By George Robbins
Hollywood is abuzz for many a reason at the moment whether that be due to scandal, as per usual, or due to the developments currently in play for many upcoming films. There are a lot of films that actually just got started up once again not too long ago after months of waiting to finally get everyone and their equipment back on set. Beyond just being able to get people back on set, they had to wait for the proper conditions as they had to wait for local and foreign governments to allow them back onto the set to begin with. That is not all that is going on in the world of movie development and production as it seems there are plenty of newer projects being worked on as well. Things seem to never calm down in Hollywood as there are new movies being drafted up everyday and because people have been trapped inside or on their own for so long, there are now more than usual.
People always get excited when they hear about possible new movie releases showing up in the not-too-distant future, especially when it is something that would interest them. As of late, there have been a lot of discussions about future comic book character interpretations and those talks don’t seem like they will be dying down at any point in the near future. Most of this new discussion comes from the fact that people found out earlier this year that director Zack Snyder would actually be putting out his version of the ‘Justice League’ movie. His version of the film is one that fans have been after for a long time now and the announcement that it was going to be real sent tons of fans into an excitement phase. All fans of DC characters and the DCEU films quickly became excited by the prospect of seeing the film how they believe it should have been done.
When the ‘Justice League’ movie was in production, Snyder was the original director on the film and he was making it to be in-line with his previous films that he directed. Unfortunately, partway through the filming process, he had to leave the production because of a family tragedy and the movie was handed off to director Joss Whedon. Whedon decided not to go along with his original plans and instead reshot a large number of scenes from the film to try and make the movie his way. The end result was an alright film, but many fans were just disappointed in the end due to the fact they felt it was not the film they should have ended up with. Thus began the petitioning from fans that would see Zack Snyder’s version of the movie come to fruition instead of sitting off in the wings somewhere.
Apparently that petitioning from fans managed to pay off in the end because those fans would go on to rejoice as the Snyder Cut for ‘Justice League’ was announced when HBO Max launched. The new Snyder Cut version of the film is set up to be a four part mini-series where each episode is an hour long; making the overall new version of the film about 4 hours in length. This has further hyped up the movie for fans and people are getting more excited for this version of the film, but fans of the DCEU as a whole are faced with a bit of sadness. Apparently the Snyder version of the film will not be the version that is canon to the whole film series like some people were hoping it would be. That being said, fans are most definitely looking forward to seeing the movie when it finally gets to release some time early next year.
It is pretty evident to people everywhere that Zack Snyder does care about the characters that he has been given the reins over and he wants to make a film he and fans will be proud of. This is why it is even more exciting to fans when he spoke recently about wanting to possibly do a Dark Knight Returns storyline in his version of the DCEU. This storyline sees Bruce Wayne return with the cape on when he is much older to try and defend the people of Gotham once again and it ends with Bruce finally hanging up his cape for good by staging his own death. It is a storyline that people have been wanting to see for years and some are now hoping Snyder could possibly bring that storyline to the big screen. Even if it is a long time off, it would still be something that is fascinating to see.
By George Robbins
These past months since the pandemic began have made things a lot more difficult for plenty of people all over the place and in many industries across the globe. Among the industries that have suffered the hardest following the beginning of the pandemic is the film industry which has been trying to figure out exactly what to do for months now. Primarily they are having the worst time imaginable trying to figure out their upcoming release windows because they have to come up with something that would allow them to get people in theater seats. Most studios still have their primary way of bringing in revenue set to being theatrical releases for their movies and they have no reason to release in the current market.
Theaters need business, but there is no guarantee after recent events that they will be able to bring people in even if they have more films to show. It is because of this that studios have essentially pushed all of their blockbuster films into next year hoping a vaccine will be made by then to quell the pandemic. Everyone knows that this is pretty much the only guaranteed way of getting people to steadily go back to theaters and experience any kind of new movies that are out. In the meantime, studios are only really left with the option to either release their films straight to VOD or delay their films for pretty much up to a year or more. This is terrible for everyone, but the studios that were just about to release their films when the pandemic hit are feeling it just that little bit more in the end.
Included in the movies that were meant to release when the pandemic first struck is the next entry in the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, ‘F9.’ This upcoming entry was originally meant to release back in May, which would have normally been the best time frame for a blockbuster film to release in theaters. Unfortunately, like all movies set to release at that time, the film was delayed to late this year and as we can see, it is already late this year and the movie still hasn’t released. The reason for this is because, just like every other movie out there, this one was yet again delayed to accommodate for the current social climate and the state of theaters. There are plenty of reasons for why movies are being delayed at this point, but the most obvious has to relate to theaters.
Theaters, as everyone well knows have been losing money hand-over-fist because people are just far too worried to even try and go out to theaters, so theaters have no revenue flowing through their doors. Most studios are hoping this will be remedied with time and that they will be able to release their films like nothing happened when they reach their new release windows for their films. On that list is ‘F9’ which was set for its new release date which will now be one year after when it was originally set for release in May of 2021. With the delay, one would think that the movie would actually already be set up to be released on the big screen and it turns out this was not the case. The upcoming entry to the franchise has just had its audio mix finished for when it releases in theaters and thus perhaps its largest hurdle has been crossed before release.
This upcoming entry to the now beloved action franchise is expected to be an incredible work that features stunts and set pieces that can one up its predecessors. Every movie in that franchise just tries harder and harder to outdo the previous film so it is crazy to think about what we will end up seeing when this movie does finally come out. There are only going to be two more entries in the mainline series after this movie releases, so it is hard to imagine just how much they will be able to change things in the upcoming films. Everything they do becomes harder to top, but with Justin Lin directing, people are hopeful for the future of these films. They believe that this will be a return to form that fans have been hoping for ever since Lin left after the sixth film.
By George Robbins
Movie releases are perhaps one of the most complicated types of deals that are happening in the world right now because things just aren’t functioning like usual. In particular, movie theaters aren’t functioning properly because they were forced to shut down months ago and it has negatively affected them ever since then. When theaters shut down, they did so to further prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, but it isn’t like they really had all too much of a choice in the matter. Public venues of all kinds were forced to shut down after the pandemic began; whether it was restaurants or theaters, they had no choice but to shut down as mandated by the government. The idea was that, eventually, there would be guidelines put into place which would allow businesses to reopen even during the pandemic.
After a couple of months had passed, those guidelines that businesses were waiting for had been put into place and some businesses like restaurants were able to open with limited capacity. The issue that soon arose was the fact that only smaller businesses were allowed to open to any degree. Before that though, any essential businesses like grocery stores were able to be open with limited capacity, but those capacity limits were usually still a lot. What followed was that larger business venues that would get more foot traffic were not given any kind of dates for when they might be able to reopen to the public again. Among those businesses were obviously theaters and theater owners were very vocal about this as they felt like they were bring discriminated against.
What theaters owners were truly getting upset about was the fact that places like malls were able to open to limited capacity, but theaters were not allowed to reopen at all. Theaters already had the new health and safety guidelines in place to allow people back through their doors but they were still not allowed to have their re-openings. This mainly stems from the fact that people were moving around and not being near one another for extended periods of time in other locations. Despite the fact that it is obviously more dangerous to reopen a business where people sit in an enclosed space together for a prolonged period of time, theater owners still tried to sue to reopen. The irrefutable fact that it is clearly dangerous to reopen a business with a model like that made it hard for that lawsuit to go anywhere and nothing happened.
During the summer, it was finally decided that movie theaters would be given the opportunity to reopen their doors to the public, but a strong wave of the virus made that a difficult venture. As a result movie releases were pushed back further and theaters were unsure of just when they would be able to open their doors, especially if they had no new movies to show. Eventually, in an effort to break through the stalemate, AMC theaters decided that they would reopen their doors regardless of what happens come the middle of August. Upon finally reopening, they were given a chance to test the market in the coming weeks when the movie ‘Tenet‘ released, but it was anything but good for them. The movie has managed to bring in around $50 million domestically, but it has been an overall disappointment for theaters.
Theaters were hoping that ‘Tenet’ would be the film to bring people back to theaters, but this ended up not working out the way they had hoped it would. Instead, they found out that people are worried about going out to theaters because they are worried about contracting the virus and that they were going to be losing business all over the place. Thus began the lengthy process that involved theaters starting to shut down and theaters like AMC even possibly going bankrupt by the end of the year. It is due to this that they are now desperate for a way to somehow bring people in so that they don’t have to shut down completely. Movie theaters are in a very precarious situation right now so there is no easy way for them to be able to get out of the situation they have been forced into at the moment.
So what would the answer be for them since they can’t bring people back into theaters; they could try the option that sees them just trying to bring in as many people as possible with different films. If they manage to bring some variety to what they are showing on their screens, they might be able to draw more people in. Thus, they are trying to get as many films as they can even if it means only getting to show films for a shorter period of time before having a VOD release. Universal was the first to make this deal with them and now they only have to show their films in theaters for three weeks before they get to release them to VOD. This deal was also offered up to other studios and some people are definitely intent on making use of that deal. Even if things don’t go as intended with the release, it offers an opportunity to both the studio and the theaters showing the film.
With theaters actually showing films for the first time in months, if they add more to the roster, even temporarily, they can try and get more people in seats. If things don’t work out that way and people still aren’t coming in to watch movies, studios don’t lose out on much because they get a VOD release very soon afterward to try and make that money back. Of course, movies that don’t want a straight to digital release are still delayed into next year, but those going with that release method now have more opportunity. The opportunity to not only try and get more revenue, but to also try and help theaters which could only affect them positively in the long run is pretty great. That is the precise reason that Jason Blum seems to be going with this release method with Blumhouse’s new film ‘Freaky.’
The upcoming Blumhouse film sees a teenage girl and a serial killer swapping bodies and the girl then has to try and stop the killer from hurting people she cares about. The upcoming horror-comedy is in line with the likes of ‘Happy Death Day’ which was also directed by Christopher Landon and produced by Blumhouse. It is certainly a departure from some of the movies being shown in theaters right now and it may help bring people back to theaters. There is no guarantee that this will help theaters in any way whatsoever, so we’ll have to wait and see if the film can manage to bring in customers. All we can do now is wait for the film’s theatrical release and if people don’t want to go to theaters, it will only take a few weeks before it gets its VOD release.
By George Robbins
The Star Wars universe is easily one of the most expansive universes currently in the modern media medium with almost no equal, save for the comic book universes out there right now. Those comic book universes easily allow for stories to go from the pages of those books to the big screen in a way that has not really been seen before these past few years. So with that in mind, just how is it that any other type of universe can be made where these types of things are just as easy to make. George Lucas created a movie that was hopeful for the time period it was made in and it changed the way the science fiction genre did things from that point on. The first ‘Star Wars‘ movie changed things when it came to the idea of space epics being told in the movie medium.
It definitely wasn’t the first instance of a popular space epic, but it popularized it a bit more and made it possible for it to become more popular in the medium. Therefore, we ended ups with something no one had ever had the pleasure of seeing before and a new expansive universe was formed as a direct result. The Star Wars universe began the same way that any franchise essentially begins and that led to the following films which would be known as the original trilogy. From that moment forward, there were fans of the universe putting forth their own literature based upon that universe. Much of that literature, for a time, was considered to be a part of the ever-expanding universe that we now knew as the Star Wars universe.
What followed would eventually be a let-down to a lot of the original fans, but it became a start for a new generation of fans when the prequel trilogy released. With George Lucas’ prequel trilogy, the original trilogy was given a proper timeline and the whole universe’s mainline story was defined by episodic numbers. Many fans instantly became curious to see more content related to the universe as more and more canon fan-content released to the public. At least, people weren’t sure if it was canon or not and so they latched onto everything they possible could. What followed with Disney acquiring Lucasfilm is that every piece of content released by fans over the years that people loved was immediately made non-canon. Only certain released content actually maintained its place as canon content for the universe and people were not sure of what to make of everything that was going on.
Even though a lot of beloved fan content was made non-canon, there were still many a fan who liked the fact that Disney took over since they felt Lucas was not doing right by the brand he created. As a result, people were not too sad to see someone else handling the license, so long as it leaned back towards what people loved about the original films. That seemed to be the direction taken with the first film in the sequel trilogy put out by Disney, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ Among the sequel trilogy, it was the highest rated film they put out, but the direction the following two movies took made people feel overall disappointed by what was happening. As a result, people began wondering what things would have been like if George Lucas would have been the one to direct the new trilogy.
Lucas, not being one to just give up something without putting in his own thoughts and views, decided to let it be known how he would have done things in the new trilogy. His answer is that he decided that he wanted Darth Maul to be the overall villain of the sequel trilogy. Darth Maul was a villain that many people who have only seen the films don’t know too much about after his defeat in the prequel trilogy. After all, it turns out that in various pieces of canon content that he became something of an underworld criminal that really only looked out for himself. Bringing that very idea to the table, Lucas wanted to have Maul be an underground criminal war lord and be the one responsible for whatever may have happened in his version of the sequel trilogy. While this would have been a huge departure from the overall outline of the new trilogy, it probably would have been a welcome on if done correctly. We will never really get to see this idea come to fruition, but it is definitely a good what-if scenario to think about.
By George Robbins
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, better known to most as the MCU, has become an integral part of society these days as the films define what superheroes are in the current medium. It is because of the MCU that we even have other superhero movies today that are as good as they are because this is something that is much more new. Superhero movies themselves are nothing new to the film industry, but the way that heroes end up being represented on screen has changed as time has gone on. The presence of not just the hero, but also excellently well told stories are what make the movies what they are. On top of that we also have the very well done narrative weaving where numerous movies with self-contained plots can be brought together to make a larger scaled narrative. The MCU gave that too us and it will continue to give that to us, hopefully for a long time to come.
Starting with the ‘Iron Man‘ movie, we were given something that we immediately knew had potential and were told that there would be more films like it to follow. From there, it was clear that we would continue to get more and more movies which could attract the general public’s attention and not just comic book fans because the films were just that entertaining. Every movie that followed made it clear that this was not a trend which would end as time went on and we got more films to add to the roster of films we collectively started calling the MCU. Every single film had pieces that crossed over into other films in some way and this made it painfully obvious that everything took place in the same shared cinematic universe. Then, the first ‘Avengers’ movie rolled around and truly gave us the start of a saga which would span the total of over a decade.
After the first ‘Avengers’ movie released, we started getting more characters added to the shared universe which led to more characters being introduced to the general public. Among those characters is a certain group known as the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ who managed to make it onto a movie theater screen thanks to the help of director James Gunn. While definitely not as well known as the characters that had been seen on screen already, the Guardians quickly became fan favorites due to the fact they are just a ragtag bunch of space mercenaries that do whatever they want. While they don’t generally care about others outside of their group, they have a habit of doing the right thing in the end and it makes them heroes in the end. People were very much happy upon finding out that the movie would actually get a sequel aptly called ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.’
Now that the Infinity Saga is over, we are looking to the future for the next ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film that we all knew was coming because it was announced so long ago. People were worried for a long time as to what would end up happening with the third film after director James Gunn was temporarily fired and the actors all refused to work without him. Fortunately, he was quickly hired back to direct the upcoming third film in the Guardians series, but the damage was already done and the delays were already made. Not that delays really matter now though due to the pandemic, but for the time, it was seriously just an unfortunate turn of events for everybody. Gunn revealed that he now has the complete script for the movie though, so we can look forward to news somewhat soon about when they will start working in earnest and when the movie will be released.
By George Robbins
There are now plenty of superhero movie that exist in the world thanks to the combined efforts of both the MCU and the DC Extended Universe, or DCEU. Without either of those two shared universes, the way that superhero movies play out would be far different than what we know of them today. There is a sort of formula that is followed by superhero movies as a whole and there isn’t much that can be done to change that fact as this formula has pretty much been cemented at this point. Every single superhero movie has a somewhat similar plot to the previous ones at this point so most of what we go to see when we see hero films revolves around the acting seen on screen in the film. This isn’t exactly the case when we talk about the Vin Diesel led superhero movie ‘Bloodshot.’
The character of ‘Bloodshot’ is sort of unique compared to other hero films which have been released over the past few years. Unlike the other films to release within recent memory, Bloodshot as a character does not belong in the category of being either a DCEU or MCU film and stands on its own. As a character, Bloodshot still comes from a comic book universe, it is just that we can’t really lump all comic book superheroes together on screen. Each character belongs to their respective comic book company and there isn’t really much else that defines that company other than Bloodshot. With that in mind, the comic book company responsible for ‘Bloodshot,’ Valiant, is responsible for producing countless comic book characters over the years that comic fans have loved. Even to this day, Valiant continues going strong knowing that they have created characters that the mainstream audience might not immediately enjoy, but there are plenty of people out there who do enjoy them.
The character of ‘Bloodshot’ is one of their more recognizable characters in their repertoire and they wanted to make a movie that would end up bringing that character to the general public. This wasn’t the first time a non-mainstream comic book character was given the limelight in a film as ‘Spawn’ is another strong example. There is certainly love for these characters but there may not be enough to warrant movies being made about them because they won’t end up making all that much money in the end. No one knew what to expect when they saw that ‘Bloodshot’ was being made into a movie and thus people sat back and watched even after the movie released to see if there would be crowds going to see it. As it turns out, not many people outside of the comic book sphere of influence really know the character all that much and therefore the movie bombed once it hit theaters.
There was not a single bit of help in the fact that the pandemic began not long after the movie released in theaters which meant theaters had to shut down. After theaters shut down, no new movies could release to theaters and the ones that were already out could not stay in theaters since their doors were shut to the public. Therefore, any movies that were already in theaters immediately, within a couple of weeks, ended up going to digital release, including the newly released ‘Bloodshot.’ The movie was already not doing so well while it was in theaters and things most certainly did not get any better after it was released digitally. The movie only brought in about $37 million at the box office which ended up being below budget and the movie received mixed reviews all-around. All-in-all the movie ended up being a flop in pretty much every sense, but they still plan on making a sequel apparently.
So if the movie proved to be a flop, why then would they go and try to make a sequel that could, and most likely will, end up being a flop in the end? The answer lies in the movie’s move over to the on-demand digital platform after theaters shut down as it apparently did fairly well after the transition. After it was released onto Amazon Prime, it quickly became the most-watched video on Prime over its first three days of release which is not something to take lightly. Given that so many other films were forced to release after the pandemic began, ‘Bloodshot’ taking the top spot most certainly shows that there was something about the movie people liked and the studio took notice. DMG founder and CEO Dan Mintz has recently admitted that there were plans in place to bring back Vin Diesel and make him into the Valiant comics super-soldier once again. So we will apparently be getting another film about the character, so let’s see if it does better than the first film.
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