By George Robbins
So with all this craziness going on in the world, people are trying to figure out what they are doing with their lives. While some people are finding more things to do outside, at a safe distance from everyone else, others are waiting for more things to become available. Those who work in the entertainment world are doing even more than that by constantly jumping the daily hurdles that seem to keep popping up. The coronavirus pandemic has made everyday life challenging, but has made the jobs of those in the entertainment industry even more challenging. People working in the industry haven’t been able to get steady work or be able to work on the projects they were a part of.
Many artists in the industry such as writers, producers and directors have had to make compromises when it came to getting projects done or starting work on new ones. For instance, many movies have had to change release dates due to the fact that theaters have closed and thus theatrical release schedules are out of whack. Some studios managed to save themselves a lot of hassle by simply releasing there films straight to VOD or they are planning to do this. However, films that are not going to forego theatrical releases have another issue to contend with. This issue is whether it is worth it to release on the dates they were originally intended to release on.
Most movie theaters, chains included, plan on reopening their doors to the public with new health and safety rules in place to keep people safe during this pandemic. Even when theaters reopen, this lockdown will still be in place because the virus is still as viable a threat as it was when the pandemic began and it will remain so for a long while yet. This means that not as many people will really be able to go to the movies even if they wanted to. Only a couple of new movies will end up being available to people when theaters actually do reopen and one of those movies is ‘Tenet.’ No one is quite sure what this movie is about just yet since the only thing known before now is the fact that it has a cold war-like setting.
‘Tenet’ is Christopher Nolan’s newest movie set in a world where agents are doing their best to try and prevent some world-wide catastrophe from taking place. The original trailer for the film that dropped some months back gave us some kind of look into the movie when it showed some kind of time-manipulation happening. This is the only thing that we had a chance to look at, however, and we have mostly been left in the dark. New TV spots have dropped for the movie recently, giving us a little more insight into the plot of the film. Actor Robert Pattinson, who plays a major part in the film, has said that the film does not involve time-travel, but some sort of time “bending.”
The new TV spots point to the fact that today, May 21st, a new trailer will drop for the film which is expected to reveal more plot details for the film. These spots also point to the title ‘Tenet’ being a major plot point for the film which is poignant since the word is a palindrome. This means that the words is spelled the same front to back, so if we think about the idea of time-bending in the film, then it should be the same where time plays itself similarly front to back in some way. The trailer may give more insight into this point, but the only way to know for sure is to wait for the movie to release. As of now, it will release on July 17th, but this is still a point of heavy debate since it might not be a good idea for the studio to release it so soon after theaters reopen.
By George Robbins
During this pandemic, there are a lot of things that people are trying to do in order to keep themselves busy. Many people are stuck in doors most of the day and it is causing people to start losing their minds. This results in people trying to figure out a host of different things in order to keep themselves busy on a regular basis. There are some who are attempting to help those people by either making something for them to do or creating content to keep those people busy. A lot of news nowadays tells people about the things to look forward to when this pandemic is over, and it keeps people from feeling like the world is stagnating.
The entertainment industry is actively trying to keep itself from stagnating and it is a good thing that it is full of nothing but creative types. There have been a number of stories at this point of writers, producers, and directors working on new films or some other projects to keep busy. Many of these people are moving forward while movies and television productions and releases are stuck in limbo. While many artists have been working on projects that will be released in the future, some are reworking projects that have already released. One such director happens to be Zach Snyder and his work on the infamous Snyder cut of the Justice League movie.
‘Justice League’ was a massively produced movie that released back in 2017 that was received with a lukewarm reception. No one was sure of what to expect when the film first released due to the fact that there were only a few films in the DCEU by that point. On top of there being so few movies in the franchise, only one of them, ‘Wonder Woman,’ was received pretty well. The other movies at that point didn’t really have much going for them in the way of good critical reception. This made it difficult for anyone to become too excited for the film, but that didn’t stop DC fans from hoping for the best. After the movie released, a lot of people ended up being disappointed by the fact that the movie had no proper lead up and didn’t tell enough of a cohesive story.
Not long after the movie’s release, there was word of a director’s cut of the film which told more of a story and this became known as the infamous Snyder cut. For years at this point, that version of the film was a rumor that people would simply not let die out. The idea behind this was that people believed that Snyder had an entirely different version of the movie made up, but Warner Bros. would not let him release his version of the movie and they instead released the version people saw in theaters. It has been stated repeatedly over the years since its release that this was not the truth and that there was no other version of the film in existence. This is a fact which turned out to be true in the end because Snyder is now making his cut with a new production budget.
Snyder recently revealed that he will be making his own director’s cut for the ‘Justice League’ movie and that it will release some time in 2021. What we have learned so far is that this new cut of the film has to have an estimated $20-30 million budget if it is going to be done the way that Snyder wants it. This is a version of the film that fans have been waiting years now for and it can’t be underdone otherwise what was the point in doing it at all. The newest version of the film is going to be released some time next year on HBO Max to the public and has already been advertised. This is something else to keep people’s minds occupied during a time where it is hard to find things to do.
By George Robbins
We live in a world right now where we have to try and figure out what to do to keep ourselves busy. This includes us trying to come up with ways to entertain ourselves involving stuff that already exists. For instance we take movies that were released awhile ago and create new content for them, because we have nothing else to occupy our time. We aren’t going to be getting any new films for awhile with the exception of films being released straight to VOD. So what better way to get content out of older films than a poll comparing two films liked by two entirely different groups.
Someone from RottenTomatoes decided to make a poll comparing the box office juggernaught ‘Avengers: Endgame’ which became the top box office film of all time, and ‘Revenge of the Sith.’ The latter is a film that did fantastic, in its own right, at the box office but made almost $2 billion less than ‘Endgame.’ It didn’t receive very high ratings from critics, while ‘Endgame’ did very well critically. This didn’t stop ‘Revenge of the Sith’ from winning the popularity poll however because the internet does not function the way people expect it to.
The prequel trilogy has had a massive increase in its fan base since its initial inception and has become a huge presence on the internet. Especially on social site Reddit, the fan base is very vocal, and for the most part they believe it is the best trilogy in the Star Wars franchise. This has made that fan base very vocal, to the point they will do whatever it takes to make those movies stand out. This makes the movies gain even more attention and will attract more people to the movies as a whole.
To be honest, it really isn’t all that much of a surprise that this movie managed to win the popularity poll. That trilogy’s fan base is one that will stop at nothing to spread their influence across the internet. They want that trilogy to be recognized as the best trilogy in the Star Wars franchise for some reason. This means that the moment the poll was announce, ‘Endgame’ didn’t have a chance at winning and it lost by a landslide. That just goes to show the power the internet has and what kind of presence some fan bases have online.
By George Robbins
The world that we live in is in a state of disorder that we all have to find a way to live through. We all have to find ways to deal with the fact that we can’t go out to do things. Going out to the movies was one of the most common ways to keep ourselves busy, but that isn’t something we can do anymore. At least we won’t be able to do it any time in the near future because theaters don’t plan on reopening until July and that is assuming they can even reopen at all. Theaters will have a number of new health and safety rules to follow in order to reopen and stay open.
Although we can’t really get to the movie theaters, the industry continues to move on. It doesn’t move on the way that we really expect it to since most movies have been delayed. Some studios have managed to make it easier on themselves by instead releasing their films straight to VOD. Not many of the films are being released to Video on Demand due to the fact many don’t expect to make a massive profit this way. The films being released after a delay to theaters are more likely to make money, but only further down the line.
Whatever movies release right after theaters reopen have a chance of making a fortune, but they are at risk. Will people want to go back out to the movies if the risk of getting sick still exists and is relatively high? Some studios are willing to take the risk qhile other studios are taking the safer financial approach. While studios are currently doing this to keep moving forward, this isn’t the only way the movie industry is doing so. For instance, there have been many movie announcements since the pandemic began and now we know Michael Bay is working on a film.
Michael Bay is known for his work on over-the-top action films that usually make a lot of money. Now we know that he has be working on filming a pandemic thriller during the lockdown. Some people have started movie production up across the country to some degree to get the ball rolling again to get movies made. With productions mostly on hold, and California being one of the states with the harshest lockdown rules, it is hard for many to make films. Michael Bay is planning to push hard for production to resume by starting production for his newest film, ‘Songbird,’ next month.
By George Robbins
The Oscars are a series of awards voted on by an academy comprised of film aficionados that want to give credit to films and the hard work put into them. They are not just any set of awards as they are also a season during the year. From the end of a year up to the moment that the awards are given, there is a constant build up of hype. The hype that ends up building up as a result of the awards brings a spotlight down on the movies that are being voted on. So it is a bit of a surprise to find out that the entire Oscar season might end up being delayed from its usual February time slot.
The coronavirus pandemic has done all kinds of things to the world and affected all different kinds of people and industries. In particular, the movie industry is among the industries that got hit the hardest since theaters are completely shut down. With theaters shut down, many production studios have had to push back their movies releases to much later dates than before. Only a couple of studios have released their films straight to VOD in order to make money off their films in a time where it would be impossible to do so otherwise. For those who don’t already know, the Oscars have historically only given awards to films that have had some sort of theatrical run, even limited theatrical runs.
Despite the fact that only movies with theatrical runs qualified for awards, the Academy made the decision to allow digital films to be nominated in 2021. This means that even films that did not have theatrical releases could be entered for awards in the 2021 Oscar season. Given the state of the world, this only makes sense since not every film will be able to keep up with new release schedules. That added to the drastic increase in streaming site usage has made direct to digital films much more viable for awards since they have production value now rivaling that of films with theatrical releases. The final issue that arises with next year’s Oscars is the fact that there might not be enough films to be nominated for any awards.
Just looking at the release schedules that have been moved around due to the pandemic, we can see that many movies have been moved off of this year’s time table. This immediately makes the Oscars a much harder award ceremony and competition to hold properly. With this in mind, it is starting to seem more likely every day that the Academy will end up delaying the award ceremony. Unless more films manage to get released this year to add to the list of films that can be nominated, the likelihood of a delay for the awards is very good. Although we are 9 months out from next year’s awards, this is something we should try and keep our eyes on since this is something that hasn’t been seen before.
By George Robbins
The world climate continues to be pretty terrible for the entertainment industry and more specifically the movie industry. This pandemic makes it difficult for many companies to get work done properly and makes it physically impossible for some companies to make any money whatsoever. The movie theater industry knows this best of all because they are completely shut down with no way of making revenue. Theaters have been shut down for two months now with about a month and a half before they reopen their doors to the public. That is if they will really be able to because new health and safety laws must be followed post reopening to prevent rate of infection from spiking again. This creates a problem for the theaters and their employees who have been laid off or furloughed.
In order to get their businesses back up and running again they must adhere to the new rules as well as inspire public confidence. For instance, if people don’t think it is safe to go out to the movies, they will not want to go. So while the theater doors may open again by the summer, there is no telling when most people will want to go through those doors. This is one of the reasons why most production companies have pushed their movie releases back so far despite knowing generally when theaters will reopen. Some companies do not want to have to wait that long or take that kind of risk.
While some movies will have to wait for theatrical release, there are other films that are taking the direct to digital approach. The most successful movies to go straight to VOD have been ‘Trolls World Tour’ and ‘Scoob!.’ This is mostly due to the fact that families are just trying to keep busy during these times. However, the opportunity is there for other straight to VOD movies to do well also, but I think it would take a specific movie to do so. That movie might just end up being ‘Greyhound’ starring Tom Hanks which was due for release theatrically in June. The movie stars Tom Hanks playing a captain who is trying to transport troops across the ocean during WWII with no air support to keep them safe.
‘Greyhound’ was an anticipated film before the coronavirus pandemic kicked into full swing and everything shut down. Now that all of this is going on, the studio has had to make a decision about how they want to move forward with the movie. Would they end up deciding to push back the release date on the film like most other studios or would they end up releasing the movie on VOD like some other studios have done with their films. They have apparently decided on the latter by choosing to release it on VOD to Apple TV+, Apple’s streaming service. Whether this will help the film or not is something that we can only wait and see if it will work out.
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