Tag Archives: Disney

Carnal Comradery

DC vs marvel artisan

Zack Snyder may be a bad story-teller, but in all fairness is a talented cinematographer.  Luckily enough for us, Christopher Nolan is the kind of guy that would start trolling a baddie if they are bad.  Which let’s be honest if you are dealing with Zack Snyderthat is going to be the case more often than not.

#TROLOLOLOL.  Disney finally bought itself out of Marvel’s Paramount contract, but is still paying 8% and 9% royalties on grosses $1,511,757,910 (The Avengers)  and $1,147,575,931 (Iron Man 3respectively.  Granting Paramount roughly 200$mill without breaking a sweat.  Or literally even doing anything.  Thor: The Dark World however: will be Marvel Studios’ first foot-loose and fancy-free “in-house” project.  With a little bit of wiggle-roomMarvel has already started writing up scripts for some of it’s most recently re-acquired intellectual property most notably: BladePunisherDaredevilGhostrider, and Doctor Strange.

Quote1.pngThey’re back in the fold, which is where we want them to be.Quote2.png —  Marvel President Kevin Feige

Marvel Phase 3

As the #superheroarmsrace #startsheatingup, rumor has it @ChrisNolanWB is now basically the Kevin Feige of DC/Warner Bros.  Igniting what some might describe as a MERCILESS RUMBLE OF TITANS.

DC vs marvel guardian

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Transcendental Gloom

Intergalactic Synergy 4

J.J. Abrams is looking like a pretty solid candidate to bring Star Wars back into legitimacy, as his warm-up for Star Wars Episode VII is rocks an 87% on rottentomatoes:

A brand new Star Wars trilogy is not all Disney has in mind, as a matter of fact the mass-media corporation says that at least one spin-off film is also “in the works”:

Quote1.pngWe are in fact working on a few stand-alone films,” says Disney CEO Bob Iger. (Lawrence) Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are both working on films derived from great Star Wars characters that are not part of the overall saga.  So we plan to make Star Wars VII, VIII and IX over roughly a six-year period of time starting in 2015. But there are going to be a few other films released in that period of time too.Quote2.png

Ya go ahead and sign me up for all of that.  Thanks.

Naturally speculation about potential “standalone films” has run amuck: everyone from Boba Fett to Yoda to a young Han Solo to a Seven Samurai Jedi Knight Ensemble Film are rumored as possibilities.  The last one sounding pretty boss.  Oh wait.  Nevermind.  It was Zack Snyder’s idea.  And let’s be honest with ourselves.  That guy is a baddie.

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Assembly Required

Assembly Required 1-2-3

Zack Snyder may not be as dumb as I thought he was, as Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinov says Man of Steel will “set the tone” for DC characters “moving forward”.  Let’s hope then that it’s better than Snyder’s LAST film.  Entitled Sucker Punch.  Robinov went on to comment that rumors regarding Christian Bale being cast in Justice League were unfounded, and said that Nolan’s Batman films do indeed “standalone”.

MEANWHILE:

Marvel will “keep taking risks” creatively in it’s Phase Two says Marvel studio head honcho Kevin Fiege:

The official slate of Marvel’s Phase Two is: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy, culminating in The Avengers 2.  Word on the streets is a key piece of the Marvel villain puzzle is none other than the Mad Titan Thanos.  Who? Let’s take a look.

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Systemic Threshold

Iron Man 3-4

The 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards evidently put Argo in front-running position to take home The Oscar’s coveted Best Picture.  After being Oscar snubbed as a directorAffleck and his film have since cleaned up on awards culminating in SAG’s top-honor ensemble award.  Daniel Day Lewis’ Oscar chances went from 95%  to 99% with a SAG win, while Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway are also now a “shoe-in” as well or so they say.

Disney purchased 3 TV spots for tonight’s BIG GAME (Superbowl XLVII) at about 4 mill a pop while Warner Bros. opted to sit out for it’s third year in a row.  Industry insider info indicates that Warner Bros. is strongly hinging on the commercial success of Man of Steel, before “moving forward” with it’s top-priority project:  Justice LeagueThe studio has every right to be nervous, banking it’s flag-ship character hopes on a director like Zack Snyder.  Snyder had early success with 300 (60%), and arguably Watchmen (64%), but his most recent film Sucker Punch (23%), was literally god awful.  Which explains why WB execs are hesitant.

AND SO while Warner Bros’ ensemble team-up film remains in limbo, Disney’s ensemble team-up film is well into it’s phase two, with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World coming this year.  Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige says that the studio is going to “keep taking risks” creatively  in phase two and beyond.  One of such risks was casting Robert Downey Jr. as billionaire inventor Tony Stark.  But that seemed to work out for everybody:

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Intergalactic Synergy

Intergalactic Quaternity

Awards and Flu Seasons have commenced as the 2013 Golden Globes gave Bostonian Ben Affleck a pretty phatty sack including Best Director and Best Picture.  Daniel Day Lewis got best actor which let’s be honest isn’t very surprising to anyone.  So wash your hands and eat oranges as Oscar night approaches on February 24th.  Speaking of Oscar potential Star Wars Episode VII has officially hired director J.J. Abrams to helm the film.  The young director just finished his second Star Trek film and took the job reportedly after months of being courted by new Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy.  Abrams even publicly announced that he would NOT direct the film, which evidently he was just flat out lying about.  What a SILLY GOOSE!  Some would say.  Abrams’ credits include Star Trek and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, having also written and produced big name stuff like Lost and Alias.  Regardless, Disney’s newest branch seems pretty pumped to have him;

Quote1.pngIt’s very exciting to have J.J. aboard leading the charge as we set off to make a new Star Wars movie,” said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in a press release Jan. 25. “J.J. is the perfect director to helm this. Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience, and will bring that talent to create an unforgettable motion picture.”

Star Wars creator George Lucas also gave his blessing to the selection of Abrams. “I’ve consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller,” said Lucas. “He’s an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn’t be in better hands.Quote2.png

Having just landed the biggest directing gig in Hollywood, let’s take a look at Abrams’ most recent project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mu07BaOx9c

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Intergalactic Synergy

NERDS REJOICE: The largest media conglomerate in the world (Disney) bought Lucasfilm last week and immediately announced that a fresh new trilogy of Star Wars films WILL BE HAPPENING starting with an Episode VII in 2015.  Yesterday it was confirmed that Oscar winning screenwriter Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) has been hired to pen Episode VII as the film begins pre-production.  No word yet on who will direct or be cast in the films but personally I am optimistic, as Hayden Christensen already ruined one trilogy and will not be allowed to ruin another.

The new triumvirate of films will reportedly focus on the rebuilding of the Republic, with an aged Luke Skywalker becoming the premier Jedi and training a new order of Jedi Knights.  The series will reportedly culminate in a final confrontation between Skywalker and the Emperor.  Obviously many of the overarching plotlines have yet to be imagined:

Another epic storyline with four main characters? NO WAY!  You must be saying.  Let’s take a look.

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Super Brawl

A Justice League of America film will now officially compete directly with The Avenger’s  2 in the summer of 2015.  Warner Bros. green lit the project and will reportedly ramp up development on it following a decisive legal victory involving the rights to Superman.  Opening the door for competing super squads of epic proportion.  A CLASH OF TITANS if you will.  Okay.  Maybe I got a little excited there.  It is looking pretty legit though as DC/Warner Bros. has made it clear they want a high caliber director at the helm.  As for the cast, let’s hope they go for a little more depth than Megan Fox.  Why does WB want a super-squad of it’s own?  Perhaps a better question is: Why WOULDN’T they want a super-squad of their own.

Can Batman go toe-to-toe with The Hulk? Could Superman beat up Captain America?  I don’t know.  I’m not a rocket scientist.  The two superhero teams will indeed clash at the box office in the summer of 2015, as Warner Bros. looks to sign a director and all star cast within the near future.  Having had talks with The Wachowski Brothers and Ben Affleck about directing, it seems they are willing to spend a pretty penny on bringing a Hall of Justice to the big screen in top class fashion.  Why are all the cool kids making movies about superhero teams these days?  Because effective team synergy is a powerful thing.  Let’s take a look.

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Strategic Bloodthirst

The brutal yet delightful showdown between Marvel and DC rages on as Warner Bros. execs are scrambling to make some moves seeing as they have to sit back and watch The Avengers become a worldwide box office juggernaut (1.4$ billion) while it boasts a formidable critical reception(93%).  Warner Bros. president and CEO Jeff Robinov and company have their work cut our for them as sources say they are currently spit-balling ferociously to figure out how to put a successful and high-caliber Justice League of America franchise together.  A major factor in accomplishing such a feat involves wooing and recruiting  big boss-man randy savage Christopher Nolan to spearhead what would essentially be a “JLA initiative”re-invigorating Warner Bros’ stake in Hollywood.

High ups in the Warner Brother roster even openly admitted that Marvel/Disney is doing a much better job than they are:

Quote1.pngSources indicate that the execs now realize they need to hire creatives that genuinely understand the characters the way Joss Whedon was comfortable with The AvengersQuote2.png

If these people just knew what was up with the Four Basic Personality Types, maybe they’d have a viable Super-quad right now.

DC/ Warner Bros. however is still in the fight as it has yet to unleash the epic dope sauce-ee-ness that will be The Dark Knight Rises.  Other than that though, they indeed better start making some moves, as Marvel/Disney continues to put itself in a position to dominate Hollywood’s lucrative box-office.

Speaking of Hollywood dominance for those of you silly gooses who aren’t well-versed, the The Avengers Easter Egg post-credits scene revealed that the next major villain for Earth’s Mightiest hero’s will be none other than the Mad Titan himself, Thanos the Overmaster.  A Bloodthirsty Intergalactic General on a mission to rid the universe of existence, if Thanos is conceived and casted correctly; he could serve as Marvel’s ultimate supervillain.

Who is Marvel’s God of War you ask? A character based off of the Greek God of Death?  Let’s take a look.

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Diplomat’s Destiny

NBC/Universal has evidently decided that they don’t want to suck at making movies anymore so they went ahead and took the classic tale of Snow White and made it “darker and more epic”Some cynics point out that the very premise of the film is fundamentally flawed, being a story about Charlize Theron getting jealous because Kristen Stewart is prettier than she is.  Which quite frankly doesn’t make any sense.  Superficial stupidity aside, it looks like the film is actually shaping up quite well so hat’s off to our dear friends over at Universal Studios for not sucking anymore.  The films June 1, 2012 release date is fresh off the heels of Tarsem Singh’s Mirror, Mirror (49%), which was a more family-friendly, comedy-oriented and generally less cool Snow White version.  What is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves really about you ask?  The true beauty of an Idealist’s heart.

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The Disney Dyad

Walt always got in hot water with his dealings with business partners.  He wasn’t really a businessman. In fact, he had left Kansas City, Missouri, with his first business, Laugh-O-Gram, bankrupt.  Walt had headed for California, to start again.

Many individuals and companies came to Hollywood, California in the 1920’s because of cheap land and open opportunities.

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