By George Robbins
DC FanDome has come and gone and it was pretty much a success which isn’t really too much of a surprise given the fact that DC put a lot of effort into it. The convention, like every other Comic-Con this year, was forced to be held online but they had it easier than they might have if this wasn’t the convention’s first year. This gave them the upper hand because it allowed them to get everything set up without having to cancel any previously made plans. With everyone allowed free admission to the event like every other Con this year, they allowed more people to see everything for better promotion. Everyone knows that with better promotion, comes better chances at selling a product, especially for movies.
One of the more enigmatic films that was shown off at the convention that people have been waiting to hear about was ‘The Batman.’ This upcoming DC film focuses on the titular hero as he deals with countless new threats and no one knew what this would really be about. People figured that the movie is adapted from one of the comic book stories, but for the longest time there was no word as to just what story was being adapted. From what we had heard from the actors and from the director, the movie would have villains in it such as the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman. After this past weekend we now have a better idea as to what it was adapted from.
Director Matt Reeves admitted that the story does actually have inspiration from a comic book story about the character. Based upon what we had already learned about the film, we figured that it had to be early in the character’s career as the Caped Crusader. It turns out that it actually is early on in his career, but it isn’t a story that was adapted from the ‘Year One’ story by comic writer Frank Miller. Reeves instead named Darwyn Cooke’s ‘Batman: Ego and Other Tails’ as being a big influence on the film and it has influenced just what kind of story will unfold. Early in his career, Batman was fighting crime to stop things from happening to people like they did with his parents, but his trauma is still there. Thus we will likely see this crop up as ‘The Batman’ faces the Riddler.
By George Robbins
Over this past weekend, the DC FanDome online event happened for the first time and it gave fans a lot to look forward to. A lot of DC Extended Universe, or DCEU, films are going to be coming out in the near future and this event is essentially the equivalent to any Comic-Con. It’s an event that gives directors and actors a platform where fans can ask questions in regards to just about anything. So over the past weekend, one of the big releases that ended up being talked about the most was the upcoming standalone film, ‘The Batman.’ This movie has been on people’s minds a lot as of late because it features a lot of characters that people know from the Batman comics.
What some people may not know, but I have mentioned already, is the fact that this movie will be a standalone film. This separates the movie from any other part of the DCEU because it means nothing in the film will necessarily carry over into the DCEU at any point. With this in mind, there is still a lot of hard work going into the creation of this film. As of late, they have had to continue filming while no longer being on vacation because the pandemic has made it more difficult to do so. Not to mention that the actors for the film have all said that they wanted to get back to work and the director is still planning on having the film ready by next year. This just shows how seriously they take getting this film done on time.
Director Matt Reeves answered a lot of questions this past weekend in regards to the upcoming film and it gave us a lot to think about moving forward. One of the more interesting things that Reeves made mention of was the fact that he didn’t at all mind Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman. Many did not like that iteration, but that is mainly due to the plots of the movies he was in. He didn’t really have a long stint as the Caped Crusader and that made even more people not like his portrayal. However, as an older and more grizzled Batman, he did a good job at portraying the character in a dignified but ultimately jaded way. This is something that a lot of people can understand from his portrayal, but that iteration will be tainted by the movies he played in.
By George Robbins
This past weekend was a big weekend for DC fans and overall, a big weekend for comic book fans in general. DC FanDome took place for the first time ever and it was considered a success given the amount of information fans ended up receiving over the weekend. Many different DC properties received the limelight and it gave fans a chance to find out just what would be coming up for the DCEU in the not too distant future. Among the titles that had information given on them was ‘The Suicide Squad’ which is James Gunn’s “spiritual reboot” to the first ‘Suicide Squad‘ movie. Gunn revealed during the online only event just how much work was put into the new film and some other info was discovered as well.
The original ‘Suicide Squad’ movie has been receiving a lot of attention as of late because director David Ayer has been very vocal about the changes that were made to it. According to Ayer, the studio made them do reshoots for the movie that Ayer and the general public believe ruined the film. They were trying to compete with the recently released ‘Deadpool’ and by adding in a more comedic tone to the movie, they ruined the overall tone of the film. This was sparked for conversation after it was revealed that Zack Snyder would be releasing a director’s cut for ‘Justice League’ that would premiere next year. Due to this Ayer made himself very vocal to try and get fans to side with him so he could do the same thing.
Although there has been no word on Ayer getting the opportunity to put his director’s cut together, Gunn made many more details about his film known. For one thing, we already know from a previous message on social media that the reason for why the name of the new film is ‘The Suicide Squad’ is because he made a joke about the title and an executive said that it would be a good title. DC scooped up Gunn after he was momentarily let go by Disney before he could start working on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He has since put together an ensemble cast of sorts, but other than Idris Elba and John Cena, no one knew who was in the film or what parts the two actors would play. This past weekend we found out just who would be in the film and what roles they would play.
- Idris Elba as Bloodsport
- John Cena as Peacemaker
- David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man
- Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2
- Steve Agee as King Shark
- Nathan Fillion as TDK
- Mayling Ng as Mongal
- Flula Borg as Javelin
- Sean Gunn as Weasel
- Michael Rooker as Savant
- Pete Davidson as Blackguard
- Peter Capaldi as The Thinker
- Alice Braga as Sol Soria
- Storm Reid as Tyla, Bloodsport’s daughter
- Juan Diego Botto as General Luna
- Joaquín Cosío as Major General Suarez
This ensemble cast was more than we ever would have expected to see and it shows off character that most people wouldn’t even really know much about. The cast was shown off during this past weekend and we now have a way of putting faces to names and characters as a whole. Many people have been worried that the movie would end up being just as much of a disappointment as ‘Suicide Squad’ was. Gunn has already said over social media that he is going to be releasing his own version of the film to theaters and that there was no studio interference. With the list of actors now known and Gunn saying that he is launching his own, unhampered version of the film, we can be a bit more hopeful for the release of the film in August of 2021.
By George Robbins
One of the most prominent film franchises over the past few years have been the ones related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU. The MCU is a vast, expansive shared universe that gives us a good look at the lives and trials that a large number of Marvel Comic book heroes live through. Many prominent heroes have made themselves a part of the MCU over the years and we have tons of spin-off media to add to that. When Disney obtained Marvel, a blank check was essentially given to the MCU directors to make the incredible films that they should be capable of making. This made the quality of every MCU film incredible even really by the standards that have been set in today’s world in VFX.
Like previously stated, the MCU is vast and contains a lot of different characters through which we experience a lot of different story arcs. The movies are unique and due to the work put into them by Marvel Studios, the movies end up turning out great. This process of film making can be a bit upended though by the countless deals in place that allow the films the possibility of being made. One of the most important of those deals is the one that Disney has in place with Sony so that they could have One of the most important Marvel characters appear in their film, Spider-Man. Sony has had the rights to the IP for a very long time now and they have no plans to give that up any time soon.
‘Spider-Man‘ was one of the most important movies of its time period because it was considered one of the more modern day hero movies. It was the movie that lit the flame under fans that allowed the Marvel Studios films to do so well. Not to take away from the achievements of those films, but ‘Spider-Man’ could easily be seen as the movie/character that helped start the trend. While the MCU continued on, the Spider-Man IP stagnated after a failed reboot of the character until he was needed as an essential character for a storyline. The Civil War storyline in the comics was a very important moment in Marvel Comics history and Spider-Man had a part to play in it. This meant that Disney had to make a deal with Sony for the use of their IP in the MCU films.
Although Sony may have allowed them to use the character, they still have the rights to the character and any characters related to him. This isn’t an issue as it allows for the creation of other films related to Spider-Man, but they aren’t really tied to the MCU, at least not yet. The hope of Sony is to have more of their character IP’s to become a part of the MCU as well. They are trying to continue the trend of making Spider-Man related movies with their upcoming film ‘Morbius‘ as well as the sequel to their first ‘Venom’ film. Now they have Olivia Wilde coming in to be the director of some new Spider-Man related film. What people are hoping will happen from this is that she will be working on some new live-action film that focuses on the character Spider-Woman.
By George Robbins
DC is a comic book company that has been around for many years and it has cemented its place in society as a whole. Just like Marvel Comics, DC has become iconic in pop culture and it has been a part of it ever since the “Golden Age of Comics.” This era in history was one that saw comic books at the height of their popularity as they were first releasing to the public. The countless heroes and villains that we see in modern media today are taken from that period of time and will continue to as time goes on. DC have managed to go far with their properties, but not as far as Marvel has because of how well done the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, is.
The MCU is the current standard for what hero movies should look like and just comic book movies in general. It is due to the MCU that Warner Bros. started up their own shared universe, but for DC characters. Warner wanted to do something more with the DC properties that they owned, and so they allowed the usage of their properties for a number of films that portrayed a limited number of characters. They decided to change the individual standalone films into a shared universe that those characters could populate together. Although they were successful, it was a success that was met with a lot of mixed criticism.
So far, few DC films have actually been liked by a large demographic and most are met with mixed criticism that doesn’t bode well for future films. Much of the mixed criticism comes from the fact that there are constant reshoots for those films, even when it is already finished because the studio wanted something different. This studio interference is what a lot of people blame for the reason their movies end up not doing as well as they originally anticipated. With some of their upcoming DCEU entries being looked forward to, many are hoping that those films end up being what they hoped for and more. People do want the franchise to succeed, but it can’t do so if there are going to be issues moving forward.
One of the films in the DCEU that people are looking forward to is the upcoming movie ‘The Flash.’ The story of the movie will be that it is an adaptation of the Flashpoint comic book storyline. From what we have heard, there will be a few twists thrown in, so it won’t be exactly what people would expect from that storyline. For a better understanding of how perhaps the movie will turn out, the public want to see something from the movie so they have the best idea as to what they should expect for a full release. Fans will get the chance to do just that as, apparently, there will be some footage for the movie shown this weekend at DC FanDome. This event is one that will be entirely virtual and it gives the perfect chance for DC fans everywhere to see the footage.
By George Robbins
Many studios are happy now more than they have been over the past couple of months because they can get back to work. For the most part, Hollywood has been shut down since the start of the pandemic and it has resulted in many films being postponed. With productions postponed, there was no telling just when they would be able to start productions back up again. Now that the situation with the virus has become a bit more manageable, studios have been coming up with plans for getting back to work. Before then, the only work that could be done on movies was VFX and post-production work because those things could be done at home. Thus we now have the opportunity to see how they will continue their work now that they have a better chance at doing so.
Before the pandemic began, many movies were in the midst of production and some of them were just about to get started as well. All of those productions had to be put on hiatus for a couple of months with many only just about to resume filming. New rules have been put in place since the initial filming began for all of those films, so now it will be a bit more difficult to maneuver the sets. These rules are in accordance with the new safety guidelines that have been put in place as a way to prevent the production crews from contracting the virus somehow. So now, with these rules in place, crews need to change the way that they film their movies.
Among the methods of following the new rules and trying to make things easier, shooting on location has changed for some films. On top of this, sets are built as a replacement for the locations that were originally going to be used. This is what ended up happening to the upcoming movie ‘The Batman.’ This movie is going to be a standalone live-action film that will not be a part of the DCEU according to the studio so we are looking at a film meant to be original. They had started working on the film in England, but due to the coronavirus, they’ve had to follow the aforementioned changes in location. This means that they will be shooting on a sound-stage instead of the open air.
Many people are looking forward to seeing this film, but no one knows how to feel about the movie not being filmed on location anymore. however, these fears should be alleviated by the fact that they are trying to put together set pieces that emulate the original environment. They have been getting this all set up again so that they could resume filming as soon as possible. This seems to be relatively soon now because the movie is now scheduled to resume its filming in September just like the upcoming ‘Mission: Impossible 7.’ They are trying to make sure that they can still make their October 2021 release date that they have planned so that no further delays mess around with the film.
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