By George Robbins
Star Wars is now a massive multi-billion dollar franchise that is known by people all over the world by this point. Starting over 40 years ago, the franchise was one that introduced all kinds of fantastical and yet somewhat realistic characters and objects to the sci-fi genre. Over the years, the franchise has seen a lot of different ups and downs, whether it be because of movies, specials, television series, or the acquisition of the franchise by Disney. Either way, the brand has obtained a lot of good faith from the public over the years and has attained a level of fame that few established fictional universes have.
There are many pieces of content that tie into the Star Wars canon and every single one is loved, in some way, by a member of the fan base. While there are a lot of pieces of Star Wars canon that have been well received critically, there are some that weren’t. This has resulted in there being Star Wars media that are considered flops by the production studio. This, in turn, creates problems because it makes it appear as though it wouldn’t be worth making something similar in the future. This is exactly what happened after ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ premiered in theaters and it received a lukewarm critical reception.
That is not to say there are not a lot of people that actually did like the movie, because there were and they are very vocal about getting a sequel of some kind. However, due to the critic response and the fact that, despite making over $392 million dollars on a $250 million budget after having to do re-shoots, they considered it a flop financially. This then led to Disney and Lucasfilms not continuing their plan to make more spin-off movies to compliment the main storyline. This might not be a permanent decision on their part, but that still doesn’t change the fact that for at least some amount of time in the near future, they will not be making any more side story spin-offs.
By George Robbins
There is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s minds that the DCEU is not a cinematic universe created with any real kind of direction in mind. This, in my opinion, is the reason why everything feels so out of place in that franchise, as well as the fact that executives apparently have a hard time allowing directors to do what they want. The movie production process is one that requires a discussion between directors and producers and not simply producers doing whatever they want. That way of thinking is generally how we end up with things like directors’ cuts in the first place since they are the films that the directors wanted to make to begin with. This does end up, however, working out for both the Director and executives in the end.
This doesn’t change the fact that the consumer can end up getting a piece of media in the end that is better than the original content. So it should be seen as a good thing that the divisive ‘Suicide Squad’ movie actually has a Director’s Cut in the works that is nearly finished. This movie was one that many people looked forward to seeing, but were worried about after having seen the trailer. That worry ended up being for good reason because the movie was a critical failure as far as many were concerned. Many were hoping for a far more interesting movie considering the source material and it was promoted as being similar to it in ways people were hoping for.
‘Suicide Squad’ director David Ayer has said that the director’s cut for the movie has not only been in the works for awhile, but it’s nearly finished with only some VFX work remaining. Ayer is trying to get the fanbase for his anti-hero movie to petition Warner Bros. the same way they had for the Snyder cut of ‘Justice League.’ He wants to be able to show the movie the way that he originally intended to have it shown. So without the help of people on the outside, he will not get to show his dream version of the movie he worked so hard on. There is no way of telling if it would be worth it to get that version released, but the same can be said about ‘Justice League.’ So, hopefully the new cut will be able to release and hopefully it will be better than the original if it is put out.
By George Robbins
Countless issues continue to arise due to this outbreak of the novel coronavirus and will continue to do so for awhile moving forward. One of the most affected industries to be inconvenienced by the pandemic we are currently wading through is the entertainment industry. In the entertainment industry one of the most monetarily lucrative parts of it, namely the movie industry, has been affected horribly by this. What I mean to say is that the industry is at a standstill for the most part with very little being done productively. There is no way for movies to be presented to people right now with theaters shut down other than releasing them straight to VOD.
Some movies have already been released straight to VOD and they are selling quite well on that platform. However, for good faith between production companies and theater companies, as well as the prospect of making more money, some companies have decided to delay their film. This covers what is happening to movies that have already been made and are just getting ready to be shown to the public. There is still the issue that all movies and television shows have had to halt their production and won’t be able to start up again until around the times most theaters reopen their doors. This creates an entirely new set of problems for people to deal with in the industry.
With filming productions currently halted, there are many who simply want to get back to work on sets all over the world. However, much of the world does not have plans for relaxing the rules of the lockdown in order to allow filming again. There are some places that do plan on allowing productions to start up again soon with one of them being the state of Georgia. Georgia state has started reopening businesses a few weeks ago with restrictions in order to try and get the economy back on track. So now that businesses have been opened for a little while, they are making plans to allow filming to start up again. This is, however, not without new guidelines in place to keep people safe during the pandemic.
The guidelines which will be in place during the filming of any shows or movies is similar to ones that must be followed by any businesses. These guidelines include things like temperature checks, masks, and the most poignant rule to date, social-distancing. On sets, crew members will be forced to adhere to these rules, less crew members will be allowed to be present, and an Occupational Risk Prevention employee must remain present at all times to see if they adhere to the policies. While not filming, actors must keep masks on, they must bring as much of their own wardrobe as possible, and they must adhere to the distancing policy. These guidelines have been discussed many time until now, and it seems they will actually be going along with this set of rules after all. Productions will be allowed to begin again in Georgia on July 8th.
By George Robbins
With not much else for us to do during this pandemic, we don’t really have much of a choice but to wait for new content to release. This pandemic has got everybody annoyed by the fact that they can’t go out and properly enjoy what the world has to offer. That doesn’t mean that there is absolutely nothing to do, though it does mean that we have a lot of stuff to wait for. As of now, some new movies have been released straight to VOD, while most movies have had their release dates pushed back to accommodate the reopening of most theaters. This will give theaters a small chance to recuperate, but only if people are confident enough in the industry to go back out there. Hopefully things can soon be fixed before theaters are forced into bankruptcy.
Theaters have now been shut down for nearly two and a half months and most don’t plan on reopening their doors to the public until the beginning of July. While it is a good thing that theaters have a plan in place, it isn’t helping them now to pay their expenses. They may not be open, but they still have plenty of expenses that need to be accounted for so that they can eventually open their doors for the public again. It is very unfortunate that we will not be getting any new movies a a little while longer, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start getting hyped up for those movies now. This is being shown by a series that has generations of fans by this point and that is ‘Godzilla.’
Specifically, I am talking about ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ which is supposed to release later this year in November. It is currently one of the few movies slated for release this year that was not affected by the pandemic due to it having such a late year release date. In order to get people more excited about the monster on monster violence that will ensue, Legendary Pictures is going to be dropping graphic novels for the public as supplemental reading materials for the upcoming movie. They have done this with the other MonsterVerse movies that they’ve done thus far as well with one graphic novel to supplement each film. This time they are going to be supplementing their upcoming film with two novels.
The first novel that Legendary mentioned they would be releasing was one that shows Godzilla’s perspective as the guardian of the planet. Next, the second novel will focus on the perspective of a female pilot and will feature King Kong. These two novels are meant to serve as the prequels to the monster smack-down that we will be witnessing when ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ drops into theaters. Hopefully, if people still aren’t frequenting theaters as much by the time the film releases, people will be excited enough to go out and see it. People need to be safe, but they can try and have fun while doing so to keep themselves sane.
By George Robbins
Marvel Comics have become the basis for numerous stories that have been told over the years and have given the public a lot of entertainment. While a lot of the credit for popularizing comic book movies usually goes to the first ‘Iron Man’ film, the Sam Raimi ‘Spider-Man’ films did a fairly good job at that as well. ‘Spider-Man’ has become something of a staple in the Marvel franchise of movies and this is something that is not bound to change considering how important ‘Spider-Man’ is to Marvel as a whole. Although Disney is responsible for the inception of the newest Spidey films ala Marvel Studios, it is Sony that has the rights to the ‘Spider-Man’ character and franchise.
Sony has recently been living it up with the character because the Marvel Studios films have been doing so well. On top of that, they produced the massively popular ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ film which did very well critically and financially. So, it makes sense that they would want to expand upon the universe of the character that they have so much invested into. This resulted in them hiring director S.J. Clarkson to become the director for a new ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off film that will feature a female character as the main character of the film. This is in line with them wanting to set up backgrounds for all of their characters in the collective ‘Spider-Verse’ franchise.
Sony Pictures has two more films releasing that will give us background on new characters in the webslinger’s comic book universe. Those films are the upcoming ‘Venom’ sequel, ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage,’ and ‘Morbius.’ Now, Clarkson has the opportunity to make a film unlike the others by directing a female-led spin-off that could give us a character like Madame Web taking the spotlight. For those unaware, Madame Web is the character who was originally the first Spider-Woman in the comics. This would definitely make the character enter the limelight and would give a platform for even more lesser known characters that could expand upon the ‘Spider-Man’ universe.
By George Robbins
Edgar Wright is a director who is known, at this point, for his quirky style of directing and the well done movies that are made as a result. Wright has always included hints, trivia, and other visual easter eggs throughout his films that make them all the more entertaining. One film of his that was filled to the brim with these sorts of things was ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.’ This film is full of content that viewers will sometimes only notice after a few viewings and it is always enjoyable to watch even multiple watch-throughs later. This movie is one that has a relatively simple plot, but complex characters that can make anyone invested in it the moment they start watching it.
‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ was first released to the world through theaters in 2010. When the movie first released, it was considered a box office bomb, despite the fact that the movie ended up receiving mostly good reviews. The reason it was considered a bomb was because, on a budget of $60 million, it didn’t even make back $50 million at the box office after it released. Despite this fact, the movie would go on to receive something of a cult following due to how well done the movie was. For both the directing style of the movie and the acting skills of all those involved with the film, the movie easily became a film that people fell in love with.
The movie was based off a comic of the same name which may have been a reason that it didn’t do so well in theaters. Its growing popularity over the years has made it possible for Edgar Wright to do things like announce the fact it will be making a return to theaters for its 10th anniversary. It was originally meant to go back into theaters in August, the month it originally released, but with the coronavirus pandemic causing havoc on release schedules, he has had to change that plan. He still wants to show the film in theaters soon, but he will have to wait a little longer than anticipated.
Get Some Strange!
