By George Robbins
Warner Bros. DC Extended Universe, or DCEU, has already found a place for itself as a mainstay film franchise, even if most of the movies are not well liked. One of the characters that is supposed to be the most prominent is Batman, but it seems as though no one is quite sure who should have the role. After the terrible response by fans and critics following the release of 2017’s Justice League, no one was quite sure where most of the DCEU would go moving forward. Ben Affleck had the role of the caped crusader and was meant to star in the standalone film ‘The Batman’ following Justice League, but he eventually stepped away from it.
Affleck was meant to stay on ‘The Batman‘ project as a director but left the project altogether eventually. This opened up a massive gap in the roster that, for the DCEU to continue onward, needed to be filled by somebody. This is how we ended up with Robert Pattinson taking over the role as the Dark Knight and starring in the upcoming film. Although filming for the movie has temporarily halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, the movie still has an October 2021 release date. The question is how the film will fit in with the universe it is meant to be set in and if it is truly the same Batman from other films.
The last question is one that stems from news that Michael Keaton is in talks to reprise his role as Batman in the future film ‘The Flash.’ Most other characters from the ‘Justice League’ film have already had a standalone film and the upcoming ‘The Batman’ serves as the titular character’s film. Though it is not at all surprising that the character is going to appear in another film starring another Justice League member. What is surprising is the choice of casting and what this means for the DCEU moving forward. We will get to see a multiverse storyline that only The Flash can introduce to the universe we have already seen. We won’t really know the full extent of it until the film releases some time down the line.
As of now, it seems ‘The Flash’ will follow the Flashpoint storyline where Barry travels back in time to save his mother, thus creating an alternate universe. This is the film adaptation, so there are some creative liberties that will be taken in order to make the story original, but it includes Keaton’s Batman. If he were to return to the role, it is even speculated that he could play the part of a mentor in the new multiverse that this would establish. He could also play a part in an in-development ‘Batgirl’ film in the future as well. At this point it is just what is speculated, but hopefully he will join the cast and within the next couple of years we can see him reprise his role.
By George Robbins
The question on many people’s minds right now are when exactly businesses will end up reopening or even when they will be allowed to reopen. As of late many places are allowed to reopen their businesses in set phases based off which businesses are most at risk of causing the virus to spread. It differs per region, but it hasn’t changed the fact that amusement parks and other forms of entertainment are among one of the last phases no matter where you go. Even though they will be the last to open, it doesn’t mean that there is no plan on what they will do when they actually do reopen to the public. At least for Disney, it seems every single park has a plan in mind when it comes to reopening the gates to guests.
Other Disney Parks such as the ones at Walt Disney World and Disneyland in California have set their reopening dates around the same time on July 11th and July 17th respectively. They have come up with their own ways of dealing with the reopening and the health concerns moving forward such as only opening a couple of parks at a time. Also, they have developed a park pass system that will allow visitors to schedule visitation to the parks based on availability to reduce visitor capacity. There are still many other unknowns, but it shows that a plan is in place to allow people to return. That is why it is not all that surprising that Disneyland Paris will be opening in phases starting July 15th.
Disneyland Paris is not the first international Disney park to reopen following their closing earlier in the year with Shanghai Disneyland opening May 11th and Hong Kong Disneyland opening June 18th. In order to ensure that business can slightly return to normal and social distancing rules are being followed, there are health measures in place. Among those measures is the previously mentioned pass system, but also some shows and events will not be available for the foreseeable future. Their official announcement stated a “phased reopening of the resort starting with the Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park, Disney’s Newport Bay Club Hotel and Disney Village as of 15 July 2020.” Disney Parks will be continuing to open with the usual events being possibly brought back in later phases, but for now the public will be able to go to the parks again if they have reservations.
By George Robbins
Disney has managed to cement its streaming service during this pandemic by getting people to flock to their site with content for them to keep busy watching. Not long after the pandemic began Disney had no choice but to shut down their amusement parks which are massive money makers for them. As a result of having to shut down the parks, it was estimated that they would be losing out on billions of dollars in revenue, but this isn’t their only form of revenue. Not long after theaters shut down and all movies in there were forced out, they made announcements about bringing movies to digital earlier than anticipated to keep people busy.
Since then, they have been making sure that their streaming service keeps up to date in order to keep their viewership numbers up during the pandemic. While the service may not be their only source of revenue, it is one of the constant sources they have currently available to them. They are still trying to keep their biggest theatrical releases in theaters by simply delaying them, but they need some new content here and there to keep crowds busy. This is why they recently announced things like the ‘Frozen 2’ making of documentary which will premiere on Disney+ on June 26th. This is also complimented by other releases in the near future such as ‘Hamilton.’
The ‘Hamilton’ movie is the film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name which goes through the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The musical is inspired by the 2004 biography of the founding father and the show’s music has a combination of hip-hop, R&B, pop, and soul. It was met almost immediately by critical success and was then moved to Broadway within a few months after its initial performance where it won 11 Tony Awards and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now, an edited form of the musical will be appearing on Disney+ as a film for people to watch on July 3rd instead of its intended theatrical release in October 2021.
By George Robbins
Kevin Smith is known for a number of indie films that have become cult favorites over the years. Among those films from the 90’s when he began his directing career was the movie ‘Mallrats.’ The plot of the movie followed two slackers one day while they are in a mall after their girlfriends break up with them. What follows is a day they will never forget involving a sailboat painting, a scheming store manager, Stan Lee, and a game show. This movie has a diverse cast of characters that all have their own problems and issues, and while some of the stuff in the movie seems out of the ordinary, it really is just a day at the mall. This is what makes the movie memorable in the minds of a lot of the people who’ve seen it.
When the pandemic began, no one could really leave their houses for anything other than the absolutely essential items. So with that in mind people had to find things to do in order to keep themselves from losing their minds in isolation. This, of course, includes writers who were out of work at the time due to film productions being shut down to prevent spread of the virus. Smith found himself stuck without much else to do but work on other projects that he had by the wayside up to this point including a sequel to the cult movie ‘Mallrats.’ So he started working on getting the movie ready for production by working on the script for the sequel.
Nowadays, movie productions are starting back up again with a lot of restrictions in place to keep people from getting the virus. This means that productions that were in the middle of filming can continue working while new productions can begin. Maybe soon Smith will begin the production process for his new sequel and we will get the movie in the, hopefully, not too distant future. Not much is currently known about the plot for the film, but Smith has made it known that he intends to make it reflect the climate that we have had to deal with. He believes that this is a time period that will not be forgotten and believes it will find its way into art from this point onward.
The sequel, called ‘Twilight of the Mallrats’ by Smith, will be a piece of media that will show the world how it currently is to anybody who watches it. If this is true, then the film will be something of a time capsule in the same way the first film depicts society in the 90’s. With a new spike in cases nationwide as a result of people being able to go out more than they were before, there is no telling when filming will start, but Smith already has his cast lined up. He has most of the original cast coming back to the film and while he may not yet have Ben Affleck signed on to reprise his role from the first ‘Mallrats’ he is hopeful that he will. After playing a main antagonist in the first film for one of the main characters it would only make sense if he returned, even for a small part. At this point it is up to Affleck to reprise the role even just momentarily.
By George Robbins
Amusement parks, like many other public places, have been shut down since the middle of March to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Now that non-essential businesses are slowly starting to open back up, it is time that parks begin reopening procedures as well. This has been a topic of discussion ever since the plans were announced, but the question is whether it is safe enough to reopen parks at all. Disney is thinking that it is definitely time for them to open up the gates to allow guests back into their parks. The only issue is the fact that there is a new surge of coronavirus cases all over the nation and especially in California where the Disneyland park is located. This is why parks, like many other businesses, have had to come up with plans to keep the general public safe while in their parks.
Disney plans to reopen both the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in California next month. The current plan is to have Disney World open on July 11th and to have Disneyland open up on July 17th. Disneyland is the one that seems to have a rougher road ahead of it with the massive spike in virus cases in California with some visitors even petitioning to delay the time until the parks reopens to the public. This is not deterring Disney from their plans and they have expressed their countermeasures against the spread of the virus a lot lately. They are doing all they can to make sure they are up to code and that they will be able to reopen their parks on time.
One of the efforts being made to prevent the virus from spreading and to keep people safe is that Disney World is opening only Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom first. A few days later they will also be adding EPCOT and Hollywood Studios to the list of reopen parks. They will also be temporarily stopping parades, character meet and greets, and similar attractions for the foreseeable future, leaving just a few different types of attractions open for guests. They will also be canceling their Halloween event, which usually draws in massive crowds, in order to prevent crowds from gathering. The online Disney Park Pass system being implemented will allow guests to reserve days to visit the parks.
In order to limit attendance in the parks they are implementing the Park Pass system which helps limit the number of people that can go into a park per day. Also, guests will only be able to visit one park per day with reservations for park visitation being limited in number and subject to availability. The specifics such as availability per park or whether the number of guests allowed will increase over time are unknown. There is no telling if people will end up having issues with the system, but it is the best one in place for the time being under the current guidelines. As of now it will help the parks reopen in the safest way possible and will allow visitors the opportunity to enjoy the parks again.
By George Robbins
It has been over three months now that theaters have unfortunately been shut down for and we are constantly hearing about the effects this has had on theaters. What is also mentioned is the fact that studios have had to shut down movie productions and postpone any theatrical releases that they had scheduled. One studio that has taken the opportunity to test out a release format they have been waiting to try is Universal when they released ‘Trolls World Tour’ on PVOD, or Premium Video On Demand. Apparently they have been meaning to see if it would work out if they released their films straight to digital and the pandemic gave them the perfect chance.
Universal made a statement that the movie did better than the first film financially and that it was a success. Not too long after they made that announcement did they say they were releasing their first live-action PVOD film, ‘The King of Brooklyn.’ They felt that the model thy had constructed was one that was strong enough to support them without them needing to wait and release films theatrically. This created a lot of tension between them and the theater chains, prominently AMC, who then said they would no longer be showing any films that were produced by Universal. Even now, AMC refuses to give way and change their minds.
Universal issued a statement almost immediately after AMC said they would no longer show their films saying that there intention was to release movies simultaneously through both platforms. Movie theaters are already going to be having a rough time moving forward and losing exclusive films doesn’t sit right by them. The exclusivity of a movie being shown in theaters is what companies count on when they want tickets sold for their movies. That is why there is currently such a symbiotic relationship between studios and theaters. This is also why theaters are the biggest part of whether a movie does well. If the movie does well in theaters, then whatever company that owns the film is going to end up making a fortune when the film is done with its theatrical run.
There is no guarantee that PVOD will even end up working out because, as it turns out, ‘Trolls World Tour’ wasn’t as much of a success as the studio reported it being. The film made a lot of money through the direct-to-VOD layout, but was it enough to cover the costs of marketing and production. Even still, unless it makes back at least over twice as much as the costs, then it probably won’t be seen as any kind of success but instead, a failure. There is no telling moving forward if it will be worth putting any more time and effort into the format unless they get enough films released this way to get better figures. On top of that, if they really want a good gauge of how well the movie will do they need to release a film that is highly anticipated. Otherwise, they are just better off doing what other studios are by delaying their movies to wait for a better climate for movie releases.
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