By George Robbins
Disney is well known now for how large they have become over the years due to how well they can attract crowds. Their ability to bring in the crowds has only expanded over the years due to the fact that they now have so many franchises under their belt. This has made it all the more realistic for them to create a company which manages to span such a large portion of the world. Disney has reached the point where pretty much nothing can really phase them and they seem to have taken advantage of that fact over recent months. That still hasn’t changed the fact that they have a lot to deal with, including plenty of controversies.
As of recently, Disney has had their hands full with the controversies surrounding the live-action version of the movie ‘Mulan.’ A majority of the controversy surrounding the movie focuses heavily on two things that people have taken offense to at the moment. One of those things is the whitewashing of the crew for the movie, but the second is seen as being much more serious. That would be the fact that some people view the special thanks in the movie as being acceptance from Disney towards the cultural genocide currently going on in China. This has been the biggest source of controversy Disney has had to deal with recently.
Unfortunately this is not the only form of controversy they have had to deal with as they have been receiving criticism due to their park division. For those unaware, the Disney Parks have been opened to some degree in all different parts of the world and it has upset a lot of people. More specifically, many people domestically are upset by this fact and it has been a vocal issue. Like many of the controversies we have seen recently though, it was not something that actually lasted all that long and people stopped being as angry as they were. The biggest issues people had, and still have, in regards to the Parks issue is the fact that employees are able to work even if they test Covid-positive and they also feel that the parks opened too soon.
Needless to say, Disney has been catching flak on all flanks recently and it is not really any surprise why at this point. This seems like a trend that will only continue as this pandemic goes on and probably even beyond it because of how these things are being handled. Disney hasn’t just had controversies within the past couple of months as they have also been trying to deal with movie releases within the coming months as well. Now that it seems that theaters are having issues drawing in crowds, they have been thinking about pushing back their movie release dates yet again. All of these things just keep stacking up on them and it definitely doesn’t seem like it is going to stop any time soon.
On the brighter side of things, it would appear that Disney is still having their employees work hard to get their content up and running. What this means is that projects are still getting worked on so that they can eventually have some kind of release. Among the discussed projects were the upcoming Marvel films, upcoming Pixar release, and even among possible Pixar releases, the possibility that we may see a ‘Toy Story 5’ in the not too distant future. ‘Toy Story‘ released back in the 90’s and gave Pixar their real start as an animation company. It was among the first major CGI-only films and it helped create an entire industry.
Needless to say, ‘Toy Story’ has cemented its place in the annals of animated movie history and it will remain in that place for all time. Animated films have certainly changed along with technology, but ‘Toy Story’ was so well put together that every new addition to the Pixar series feels like it belongs. It doesn’t feel like they are just adding on to a series to make it longer; as time goes on the movies and the characters in them move along as well. Every movie has its own story and remains highly interesting to crowds no matter the age. Unfortunately, Disney’s curse as of late for contracting controversy has made its way into the ‘Toy Story’ end of things as well.
It would appear as though Disney and Pixar are going to be sued now for supposedly using the likeness of stuntman Evel Knievel in ‘Toy Story 4.’ As already stated, the likeness of the well-known stuntman was apparently used in the most recent entry for the ‘Toy Story’ series and some people aren’t happy about it. K&K Promotions, who manage the late performer’s likeness, have filed a lawsuit against Disney, Pixar, and a number of subsidiaries for the unauthorized homage to the man. They allege that Disney deliberately avoided any reference to Knievel in promotional interviews in order to keep themselves from directly referencing the man. It isn’t hard to see where they are coming from, but at this point they could just be seen as being money-grabbing because paying homage to a character is fine until money is involved.
By George Robbins
What we have learned not too long ago is the fact that ‘Ant-Man 3’ will be starting its production process some time next June. Marvel Studios has all of its movies set up in a certain way for when they decide to start production or release their movies. Although things are not so simple nowadays and their schedules are off, they are trying to keep up with previous production plans. This means that their plans to film ‘Ant-Man 3’ in June are still on track, but it was just a surprise to hear that they would be doing it in the first place. They have all of their films set up by Phase and they film them based on this so with the movie not on the Phase 4 list, wehn will it release.
We are still not entirely sure when the film will release, but we know that it will, hopefully, not be in the too distant future. Interestingly enough, we have been finding out new information about the upcoming entry to the series including the villain for the film. Apparently, the main villain for the movie is going to be Kang the Conqueror which is most definitely not a villain we were expecting for the film. Normally what happens is that the main villain of the film is then defeated within the same film or another entry in the near future. This has some fans worried though because Kang is meant to be a strong villain within the Marvel universe.
What I mean to say is that Kang is a character which could serve as a good replacement for Thanos in the MCU as an overall villain. This means he could be the villain that helps tie together whatever the next arc in the MCU ends up being. Maybe this is what they will actually do, but it is highly unlikely and some feel like using him for this movie will ultimately be kind of a waste. This may be the case, but we just won’t know until we see how things work out in the movie or how things work out within the next few years of releases. Maybe he would serve as a good over-arching villain, but maybe Marvel Studios has a better villain in mind and he is just a good stepping stone. We’ll just have to wait and see how things end up turning out.
By George Robbins
Disney is a company that has managed over the years to stick their hands into all different forms of media. This is why Disney is a household name for just about every single household worldwide and they will stay this way for a long time coming. They have turned themselves into one of those companies which will probably end up being around longer than any company has the right to. This is mainly due to the fact that they are so heavily at the forefront of the entertainment industry and everything they produce gains some kind of attention. While most of that attention is good, there is still a fair bit of the attention that is not so good.
Recently, the big issue they have been having is the issue of ‘Mulan‘ which is the live-action remake of the animated film of the same name. Thus far, it has been nothing but issues arising for Disney because the movie has been nothing but a center for controversy since its initial release. Not to mention the fact that the movie was released with a lot of issues behind it such as the actual releasing of the film. For instance, the film was supposed to have released initially back in March, but then the pandemic was announced which changed everything in the movie industry. Therefore a lot of release dates were forced to change.
The movie industry as a whole was having a hard time coping with the fact that they could not figure out any proper release windows. This is how we ended up with so many films being pushed back further and further, or in this case, just released anyway. ‘Mulan’ ended up being a part of the unique camp of films which just ended up releasing to the public anyway. It was just released in a way that was different from the norm like some other movies that have recently come out. Unfortunately for Disney, the entire production for the film just ended up cursing the film, along with their full release plans for the film.
Disney planned on releasing the film on Disney+ for a premium on top of the subscription while having a theatrical release for the film in China. This is exactly how the film ended up having its release and the movie did meet some kind of success with the Disney+ release. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Chinese release of the film as it did horribly by comparison. This has made it the second time ‘Mulan’ has failed to make some kind of splash in the Chinese movie theater market. Then, even with the release on Disney+, there was plenty of criticism to go around due to the controversies tied to the film.
Almost immediately after Disney released ‘Mulan’ to the public, controversy almost immediately began to ensnare the film. This generated a lot of push back from the public against Disney for a couple of reasons. First of all, one of the biggest controversial topics is that in the credits, Disney thanked a province in China where a cultural genocide is currently taking place. This has perhaps the most people upset with Disney, but it is not the only thing people are upset about as, apparently, the production crew has people upset as well. The Chinese market feels under-represented due to the fact that, even though there is no whitewashing taking place on screen, behind the scenes there was a lot of whitewashing. Much of the crew working on the movie were whitewashed.
Despite these controversies, Disney will not be affected in the slightest and will instead be moving on with their other projects. In fact, they haven’t necessarily stopped working on any other projects and have been working hard to make sure they get done. Fortunately for crews and less fortunate for the studio, there isn’t really too much of a rush right now to get projects done because they can’t really release them. Without a proper window for movie releases, movies can’t come out in theaters because they have no guarantee of bringing in crowds. This has most recently been seen with the movie ‘Tenet.’ The movie has been out now for a month and the box office numbers are so low that a massive loss for the film almost seems inevitable.
‘Tenet’ was the blockbuster film that many were hoping would bring people back into theaters, but this may not be the case. It actually ended up being the film the seems to have shown that people are not willing to go back out to theaters quite yet. This has given many studios pause, and they have all recently begun the process of once again moving back theatrical release dates for new films. Even though many films are either getting back to production, or have even just wrapped up production, it will be a long time before those films get to see the big screen. In a way, this just gives crews a longer opportunity to make films that will draw people in. Needless to say it is still a long time off before people are willing to go out to the movies to see new films again.
While production crews have the time, they can work to make sure their films turn out as perfect as they hope they will. This is most certainly what director James Cameron will be doing with the extra time, even though his films are still keeping their relative release dates. His next upcoming film is the long awaited ‘Avatar 2’ film which has been over a decade in the making at this point. It is still meant to release some time near the end of next year, but we could see this change as time goes on, especially with what is happening with theaters. Cameron is known for making films that look incredible and tell pretty interesting stories so many are looking forward to the upcoming sequel.
No one is perhaps looking forward to the sequel more than Disney as they are now the company which holds the rights to the film after buying out a huge portion of 21st Century Fox. Disney has been known for trying to make Sci-Fi films which could capture the attention of the world the same way their animated films could. Unfortunately, they have yet to have a success on that venture and the closest they came was with ‘TRON: Legacy.’ The latter mentioned film was not the best, but it was the best that Disney had produced in the live-action Sci-Fi genre, but they are hoping for more. It is likely now, given the success of the first ‘Avatar’ that the new one will be successful as well. Perhaps this will be what can finally turn Disney’s losing streak around with Sci-Fi films, or it will just be another Disney Sci-Fi disappointment.
By George Robbins
For many years, the ‘Star Trek‘ franchise has held its place as one of the most popular forms of media argued about over the internet. This stems from the fact that there are obvious similarities between the ‘Star Trek’ series and the ‘Star Wars‘ series. By many similarities, I mean that they both take place in space and that there is really nothing else all too similar about them whatsoever. They both take their own approaches to how they handle the space sci-fi genre and they have entirely different concepts to handling it. This is the actual reason why many people end up arguing over both series because they are just trying to prove that one series is superior over the other. In reality, it doesn’t matter in the least and both series are entertaining in their own ways.
Back in 2009, we were given a treat that no one really expected to see all that much and that was a resurgence in ‘Star Trek’ as a series. This came about when J.J. Abrams made the 2009 ‘Star Trek‘ film which went back and retold the original story of how James T. Kirk became the captain of the Enterprise in the original series. This change was a welcome one and it gave us three very interesting films to watch which kept us entertained over the following years. Those three movies all told their own story and they kept us entertained as time went on without it feeling like they might have been overdoing it. This revived many more peoples’ interests in the franchise as a whole and the past few years have been abuzz.
‘Star Trek’ not only started to make its resurgence again on the big screen as TV shows started releasing once again. More specifically, a new set of shows started going into development because the studio saw how much of a desire there still was for ‘Star Trek’ content. This need to continuously get content led to the development of numerous shows and even continuations of older shows in general. There is no doubt in any ones minds that the movies had a huge part to play in the ‘Star Trek’ renaissance that we now see today, but where then, is the next movie. The answer is simple, it is on the way, just not anytime soon.
According to the studio, they never planned to stop making the newer ‘Star Trek’ films and they actually want to keep them going. Unfortunately for fans of the films, their own popularity spawned the television series that were previously mentioned. The studio is actually planning on focusing more heavily on the TV programs for the foreseeable future because they see that as being the better investment. They have assured fans though that ‘Star Trek 4’ and other future films in the new series are definitely not cancelled. This means there is hope that we will see new ‘Star Trek’ films, just not for awhile yet due to the way things are currently going down on planet Earth.
By George Robbins
Christopher Nolan’s newest blockbuster film ‘Tenet‘ has had a lot going on with it recently with the way things currently are in theaters. When the movie released in theaters about a month ago, it started off pretty successful and it managed to rake in a fair bit both domestically and internationally given the current state of affairs. Unfortunately, what followed was nothing but a downturn, not only forth movie, but the theater industry as a whole. ‘Tenet’ has been getting nothing but mediocre returns at the box office ever since its first week domestically which is shaping the way theaters are handling things moving forward.
Despite the fact that the movie has been reviewed fairly favorably since release, it is still a tough situation for the studio moving forward. Theaters are more than likely actually going to shut down once again because they are now seeing what kind of affect the pandemic has had post-lockdown. Many customers are weary of actually going back out to see movies in an enclosed space with a bunch of other people around even if they are spaced apart from one another. Therefore, ‘Tenet’ is suffering and in the past couple of weeks the film has made a drastically smaller amount of money than when it first released. So it is sort of a surprise that the film’s star is now talking about wanting to be in a sequel for the film.
‘Tenet’ star John David Washington has made it known recently that he wants to actually be in a sequel to the film in the future. According to Washington, the film’s open ended conclusion left a door open for his character to appear in a sequel to the film. Therefore he actually wants to have a sequel for the film be made. Unfortunately, sequels won’t often get made for films that have had little to no financial success and this seems to be the route that this film is going in as of now. The film is still drastically shy of the massive $500 million before marketing that is needed just to break even. It is highly unlikely at this point that we will actually have the chance to see a sequel get made for the film.
By George Robbins
Tom Cruise is an actor who is well known by now by the world as a whole for the various films he has been a part of over the years. Although most of the films he has played in over the years have been action films, he has held parts in various types of films over the years, Therefore he is pretty much an actor of worldwide renown that that held peoples’ attention for many years. This has allowed him the opportunity to do things that some people would have never imagined and he has become known for even more than just this. As stated already, Cruise is known for the countless action movies he has been in over the years, but not just for that reason.
Although he is known for his roles in action films over the years, he is perhaps just as well known for the fact that he performs all sorts of insane stunts in those films. Perhaps the most pervasive set of films in which he is known for this is the ‘Mission: Impossible‘ series of films where he tries to one-up himself as time goes on. Even now, with the seventh film in production, he is doing all he can to put himself in danger to make sure that his stunts pay off and we end up with something interesting to see in theaters. One thing that we weren’t expecting though was his plan to actually go to outer space in the future.
It isn’t too much of a surprise given his track record that Cruise would want to one-up himself in a spectacular way by doing something totally outlandish in the future. This came up a few months back when it was discovered that Cruise was teaming up with SpaceX and Elon Musk to try and convince NASA to send him to space. After a relatively short discussion, the decision was made that he would be able to go to the ISS to work on a film in the future. It would now appear that his travelling to the ISS will happen sooner rather than later as the 2020-2023 International Space Station manifest shows that Tom Cruise is officially headed into space to film his new action-adventure movie. This is bound to be an exciting landmark in the history of the human race.
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