I delayed this one because I thought maybe too much Marvel/DC movie news? But Drew McWeeny over at HitFix http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/marvels-making-big-plans-beyond-avengers-3-and-its-making-hollywood-crazy makes some good points.
In fact, the Marvel Movie folk seem to have gotten their act together and carefully organised what they are doing, why and when. DC on the other hand, are a lot messier. First it was Superman V Batman and then Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Then we added in Wonder Woman...Aquaman and--no. I'm not saying. So the movie is now, quite literally, Justice League 1!
There is also the fact that TV has established DCs latest hero -the Flash
New Flash
Now, with some idea of what had gone before it might have been a fresh approach to cast the original TV Flash (1990) -John Wesley Shipp- who really made the character three dimensional and I became a fan of the series and all its characters- as an older Barry Allen and the new guy -Grant Gustin- as Wally West?
I know, I know, Shipp plays Barry Allan's incarcerated father in the pilot but that's not even a nod of the head to what Shipp helped establish -remember the series ran 1990-1991 and the network tried this new show up against THE most popular show on US TV -Cosby. Morons.
Then they go ahead and announce that The Flash movie will have another actor playing the character. It goes from one level of moronism to another. Get the TV Flash established and then move him to the Big screen. Stupidity. It would be like Marvel Movies having Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man movies but another actor playing his character in The Avengers.
And how successful was Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern? I just do not like Reynolds and think he is a lousy actor. Not seen the GL movie for that reason but even die-hard comic fans have panned the movie. So, there will be a reboot...seriously, I may not like Reynolds but the studio ought to just sort out "what went wrong" and then retry Reynolds as a more serious, mature character -all the clips I saw were similar to the Green Hornet character: loud, brash, "That's what I'm talking about, right?!" Totally missing out on WHAT the character actually is.
******! *****! Did I just write "Give Ryan Reynolds another chance"???? I need to change my meds. Get rid of that ****** lousy costume, too.
Here's a few images to prove my point re. Smallville:
As in comics so on TV -Hawkman has a disagreement with Green Arrow, natch!
You see (before we get on to the point of this post!) there was, what -ten years of Smallville and I hated it up until the last three series where Aquaman, Mera, the JSA and other characters were introduced. I saw the logic of then spinning these actors/characters out into movies because everyone would know their histories.
Hmm. Maybe I just look at this logically rather than with a nose full of 'baking powder'?
But let's get on to poor Drew's long waiting article!
Quote:
Marvel's making big plans beyond 'Avengers 3,' and it's making Hollywood crazy
"Everyone's aping the moves, but not taking away the right lessons
Everyone else is just playing Marvel's game at this point.
I have no doubt some of the DC/Warner movies will be good, and some will likely be bad, and there will be people who prefer them because there is a strong chance they are going to be radically different in tone than anything Marvel's making, and fandom will continue to rage and debate even as Fox struggles to manage their own unconnected corner of the Marvel Universe. But make no mistake… Marvel is driving the entire conversation right now. Everyone else is reacting to them, or being forced to try to emulate them, or making a conscious decision not to react to them, which is still a reaction, and through it all, Marvel is making the choices they're making based on a long-range story-driven game plan that takes business considerations into account but that also seems designed to ever keep anyone from being in the position of being able to ruin their plans over money.
Over the weekend, Devin Faraci ran a piece about the possible shape of "Avengers 3" over at Badass Digest, and like Devin, there are things I've been hearing for a while now that have me wondering what the Marvel Universe looks like in five years. It won't be the Marvel Universe we know right now, but it will be richer and weirder and much much larger. I think many fans assumed that we'd get to the James Bond moment at some point soon where they have to just start recasting the key roles like Tony Stark or Captain America or Thor, but I think Marvel is reluctant to start down that road.
Instead, it seems like they're focused on cultivating new members of the Marvel family while figuring out the best way to deploy those contractual obligations they've still got pending. It's like an elaborate narrative chess game, and the advantage Marvel has is that they know where all these things are heading. They have long-range plans for the world that have been building now for ten movies and that are nowhere near their final pay-off yet. That's sort of remarkable and unprecedented. That's what I mean when I say everyone else is going to have to play Marvel's game. They've got to start thinking bigger.
There's a fairly pronounced antagonism between Fox and Marvel these days, and it's just going to get stranger as the publishing version of Marvel seems to be making some very strategic decisions about the characters that Fox owns. Deadpool's movie may have finally been announced, but it looks like Marvel's planning to kill Deadpool in the very near future. The rumors about the end of publication for "Fantastic Four" were denied for months, but now look to be true. And the status quo in the world of the "X-Men" " is in ruins in a way that looks nothing like the movies currently being made. Whatever Marvel's future is, the Fox deal remains a thorn in their side, a sequester of some of their biggest characters that looks unlikely to ever change.
Sony, on the other hand, may be doing things the opposite way. While I can't get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I'm hearing that there are some very cool "Spider-Man" plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom's minds. Will it work out? I don't know. I would love to be able to state for sure that it's happening. What seems clear from what I've heard is that Marvel wants to be able to play with all of their characters, and if they can make that work creatively and on a corporate level, they will, and that means the world gets bigger again.
Someone asked me this weekend when this bubble bursts, and for Marvel, I don't see anything that can stop them at this point besides them. For almost two years, I had conversations with people in which I talked about how important "Guardians Of The Galaxy" would be to the studio, and I was told endlessly that it was going to be the point where they bit off more than they could chew. Now that the film is a legitimate phenomenon, it looks like Marvel really can successfully introduce new and unknown characters to the mainstream and they can take chances with tone or with casting as long as they deliver something that works. They have two more giant challenges coming with "Doctor Strange" and "Ant-Man," but they've got all of their energy focused on making those movies not only fit into what's come before, but expand what can come afterwards."
I have no doubt some of the DC/Warner movies will be good, and some will likely be bad, and there will be people who prefer them because there is a strong chance they are going to be radically different in tone than anything Marvel's making, and fandom will continue to rage and debate even as Fox struggles to manage their own unconnected corner of the Marvel Universe. But make no mistake… Marvel is driving the entire conversation right now. Everyone else is reacting to them, or being forced to try to emulate them, or making a conscious decision not to react to them, which is still a reaction, and through it all, Marvel is making the choices they're making based on a long-range story-driven game plan that takes business considerations into account but that also seems designed to ever keep anyone from being in the position of being able to ruin their plans over money.
Over the weekend, Devin Faraci ran a piece about the possible shape of "Avengers 3" over at Badass Digest, and like Devin, there are things I've been hearing for a while now that have me wondering what the Marvel Universe looks like in five years. It won't be the Marvel Universe we know right now, but it will be richer and weirder and much much larger. I think many fans assumed that we'd get to the James Bond moment at some point soon where they have to just start recasting the key roles like Tony Stark or Captain America or Thor, but I think Marvel is reluctant to start down that road.
Instead, it seems like they're focused on cultivating new members of the Marvel family while figuring out the best way to deploy those contractual obligations they've still got pending. It's like an elaborate narrative chess game, and the advantage Marvel has is that they know where all these things are heading. They have long-range plans for the world that have been building now for ten movies and that are nowhere near their final pay-off yet. That's sort of remarkable and unprecedented. That's what I mean when I say everyone else is going to have to play Marvel's game. They've got to start thinking bigger.
There's a fairly pronounced antagonism between Fox and Marvel these days, and it's just going to get stranger as the publishing version of Marvel seems to be making some very strategic decisions about the characters that Fox owns. Deadpool's movie may have finally been announced, but it looks like Marvel's planning to kill Deadpool in the very near future. The rumors about the end of publication for "Fantastic Four" were denied for months, but now look to be true. And the status quo in the world of the "X-Men" " is in ruins in a way that looks nothing like the movies currently being made. Whatever Marvel's future is, the Fox deal remains a thorn in their side, a sequester of some of their biggest characters that looks unlikely to ever change.
Sony, on the other hand, may be doing things the opposite way. While I can't get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I'm hearing that there are some very cool "Spider-Man" plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom's minds. Will it work out? I don't know. I would love to be able to state for sure that it's happening. What seems clear from what I've heard is that Marvel wants to be able to play with all of their characters, and if they can make that work creatively and on a corporate level, they will, and that means the world gets bigger again.
Someone asked me this weekend when this bubble bursts, and for Marvel, I don't see anything that can stop them at this point besides them. For almost two years, I had conversations with people in which I talked about how important "Guardians Of The Galaxy" would be to the studio, and I was told endlessly that it was going to be the point where they bit off more than they could chew. Now that the film is a legitimate phenomenon, it looks like Marvel really can successfully introduce new and unknown characters to the mainstream and they can take chances with tone or with casting as long as they deliver something that works. They have two more giant challenges coming with "Doctor Strange" and "Ant-Man," but they've got all of their energy focused on making those movies not only fit into what's come before, but expand what can come afterwards."
Quite seriously, if McWeeny predicted Guardians was going to be huge then he needs to be employed by Marvel Movies! Even Marvel were taken by surprise and I think it fair to say the movie was made because it fit in with its whole science fiction outlook in the comics --even Marvels Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. is described as a "sci fi spy series".
I think that Marvel is using the "what next?" to great effect because its movie fans are just hyped up. On the other hand DC fans are, as I noted before, taking a far more negative approach to things. A case of the comics darker attitude affecting the readers brains?
Above:TVs "Arrow" -I always thought he looked unwell until I realised his eye-liner was just awfully put on!
Do you know THE big winners in all this? PVC/Latex and leather industries, "What's this guy were?" Quick look: "A red and yellow costume" -"Let's make it a dark colour -leather or PVC mebbe?"
Have you noticed how bosses at Marvel and DC mock how "bad" people look in spandex costumes based on those in their comics? This has to be a way they get out of making the characters in movies wear the proper outfits because you look at those cosplayers and a lot of them put movie costumiers to shame AND they are wearing the comic book outfits!
Above: to prove the point even more Smallvilles Justice League Bart (Flash) Allan,Green Arrow, Clark (Superman), Aquaman and Victor Stone -the movies should have spun out of these far more acceptable versions.
Others who are exploiting this "what/who is next?" are comic book traders. There is NO Sub-Mariner movie on its way yet prices for Silver Age Subby comics have sky-rocketed beyond the money a comic book fan is willing to pay. I saw a Sub-Mariner #43 on Ebay that had "oil or some other fluid stain" not just darkening the cover but every page and the seller was asking.....£10.00/$20.00.
There is a strange belief that if a character is in a movie then you go out and buy overly priced copies of the comic they are in and it will one day be worth "a mint!" One born every minute.
Marvel has Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daredevil on TV but, apart from awful Di$ney versons of characters in animated series, that is it. Oh, Agent Carter of course. Distinct lack of super heroes? DC has Arrow, Flash and a long history of TV series and animated TV shows. Gotham...well, I walked in from the kitchen and it was on the TV show and I laughed quite a lot before asking: "What is THIS?" to which I got the response: "Gotham" and I've watched a bit more since. I still think it's funny. It IS meant to be funny, right??
I'm going before I stir up an hornets nest of indifference!
No comments:
Post a Comment