By George Robbins
The WarnerMedia group has always been one of the biggest groups to exist within the entertainment industry and nowadays that hasn’t really changed all that much. There is a problem with being one of the biggest companies and that is the fact that there is often times a lot of different things going on at once that need to be kept track of. Lately, they have had their hands full with trying to put out releases because theaters have not properly reopened their doors to the public yet. If things end up going the way that they want them to, one of their films, ‘Tenet,’ will be among the first films to play in theaters when they eventually do open their doors.
They have had to push back the theatrical release of ‘Tenet’ a couple of times already to accommodate for the fact that coronavirus cases have started to spike again. On top of having to delay that movie, they have had to delay pretty much every other release they have lined up through to the end of the year. The only thing that is currently working out for them is their newest service, HBO Max, which is their premiere streaming service launched at the end of May. HBO Max has been recognized for a couple of reasons, with the biggest reason being how much content is available on the service and how much will be made available in the future. There are many exclusives that are meant to be launched some time in the not too distant future and this is giving people a lot to look forward to.
Among the new content that will eventually be added to the service is exclusive content that will only be able to be seen by people that are subscribed to the service. One of the biggest announcements that was made was the fact that the Snyder cut of ‘Justice League’ will be released on the service some time in 2021. Beyond that, there is more content that will be made available such as the recently announced Ultimate Edition of ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ which will be the only version available on the service. It is because of the Ultimate Edition that people have even started seeing the original film in a better light because it gives clarity to the character motivations and cohesiveness to the story. It will certainly be a title that will be looked forward to and will definitely help people get excited for the new cut of ‘Justice League.’
By George Robbins
As of late, there has been a lot of news in regards to the movie industry for a number of different reasons that are shaping the current industry moving forward. Whether it be news about movie theaters or the production of movies themselves, there is currently a lot going on not only in the U.S., but worldwide. Is this really any kind of actual surprise given how the pandemic is affecting all different types of businesses? There is plenty of reason for things being the way that they currently are and now that the industry wants to keep moving on, it is becoming harder and harder but there are attempts being made to make things easier. However, there are still way too many things going on right now for any attempts to truly be made to smooth things out.
Movie theaters are having some of the worst trouble as of now due to the fact that theatrical releases for movies keep getting pushed back because there are spikes in virus cases. These movies get pushed further back which, in turn, gets the opening dates for most theaters pushed back as well. Without any new movies to show, theaters are left with nothing but older movies to show and it is becoming a problem because most people only want to go to the movies to see new film releases. This has created a difficult situation for many theater owners as they have no way to continue funding their businesses which causes many of them to end up closing permanently. For their sake, hopefully some movies will release sooner rather than later and they can pull some people in.
Movie productions aren’t doing nearly as badly by comparison and they have recently been able to restart productions to get movies finished that should have been nearly done already. Many countries around the world are allowing production crews and cast to re-enter their borders given a two week quarantine and also given that they follow a strict set of rules for work. This, at the very least, gives many productions an opportunity that they haven’t had in months to keep companies moving forward to work on whatever projects are next on the docket. Films that are already done and awaiting their theatrical releases are in the same boat as theaters unfortunately because they need to have a clear window for release where they know they will not be shut down. On top of that they need to be released when the companies think that people will even want to go to the movies.
All of these things have been in the news for the entertainment industry recently and included on the list is news that involves streaming services. Among those services is WarnerMedia’s HBO Max which has countless hours of content according to the company. Just before the service had its full launch, it was announced that director Zack Snyder would be releasing his director’s cut of ‘Justice League’ on the service some time in 2021. Due to personal tragedy and apparent studio interference, Snyder was not able to make the film the way he wanted it and was given the greenlight to put together a version of the film that he created himself. Some have questioned if he had to compromise on any part of the film to get this release, but as of now he has said that there is no compromise and the version he puts out to the public will be wholly his own.
By George Robbins
As of late, there have been many production companies that have been doing their best in order to try and get their production crews back out in the field to continue on with their filming that they had to postpone. At the same time that movie theaters in the U.S. shut down, Hollywood as a whole shut down movie productions all over the world in order to help prevent spread of the coronavirus. There were productions going on all over the world that have been greatly affected by the shut down and it will take some time before they can truly get up to speed to resume. Before any productions are allowed to resume in any other countries, there is a 2-week grace period for quarantine to make sure no one on staff has it. Then, and only then, are they allowed to begin working on their productions again.
James Cameron wanted very much to restart production on his second ‘Avatar’ film and this became very much within the realm of possibility back in May when New Zealand announced no new cases. In order to resume production, the cast and crew had to fly out to the country and spend two weeks in isolation in order to ensure that no one had the virus. These precautions were put into place in order to prevent the outbreak from occurring in the country again and to allow the production crews the necessary freedom they will need to shoot the film. Without the guarantee that people will not end up being sick in some way, there would be no way to make the film without restrictions in place. These restrictions would cause nothing but trouble and could completely change the movie itself.
Among the places that have such restrictions in place is the U.K., who have started to allow production crews back into the country to allow them to resume filming. In the U.K. the rules for the two week quarantine must be put into place in order to prevent spread of the virus among the crew who are working there. It seems, however, that the seventh upcoming film for one of the longest action franchises, ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ will be able to resume filming with special exception to the quarantine rule. This rule is in place for people from foreign countries, but if a film or television production is considered British, they can resume filming without the quarantine. This seems to be more of a loophole since they are taking advantage of British Film Institute classifications to continue working.
Even though this might be seen as something akin to a loophole, it applies very specifically to cast and crew who are only there for film and television productions. Their goal was to start up production again by September, but now that they will be able to start working as soon as they get there, they may start sooner rather than later. By saving two weeks of production time, there is a good chance that they are simply trying to keep the release on schedule as much as possible to prevent an even bigger delay than they already have. They will be starting filming with outdoor scenes first which gives them more opportunity to play around with the restrictions for interior shots which could help the film. The movie was supposed to have a release date some time in July 2021, but when the pandemic started they had to move the theatrical release date to some time in November of 2021.
By George Robbins
There are countless monster movie icons that exist in the world, but the giant monsters are the ones that have made the biggest resurgence over the last few years. Of those giant monsters, the ones that are known by most are Godzilla and King Kong due to Legendary’s MonsterVerse that they’ve concocted. The idea was to create a universe where the giant monsters from Toho’s original monster movies could find their way to the big screen in a more modern age. There were many types of shared universes that companies have tried creating over the past decade or so with many just not really going anywhere. Out of those universes came the MonsterVerse crafted by Legendary Pictures, and although they only have three films released as of now, it is very successful.
Although there are only a few movies to have released thus far, there have actually been a large number of monsters that have been introduced to the MonsterVerse. With the most recent ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ movie they introduced a very large number of monsters to the universe. For those who paid attention during the credits, there have also been a number of monsters that weren’t seen on screen that exist in that universe that were revealed. In the last film, it has become a fact that Gozilla has solidified his place among all of the monsters in the world as the alpha, but according to source material outside of the movie, Kong doesn’t listen and does whatever he wants. This creates the question as to whether Godzilla will remain the king when it comes time for the two of them to fight one another.
There have been a number of announcements over the last month or so in regards to the upcoming ‘Godzilla vs Kong’ such as the fact that the film has secured its PG-13 rating. On the not so bright side side of news in regards to the film, the studio decided that they were going to delay the film due to the rise in Covid-19 cases as of late. Instead of premiering the movie in November as intended, they changed the new release date to May of 2021. This isn’t all that surprising considering everything else that is happening, but it does mean that we will have to wait a while longer before we can watch the titanic show-down. The question is why the two titans would end up coming up against one another and if they are really the only two monsters in the film.
Although the title of the movie suggests that it is a fight for dominance between the titular monsters, there is a good chance we will be seeing other monsters involved somehow. It has already been spoiled by the toy lines that at least two other kaiju will appear in the movie alongside the titular titans. One of those monsters is another Toho original, Mechagodzilla, and a wholly original monster by the name of Nozuki. There is no explanation as to just what roles they will have in the movie, but it is clear that there will more than certainly be multiple combatants taking part in the fight for control. All we can do now is wait and see for sure when more information becomes available in regards to the movie.
By George Robbins
Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘ was, from the moment it released into theaters, a film where there was a unanimous love for it. The story of the film pulls some inspiration from the comics that it was based off, but it also tells a story that is wholly unique. There are not many movies nowadays that can say that they have managed to captivate audiences with a new and original plot. Beyond just the story of the film though there is the look of the film itself and it looks extraordinary due to the amount of time and effort put into the film. There was a lot of time put into making this animated movie, and now we have a film where every single shot looks like a moment from a comic book.
Despite the fact that there are multiple Spider-Men existing in the same place at the same time, it really isn’t overwhelming because of how it was done. Every character in the film is given sufficient backstory which helps those who don’t know the characters in understanding what worlds they are from. They also do an excellent job of demonstrating throughout the film that no matter what universe they are from, they will almost always be the same. Even though it is a story which features so many different characters, we know immediately who the protagonist is and we know that it is really his origin story as a hero. All of this combined is what made the movie so incredible to watch and still keeps the movie interesting even if you want to watch it again.
Not too long ago we found out that Sony had started up production for ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2’ and that we will see the film release possibly within 2 years from now or maybe a little over 2 years. The first movie was absolutely incredible in terms of the animation and the comic book feel gives the movie its own identity. Not only is the style unique to the story, but the fact that each universe has its own unique style within the movie just shows the effort that they went through to make the movie its own thing. The producer for the upcoming sequel, Christopher Miller, has said that the next film will have animation more incredible than the first film’s.
Given how well they did with the first film, it is incredibly difficult for them to be able to create a film where the visuals are even better than they were the first time around. What it really means for the film’s visuals to be better is pretty much unknown at this point and it won’t be until we see a trailer for the movie that we’ll understand the meaning behind that statement. That is the moment we will be able to judge whether or not what he said was true. In the meantime, we have a lot to look forward to when the movie comes out and hopefully it ends up being as great as advertised and we get something as great or greater than the first film.
By George Robbins
As many of us all know by now the nation is still suffering in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic which is responsible for changing the daily lives of everyday people. Not only is it responsible for the changing of people’s daily lives, but also many different forms of industry. One of the industries to have some of the biggest issues at the moment is the entertainment industry and more specifically, the movie industry. There have been a good number of times that we have already spoken about the numerous issues being faced by the movie industry. Things such as the massive delays for films and the reaction that movie theaters are having to the increasing delay time are all tenuous at the moment. Studios are having pretty much daily discussions at this point about what they should do about their movies’ theatrical releases.
With the newest surge in Covid cases as of late, most studios at this point have moved their film releases into late August, September, or even some time later this year/early next year. At this point, the decisions that studios are having to make must be done on a regular basis because things just keep seeming to get worse recently. Many companies are taking hits in constantly moving around dates like this, but if they release at the wrong time, they stand to lose a good portion of the value the movie would be worth otherwise. Among the companies that have had to move things around to accommodate for the current climate is Disney. Disney now owns so many properties that they almost constantly have movies coming out throughout the year. This has become an issue as of late since they have had to delay their films.
Disney was getting ready to release their live-action version of ‘Mulan‘ when the pandemic hit with another movie, ‘Black Widow,’ meant to be releasing in late April. Instead, ‘Mulan’ was pushed back to late July and now it has been pushed back to late August with a good chance that it could be pushed yet again to September. ‘Black Widow,’ on the other hand, had a significant delay that set the theatrical release date back to November of this year. The actual presentation of movies has been a topic of discussion that has stayed in the air for months now. On the other hand, movie productions have been in talks to resume for many different movies so long as they are following the new filming guidelines put in place. One of those movies is Marvel’s upcoming ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings‘ which will be resuming production at the end of July.
The upcoming film is another introduction to a brand new character that will appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the Phase 4 movies they have lined up. This is a character that hasn’t really existed outside of the comic book medium and it gives a chance to put another character in the spotlight. Disney’s Marvel Studios being able to resume production will mean that they might not have to really delay as much as they anticipated or even have to delay it at all. Thus, there is at least a little bit of good news going the way of the studio and hopefully in the not too distant future we will get to see a film that shows us what the character will truly be capable of in the MCU.
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