By George Robbins
The Academy Awards, otherwise known by most as the Oscars, are considered to be staples in the movie industry that shine a light on some of the best films of the previous year. There are a number of different categories that give praise to a bunch of different aspects about films that make them as great as they are. Even if a film doesn’t have a great plot, there can still be an aspect of the movie that garners praise from audiences and critics alike. This makes it possible for films and the people working on them to get credit for achievements that would otherwise go unnoticed. Thus, it is a time of year that gets people to see just how much work actually goes into the making of all of these different films and how each person who works on them is important to those projects.
There are countless categories of awards that currently exist within the Academy Awards that cover categories from Best Picture to Best Score to Best Costume Design and so on. A number of categories exist to promote aspects of films that people usually don’t know anything about. Sometimes it isn’t even what people know little about, but what they might not know about at all. Things like engineering effects and sound design are the last things on most people’s minds when they are watching a movie, but it is important for the film to be successful. Even if the film doesn’t end up being successful, these things are what make movies happen to begin with.
One of the most important aspects for a lot of movies is that they must have a lot of different professionals working together to make films look good. Now, this does include things like the awards listed before as well as actors and the director, but for many films there are stunts that need to be performed. These stunts are often times dangerous and if done by the actors they could hurt themselves, unless they are trained properly, and this ultimately leads to them needing someone to do stunts for them. This isn’t always the case like Tom Cruise doing his own stunts in all of his movies and Keanu Reeves doing his own stunts in the ‘John Wick‘ franchise. These stunts can be very hard and grueling work for not just the people doing them, but also the people filming them, those responsible for editing the scenes, and the teams behind the stunts themselves.
Recently, ‘John Wick’ director Chad Stahelski stated that the stunt crews on films should be acknowledged in the same way that other teams are come Oscar season. This opens up a strong case for stunt teams because it can take a lot of work and coordination to get these scenes set up and executed properly. If not prepared correctly, there could be dangerous consequences or money can be wasted that the studio would not have had to spend if it was done properly. Oscar season has been delayed a couple of months for next year due to the coronavirus pandemic, so maybe they could add a category that includes stunt departments to give them the recognition they deserve. Even if they can’t get that into the next season, they should probably try to get it in within the next couple of years.
By George Robbins
There has been a lot of attention on the movie industry as of late for a number of different reasons. One reason is the fact that many movies have had no choice but to either release straight to VOD or they have had to push back release dates to a better time period. After a spike in coronavirus cases, many movies that were meant to release later this year have had no choice but to be pushed even further back with many being pushed to some time in 2021. There are still a few films that are keeping close to their original releases like ‘Tenet,’ but the vast majority are being moved back in an attempt to find a better release window. The other reason that eyes have been locked onto the industry is because of the Black Lives Matter movement.
One of the points that has been brought to attention because of the movement is the treatment of black men and women in the movie industry throughout the years. A major point against Hollywood is the lack of any real diversity in many of the movies that are made and the treatment of the characters that were cast with black actors. The truth is that there are not many leading roles in Hollywood that have actors that aren’t white in leading roles. There have been a few attempts over the years to try and change this, to make at least some movies that have diversity, but not enough of them. This point of attention was one of the loudest points made by black actors that are already in the industry and people that are on the actors’ sides.
Another big point of contention are the portrayals that black actors have had to go through over the years in older films. This is one of the much more controversial topics that has been covered and has raised the question as to whether history should be remembered or not. The simple answer is that it should be remembered, but not necessarily memorialized in any type of way like people have tried to do. History is meant to be there as a reminder to people not to make the same mistakes that our ancestors did and to try and make the world better than it was yesterday. It also shows us how we got to where we are now and this is all important for moving forward. One of the ways it is trying to be forgotten involves the horrible history of Hollywood, but also our own nation.
‘Gone With the Wind‘ is one of the longest feature length movies that has ever been made and released theatrically and it holds a lot of cultural significance. It was up on HBO’s new streaming service HBO Max, but was taken down after people petitioned to have it removed due to the portrayals in the film. While black people in the film were treated horribly, it is also a film which takes place during the Civil War when slavery was still prominent. The portrayal of this terrible period in our nation’s history was just a way for Hollywood to make a film based on a literary classic, but it is something that left a mark on Hollywood all of these years. So now that the film is being put back up on HBO Max, there will be a four minute long introduction at the front-end of the movie to explain all of this and why it is important that it stays available.
By George Robbins
It seems as though Disney, like many other companies, are going to have a rough time ahead of them due to the spike in coronavirus cases. For them, they have been losing a lot of money due to their parks being closed and not having their parks opened up stateside is still hurting them. They had planned on opening up both Disney World and Disneyland in California by the middle of July, but it seems that this will not be the case moving forward. They tried taking every precaution they could in order to be able to reopen the parks, but it seems like that will simply not be enough of a difference. Thus, it appears Disneyland will not be able to open when they originally said it was going to.
Disneyland in California is a very frequented amusement park that sees a countless number of guests walking through the gates on a regular basis. Normally this is considered a good thing but now, with the amount of people who are still getting sick and the number of cases rising instead of falling like people hoped for is causing concern for the public. The park was originally meant to reopen its gates to the public on July 17th pending approval by the state government. There was talk when they first made the announcement that there would be too much risk in reopening the park this early with so much going on and that worry seems to now have a basis.
In order to combat the rate at which the virus is spreading, parks were shut down, and now that businesses are reopening, there was hope amusement parks would open again as well. However, due to a number of different reasons people accelerated the spread of the virus causing a spike in cases that is keeping that from happening. The reopening of the park is going to be put on hold just like most other things in the state of California right now because there is no telling how dangerous it could be to open up the park again. Governor Gavin Newsom had no choice but to implement additional safety procedures after the recent spike in cases. This included the approval of the park being denied by the state government until further notice.
Although Disneyland in California will remain closed longer than anticipated, the government and Disney are staying in constant contact. So as soon as the state will allow them to reopen, they will make the announcement as to exactly when they will do so. All of this is coming after they had just announced the reopening date and the measures they were taking to try and keep people safe. One of the biggest ways that they planned on doing this was with the park pass system which would limit the amount of people allowed in the park at one time. Hopefully the number of cases doesn’t rise exponentially over the next couple of weeks, but if it does, then it will be a long time off before they are able to reopen to the public.
By George Robbins
Disney has had their hands full ever since this pandemic began back in the middle of March due to how large the company is as a whole. They’ve had to shut down their parks and delay many of the films that were meant to come out under the company name or one of the outside studios handling their films. On top of having to shut down parks and delay films, they have had to make sure that their new streaming service was properly managed in order to keep people entertained while they’ve been stuck in their homes. Now that July is approaching fast, they have their plans set up to allow them to reopen their parks to the public and it seems like their movie release dates are cemented in place. However, problems have arisen recently that make it seem as though they are going to have a harder time than originally thought.
The Disney Parks reopening their gates to the public has been a source of some criticism over the past few weeks due to a spike in overall Covid cases. Disney has already opened their Honk Kong Disneyland park on June 18th and their Disneyland Shanghai Park on May 11th, but this was possible because that part of the world has been dealing with the virus longer than we have and they haven’t had a spike in cases. As of now the plan involves the opening of Disney World and Disneyland in California by the middle of July with restrictions. There have been a lot of people who do not want this to happen right now, but Disney assured people that their new park pass system will help keep people safe. They will be opening the parks at Disney World a few days after one another and will have all of them opened relatively quickly.
Disneyland Paris has its own plan to reopen the park in phases in conjunction with the park pass system to limit people coming into the park. This is the idea behind what the parks stateside plan on doing, but there is no guarantee it will work as intended and this is a risk a lot of people do not want to take. The risk involved with opening up these parks again is similar to the risk that is currently plaguing movie theaters that are trying to open up again. Many movies, even ones that were meant to release later this year, have been delayed because of all of the new cases. This presents a problem for Disney who have a premiere that is meant to be coming up soon in July. Their movie ‘Mulan’ is supposed to have its premiere on July 24th in theaters, but now the question is if they will change the date.
It wouldn’t be all that difficult to understand if they decided to delay the release date of the movie, but the current release date gives them an edge in the market. As of now, the only two blockbuster level films that are set to premiere in July are ‘Mulan’ and ‘Tenet.’ While ‘Tenet’ was meant to be the first film that was, according to Christopher Nolan, supposed to bring people back into theaters, Warner Bros. delayed the film two weeks so it now has a July 31st release date. This means ‘Mulan’ is now the film that can be seen in all theaters first when they reopen in the middle of July, but the question is if it is worth it for them to release it. With the number of cases gradually increasing as time goes on, they may just end up delaying the film again.
By George Robbins
There has been a lot of news lately in regards to movies that haven’t really started their production process yet moving forward anyway. This is in regards to getting scripts for films ready and getting casts set up to start production as soon as possible. Not much else was able to be done because of the pandemic which led to a lot more pre-production work being done in the mean time to get things ready to move forward when the time comes. Some productions are now able to start moving forward because there are rules in place which allow production crews to start working on their projects again. These new guidelines are a bit difficult to maneuver around given the fact most of it has to do with distancing, but they do allow movies to be worked on again.
Many new films were announced that they were going to be starting production sooner rather than later recently such as the ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ movie or the ‘Mallrats’ sequel. Another film that people were not sure was really happening or not was another film for the ‘Scream’ franchise of movies. After the death of Wes Craven, no one knew whether another film for the series would be worked on or not and it even became slightly controversial. Many, including the cast, felt like it just wouldn’t be the same type of movie without Wes Craven working on the film. No one was really ready to sign on to the new sequel being done by filmmakers Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin who took on the directorial duties. That was, until they said that the piece of media they had in mind would honor the original work done by Wes Craven for the franchise.
Not too long after they made this bold claim, an announcement was made that David Arquette would be returning to reprise his role as Dewey Riley. Not much else is currently known about the casting as Neve Campbell hasn’t really confirmed whether or not she wants to reprise her role as Sidney Prescott in the upcoming film. It is a tough decision for a lot of the cast because Wes Carven really did have his own style when it came to the creation of these films. There is no guarantee that the film will end up like the other films he worked on, but there is hope that it will be something worthy of the franchise. This puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the new directors in the coming few months as they prepare to start production.
‘Scream 5’ is set to start production by late summer in North Carolina with casting to be revealed over the course of the next few weeks. This will give us an idea as to who we will be seeing perform in the movie and how similar it will really be to the other films. The hope is that by starting production late this summer, that they will be able to have a 2021 release date set for the movie. With the number of delays that are currently happening due to a spike in virus cases, there is no guarantee that this will come to fruition. If they do manage to release the film when they want to, then it will release 10 years after the last film which was the last one directed by the late Wes Craven. Fans of the franchise have a lot to hope for moving forward and we will soon know if it is worth the wait.
By George Robbins
With theaters the way they are right now, it is no surprise that people might feel a bit out of place if they were in the mood to go out to a theater. Most theaters aren’t even opened up right now because they are one of the last types of businesses that states are allowing to open up. This is for good reason as they get a large amount of foot traffic and often times aren’t cleaned properly to stop the spread of infection. There are still theaters that have opened their doors and they did manage to see some form of consumer base during this past Father’s Day weekend. Though they don’t have any new content to show anybody, this hasn’t stopped them from opening their doors to the public and bringing in some kind of money.
The problem that we see going forward is the fact that no one knows how they should be behaving in public and it’s only creating more of a health risk. Theaters have apparently got their guidelines set up for when they reopen their doors for the general public to return to them. Many chain theaters, including those owned by AMC, will be reopening their doors wherever possible by the middle of July. This has a lot of people concerned as to whether they truly have any idea as to what it is they are doing or must do in order to allow people in their doors. On top of the theater following restrictions, viewers must also know what they are doing in order to follow through on the social distancing order.
Theaters are aware that they must strongly enforce the limited capacity rule if they wish to stay open due to the new health guidelines. The new limited capacity rules require that no more than 25% or 100 people, whichever is lower, are allowed in the theaters at once. All of this is to enforce the social distancing rule which is still the biggest way of preventing the spread of the virus. The question for many people who decide to go to the theater is how exactly they are supposed to follow the new rules. Also, what is the best possible way to orient yourself in order to follow the rules and watch the movie like you wanted to watch it. Fandango is doing their best to help with that now.
In order to help get people back into theaters to watch movies, Fandango has launched new features and services to help people out and to keep them safe and informed. Among the new features are options to find nearby theaters that are opened, a way to check new theater policies, a contactless way to purchase tickets, contactless ticket entry for theaters, and, in their words, a worry free refund and exchange policy. With all of this in place, it makes it much easier for the general public to find what it is they are looking for. This also makes it easier for theaters by giving people the opportunity to do everything online and get people through the doors quicker, preventing lines and hopefully drawing more people to theaters. We will know within the next month whether it was worth them doing this or not when the remainder of theaters hopefully open without issue.
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