A film series that many thought was unlikely to ever come into existence, a G.I. Joe franchise. It isn’t all that surprising though, considering it wasn’t the only line of toys that ended up being turned into a full length feature film series. Following suit with the Transformers series of films, G.I. Joe was released to audiences everywhere. To be honest, it just ended up being a generic action film, but it was played off due to it being based off a famous line of toys. Similar to the Transformers, this gave it an air of levity that allowed it to spawn a sequel, and now a spin-off.
The story of the films follows the story that has been made up for the in-universe characters. The G.I. Joe team is forced to go up against the terrorist organization known as Cobra. All of this has been established by the Hasbro company which manufactured the original toy lines and made the films to increase sales. This ended up working out for Hasbro as, just like with Transformers, sales for that line of toys increased. So what would any company do in that scenario; they started working on a second movie.
No matter how badly a Transformer or G.I. Joe film end up being, sales for that merchandise go up. So, between ticket sales and the increase in merchandise sales, the company made out pretty well. They also decided to keep making sequels for the former and a sequel for the latter. Now, they are working on a third film for the G.I Joe series, but in the meantime they are doing a spin-off. What that means, is we are getting a film focused on this article’s titular character ‘Snake Eyes.’
For those unaware, the story of the G.I. Joe team follows a team of elite soldiers as they go toe-to-toe with Cobra. Of all G.I. Joe team members, the most enigmatic would be the ninja Snake Eyes. The movie ‘Snake Eyes’ is a spin-off which tells the origin story of the ninja and how he became a member of the team. The film stars Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Samara Weaving, Úrsula Corberó, Iko Uwais, Takehiro Hira. It is directed by Robert Schwentke and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brian Goldner. As of now, it is set to release to theaters on October 23rd, 2020.
It is of absolutely no surprise that amusement parks were one of the first public places to shut down in light of the Covid-19 pandemic currently sweeping the world. No matter how large or small the amusement park is, it was shut down for health concerns. Of course this was terrible news for a number of parks due to parent companies needing the income. On top of that, a lot of people are currently out of a job due to the parks’ closing. Naturally every park that was closed wants to reopen as soon as they possibly can, but they are going to get caught up along the way.
Amusement park closures have already been stated to be one of the biggest losses of revenue that is currently afflicting the entertainment industry. Disney has already reported that the closure of their U.S. parks is costing them a total of $20 million a day. On top of the parks losing money, it has to be taken into account that the people who were working there aren’t getting paid what they normally would if the parks were open. Parks being shut down is only natural, but time hasn’t stopped for the industry and it is costing all of them.
In the middle of March, many parks announced their closure until the end of the month in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19. This was only a temporary date they had in mind though, so now it seems like the date for reopening has been pushed back another two weeks until the middle of April. Universal Orlando was set to reopen on the first of April, but due to the rapid spread of the virus, and therefore an increase in reported cases, they have changed the date to April 19th. With no one knowing what approach to take in the following weeks, it is only natural that they would end up doing this.
This pandemic is presenting a lot of different unknown scenarios that companies have to contend with moving forward. They can’t really reopen because of the rule put in place by the government in order to help flatten the curve of infection. The parks will have to continue to push back their reopening dates if this outbreak continues to expand the way it has been. Many are hoping that things can go back to normal soon, and hopefully with restrictions the way they are now, we will get to see it all go back to normal soon.
As we all well know, China was the point of origin for the spread of the Coronavirus we are currently isolating ourselves for. So then, it must be stated that they have been handling the virus longer than the rest of the world. Since they have been dealing with it longer, they are more likely to get over the disease quicker than the rest of the world. This has led to them plans on lifting isolation of specific provinces and cities, most notably Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of it all.
With isolation planning on being lifted in China, the focus then shifts to the industries currently losing money. The idea is to try and drive traffic to those industries because they are hurting from being shut down. Among the industries that have been shut down is the movie industry, and to try and help it, China will be reopening around 600-700 theaters. To drive traffic to these places, amid concerns from citizens, they will be replaying some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. This includes movies like The Avengers movies, Inception, Interstellar and Avatar, and it will help Hollywood as well since 25% of ticket sales goes to the studios.
China lifting restrictions could be a good sign that isolation worked and cases of the disease will no longer increase. However, this is also highly dangerous because things like incubation period can vary. Differences in incubation period can cause people to go nearly a month without knowing they are sick. Also, people could end up coming in contact with others after isolation is lifted and start a spread of the disease that could possibly be worse than before. People should still be doing their best to practice safety in light of everything that has happened thus far to make sure they don’t have to go through the same thing again.
While industries may be hurting due to the fact they have not had business, it isn’t a great idea to try and rush everything to get them running again. If the disease does bounce back due to isolation being lifted, things could end up being worse than before. So more than anything people need to be careful whenever restrictions are lifted as we won’t know for awhile yet if things will be safe. Safety should be on people’s minds even long after isolation ends and should keep to themselves until absolute safety is assured.
Even normal families have their issues and from time to time manage to cause mayhem wherever they go. So the question must be asked if there are families out there that constantly cause mayhem. The answer, of course, just ends up being a resounding yes to that question and we see that sort of behavior all the time. With that in mind, a studio decided to try and portray that type of family in a prehistoric setting. Thus, we ended up getting the first ‘Croods’ film.
‘The Croods’ gave us a look at a family of cavemen trying to come to terms with the new world around them that they must become accustomed to. What we end up with is a family causing trouble without even trying to because they are figuring the world out. The titular family is very close and they do everything they can to survive while learning about the aspects of survival in the open world. What is meant by that is the family is isolated until a major event opens the world to them. This eventually leads us to what will now be the second film in the series.
‘The Croods 2’ brings the prehistoric family back to the big screen to show us just how important family can be. They also show us just how little we have evolved as a species over the years. Ever since the titular family left their cave, they have been wary of the dangers in the world that was opened to them. What they must now contend with is something they never could have imagined dealing with before. They must now interact with another family while trying to stay together and alive.
‘The Croods 2’ sees the return of actors Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke. It also sees the welcomed introduction of Leslie Mann and Peter Dinklage to the film’s cast. The film is being directed by Joel Crawford who worked as a story artist for movies like the Kung Fu Panda series of films. The screenplay is written by Kirk DeMicco, Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, and Chris Sanders. The movie is currently slated for release in December 2020.
Animated films have a relatively decent habit of doing two things. They manage to keep children placated and entertained, for the most part, as well as spawn sequels. The original animated movie ‘Sing’ managed to do both of these things pretty well since a sequel is underway. Saying that the film only has to entertain children can be a little insulting since parents are there with their children. So it only makes sense that if it can entertain all audiences, then the story can continue on with a sequel.
It’s of no surprise that the movie did as well as it did considering that the company behind the film was Illumination. With them working on the sequel, it is likely that the sequel will do well also. For those unaware, if the name Illumination sounds familiar, it is because they are the studio behind the Despicable Me series of films. Other than that series of films, they also made the Minion spin-off series with the second film releasing soon and the Secret Life of Pets movies. With a track record like this, they are bound to make another film that sells out pretty well.
‘Sing 2’ sees the return of characters Buster, Meena, Rosita, Gunter, Johnny and Ash as they once again take to the stage. This time, however, they are taking to a grander stage in the big city rather than the Moon Theater where their journey to stardom began. This next chapter in the franchise will be one that shows how difficult it can be to make a name for yourself. With each other, they should eventually be able to pull together and make a path for themselves in a world of fame. This movie will be one to take the children to when it releases.
Stars of the film include Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, alongside Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll and Tori Kelly. Writer/director Garth Jennings returns for the film which will take longer to release than previously thought. ‘Sing 2’ is produced by Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy. The release date for the film was originally set for Dec. 25, 2020, but had to be pushed back to July 2nd, 2021. It only took the spot of another unnamed film, so it will be ready for release.
Covid-19 is something that we have never really seen before since it is a pandemic in a modern age. What that means is that it is a modern age where it is easier to put rules into place. The only down side to all of this still being the population of the world at large. A large number of those people used to visit cinemas all of the time. Now that cinemas have become ghost buildings, there is more than a few metric tonnes of income being lost to the pandemic.
The National Association of Theater Owners, or NATO, have already stated that they will need financial aid when everything is over. This is in line with the remainder of the entertainment industry. Everyone who is in the industry is trying their best to keep up with the rock bottom decline in revenue, but it’s just too much. After all, they went from making steady revenue, to making nothing at all in just a week. Not only that, but many are still trying to keep employees paid long enough in order to keep their livelihoods safe.
Among those who have called for theaters to receive financial aid when the time comes is director Christopher Nolan. Nolan has said that Congress needs to allocate funds to theaters. Being discussed currently is the idea of giving money to travel companies. While this is something that should happen, the entertainment industry needs help as well. More specifically the people working for the industries are the ones in need of help.
There is no telling exactly how long this virus will continue to affect this world that we live in, but we need to be prepared to strap in for the long run. This is the new normal for awhile, and people not having jobs to keep themselves afloat is a problem that will catch up sooner rather than later. So as of now those employees don’t have anything to fall back on now that they don’t really have any jobs to go to. Theaters and establishments similar to them are going to need help from the government if they are going to get back to functioning properly again.
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