By George Robbins
Eddie Murphy is a man who has, over the years, managed to make himself a household name due to his work in comedy. Ever since the 1980’s, Murphy has made it apparent to the world that he has comedy chops that make him a contender as one of the most memorable comedians of the era. Not to mention the fact that he has managed to successfully cement his place in Hollywood because he also knows how to act as well as be hilarious simultaneously. This has made him one of the most acknowledged people of our time and we wouldn’t expect anything less. The place where he truly got his start with the industry though was ‘Saturday Night Live.’
‘Saturday Night Live’ or more simply, SNL, is a weekly sketch show that has maintained a strong place on the air for a couple of generations now. Without SNL, much of the comedy industry would be an entirely different place as it gave starts to many of the most profound comedians in the industry. Not only did it give comedians their starts, but it also gave plenty of inspiration for what we see in the comedy medium today as a whole. Among what was known by many fans as the Golden Age for SNL were the members of the cast at the time and included in that cast was the aforementioned Eddie Murphy. Murphy played a huge role in SNL and definitely helped shape it into what it had become going into today.
It is a bit surprising that despite the fact that Murphy played such a huge role in television as a whole on SNL that it wasn’t until recently that he ended up getting an Emmy. In fact, Murphy received the Creative Arts Emmy for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for hosting Saturday Night Live recently. He received the award for guest acting and not an award for appearing as an actual actor. Despite being a huge part of the show in the 80’s he only just now won an award for being a guest. It is no surprise though considering how triumphant a return it was with his reprisal of so many roles from that period of time. Hopefully this will be the first award of many as he stated that he even plans on returning to stand-up starting in the near future.
By George Robbins
The movie industry has been nothing but abuzz as of late due to production companies and studios as a whole getting back to work. This comes in the form of movies going back to what they were doing when they were forced to shut down back at the start of the pandemic. When productions were forced to shut down, studios had no choice but to wait things out until such a time where they could get back to task. This meant waiting for months on end and then having to follow new protocols that have been put in place so that crews could return to work. Therefore, we ended up with plenty of down time for crews before they could actually get back to whatever projects they were working on.
Despite new rules being in place for the sets which help to prevent the spread of the virus, they have been working hard on getting things done. Many movies which had to forego production for a few months have already started back up again to some degree. Not only have many started up again, but some have either already finished or they are nearing the end of the whole production process. This has made it a difficult but interesting time for production crews as they have to rush to finish their projects, but they had a lot of time off prior to this. Many movies even spent some of that time off getting work done from home so that they could finish soon after returning to the set.
This work from home approach did not work on every single film that had a halted production unfortunately, so they were forced to be delayed. Without a proper set-up, some productions were forced to hold off on going back to work for awhile, which also contributed to many delays we saw. As such, many movies are now going to have significant delays tacked on to their overall release window. This isn’t helped along at all by the fact that movies are now getting even longer delays for theatrical releases. This is stemming from the fact that people don’t want to go out to a public place during a pandemic in order to see a film they could possibly just watch in the safety of their own homes.
Even though there is so much that is currently going wrong with the movie industry as a whole, there is much progress being made. With many projects being worked on for the first time in months, it is a huge deal when we hear about movies starting to film again. This is just the case when we now talk about the upcoming ‘Fantastic Beasts 3,’ which has apparently begun the filming process once again. For those unaware, the movie had started production before the pandemic began, but just like all other productions, it was put on hold. Just like all other productions recently however, they have once again started filming again, at least according Eddie Redmayne. Redmayne, being the main star for the ‘Fantastic Beasts‘ saga, is a pretty good source for knowing when these things are true.
Word about the movie starting back up again began back in the beginning of June because of the movie production situation at the time. In England, where it was being filmed, movies were given the greenlight to once again start production. Unfortunately, many crews did not feel it was safe enough to once again start, especially if it was a large production and this movie was on that list of large productions. Due to this fact, they held off on filming until an appropriate point in time. This point in time is apparently around now because they have apparently already resumed the filming process so hopefully it won’t be too long before we get to see the movie have its release to round out the trilogy.
By George Robbins
As many people may have heard by now, Disney’s newest live-action remake for the movie ‘Mulan’ was pretty much a failure they will never live down. This mainly has to do with the various controversies surrounding the film and it has created plenty of heated discussions online. Among those controversies include ones regrading the cultural genocide currently going on in China, as well as the company’s poor attempts to appeal to Chinese audiences. It is no surprise that this is what they were trying to do, but the way they went about it just didn’t end up working out for them. In fact, it was so terrible that the movie underperformed spectacularly at the Chinese box office.
‘Mulan’ is perhaps the most divisive movie which has recently released on the open market due to everything that is currently surrounding it. On top of this, it is overall going to be considered a failure of a movie because of how little it made back against its $200+ million budget it apparently had. Although the release for the film will always be plagued by what is currently going on in regards to the film, Disney+ actually ended up coming out ahead due to the movie’s release. This stems from the massive surge in new subscriptions and the even more massive surge in expenditures on the service after the film’s release. This actually might end up helping Disney+ in the long run.
The fact remains that the Disney+ service is still relatively new and like every other streaming service, it functions based upon a monthly subscription fee. When ‘Mulan’ released, there was a 68% surge in Disney+ downloads which means that there was a massive increase in overall subscriptions so that people could see the movie. This is all well-and-good, but for those who noticed, ‘Hamilton’ had an over 70% surge after its release, but the difference is when the expenditures are added in. Unlike other films on the platform, since ‘Mulan’ was released straight to digital, there is a $30 premium to own the film on the service on top of the subscription fee. Even though the film did not do well overall, it proved that people would be willing to pay extra on Disney+ to see new films. This is an overall win for the service due to the release of ‘Mulan.’
By George Robbins
Many franchises make up the market nowadays with video game franchises making up the largest part of the market. This is mainly due to the fact that games can take what has already been done, put a small twist on it, and then put it out again the following year. This has given them a massive edge when it comes to the competitive market and it has done just that over the years. What really makes people excited for these franchises is the fact that they become popular and then they maintain that fame by using what people love in order to carry the torch forward as time rolls onwards. Not many video game franchises have been able to maintain this level of fandom over the years, but one series in particular has managed to do just that and it is the Super Mario franchise.
The Super Mario franchise has been around for a very long time at this point and it has been a source of entertainment for countless generations at this point. Without the franchise, much of what people know about video games would be completely different and games today would probably not be the same. The franchise started something that very few franchises are actually capable of and they changed the way that people saw video games in general. Needless to say, Super Mario Bros. was a pioneering game for its era and it helped shape modern gaming as a whole. Therefore, it is a series that should be given the recognition that it deserves but has never really had before.
Although I say it has never really received the recognition it deserves before, it most certainly has, but not outside of the medium it was founded in. Super Mario Bros. has always found its home in the video game medium, but has never successfully found its place outside of that realm. This is mainly due to the fact that games don’t really translate well to movies. Not to mention that the only film ever made based upon the original games was a terrible dumpster fire live-action film that used terms from the game, but nothing else. Though now, it would appear that we may end up getting a film which actually does the games justice after all these years. To make it more appetizing and make it a lot less terrible than the live-action film, it will end up being an animated film.
Animated films are an excellent format for taking games which are already in an animated format and turning them into a watchable medium. Just because they are taking the right steps in a good direction with this doesn’t mean that it will end up being a good movie, but it most certainly gives fans hope moving forward. The movie is currently in development, and according to Nintendo’s Shuntaro Furukawa, the movie is still on track for its original release date. As of now, the film is supposed to have a theatrical release some time in 2022, so now Mario fans have something to hopefully look forward to in a couple of years.
By George Robbins
The movie industry is abuzz these days, though this is mainly due to studios and theaters trying to survive at the moment. Studios have every possible chance to make it through what is going on right now because they have long term investments in their films. Theaters on the other hand have a little less help being thrown their way because they need income on hand if they are going to stay in business. If they did not have any money saved up for some reason, theaters are going to have an extremely hard time ahead of them in the coming months. This is mainly due to the fact that theaters, at least in the United States, will probably have to shut down again in the near future.
This possible upcoming shut down stems from the fact that this past weekend was a terrible weekend for the movie theater industry. Despite having a strong opening weekend, Christopher Nolan’s newest blockbuster, ‘Tenet,’ had a pitiful second weekend with only $6.7 million. With such a huge film bringing in such a small amount to the box office on only the second weekend, it is no surprise that theaters are becoming nervous. This has shown them that people are still very wary of going out and staying in a public space with a lot of other people for hours at a time. This actually isn’t much of a surprise though, and it was really even expected given the state of the nation at the moment.
Needless to say things aren’t going so well with the movie theater industry as a whole and they are now rethinking their current strategies. Essentially, theaters are now thinking that they may need to hold off on having full reopenings for awhile until people are more comfortable being back out in public. At the very least, if they want their reopenings to be successful, they need to wait until there is a rhythm in place that people are comfortable with. So, in the near future, there is a good chance that theaters in the US will once again shut down for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, studios are trying to keep work moving along as they wait for the moment when they can have theatrical releases for their films again.
This is why studios are getting back to having their productions worked on to the best of their crews’ abilities. Hence we have been receiving plenty of news as of late about movies that have been going hard at getting their work done. Although production crews are trying their best to finish movies quickly, they are not rushing themselves the way they normally would. It is now less about getting the film done on time for release purposes and more about getting it done quickly so that so many people aren’t working on the same project for such a long time. Despite this change in view, plenty of work is being done efficiently as well as quickly.
Of course, there have still been plenty of setbacks, but now that a rhythm has been set, movies are getting worked on in record pace with a lot of them still holding scheduled release dates. Unfortunately, these dates are essentially tentative because there is no telling what will happen in the near future. The situation with movie theaters possibly closing up shop in the near future is further pushing back projects and could even result in release dates changing once again. This isn’t completely terrible with productions going back to work because it allows studios to start building up a back catalog. One studio that has been doing this for years at this point and is taking all of this in stride at the moment is Marvel Studios.
Marvel Studios is now a world renowned movie production studio for their production of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU. They have been making multiple films at a time for years, building up a back catalog in which they can keep films until their proper release dates. They usually don’t hold on to their films for a really long period of time, nor do they ever really have more than a couple of films stored up at a time. Unfortunately, they now have to hold on to every film they make until the proper time comes for them to release it. With theaters possibly closing up for awhile, this could be a long time, but it won’t stop them from making new films like they originally planned.
One of their upcoming films that will be worked on in the near future is James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.’ This film is one that fans have been looking forward to for a long time now and it will begin production in the not too distant future. According to Gunn, it will completely change what we know about the superhero group and things will never be the same afterwards. Despite this, we know that we are sure to get an excellent movie out of the whole process. We almost weren’t going to see Gunn return for the final film and it would not have been the same. Due to a controversy based upon old jokes which didn’t age well online, Gunn was temporarily fired as the director for the film.
Although Gunn was hired back not too long after he was fired, he was picked up to direct DC’s upcoming spiritual sequel ‘The Suicide Squad.’ This upcoming movie is one that has received a lot of hype already because of what was revealed for it at DC FanDome. Fans and members of the film industry alike have already made it clear that the movie is what they were hoping for from the first ‘Suicide Squad‘ movie. Many fans were worried that Gunn going to work on a DCEU project would mean that he was not really going to be involved with the MCU any longer. Fans also believed that his going to work on one of their projects would create bad blood between Gunn and the people at Marvel Studios. This turns out not to have even been close to the case.
As it turns out, it is only really the fans who have contempt for one another when it comes to the whole Marvel vs. DC debate. Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, even went and paid Gunn a visit on the set of ‘The Suicide Squad’ to see how things were going and the two were noted as being very friendly with one another on set. In a further show of support between content creators, and to show that there is really no bad blood at all between the two groups, Gunn has even recently invited DC filmmakers to visit the set for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ when they start filming. This just goes to show that a lot of what fans believe about the industry at this point is just all in their heads. There is no real reason for anyone to think that the two shared universes are at war with one another or anything like that.
By George Robbins
Movies are kind of in a bit of a predicament right now given the fact that theaters are having more issues than anticipated. So, originally theaters had their plans for their big reopenings over the course of the previous month. It seemed as thought this plan was going to end up working out in the end, but that seems to have just gone down the drain. Movie theaters have restrictions in place which bar them from having too many people in seats simultaneously. This didn’t really seem like it would cause too much of an issue given how much confidence theaters had not too long ago.
Now it would appear that theaters just don’t have any luck nowadays and studios are going to have to adjust to that fact in some way shape or form. Just recently, the movie ‘Tenet’ released and, despite having a strong couple of opening weekends, the movie hardly made any money this past weekend. With this in mind, it has become apparent to some companies that there is going to be a large period of time moving forward where movie theaters are pretty much going to be empty. There is no incentive for theaters to stay open because they will just end up losing money if not enough people come in. This still hasn’t stopped studios from trying to release their films though.
Studios have been doing their best to get their films out somehow in order to make their money, but their only real options right now are to delay or release digitally. While the latter option is one that has been relatively successful, it is not the one many studios want for their blockbusters because they want to get as much money as they can. Unfortunately this means that they will now have to wait because there are talks right now that theaters in the US may end up shutting down again due to low volume of customers. Therefore, the movie ‘Black Widow‘ is now on the list of films that will probably be seeing another delay in release date.
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