By George Robbins
As we are all now currently aware of, ‘Suicide Squad‘ is a movie that released back in 2016 which saw the gathering of many DC comic book villains. This gathering of villains was rightfully named the titular Suicide Squad because they were forced by the government to go on life or death missions to save the world. This is the premise behind the comic books of the same name and we saw a glimpse of this with the movie when it released back in 2016. The premise was a good one as it saw the opportunity for villains to be seen as anti-heroes instead of just the straight-up terrible people we knew them to be. Hence, the movie was stacked to make it worthy of the public’s adoration, but so much ended up going wrong with the film.
When the film first released, it was a movie that many DC fans were very much looking forward to seeing because it allowed for another side of the DC universe to be seen. It gave people the chance to bear witness to a part of the DC universe where villains were given a more expanded role than the ones normally seen on screen. For instance, when a villain is usually seen on screen, they are often times shown to be the epitome of evil and we aren’t given a chance to sympathize with them. Thus we do nothing throughout the movie but root for the heroes to succeed in their mission of defeating the villains and saving the day. This is pretty sad though, because the DC universe is one that is full of relatively sympathetic villains, but also has its share of lunatics.
‘Suicide Squad’ was meant to show off a combination of both of these types of villains by giving us a story focusing on the titular squad and their foes. The enemies of the Suicide Squad are the villains that we know we can’t root for and we know that they are the worst of the worst. Whereas, we know that the members of the squad are the more sympathetic characters that we can put ourselves in the shoes of. Unfortunately, this is not how the movie ended up working out and we ended up with a film that just ended up being confusing. At this point in time, it has now become apparent that this is definitely not how the movie was intended to be. Director David Ayer has said that there were many changes made before the film’s release.
In the released film, much of what happened on screen ended up confusing the general audience at large and ended up being a huge negative for the franchise. No one who went to see the movie could see things the way that the director originally intended which gave the movie a muddled tone that no one could truly understand. This turns out to have been the case because, apparently, the studio was responsible for making a lot of changes to the film after it was already finished. Ayer admitted that the reshoots for the film were not his idea and that very little of what he actually wanted in the film was able to make it in. After the announcement that a Director’s Cut was going to be releasing for 2017’s ‘Justice League,’ Ayer made it clear that he wants to release his own cut for ‘Suicide Squad.’
Needless to say, the 2016 release was pretty much considered to be a disappointment by many fans and thus we ended up with a film very few liked. It wasn’t considered a terrible film, but it definitely wasn’t one that people were happy with as it received mixed reviews from all over. Thus, it is not too much of a surprise that the studio is now trying to draw peoples’ attention back to the franchise with the upcoming movie ‘The Suicide Squad.’ This upcoming film is also known as ‘Suicide Squad 2,’ but it is less a sequel and more of a spiritual sequel to the original film with mostly new characters. Unlike the previous film, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ director James Gunn is manning the helm for this film. Not only that, the movie will also feature an entirely new cast of characters for us to follow throughout the film.
Gunn has made it clear so far to the public that it will be his version of the movie, and not a studio one, that we will end up seeing in theaters next year. During the recent online convention for DC content known as DC FanDome, fans were given the chance to see the first content related to ‘The Suicide Squad,’ including what characters we would be seeing in the film and who would be playing them. Named chiefly among these characters was the character Bloodsport who will be played by actor Idris Elba. We have known that Elba was attached to the project for quite some time, but we never knew who he was playing in the film until recently. It turns out, in a strange twist, that Gunn wrote the character for Elba before even having the chance to meet the man as he saw the character as a perfect fit for him. We will really get to see if this was the correct move for Gunn to make when the film releases in early August of next year.
By George Robbins
Now that movie productions are starting to get back on track, studios have been giving it their all to get their films back up and running again. This mostly just includes getting all of their cast and crew that they can muster up to go back out and continue working on their films. Given the fact that all productions were cancelled due to the pandemic, many studios are very much glad to get their crews back to work. While some companies may have movies in their backlog now that they haven’t been able to release them to the public, some studios need films ready. Not every studio is currently jumping at the opportunity to put their movies out right now as the movie industry is still a relatively volatile climate.
The current climate for movie releases is one where at any moment, movie theaters could once again be closed down and this isn’t great for studios. It means that they have to properly time when they will release their films and on top of that, they will need to account for the fact that theaters now have new restrictions in place limiting the number of people who can be there simultaneously. Therefore studios would much rather have a back catalog of movies just so that when they can, they can start releasing their movies. This will give them a bit of a cushion and it allows them more of a chance to generate future revenue without putting unnecessary stress on their crews. That being said, they are doing pretty well with what they currently have available to them.
One of the best instances of this is the continued filming of movies that were being worked on before the pandemic began. Among the movies that were being worked on was the next installment in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise, aptly named ‘Mission: Impossible 7.’ Like all previous installments, this movie seems like it will be pushing what the actors, namely Tom Cruise, are capable of. This has been made all the more obvious as of late after a set video released showing a set up stunt on the side of a cliff. The stunt in question sees Cruise essentially jumping a motorcycle off of a cliff and I’m certain it will be a scene to behold in the movie. Now we just have to wait until next year to see the end result of the filming.
By George Robbins
Lately, there has been a ton of different news about movies that are going to be coming out, as well as movies that have already been out for awhile. This is how we’ve ended up with so many discussions as of late about movies that have already been out for a long time now and how they should be different. A majority of these conversations started happening after the release of information about an upcoming directorial cut of a movie that many people have wanted for a couple of years now. That upcoming movie is the ‘Justice League‘ movie that released back in 2017 which we now know will be getting a new cut which will release to the public some time in early 2021.
This upcoming rendition of the ‘Justice League’ movie was spurred on by the fact that fans were not content with the original final product. This stems from the fact that the original film had two different directors because the first one, Zack Snyder, had to step down early on to deal with a family tragedy. After the release of the film, fans believed that the end result was one that was not really in-line with what the director would have wanted. After a lot of complaining from the public, Warner Bros. decided to give Snyder a budget to make his own version of the film which will premiere early next year on their HBO Max streaming service. With this news, many other fans believed that this was not the only movie to be messed with during production.
This theory would be one that is apparently true as the director of the 2016 DC film ‘Suicide Squad,’ David Ayer, confirmed that his movie did not turn out like he wanted it to. Ever since the announcement of the Snyder Cut for ‘Justice League,’ Ayer has been asking fans to petition for a director’s cut of his film. Since then, a lot of different news has come out revealing just how different the film ended up being from its original rendition. Many changes were made after the film was already released which is what Ayer blames for the movie doing so poorly. However, it seems that not every fan theory about the film’s production was true because Ayer revealed recently that, despite fan theories, the movie was never meant to be an R-Rated film.
By George Robbins
Movie studios are currently getting everything back on track by trying to get their productions going again within the past couple of months. They have been doing this the best they can considering the fact that most everything they have been doing has been shut down in some way. Even productions that have managed to start up again recently have had a bit of a time trying to get back on track properly as it has been anything but easy for them. For instance, they have restrictions on set with limit just how much they are capable of doing which has resulted in many people not being allowed on set. This has resulted in a significantly slower process when it comes to films actually being worked on by comparison.
What I mean when I say by comparison is that things cannot go as smoothly as they normally would if things were not as rough as they currently are. Basically what I am saying is that if studios were able to work on movies like they normally would, they would have everyone available on set all day, everyday to make sure things go quickly and smoothly. This is how movies would get finished filming so quickly and now this process has been hit relatively hard by the fact that this is currently not how things can work. Due to the rules in place for the pandemic, the overall number of people on sets is limited and everyone on set must maintain the current societal rules in place for social distancing.
Now that productions are getting back to work in relatively full swing, they are doing what they can to follow the rules while keeping cast and crew safe. That being said, it is still far from what people would consider the best case scenario, and therefore, troubles still ensue. Even with the countless problems that may crop up in the foreseeable future, studios are working on getting everything back up and running again which is how we are ending up with many films people have been looking forward to starting up production again or very soon. For instance, ‘The Batman‘ has resumed filming as of late, ‘Mission: Impossible 7‘ has resumed, and a number of other films have been announced that will start filming in the coming months.
One such movie that we will apparently be seeing filming start for soon is the sequel to the 2019 film ‘Shazam!.’ The sequel for the DC film is one that has actually been relatively well anticipated because the first film was received very well critically. It has been no secret that there would be a second film because of the popularity of the first movie, but it was a wonder on many people’s minds as to just when they would begin working on the movie. With the announcement of the ‘Black Adam’ film as well as the pandemic that is currently going on, no one knew when the film would be worked on. According to the film’s star, Zachary Levi, they will be working on starting the sequel’s production in early 2021 for their supposed November 2022 release. Though it still has a far-off release, it may just end up releasing earlier and maybe even closer to the original April 2022 release.
By George Robbins
These past couple of weeks have been a pretty big deal for folks in the movie industry due to everything that is currently going on with the pandemic still. Theaters have been able to open their doors back up to the public which has given them the chance to once again make some kind of revenue. Considering the fact that they haven’t been making any kind of money over the past six months or so, this is kind of a big deal as the film industry was losing money hand over fist. Losing money doesn’t really sound correct though as they weren’t so much losing it as they were not making any. If they aren’t making any money, then they are slowly losing it due to new production costs and maintenance fees to uphold maintenance on facilities.
Now that we are at least somewhat separated from the start of the pandemic, we have a better handle on things moving forward. Just saying that we have a better handle on things however, doesn’t actually mean that we know what we are doing. It does mean that we are doing our best to try and make due with the new rules that are in place that we now have to follow. Movie theaters have had one of the biggest snags to deal with as of late due to the restrictions that they have had put into place. These restrictions are there as a means of preventing more people from getting sick and, while helpful to the general public, they do movie theaters no real favors. This is mostly due to the fact that theaters are now severely limited on the number of seats that they can sell to the public.
Movie theaters kind of rely upon selling out their seats if they want to make any kind of legitimate revenue, but due to the new rules in place this isn’t easy to do. So the restrictions that have now been put into place limit the number of people who are allowed to occupy space in theaters. Now, at any given time, only a percentage of space in theaters can be occupied by people coming to see new movies. Even larger theaters have an upmost limit to them with many only being allowed to have 100 customers total in order to follow social distancing rules. Thus, it is kind of difficult for theaters to bring in the money that both they need and that studios need. Considering the very limited amount of options available at theaters now, this can get kind of troubling relatively quickly.
Among the very limited number of options currently available to the public at the moment is the new blockbuster from Christopher Nolan, ‘Tenet.’ This movie is one that has been hyped up since the moment trailers started dropping for it some time last year. This is something which is easy for people to understand because the movie instantly gave off an air about it where people just wanted to know what the movie was about. Most people know by now that any new movie Christopher Nolan comes up with, especially new original films, will most definitely be something worth watching. This movie was made all the more interesting by the fact that it was very early on made out to be a spy thriller, but with a twist. It would appear from an early stage that time manipulation of some sort was responsible for a lot of what would be happening.
All of this tied together is what drew the attention of the public and so when the movie was still planning on keeping its original July release date, many were excited. No one was more excited than Christopher Nolan who wanted his movie to be the first blockbuster available to the public once theaters reopened. Unfortunately, this release date was not meant to last as there was a second wave of the virus in the United States therefore, the release date was pushed back a couple of weeks to the beginning of August. Things continued to be negative for Warner Bros. though, as they had to push it again due to a high volume of cases. Eventually, they just decided to hold off until further notice and they instead decided to release the film internationally first. Luckily they were able to give a domestic release only one week after the international and they made a lot of money back.
While the movie has been getting flak for the sound mixing being all messed up to the point it is annoying viewers, the movie has made a lot of money. For instance, it exceeded expectations internationally by bringing in over $100 million on its opening weekend and this past weekend, the total amount brought in after the domestic release exceeded over $150 million. Though very much shy of the $200 million budget for production, it is a strong start to a trend that the studio wants to see continue. The problem is that the movie needs to bring in about $500 million at the box office to break even, before marketing costs are factored in. They are very much willing to go the distance with the movie, but it is a long ways off before they can make the money that they want to see from this movie.
By George Robbins
Christopher Nolan is a director who has become known worldwide as being a man who can make movies that both impress and confuse the audience. Over the past decade and a half, he has done his best to bring in countless audiences to see his films and it has resulted in billions of dollars in box office sales. His films often have people becoming fascinated with them just from the trailers alone and people are more than willing to go and see his newest films with little to no explanation as to what they may be about. If it wasn’t for his ability to create films that make people think about what is going on, then he wouldn’t have created such a dedicated fan base. He has had the chance yet again recently to bring people in with his movie ‘Tenet.’
‘Tenet’ is a film that he has been trying to advocate for awhile to get to be the first movie available in theaters once they were able to reopen. As such, it was originally set to release in mid-July and due to a second wave of the virus, it was pushed back again to the end of August. The movie was forced to have an international release first and then a domestic one this past weekend, one week after the initial release, due to the previously stated delay. As such, many were building up anticipation to go and see the movie once it hit theaters and it blew expectations out of the water. The movie ended up selling better than expected, though it was still very much shy of being called a true success.
This past weekend saw the domestic release of the new Christopher Nolan spy thriller and people have some relatively mixed feelings about the film thus far. Obviously, the fact that it is a cold war-esque spy thriller with time-manipulation elements has made the film a highly interesting one for people to go and see. Unfortunately though, it seems that the sound design for the movie has been an issue for a lot of the people who have already gone to see the movie. Audiences who have already gone to see ‘Tenet’ have complained that important dialogue in the film is unintelligible due to the bad sound mixing. This makes it seem like there are going to be some issues for the blockbuster moving forward and thus, problems for the studio. Maybe they can retroactively fix the issue, but at this point, only time will tell.
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