Nearly eleven years ago James Cameron created a film that, until just over a year ago, sat at the top of the all-time top grossing films. Cameron showcased to the world CGI in a way that it has never been seen before. ‘Avatar’ may not have been the greatest movie ever, but it was a good movie and that was certainly shown to change the way we saw movies that were entirely made out of CGI. That kind of movie-making process is how we end up with the films like ‘Avengers: Endgame’ that come after it. We end up with technology that we never would have expected to see and get some pretty incredible follow-ups to what came first.
When ‘Avatar’ was released in 2009 it was a technological masterpiece and drew people in because of its visuals and unique story. The combination of both of these things are what made the film great, and many people then expected to find out when the next one would release. James Cameron himself has said that he made ‘Avatar’ with the idea in mind of it being a tetralogy, a four-film series. It would be years before we got any new information on the next film in the series, and now that we finally got something on it, an epidemic has stopped all movie productions.
With all movie productions at a standstill, movie release timetables have been forced to change with a good number of films being moved to either next year or the year after. ‘Avatar 2’ was one of the films in contention for being moved to 2022, but now it may still be possible to release it in 2021. While it might not be a guarantee, James Cameron has said that he still expects his movie to make its 2021 release date. Cameron has made his plans to get back to New Zealand the moment he is able to start up production again to get his project back under way. Hopefully we will get to go see it next year and not have to wait so long to watch it.
States and other countries have started making plans to re-open their businesses. Due to the pandemic, many public businesses had to shut down in order to avoid spreading the coronavirus to even more people. Among the first businesses to shut down were movie theaters for obvious reasons. With everyone being forced to stay a certain distance apart from one another, theaters were forced to shut their doors, while some theaters did so willingly before the order was put in place. These theaters are now in the middle of trying to figure out when the right time is to re-open their doors.
Theater chains such as AMC, Cinemark, and Regal shut down before the orders to do so came in. They all decided to re-open their doors to the public some time during the summer regardless of what other theaters do. Some states have started allowing theaters to re-open, but with very heavy restrictions and many theaters have chosen to wait until the chains re-open as well. When chains re-open, then it is possible people will end up visiting all theaters since they will have more confidence in those businesses as a whole.
Other countries have also started discussing plans for re-opening their businesses to the public and how they plan are starting that process. Similar to here in the States, when businesses abroad re-open their doors to the public, they will have a lot of restrictions. Things like the social distancing aspect, cleaning everything down after it’s been used, making sure people wear gloves and masks, and temperatures being monitored must be followed. Without these rules in place businesses aren’t allowed to re-open. Even when theaters do re-open, like in China, they may not have any business walking in due to the public being wary of public places.
Theaters in China ended up closing almost immediately after they opened due to the public being generally too afraid to risk going out to the movies. The United Kingdom was trying to come up with a timeline for when they would re-open businesses, theaters included. They are following a model similar to the one being used in California. Over the next few months, they will be re-opening businesses in order of which ones are least at risk for spreading the virus. Since numbers of newly infected cases have gone down, governments want to keep those numbers down. The government in the U.K. deems theaters highly at risk just like in the state of California, so they plan on waiting until at least July 4th before allowing any to re-open to the public.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is now the biggest and best selling franchise there is in the world. We got to see a lot of well known heroes represented well in cinematic format. There has never been such a well done comic adaptation before the first ‘Iron Man’ film’s release. After the first few films established the heroes most people know, Marvel Studios started development on hero films that every day people don’t know much about. These films would go on to be ‘Doctor Strange,’ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ and ‘Ant-Man.’
We ended up getting some incredibly well done movies that gave credence to those characters for every day people. Those who went to see the movies without knowing much about the characters got stories that explain them all pretty well. Marvel Studios’ storylines for those films are unique in plot, but stay somewhat true to source material. So with all of this is mind, people could go and enjoy superhero movies without having to worry about knowing the comics. Meanwhile, those who read the comics got plenty of new stories and references to the comics they loved to read.
‘Ant-Man’ was a unique story due to the decision by the writers to make the main character the second iteration instead of the first. This creates a backstory for the character that isn’t really explained on screen too much, but it doesn’t confuse the audience. People who have read the comics understand the backstory, or at least what it is supposed to be, a bit more, but it doesn’t really matter. They introduced a character that was important to the world they were trying to build and they did it well. Both the first movie and its sequel, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp,’ did very well upon release and gave us interesting characters.
It should be of no surprise that Marvel is coming up with plans for their next installment to the franchise following the Infinity War arc. Actor Michael Douglas who plays Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, in the movies has recently taken to social media to tease the public at large about new details for the third film to come soon. He said during a Q&A session that fans should “hang tight” and that new news about the movie might be coming soon. If this is the case, then hopefully it will not be too long from now when it actually happens. Until then, we can only speculate as to what we will get from the third ‘Ant-Man’ film.
The summer season is a time in which many people like to go out and enjoy themselves more than usual. Production companies know this fact very well and usually try to have their bigger films release during this season in order to make a killing at the box office. Films with big name directors attached to them usually find their places in these spots, and the new movie ‘Tenet’ was no exception to that rule. ‘Tenet’ is a new film from director Christopher Nolan with a premise that people don’t really know about. This mysterious, yet seemingly interesting movie was meant to release over the summer, but now there is no telling when it will release.
As we all know by now, movie productions have been completely stunted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Production companies have had to stop working on films and films that have already been finished and were ready for theaters have mostly been delayed. Now that we are getting closer to the summer, movies that have managed to stay on the release schedule may have to be delayed. Even if theater chains do manage to reopen when they say they will, theaters will still have massive restrictions on them. So it is now up to Warner Bros. as to whether it is a good idea to keep the release date for ‘Tenet’ as July 17th.
If they do decide to keep the movie scheduled for a July 17th release date in theaters, there is a good chance that the film will make far less than if they decide to release it later. Timing is everything for a theatrical release and with this pandemic, all time schedules need to be looked at differently. Now thought needs to go into exactly how many people they could possibly get to see their movie and statistically how many can physically go and see it. If it doesn’t seem likely that they will sell out whatever seats will be available at that time, given the restrictions, then the best move would be to delay the film’s release.
Christopher Nolan himself believes that ‘Tenet’ is the movie that could possibly revitalize the movie theater economy since, if it keeps its current date, it will be the first major release this year. Yet again, it is a matter of whether or not things are going to keep being the way that they are or we will be seeing a better outlook to this pandemic in the near future. In the meantime, Warner Bros. is expected to make a decision in the very near future about whether they will be pushing back the release date on this film or not. There are good arguments for both sides of a possible delay for the film, so now it is a question about which side has the best arguments going for it.
There are many horror movies out there in the world today, with many trying to scare people with fear of the unknown such as ghosts or demons. Slasher films fulfill the fear of the unknown in a completely different, yet equally terrifying way. These films show us a horror in which people are being killed but no one, audience included, know who it is. Horror movies thrive on this fear of the unknown and the mystery is what makes people want to keep watching the film. There is one slasher franchise that has had a strong following for years which is ‘Scream.’
‘Scream’ was made as a fresh new take on the slasher that was released in the 90’s with numerous sequels. The movie was an original design from horror master Wes Craven who created a new type of killer for horror aficionados to love. The ghostface killer is now a timeless villain in media and the slasher film genre as a whole. From the moment the first film released in 1996, even up to the modern day, it became a franchise that is beloved and is far from forgotten. Craven designed this film as a sort of parody of his own films; blending irony, horror, and comedy in just the right way as to make the film a strong piece of media.
The late Wes Craven left behind a strong legacy in the horror genre, and the ‘Scream’ franchise is a big part of it. In total, from 1996-2011, there were 4 ‘Scream’ movies made that followed a young woman and her numerous encounters with a killer that exists only through a terrifying legacy. Neve Campbell plays Sidney Prescott, a young woman who has multiple encounters with the ghostface killer over the years. She has become a staple to the franchise as a whole and has played the main role of the heroine in every one of the films. So it should be no surprise that after ‘Scream 5’ was confirmed there were talks to have her reprise her role.
Campbell explained that when she heard the film was in development, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to return to the film. To her, without Wes Craven around, she didn’t know if she wanted to be a part of a new film in the franchise. However, when she heard ‘Scream 5’ directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were inspired by Craven’s work she decided to work on the film. The hopeful return of Campbell to the franchise is one that people hope will bring people back to the franchise.
Among the first places to shut down to the public for the prevention of the spread of the coronavirus were amusement parks. Disney Parks have had to shut down world wide as the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in order to curb infection rates from the virus. Disneyland Shanghai and Hong Kong were the first parks to shut down in January when the virus started spreading in China. Following their closing, Disneyland Tokyo shut down in February while the U.S. parks and Disneyland Paris shut down in mid-March after the declaration of the pandemic.
Disneyland Shanghai, being one of the first parks to close, is the first of the Disney Parks that is meant to reopen. On May 11th, the park will have its official reopening, but don’t expect it to be the same way it was when it closed. The point of closing it in the first place was to stop the coronavirus from spreading, so in order to keep it from doing so, steps must be taken. The plans that are being put into place here in the U.S. for reopening public businesses is expected to be implemented all over the world to a similar degree. For an amusement parks, these sorts of things will kind of create issues for people, but it is the only way this will work.
Due to the unexpected and virulent nature of the coronavirus, steps must be taken to ensure that the rate of new infections doesn’t increase again. These steps include things such as setting up temperature reading checkpoints, allowing much fewer people onto the premises, those who are in the park will have to keep their distance from one another and the employees, and the park must stay as clean as possible. The last one on the list is kind of difficult, since all it takes is someone making contact with a handrail that an infected person touched to contract the virus. Following the reopening, the staff will have to do their best to help people while also keeping themselves safe.
While the Disneyland Shanghai park has an official reopening date with its restrictions for park-goers in place, the rest of the parks don’t have an opening date. Many are starting to think that they may not even have a chance to reopen this year. However, some are hopeful that the parks will be able to reopen sooner, but the reality is that there is no telling when everything will be back to normal. We don’t know for just how long the world, and the restrictions in place, will stay the way that it is. With this in mind, there is no telling when other Disney Parks will reopen.
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