By George Robbins
This pandemic has resulted in a lot of different information coming out lately regarding movies that released a while back. Recently, there has been a lot of information coming out in regards to films in the DCEU and the Warner Bros. film studios. The biggest announcement which sparked so much new information coming out in regards to the studios involvement in their movies was the Snyder cut of the ‘Justice League’ film. This cut of the film has been a rumor on the internet since the movie’s initial release in 2017 and was just cleared for release. So now, the newest version of the film is being worked on and it will release some time in 2021 on HBO Max. This gave hope to fans and pushed them to focus on other films they would also like a special cut of.
After the announcement of the Snyder cut and its upcoming release, ‘Suicide Squad’ director David Ayer has said that he wants a special cut for his film as well. When his movie was first teased, it was an intriguing piece of media for a lot of DC fans because of the promotional material for the film. ‘Suicide Squad’ was going to be its own type of film following the titular villains/ anti-heroes on their mission to save the world. Upon the movie’s release, however, the film turned out different than people were hoping for and people criticized it for its muddled plot and tone. This would have to do with the reshoots that were done before the film released and would apparently be the reason for why the film wasn’t as good as it should have been.
Ayer insisted after the film’s release that the movie was not really changed all that much after its reshoots were finished. This would end up being not at all true according to Ayer recently and he wants to release his own cut of the film. What Ayer has said happened is that Warner Bros. saw how people reacted to ‘Deadpool’ after its release and decided that the film needed a more lighthearted tone which caused the issues that people had for the film. He has said that his original version of the movie was much darker and the plot points and character motivations made more sense in his original cut. If this is true then it is just another example of movie studios getting too involved and not letting directors carry out their intended vision for their film.
James Gunn who is now going to be the director for the newest ‘The Suicide Squad,’ a sequel/reboot of the original, has taken Ayer’s side in this scenario. This does not make him the only director to be on his side because ‘Birds of Prey’ director Cathy Yan took his side as well by replying “I’m so sorry this happened to you, David. I know the pain.” on Twitter. We should all know by now that studios sometimes have a habit of taking things too far and ruining a movie just because they think it will sell better. So with that in mind Ayer is trying to push fans to help make his dream a reality by getting Warner Bros. to sign off on him releasing his own cut which he says is nearly finished anyway. Hopefully, after seeing the support he has on his side, the studio will allow him to finish and release his own cut of the film.
By George Robbins
The coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing threat, and despite whatever else is going on in the world right now, it is still very dangerous. Many still recognize that this threat is still ever present and can harm a lot more people if the public doesn’t remain careful about what they do. That is why even though some public places have opened to some degree, there is still a lot of security around to ensure people are adhering to the health and safety rules in place. So with that in mind, it does sound a little daunting with the idea in the back of your head that you are being watched in public to make sure you are being safe. This doesn’t mean that some companies can’t have fun in keeping people safe and entertain them at the same time.
Most public businesses have been shut down sine the announcement of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to curb spread of the virus. Among those businesses that were forced to shut down were many in the entertainment industry. One of the biggest types of business that was forced to shut down to the public were amusement parks. Parks have had a rough go of things since they had to keep up maintenance while they were closed in order to reopen to the public when the time came. They have also had to furlough their staff since they couldn’t afford to keep paying them until they reopened. With this being the season for amusement parks, no one knew what they were going to do or when they would reopen.
Now, as part of the phase one reopenings of some non-essential businesses, some parks can reopen to some degree. While not being able to open in an official capacity, parks can open to reduced capacity crowds who must then follow the same rules in place as other businesses. There are certain checks that must be held in place, people must wear masks, and they must maintain the social distancing rule. The last item on that list is wear companies like Disney can start having a little bit of fun with how they maintain the rules. Disney World has slowly started the reopening of its parks starting with Disney Springs to get an idea as to how the parks will run moving forward.
Disney decided that instead of having ordinary security guards enforcing the social distancing rules they have in place, they would instead have Stormtroopers do it. Since Disney has gained control over the Star Wars intellectual property, they have been putting it to good use and have been integrating it in their parks. With the reopening of one of their parks, the last thing they would want is people being intimidated by their being guards watching them at all times. Even though the Stormtroopers are meant to do the same thing as security guards, it is a lot more fun for park visitors if it is a character of some kind. This just goes to show that even during the worst times, it is still okay for people to have fun and I hope this goes for other businesses as well.
By George Robbins
This pandemic has made it difficult for businesses to simply exist let alone function properly in any kind of official capacity. As stated numerous times at this point, the movie industry is in a little bit of trouble due to the fact that theaters are shut down. Many theaters have had their doors shut since the announcement of the pandemic back in mid-March, but doors in China have been shut even longer. Theaters are facing a financial crisis at the moment since theater owners must still keep their establishments up to code and must adhere to all new health guidelines even with doors shut. This means that they still have to shell out money in order to keep their businesses going which is putting them on the edge of financial ruin.
Not only must they worry about paying out money now to keep their businesses going, but after they reopen their doors they will have a lot on their minds as well. After all, many production companies will not be releasing their films until the end of the year due to the fact that their must be leeway after theaters reopen their doors. Theaters are considered a public risk due to the fact that so many people visit them on a regular basis and this also lowers consumer confidence. With that in mind, many new movies people are looking forward to will not release until late this year. So then what will movie theaters have to show in the mean time. That is what theaters in Hong Kong are dealing with right now.
While there may not be any new movies to show right now, there are many people who wish to have the movie-going experience just so they can leave the house. Since the virus started in China, it makes sense that their businesses would be beginning to reopen around this time, at least to some degree. Thus, theaters are starting to reopen and to capture the attention of the public, they will be playing older blockbuster films to try and draw people in and to raise consumer confidence in theaters. Among the movies that will be shown are ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Iron Man 3’ and will ,hopefully for the theaters, be able to draw enough people in that they will be able to stay opened.
By George Robbins
This pandemic is a horrible time for just about everybody at this point, but sometimes we can definitely find some kind of silver-lining. While much of the entertainment industry has essentially been shut down, there are plenty of discussions going on in the background right now to keep projects going. Writers working on their next films, directors looking for new projects, even if some of their current projects aren’t done yet, and so on. Producers are working to try and figure out just how they can get movies to start filming properly again and some are even working on future projects already. Studios are trying to plan ahead and now WB is trying to get their original Superman back to play his part in other films.
The Warner Bros.’ DCEU kicked off in 2013 when the ‘Man of Steel’ movie first released and it starred Cavill as the titular “Man of Steel” himself. While the reviews of the movie were lukewarm at best, the general consensus was that Cavill did a pretty good job with the character. He and his agents made sure that he would continue to play the character in at least a few of their upcoming movies. With that, he went on to play the character in the ‘Batman v Superman’ and ‘Justice League’ movies. The last of those films started giving his group doubts as to whether it would be a good idea to continue working on those films.
As a part of the contract Cavill and his team had with WB, he was meant to appear in at least one more movie in the DCEU before he contract could be renegotiated for a higher amount. After ‘Justice League’ Cavill had one more movie in order to fulfill his contract and there was a dispute as to whether a cameo would count as an appearance. He was meant to appear as Superman in the ‘Shazam!’ movie in a cameo appearance but, according to the studio, this did not count toward his contract. This dispute resulted in Cavill being announced as not being a part in any future DCEU films. This, on top of Ben Affleck announcing that he would no longer be playing the part of Batman in the DCEU did not look good for the franchise moving forward.
According to reports, Cavill may just end up returning to play the Man of Steel in an upcoming film in the DCEU, but the film in question is still up for debate. There is also no guarantee that he really will return since, as of now, it is something that is still being discussed between him and the studio. The project, or possible projects, that he would return to be a part of do not include a ‘Man of Steel 2,’ ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ ‘The Suicide Squad,’ or ‘The Batman.’ This means that even if he does really return to the role, that it will not be any of the upcoming films in the franchise and it will instead be one much further down the line. Also, this means that he will more than likely not be a part of any standalone films in the future.
According to the report, it is most likely that WB wants the character to be a connecting character throughout much of the universe in order for there to be a central character to follow. This only makes them seem more like another certain comic book universe since there are characters that connect to multiple story lines through the sheer fact they are present in the movies. This would end up working out for Cavill due to the fact that playing a larger role in future movies would impede his ability to work on his other major acting role at the moment as Geralt in the ‘Witcher’ series. Hopefully we will get to see him return as the Man of Steel to the big screen some time in the not-too-distant future.
By George Robbins
The MCU is a massive franchise with many movies that are currently sat underneath its belt and most of those films have been well received. They just finished Phase Three of their release schedule which finished off a ten year overarching story line which culminated with a final intense battle and the end of two heroes’ story lines. The next phase, Phase Four, of the MCU release schedule was meant to start this month with the ‘Black Widow’ movie. These plans changed when the coronavirus pandemic was announced back in the middle of March and the movie’s release date was changed to November of this year instead. This was not the film that was originally meant to release this time however.
The original plan going into Phase Four of the MCU was to apparently release Volume 3 of the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ series first. When the first movie in the series was announced, no one knew what to expect because they were characters that were not very well known to the public. Their first film released during Phase Two in an effort to introduce characters people didn’t really know much about to the grand scheme of things. Director James Gunn was the one responsible for delivering a story and characters that people almost instantaneously fell in love with. However, due to a controversy caused by old social media posts that Gunn had made awhile back, the production of the movie was put on hold.
People on the internet found outrage when they found old social media posts that didn’t really hold up to today’s social climate and pushed for Gunn to be let go as a director. While initially he was fired, there was enough of an outcry from both fans and the cast of the ‘Guardians’ films to get them to hire him back on as a director. All of this ended up setting back the production of the movie and they were not able to start working on the film in the time frame that they initially wanted to. As such, it has been revealed by Gunn that if they were able to work on the film when they originally wanted to, then the movie would have, in theory, hit theaters this month. While we now know that it would have been pushed back regardless, we still would have gotten the film faster than we are going to get it.
By George Robbins
This pandemic has caused a great deal of issues for just about everyone on Earth, but there are some who it has affected even more than others. Only some businesses were allowed to remain open when this all began, and since then some businesses have been allowed to reopen with similar restrictions to the other ones that have been opened the whole time. One of the biggest industries to be affected by all of this is the entertainment industry and to be more specific it is the movie industry. Movie theaters have had their doors shut since the beginning of the pandemic in mid-March and will be keeping doors shut until around July. This has resulted in a lot of projects being delayed while productions in the midst of filming have had to be delayed due to the virus.
While it may seem as though the movie industry is at a sort of standstill, this is not really the case. There are plenty of creatives such as writers, directors, and producers who are doing their best to keep the industry moving despite everything else being shut down. It can be said that they are just trying to keep themselves busy or they are just looking for work, but they really are keeping the movie industry alive right now. There are plenty of new productions that have been announced during quarantine thus far and they are all projects that people are now looking forward to. Among the projects announced was one thought up by Tom Cruise and Elon Musk with the help of NASA.
Cruise and Musk came up with an idea to film a movie entirely in outer space and made it their mission to try and make that film a reality. If they manage to succeed in such an endeavor, then that film would be the first feature length film to ever be shot entirely in space. This feat is one that they would never be able to complete on their own even with Musk’s SpaceX program to back them up. So they went to NASA in order to find out if such a feat would even be possible for them to accomplish at this point in time. After a discussion to see whether it would be possible, NASA announced that the momentous achievement would, in fact, be possible through the use of the ISS, or International Space Station.
The ISS is a massive satellite station which orbits the Earth and it contains compartments holding crew members from multiple nations all over the world. The purpose of the ISS is to conduct experiments in space in order to discover new things about the universe we live in and to find all kinds of new possibilities for us to explore as a species. So it would only make sense that NASA would want to help in making a movie that would show just what can be done in space. The premise of the film is not really known at the moment since it has only just been announced not to long ago that the movie was in development. What is known about the film is that it is a narrative action film which isn’t much of a surprise given Cruise’s track record and that Musk’s SpaceX will be primarily producing the movie.
On top of knowing the genre of the movie and the people who will be producing it, we now have a director to attach to the film. The director for the movie will be the same director who has worked with Cruise on other projects before, Doug Liman. Liman is known for directing action movies such as ‘The Bourne Identity’ and ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ and has worked on movies with Cruise such as ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ and ‘American Made.’ With these films in mind it is no surprise that he would end up being picked to help work on this new film as a director. There is no information right now regarding cast or any kind of plot points for the film, but I am certain we will hear something soon given the attention this film will be getting.
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