By George Robbins
When the novel ‘Ready Player One‘ released to the public in 2011, it became something of a hit when it almost immediately made it to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. The novel itself followed character Wade Watts as he searches for easter eggs that could lead to a treasure left behind by one of the greatest game developers the world ever had. For many reasons, people fell in love with the book because of all that is depicted in the novel and how it gave people of all ages something to identify with. Whether this be the massive number of pop culture references littered throughout the book or the depiction of a future that many children themselves hope for as time goes on. It is also for these reasons that the novel was dissected and everything people loved from the novel were pointed out as flawed.
Many people saw the novel as something light-hearted and fun to read in their spare time as well as a means of yet again experiencing their own lives growing up again. The amount of nostalgia that it gave people who read it made it an instant hit for most people, but it had its flaws that were pointed out by reviewers. It lends itself heavily to the idea that nostalgia is everything and that, unless someone knows everything about pop culture, then they are not really into the “geek culture.” So it has been pointed out that the movie is less of a coming-of-age story and more of a “stunted adolescence” story where the characters never really grow up. On top of that, it has been said that the characters in the novel are perfect examples of what people today are like when it comes to “geek culture” and that it is nothing more than gate-keeping at this point.
The movie, also called ‘Ready Player One,’ did a few things to correct the issues people had with the characters and gave people a reason to like the main character more. However, since the movie was meant to be an adaptation of the book, it was really just a visual representation of pop culture. This ended up being why the film did so well to begin with and I have nothing against it, and in fact, I rather enjoyed watching the movie because it is fun to see so many things interacting from different source material. That is something previously stated to some extent in a review done for the film. They made the characters feel less like they were gate-keeping the culture, but the fact remains that it was just nostalgia that made the movie do as well as it did.
This reliance on pop culture doesn’t seem like it is going to stop any time soon because the sequel novel, aptly named ‘Ready Player Two,’ has been said by the author to contain more references. The biggest problem with this is the fact that nostalgia will still be the leading factor for how well the book does when it hits the market. Nostalgia is the reason why progress itself ends up stunted and why, to some, the characters in the novel seem like they don’t actually grow up at all throughout the whole ordeal they go through. At this point, there is no telling if the characters will really go through any life-changing events throughout the story, but hopefully it will not just be a repeat story of the first novel. The only way to find out now is to wait until the sequel novel releases on November 24th, 2020.
By George Robbins
As of late, it is not much of a surprise that studios have pushed back the release dates for their movies considering the spike in coronavirus cases as of late. This has resulted in numerous issues as of late including the closing of theaters, delays for films that were just about to release, and studios moving films completely off of this year’s roster. Among the reasons for doing so is the monumental risk in releasing movies right now because it can result in heavy losses for a studio. Beyond people just not going to the movies, there is the heavy risk that theaters will shut down again not long after being opened, and this could result in what happened when the pandemic first began. Since companies would rather have full time releases for their movies, they will delay their films as long as necessary to get the right time frame.
Movie theaters as of late have had to keep their doors closed nationwide in response, not only to the spike in Covid cases, but also due to film delays. Theaters at this point are struggling, with many declaring that they will have massive losses this year such as AMC. Also, there is no guarantee when they will actually be able to open because as time goes on, more and more issues are coming to light due to improper handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Businesses and public places were opening too quickly and not enforcing the restrictions enough and now the number of cases has spiked dramatically over the past few weeks. Thus, we end up studios deciding that the current climate is not right for movie releases and they are delayed to prevent box office losses. This hasn’t prevented theaters from being prepared for reopening and when the time comes, they want to be able to open all of their doors at once which is why AMC, Cinemark, and Regal decided to sue the State of New Jersey.
Although many studios have already announced delays and have said that they are still not sure about their current intended release dates, one studio no one would have expected as of late to delay anything was Universal. They had been saying the past few months that their PVOD, or Premium Video on Demand, service was worth putting investment into, and it seemed like any films that they couldn’t immediately release to theaters would just end up on PVOD for rent or purchase. This seems to only really count with movies that they think probably would not have done as well at the box office because they are now pushing back some horror movie release dates. The truth about their PVOD service is that no one knows for sure how well it is really doing because it is all reported by Universal and it may not be as great as they make it out to be. They also made enemies of the theater industry when they said they were more in favor of the PVOD release format, but still wanted to pursue theatrical releases simultaneously.
It would appear as though their upcoming horror movie releases are too important fiscally for them to take the risk of releasing them solely through PVOD. Their upcoming horror films were supposed to be ‘Candyman,’ ‘The Forever Purge,’ ‘Halloween Kills,’ and an unnamed sequel to end the new ‘Halloween’ trilogy. Both ‘Candyman’ and ‘The Forever Purge’ were meant to have released during the summer. Jordan Peele‘s adaptation of ‘Candyman,’ which is based off the original 1992 film of the same name, will now be premiering to the public on October 16th, 2020. ‘The Purge Forever,’ which is seen as a possible end to the story as a whole, was moved an entire year to its new release date of July 9th, 2021. Meanwhile, it seems that the ‘Halloween’ movies have been displaced possibly an entire year each, meaning it probably won’t be until around October of next year that we see ‘Halloween Kills’ hit theaters. These aren’t the first films to be delayed so far into the future and definitely won’t be the last.
By George Robbins
There is a lot going on these days in the movie industry, whether it be due to the state of affairs with movie theaters, movies being delayed which affects theaters, and movie productions resuming or being announced. Of those three things, the only normal one that we would see regardless of this pandemic is the resuming of productions and the announcements of new ones. Numerous new announcements have been made as of late which give us a great deal to look forward to over the next couple of years. A couple of announcements were made which pertained to the continued production of films people are looking forward to. Namely, one that has been trying very hard to get back on track, ‘Mission: Impossible 7,’ which will be resuming in September and they will be getting right back to work with no additional delay.
The company with the most amount of development happening, it seems, would be Disney which owns many other intellectual properties at this point. One of the biggest productions that is currently in the middle of being worked on is one that has been in development for 11 years at this point and that is ‘Avatar 2.’ James Cameron wanted to resume working as soon as he possibly could so that the movie could still make its 2021 release date. In order to succeed in doing this, Cameron took the opportunity given by New Zealand being the first country to completely rid itself of the virus and got his cast and crew there immediately. Although they had to be put into a 2-week quarantine, as per the standard for all who are traveling between countries, they still managed to get back to work only a couple of months after the pandemic was announced.
Another set of properties that Disney has under production are the upcoming Marvel Studios films for their upcoming Phase 4 and beyond releases. Somewhat recently it was announced that ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ would be allowed to resume production and this would allow them the opportunity to move forward with the filming from the end of July onward. This isn’t the only Marvel film to be discussed recently as ‘Ant-Man 3’ was announced to be starting development some time next June. Although the movie is in no way connected to the Phase 4 releases, it was revealed that they would be starting development for it next year. Another very recent announcement was the one that stated that after a decade, the development for another ‘TRON’ was in the works.
The idea for the creation of another ‘TRON’ movie was one that was discussed a number of times after the release of ‘Tron: Legacy’ in 2010. The following few years were tenuous and the idea was eventually scrapped in 2015 after the critical and box office failures of one of Disney’s films ‘Tomorrowland.’ There are plenty of issues they have to sort out before we can truly be excited about the new film with lead star Jared Leto. The stories of many Disney live-action Sci-Fi movies are something that don’t make a lot of sense most of the time and expect audiences to understand what is going on just from what is happening on screen. They often times lack the world-building necessary to get people invested in what is going on throughout the movie. If there is anything they should work on in the upcoming film it should be how they can naturally integrate more exposition into conversations without blatantly saying anything. This is an issue many Sci-Fi movies face, but if done correctly, we could end up with a film unlike anything ever seen before.
By George Robbins
Just like any other conventions, Comic-Con is a multi-day event that gives fans a chance to both speak with one another and find out new information about things they are interested in. Conventions are a time where people of all kinds with a common interest can meet up and talk about the things they like. The thing about conventions is that they often times have hundreds to countless thousands of people gathering together in a relatively confined space. This is already an issue normally because so many people close together usually results in illnesses of all kinds being transmitted. Obviously this is an issue nowadays as the Covid-19 pandemic is sweeping across the world and it is so easily transmitted.
Thus, just like any other large gatherings, all conventions through the end of the year have been canceled and rescheduled. In most cases, people have been able to get refunds if they already bought their tickets or they could put it towards the next time the conventions can take place. The biggest upcoming convention that many people knew about was San Diego Comic-Con which would have taken place nearer to the end of the summer. This is considered one of the biggest events of the year with, often times, the largest crowds seen gathered in one place. This gives the best reason as to why they can’t hold the event even if they tried reducing the number of attendees.
San Diego Comic-Con is the perfect opportunity for companies to bring news of their newest works to the public which helps in more ways than one. Not only are they officially revealing their upcoming projects, but they are also showing it to devoted fans who will help with marketing by spreading the word. So now that the convention will not be held, the question these companies have now is what they are going to do moving forward. As of now, there will be a virtual convention which allows anyone to access new products and news for free from the safety of their home. It also allows companies to hold panels for any new announcements they may have, but it appears not all companies will be taking advantage of this.
San Diego is far from being the only convention that was canceled this year as the yearly Star Wars Celebration was canceled as well and won’t be back until 2022. Also similar to Comic-Con is the DC FanDome event which will be happening around the end of August which will be taking place entirely online just like Comic-Con at Home. This shows that it is still entirely possible for these events to have some semblance of normality but it will take more effort than usual to make it work. There isn’t necessarily anything keeping companies from bringing something to these events, it’s just that it may not really be worth the effort on their part. If something goes wrong on the technical side of things, then a company’s entire demonstration could end up ruined and could cause bad press. So it really isn’t too surprising if they don’t bring anything to the event this year, and it means they will have more for next time.
By George Robbins
Marvel’s Phase 4 is full of new upcoming movies that give us a look at new heroes that haven’t been seen on the big screen before. Among the films that have been announced, ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ has been the one that has been in the news recently. The reason for it being in the news in the first place is because it was supposed to be the next film in production and the one of the next movies to release. The news has been good recently as they will be able to resume production soon for the film which moves everything forward. This means that Phase 4 can move on as planned because they shouldn’t have any more delays.
This upcoming wave of Marvel films is unlike the previous three phases due to the fact many different new heroes are a part of it. It represents an entirely new era within the Marvel era where we will be seeing a new saga begin. With many heroes being involved in the upcoming Phase, a question is asked about what this new saga will really be about. The original heroes are either gone, or may be nearing the end of their journey while many are just about to begin their’s. There are plenty of routes that Marvel Studios could follow moving forward, giving plenty of new opportunities to newer heroes.
There were heroes introduced in the first few Phases that have never really been focused on before outside of comics. This showed us that we could get movies for heroes that could push them into the spotlight and make them well known. ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy‘, ‘Doctor Strange‘, ‘Black Panther,’ and the ‘Ant-Man‘ movies gave some light to heroes with lesser known names. Among those movies is the latterly mentioned ‘Ant-Man’ which gave us an introduction to the titular character who played a massive part in the franchise. No one would have expected to really like the character or think much of him, but the writing for the movies is so well done that it is hard not to like them.
Phase 4 of the MCU is mostly meant to introduce us to the newest wave of characters we will be seeing from this point onward. With this in mind, it isn’t too much of a surprise that the next installment of ‘Ant-Man’ would not be a part of this Phase of films. Thus it was assumed that production for the movie was delayed indefinitely, but there was no official announcement that this was, in fact, the truth. Disney confirmed the new date for the start of production as being some time in June of 2021 as opposed to what was previously announced when it was said they would start in January 2021. This delay allows for the script of the film to be refined which will give us a version of the film that can be seen as one of the best.
By George Robbins
The ‘TRON‘ franchise is not one that is thought of very often because it only ever had a couple of films release and it hasn’t gone anywhere since 2010. Nonetheless, ‘TRON’ as a whole has been cemented in history as a film that cannot and will not be forgotten, no matter how hard people try. The original film was relatively ahead of its time and the 2010 sequel made itself a box office success solely off of its visual style. The storytelling of the movies wasn’t what made them so popular, as instead, they became popular due to the visuals that people saw on the big screen. The two films are something that will remain in history, but newer generations may forget about them, so then, it seems we will get another one after all.
In the original ‘TRON’ film, Jeff Bridges plays the role of computer programmer Kevin Flynn as he is transported into a computer mainframe. What follows is an adventure through a world imagined in a way that would make some kind of sense given the fact he is in a simulation of a computer mainframe. The thing that stood out at the time was the fact that programs within the realm of the computer were portrayed as sentient beings that could develop independent thought over time. This on its own has always remained an interesting concept because it means that a living being having contact with a program can result in them becoming artificial intelligence that can change the world. An interesting thought to be sure, but not really what was intended with the making of the movie.
The follow-up sequel did not come into existence until almost 30 years later in 2010 when ‘Tron: Legacy’ released to theaters. The movie saw the disappearance of Kevin Flynn from the world as a whole for 20 years and his son, Sam Flynn, finds a way of looking for him. By going into a special mainframe created by his father he discovers the same type of world that his father once discovered on his journey so many years earlier. The movie itself has a mixed reception because the story wasn’t all that great, but the incredible visuals brought people to the theaters to see the movie. This is what ended up making the film a box office success. Unfortunately, another movie would not come to pass and plans for one were scrapped after a few years.
According to actor Garrett Hedlund, who played Sam Flynn, plans for a sequel to ‘Tron: Legacy’ were scrapped in 2015 after the box office bomb that was ‘Tomorrowland.’ Recently, Disney executive Mitchell Lieb revealed that ‘TRON 3’ is now officially back in development after these past 10 years. He also stated that the star who is set to appear in the film in the leading role in Jared Leto and that the film itself was actually a sequel and not a reboot like some thought it would be. So it seems it is only a matter of time before we end up with another film to add to the ‘TRON’ franchise and it may breath some life back into something that may soon be forgotten by the newest generations.
Get Some Strange!
