By George Robbins
The upcoming movie ‘Godzilla vs. Kong‘ is one that has been highly anticipated ever since the announcement that the film was going to be made. This match-up is one that has been hyped up by the Legendary studio and fans alike over the past few years and it is getting closer to the date of release for the film. This is setting up a lot of excitement for the film, especially since they release new content here and there as time goes on. However, the studio has yet to put out a trailer for the film which is working to make people even more excited about the upcoming match-up. Even though the studio hasn’t put out any official new content yet, the toy lines for the movie seem to show some new details about the upcoming film.
Specifically, the art on the toy boxes and the tools for the figures inside said boxes leads us to now believe in some new details for the film. From what can be seen on the box art, Kong has grown to be about the same size as Godzilla and he has even managed to grow something akin to a beard. Also, included in the box with Kong is a stone ax, so it is within the realm of possibility that he will use tools in the movie to match Godzilla in combat. One of the biggest issues originally presented was how would Kong, who was noticeably weaker and smaller than Godzilla, be able to fight him on even ground. It now seems that we have the answer to how he can make up for his apparent weakness in comparison. The question many people might still have is how did he make up for the size difference?
As stated, we have seen on the box art that the two titans are now about the same size, whereas in Kong’s introduction movie ‘Kong: Skull Island‘ he only stood at about 1/3 of Godzilla’s height. If people were paying attention during the movie, however, it was mentioned that Kong was still only really considered to be a child and he was still in the midst of growing. After 45 years, it wouldn’t really be all that much of a surprise that Kong would grow to epic proportions and after so many years of fighting Skull Crawlers on his home island, he knows how to fight better. This means that he probably had to improvise many different tools in order to fight against his enemy in the most efficient way possible. Kong’s intelligence vs. Godzilla’s brute strength will be a sight to behold when the movie releases in May of 2021.
By George Robbins
Within the past couple of months it appeared as though the movie industry was starting to get back on track after essentially completely shutting down. Movie and TV productions are still moving forward now that the production side of the industry is back up and running again. Even so, it appears as though many production teams are going to have a rough time getting back to work especially with the new tiered coronavirus testing that has been put in place. This system makes it so that only those who are in the worst condition will get tested first to see if they have the virus while those who are symptomatic or have only come into contact with an infected individual will be last to be tested. In order to get back to work, production crews must be tested to make sure no one has the virus.
Without the knowledge of whether members of the crew are good to resume production or not, there are going to be nothing but delays for those productions. Beyond productions are the films and shows that are already finished and are waiting to be shown to the public. Shows have no problem because TV and streaming services have been available this entire time, but movies are a whole other story. There are plenty of movies that have been ready to release that cannot simply due to the fact theaters cannot open their doors to the public. The reason as to why they can’t open their doors is a bit more complicated however because of the second wave of Covid-19 that hit many states in the United States. It is now starting to seem like an everlasting cycle that theater companies and studios are going through to see releases hit the big screen.
Studios will not release their films to theaters because it is too dangerous given how many people have contracted the virus recently in the United States. Theaters cannot open at all due to this fact so they are stuck chasing after release dates hoping they will be allowed to reopen as soon as possible. Things have gotten to the point where Warner Bros. is thinking of just releasing films like ‘Tenet’ overseas before a domestic release until things settle down. Even though everything sounds terrible right now, it really isn’t all terrible because some new movie news is coming out as of late. Things like the ‘Uncharted’ film having actually started production and now, things like finding out that the ‘Grease‘ prequel, titled ‘Summer Lovin” now has a director.
The hit musical movie from the 70’s saw the blossoming love of a “greaser” and a prim and proper school girl in their senior year of high school in the late 1950’s. The film was based on the 1971 musical of the same name and the movie went on to have a sequel simply titled ‘Grease 2.’ One of the plot points in the original film is that the two main characters met while on summer vacation and went on to meet each other again when the school year began. It is during this summer vacation that they fell in love in the first place and the prequel will focus on this period in time. Director Brett Haley will be taking the helm with the project so that whenever they are able to actually start working on the film, they can start without issue.
By George Robbins
As we are going into August, there are a number of films that are originally supposed to have released. Unfortunately, as we get closer to these films’ release dates many have changed their release dates due to a second wave of the coronavirus. Those that have not moved their release dates already will more than likely end up moving those dates around as even the hold-outs are now forced to do so. Although there are still films with August releases, many films that are supposed to release over the next few months have moved their dates into some time next year. There are a number of films that were finished and ready to drop into theaters at some point by the end of the year, but the situation with the new Covid-19 cases has left many of those films no choice but to release in a hopefully calmer climate next year.
Theaters aren’t really considered a safe place right now considering the fact that states are once again being forced to shut down many public places. Without the ability to properly open their doors to the public again, theaters don’t even have an incentive to open their doors up again even if they could. For instance, many states were allowing the reopening of theaters again before the second wave hit and the chain theaters decided against opening. They said that they only want to open up again if and only if they can open up all of their theaters again nationwide to make sure their is coordination between all of their theaters. On top of that, they also don’t want to open unless they have new content to show the public because this is the reason theaters exist in the first place.
There is no telling when theaters will end up opening their doors again, but it would appear that it will not be any time in the near future. One of the movies that theater reopening dates have been chasing down is the movie ‘Tenet‘ which was directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan himself has been advocating that his film should not have its date pushed back so much and should be the first film that is available in theaters. He believes that by having the film be among the first new films available in theaters, the theater economy can be revitalized. However, it is easy to see why the studio would be hesitant to release the film in the current climate. They originally only pushed the film’s release by two weeks, but eventually had to relent and push it another two weeks to the middle of August.
Considering how much money they would apparently need to make on the film to break even due to production and marketing costs, it is not a surprise that they want to find a proper release window for the film. It would seem that with everything currently “going south” so to speak, WB will be pushing off the release date of the film indefinitely moving forward. Due to the United States not having a good handle on the virus compared to many other countries worldwide, Warner Bros. will more than likely upend the current release model by releasing the film abroad first. They will then release the film in the U.S. when the virus has been controlled better and theaters can open up their doors properly. Everything that happens in the movie industry from this point forward will more than likely be handled the same way if the containment of the virus ends up like this again.
By George Robbins
It has been over a week since Disney World reopened their gates to the public and a limited amount of people have been able to re-enter the parks. Before the parks had reopened their gates, there was a lot of concern as to how the park would handle the enforcement of social distancing rules and keeping people from doing dangerous things. For instance, how well would they be able to enforce the rule of people having to wear masks while they are in the park. Before the parks reopened to the public, many employees were also worried about what would happen and it was a valid concern considering the massive spike in coronavirus cases in Florida recently. Despite the growing concerns in regards to what was happening, the parks reopened on July 11th to the public.
Now, it appears that the idea of having people keep their masks on during their visits to the park has become something of an issue. As of late, there have been way too many people complaining about having to wear masks when they go out. The point of having them in the first place is to control the spread of the virus and keep the number of unnecessarily infected people down as much as possible. This is something that the Disney Parks division realizes they must adhere to in order to remain open to the public. Therefore they have started taking some interesting steps to keep people from taking off their masks while they are in the parks. One way that they decided to do this was by forcing people to keep masks on while on rides or else they can’t buy the souvenir photo.
Now it would seem that some people are trying to get around having to wear their masks everywhere that they go in the park. The only time that people are not required to wear their masks within the confines of the parks is when they are eating or drinking something. This loophole allowed people to walk around with food or drink without wearing their masks, but it is a loophole that has now been closed. The parks will no longer allow guests to be moving while eating or drinking and they must remain stationary in order to do so. As of now guests over 2 years of age must have face coverings that fully cover the face and mouth, and must be secured in a manner that allows guests to remain hands-free. Hopefully with this loophole closed, these rules will be followed properly and they will not have to update their guidelines again in the near future.
By George Robbins
The Star Wars franchise is one that has created generations of fans over the years and the recent sequel trilogy has created yet another generation of young fans. Every generation of Star Wars films has brought with it an entirely new generation of fans, but they are often times not liked by the older fans of the franchise. Although this remains the case for many, the fact remains that each generation of films brings with it more overall acclaim for the series. Over the last few years, we got the chance to see this first hand because, although the most recent of the films didn’t do as well as expected, they sold better than their predecessors. This has given an idea as to how important the series as a whole is to the modern world and how much of a pop culture phenomenon it really is.
These past few movies, now dubbed the sequel trilogy, have become a voice for a new generation no matter how much long time fans are trying to discredit it. Many were hoping recently that the films would actually be considered non-canon as of late and that this would create a new opportunity for the universe. However, this was proven to be a false rumor and the trilogy will remain as it was as a part of the Star Wars canon along with the other films in the series. This just shows how much older fans of the series do not want to let go of the part of Star Wars that they thought was good from the older films. Even if the new films were not what they were expecting, they should just let the newer generations have their own films to watch.
This year has been one that has been rife with controversy and has overall been a difficult year because of everything that has happened thus far. With the pandemic, many people have had no choice but to deal with the cards they have been dealt and try and get through all of this safe and sound. Unfortunately, there have been numerous deaths this year and they are deaths that have resulted in countless families losing loved ones. Then to make matters worse, there are countless people claiming that they should have the right to do as they please even if it endangers their health. There are obvious issues with this as it doesn’t just affect their health. One of the biggest things to happen not too long ago is the BLM protests that saw many prominent members of the black community speaking out and pointing out problems all over, including Hollywood.
One actor who was very vocal about these issues was John Boyega who plays Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He recently stated that he would not be returning to the franchise in the future. Boyega had his issues with the films that he was very vocal about and he was very much also in support of the most recent ‘The Rise of Skywalker‘ despite many criticisms. Now with the opinions of older hardcore fans and how they don’t want the films to be canon speaks volumes to the type of climate we are currently in. This is a part of the motivating factors behind people moving on from the franchise like Boyega is trying to do moving forward. There is no telling how the franchise will move on from this point forward, but according to John Boyega, it won’t include him.
By George Robbins
The movie industry has been abuzz as of late with so much currently going on in the world and there being such a shortage of time and hands. This has resulted in numerous productions having no choice but to shut down until the studio knows that no one is going to spread the virus again. There have already been countless delays and some projects have just straight up been abandoned. Some of the projects that are resuming are going to have an even harder time going forward due to the shut downs in California that we are currently seeing. Although all of the news coming out of Hollywood at the moment isn’t all terrible because there have been announcements about new projects and movies have announced that they have moved forward with production again.
That being said, much of the news coming out of many studios is still bad news for the most part and it is a lot for us to take in from the outside perspective. For instance, many studios as of late have had to further delay their movies due to the strong resurgence in Covid-19 cases. There are many films that were meant to release at some point later this year, but it now seems that they have all been pushed into next year. This has made it all the more difficult for most theaters to reopen because they have been chasing down movie releases so that they will have a good reason to open their doors. This is why, despite announcing that they would have all been opened by mid-July, the movie theater chains Regal, Cinemark, and AMC have decided to stay closed until the end of July.
Of course, the delays of films and the reopening of theaters is not the only bad news and, as mentioned before, announcements about canceled projects have been made. Among those canceled projects is the interesting but scrapped idea for a movie called ‘Silver & Black.’ The titular characters being the anti-heroes Silver Sable and Black Cat who usually contend with Spider-Man. These characters are well-known nowadays but they have never actually been put on the big screen in any kind of live-action format. They would have been put on the big screen as a part of the plan by Sony for a number of Spider-Man spin-offs to be made showing the backstories of various characters from the universe. This is just a pipe dream at this point now unfortunately.
The film was in development for years before it was eventually canceled recently and for the longest time, fans were wondering if they would get to see the film. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood was attached to the project, but after a number of script rewrites that resulted in nothing actually getting done, the project was scrapped. It was determined that instead of making a joint film, the characters will instead get films of their own. So while it would have been interesting if the joint film was made, there is still going to be something for us to watch for the characters. It seems like these films will still be a ways off, but we will eventually get to see a few new spin-offs for characters that have never had live-action portrayals before.
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