connectivity is what made the MCU stand out beyond just the films being good on their own. Thus we ended up with a finished product that took over 10 years which is now called the Infinity Saga which follows an over-arching storyline in all of the films.
Now that the initial saga is complete, many are looking forward to the future of the MCU because literally anything can happen from this point onwards. The first three phases of the MCU are finished and unfortunately, phase 4 will not get to start until the release of ‘Black Widow.’ Due to everything going on with the pandemic, there is no telling exactly when that release will be but as of now the release date is set for November. The range of upcoming movies for this phases includes new characters we have never seen before and the end of the phase will end with a ‘Doctor Strange’ sequel. With all of this still on the table, there is still talk of what will be done in the future.
What is now being discussed is the apparent development of a serialization from the comics known as ‘Illuminati.’ The point of that comic series is to feature a number of different characters who discuss issues going on in the world in secret. The group is not really an official team, but they discuss how to deal with crises’ that are currently going on in the world. With the development of this under way, no one is quite sure how it will turn out or what form of media we will be able to see it on if it does come out. As of now, it is unknown if it will be a TV series or if it will be a movie in the future but we can hope that we will see more on it in the near future.
By George Robbins
Edgar Wright is a director who is known for having a pretty unique style of directing in which every detail in his films has some kind of meaning. Even though he is now relatively well known, he was actually known by few not too long ago. Many of his films went unnoticed for a lengthy period of time which has ended with many of his films turning into cult films. This hasn’t been all that terrible, but it has meant that he could have been working on many other films over the years instead of waiting for an opportunity here and there. As such, it is nice to hear that he will be working on an entirely new film some time in the near future.
With the coronavirus currently plaguing the world, it is difficult to get any work properly done when it comes to the movie industry. As a result of this, it is nice to hear about any new projects that are being worked on within the industry. However, even as new projects do end up being announced, there is the issue moving forward in regards to testing for the virus. Even if things are cleared up enough by the time movies start production it will still be hard to get into a rhythm going forward. This has brought about a series of concerns as of late and moving forward, it could affect the industry even more than it already is.
Edgar Wright being put on a new film project is both interesting and concerning to some degree. Even if he begins working on the project in earnest some time next year, it may be difficult for him to get things on track. Wright signed on not only to direct the film but also to develop and executively produce the film which is a whirlwind of effort for a project that has only just been announced. The film in question is named ‘Stage 13’ and it centers around a ghost haunting a soundstage. There will certainly be a lot to look forward to with this title, but as of now there really aren’t that many details that can tell us much about it.
All we can assume is that with Wright standing in the middle of essentially the entire creation of the film, it will turn out to be a great film. Wright is known for taking films with a relatively simple premise and turning them into something that is just straight-up enjoyable to watch. He makes sure that every detail, even background details, are properly in place while scenes for a film are being shot. Whatever project he works on has more around it than just what can be seen on the surface and this makes it even more entertaining to watch his films. The game going into the films is what can be spotted or heard and how will it factor into the movie as a whole. So with this film, let’s see just what it is we can glean from the movie when it eventually releases.
By George Robbins
The ‘Mortal Kombat‘ franchise of video games has been a famous franchise ever since the release of the original video game in 1992. The games first came to prominence when it was revealed just how violent they were and this fact made them known on many news outlets. Due to the “intense” violence of the game there were many a controversy about the game where many parents were angry about it. This resulted in censorship of the game and eventually helped carve the path forward for the ESRB rating system for video games. Midway, who made the game, had to release toned down versions of the game to arcades. The censorship of the games eventually led to secrets being implemented into the games that turned the violent combat back on by allowing blood to be shown on screen.
Over time, and with the release of more violent video games, the games themselves could stop being censored so much. This is what led to the Mortal Kombat games being brought back as the violent games they were and it made those games among the most popular of all fighting games. The height of the series’ popularity was when the movie, simply titled ‘Mortal Kombat,’ released in 1995. The movie loosely followed the plot of the original video game, but it lacked something that made the games popular. The reason why the games were considered to be so violent to begin with was the fact that the fatalities seen in game were very vicious. They have since become even more so in the newer games to have released over the past few years.
For those unaware, fatalities are essentially finishers for the ‘Mortal Kombat’ series. When an opponent has been beaten, the fighter can then input a certain command with the controls to inflict a harrowing finisher unique to the character they are playing. In recent games, there are a number of different fatalities per character and they are all equally brutal. The fatalities are the reason why the game was considered so violent to begin with and they are what caused the controversy when the games first released. Over time, society has become more desensitized to the violence seen on screen and so the fatalities only ended up becoming even more brutal than before. So it is nice to here that these brutal finishers will end up making their way into a new film.
There is going to be an upcoming ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie reboot that will have a heavier focus on the actual combat part. Actor Lewis Tan who has a role in the new film has said that the fatalities are so brutal that it has made him feel sick. For those who are fans of the video games, this is a good thing to hear because it is the brutality of the games that people fell in love with over the years. This gives an opportunity not really seen by the original film to witness glorious combat in a way that only ‘Mortal Kombat’ can do it. Hopefully it will live up to the expectations that fans have for it and we will be able to see some incredible action as the film makes its way to the big screen.
By George Robbins
Not too long ago, just after the announcement of the Snyder Cut for the ‘Justice League,’ director David Ayer announced that he could have a working director’s cut ready for ‘Suicide Squad.’ The announcement came out as a plea for fans to ask for the cut from Warner Media so that he could release the film the same way as ‘Justice League.’ If it wasn’t for fans, then that would have never really happened to begin with, so he wants people to get the studio to sign off on it. According to Ayer, the director’s cut is the version of the film that he wanted to put out before the heavy studio interference cause massive reshoots to take place. He has said that this version of the film is pretty much all set to go and he really just needs the okay. The question some may be asking is, just how different is the director’s cut from the original.
According to Ayer, the two versions of the film are very different from one another and the theatrical cut wasn’t even really his film anymore. The original movie, now the potential director’s cut, was supposed to be a dark action movie, but after reshoots it became something that didn’t fit the tone. For instance, there were parts of the film that seemed really dark in comparison to the rest of the film and these moments are littered throughout. This completely messed up the tone of the film as a whole and changed the outcome of the film. This came from the fact that ‘Deadpool‘ had done well theatrically and they were trying to copy that success so they messed with the tone of the film trying to make it more lighthearted with “comedy.” Ayer stated that it was due to this that the film ended up as it was but this was not all.
Ayer stated that the only thing that he wanted in the film that got to stay was Diablo’s backstory, but he was not actually supposed to die and he even survives in Ayer’s cut. Also included in his cut are scenes that show just how much of a role Joker was supposed to play in the grand scheme of the film and that he was also supposed to team up with Enchantress. The character Slipknot, who was only used as a demonstration tool for the explosives on the members of the squad, was supposed to have a fleshed out backstory as was Enchantress. Katana was also meant to be possessed by Enchantress to fight the team in the third act. It seems that one of the biggest changes was the fact that Harley’s and Joker’s abusive relationship was never really shown at its worst which drove her to have a romance with Deadshot which is also not shown on screen. Hopefully the director’s cut is allowed to release because this would make the film far more interesting.
By George Robbins
Comic-Con is an event of world renown nowadays that comes around to show us what will be releasing in the world of comic books in the near future. Although its name suggests that it is all about comics, there are many facets to the convention which attracts crowds of all backgrounds. While the people who go there are still primarily comic book fans, there are fans of many different movie brands and show brands that travel to the convention as well. The convention itself is usually host to thousands of people every single year at every convention that is held. It is due to this fact that they have sadly had to close down the in-person event and instead decided to go with an online-only event where anyone can see what is happening in the comic book entertainment world.
Normally at Comic-Con there are a number of publishers and distributors who show up in order to tell people about their upcoming releases. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be a comic release and more times than not has something to do with some form of media for said brand. This is why companies that produce toys are often times found at conventions like this because it gives them the perfect space to market their new lines of toys. It is the movie and television announcements that usually draw in the largest crowds however, so this is why so many people, even those who cannot attend, end up being drawn into the culture of Comic-Con. As already stated, this year is a sad affair due to the pandemic as it has forced a number of businesses to decide not to participate at all in the convention.
Among the companies that often times bring the most content and the content that brings out the biggest reactions are DC and Marvel. These two companies are responsible for drawing in very large crowds for their announcements. It appears as though neither company is going to be attending the online convention this year. DC has decided that they will simply host their own online event where they will make announcements at the end of August. Meanwhile, Marvel will skip the Con entirely and most likely won’t go back until next year’s Comic Con. One of the big questions currently on people’s minds is why Marvel is skipping out on the convention this year. The simple answer would be that they just have nothing to present this year to the public.
To go more in-depth as to why they are not going to be participating in Comic-Con this year, we need to take a look at conventions from previous years. They did skip out on the 2018 convention as well due to the fact they they were just trying to wrap up the infinity saga, whereas this time, they are skipping due to the lack of content. They spent last year at the convention revealing information for the new ‘Black Widow‘ movie that has yet to release. ‘Black Widow’ was meant to release earlier this year, but the announcement of the pandemic forced all theaters to shut their doors to the public. Thus, the movie’s release date was pushed to some time later this year and even that is tentative based on what happens in the coming months. they had already run a full marketing campaign for the film to hype it up, so bringing it to the convention again would just be redundant.
The ‘Black Widow’ movie was among only a couple of films that have been announced as releasing over the next year and a half or so. The only other film that had completed principal photography before the pandemic was ‘The Eternals.’ What this means is that the movie actually has content that can be cut into trailers or images to help hype the movie and even then it might just not fit the release schedule. The only other movie that was supposed to be worked on was ‘Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ which wasn’t even able to start up production due to the start of the pandemic. Without any production, there is no content to show for the film, so it really isn’t all that surprising that they would not want to participate this year.
By George Robbins
The DCEU is abuzz right now due to the fact that despite the pandemic that is causing trouble all over the world, there is a lot happening for the extended cinematic universe. For instance, one of the first pieces of news that we received after the pandemic began was the fact that the Zack Snyder cut for ‘Justice League’ would be releasing to HBO Max some time next year. This announcement was one that fans had been looking forward to ever since the release of the original movie in 2017. The so-called Snyder Cut is one that people speculated for a long time because people knew Snyder had to leave the project early. With that in mind, everyone began to wonder just how the movie would have ended up if he had the chance to make the film his way. Now it appears that fans will end up with a chance to see it after all.
Unfortunately for Warner Bros., they will not be able to release ‘Wonder Woman 1984‘ in August like they anticipated due to the virus. This still doesn’t change the fact that the movie is still set to launch whenever the climate for movie releases improves. On top of that, any of their current productions had to be shut down to prevent the further spread of the virus. Among the titles that they had to put a full stop on for production was the upcoming Robert Pattinson led film ‘The Batman.’ This movie has been hyped up for the past couple of months despite what is happening with the pandemic and a lot of people are getting excited for it. When the pandemic first began, they only had about a quarter of the movie filmed, so they are eager to start up production again.
Many who may be expecting new information on the movie will have to wait until the end of August because that is when DC FanDome will take place. This is considered DC’s own convention that they will be hosting this year as a virtual convention that gives fans an opportunity to see what is happening with everything DC. Due to conventions such as Comic-Con being virtual only, it is hard to tell just what will end up being revealed, but at the very least fans are hopeful for some kind of news. Though it isn’t like we have heard nothing about the movie as the process of getting it made has been fairly interesting. Not only has the process of resuming production been interesting, but the actors have said that the script for the film is strong and they believe it will do very well.
Actress Zoë Kravitz revealed not too long ago that she was in love with the script of the film and can’t wait to get back to work on the film. This movie is one that many are hoping to get back to working on as soon as possible and this is evident in their commitment to making sets for the film. Originally, they were filming the movie on location in London, but it was decided recently that this would no longer be the case. They will instead make all of the sets in-house to prevent further risk and to get back to filming as soon as they possibly can. Kravitz worked hard to get in shape for the role of Cat Woman and wants to get to filming as soon as possible. The studio themselves are hoping for the same thing because they still have a release date set for next year that they don’t want to change. Hopefully that date stays as is and they do actually get back to work soon.
Get Some Strange!
