A Geeky Viewpoint

There is a scene in the 1977 release of Star Wars, later renamed Star Wars: A New Hope, in which Alex Guinness as Obi One Kenobi use the force to manipulate the thoughts of multiple Storm Troopers.   With a wave of his hand and stating "These are not the droids you are looking for." the Stormtroopers allow the heroes to move along.
In many ways that is an adept trick that LucasFilms played on the audience with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.   This is not the film you were expecting regardless of how many times you watched the trailers, scoured the Internet, or read everything released by LucasFilms.   That's a good thing.   There are many surprises in the film and you have to wonder for a couple of them how on earth LucasFilms and one of the most scrutinized films in history kept them a secret.

Your enjoyment of this film will be dictated by how much you know about the Star Wars universe.   Have you memorized every episode of Droids, read Cataclysm, have a signed copy of Splinter of the minds Eye, binged every episode of Star Wars: Rebels and know who Saw Gerrea is?   If you answered yes to all those questions than you will think this Film is Oscar worthy, the more you said no the more likely you will say "It's an okay movie I don't get what all the hubbub is about."

There are several flaws in this film.
The film opens without a crawl.   "In a Galaxy Far Far away."  And away you go.   There is no short background statement about what is going on.   This was a novelty that many take for granted in the other Star Wars films, Kathleen Kennedy announced this months ago, and you know what it fails.   If any of the Star Wars Films need that opening crawl, this was it.   The less of a hard-core fan you are them more confused about whats happening in the beginning of the movie you will be.   It really puts the casual fans behind the eight ball in understanding what is going on.

Michael Giacchino score needed more work.  That's not saying it is a bad score by any means, it is just not as solid as John Williams work on the previous films.   Considering he only had 4 weeks to get it done it was already a Herculean effort.   Given another four weeks it probably would have melded into the film a lot better.

There are some problems with the script, particularly in the second (of three) acts.   The middle part of the film slows down.  This is a you love it or hate it kind of situation.   Many will like the effort that the films writers, Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, put into the developing the story, but it is the pacing that has me concerned.   The first act and the third act move along at fairly robust pace it makes the slower second act seem to drag on and on.
You are going to here many viewers questioning the lack of character development or rather the lack of explanation on character motivations.  I'm one of those, but I understand the problem here.   The movie is two hours and thirteen minutes long, to start bringing in that development and motivation for many of these characters you have to either replace something from this film or simply add to the length of the film.   There are many people complaining about the length of the film already adding five more minutes to the second act won't set well with anyone.

Their are some minor issues with the CGI.   There is caveat to this, no one has ever tried to do what they did with this film let alone at this scale.   If what people are doing in say Jungle Book which many thought was shoe in for the Oscar this year is a 10 for difficulty and 10 for execution, than what is occurring in several scenes for Rogue One is 25 for difficulty and 8 or 9 for execution.

This film needs to be seen on a big screen.  Your typical movie screen of yesteryear is 25 to 30 feet in width, big screens today are 30 to 40 feet wide and bigger for large format and iMax.   You want to see this film on as big of screen as you can find.   It doesn't need to be in 3D, but a 35 foot wide screen just makes this film "pop" more than a 25 foot screen.

What the film makers got right!
This films like a prequel to Star Wars:A New Hope.   It feels like if they showed the 1977 Star Wars film immediately after the credits you would honestly have a hard time telling the movies were almost 30 years apart.   That was something Gareth Edwards strove for when creating this film and he succeeded.

I really like the acting.  I'm not suggesting Oscar worth, but they are multifaceted characters brought to life by the actors.  You can tell these characters are fleshed out, you may not know why a character is doing what they are doing but you totally believe the characters.

The script is full of surprises.  There are half-a-dozen times you will be asking if that just happened and Two times, at least, you will exclaim "holy sheets".   It one of those things you have to experience to appreciate, and if you know it is going to happen it takes away from the film.

The final act, well if it wasn't bad form you'd be standing to watch it rather than sitting in your seat, honestly.   Think of a great play at sports events and how the audience jumps to their feet to watch, same thing for 30 minutes.   The audience will cheer and oww and ahh the first time they see it.

When this film is done, you may truly want to visit Star Wars land when it opens.   You feel like you have been immersed into the universe and now you want to touch and feel and...

A few following thoughts
This is an adult version of Star Wars.   While the original trilogy, more so the second (prequel) trilogy were accessible to your younger audience, this film is not.   It is not Deadpool, but it is a dark war film more akin to Das Boot, Full Metal Jacket, The Dirty Dozen and the opening scenes to Saving Private Ryan than the feel good stories of Star Wars.   There is sadness and lots of gray area in this film.   Younger children may not be ready for it and if you take them bring the Kleenex.  Heck you might be the one to need Kleenex.

Overall I gave this film 3 1/2 stars out of 4.

Movie Poster Courtesy impawards.com

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters on Thursday evening a predictions of the movies box are all over the board, and the Internet as well.

On the low end, including LucasFilms/Buena Vista/Disney executives are suggesting $125/$135 M Domestic and $300 M Worldwide.   The opposite end of the scale, the high end, many predictors have the movie earning in the range of $165/$170 M and $300 M Worldwide.

To put that in perspective $130 M domestic opening would rank as the 22nd largest in history and $170 M would be the 13th largest.  $130 M foreign opening would rank as the 36 largest while $170 M would rank as the 20th largest.

It is interesting that the predictors who are suggesting a better domestic opening are also suggesting a poorer foreign opening and vice versa.

Large, excited fan base? Check!
no competition at the box office? Check!
Star Power? Check!
Massive marketing campaign that has been carefully constructed not to revel too many details.  Check!
Previous Movie set records at the box office?  Check!
Solid Score on Rottentomatoes.com Metcritic, and every other site? Check!


So why is this movie not going to open better?
Like many prequels Rouge One: A Star Wars Story is stuck in an unenviable position of being stuck in the prequel trap.  The hard core fans know the story well enough to repeat it back to you verbatim, well the regular fans only know the movie is about Star Wars and if they are lucky the plan to steal the Death Star Plans prior to Star Wars; A New Hope.  Now you have to write a script to satisfy both groups.   Very rarely is that done.

Pre-Hypeulation, it just made that term up, but it is an adept description of the problem.   Two weeks ago the hype meter was pegged for this movie.   It was the talk of virtually every Internet sci-fi/fantasy show, the actors were making the rounds on TV, both foreign and domestic.   The hype for other sci-fi/fantasy movies was at a lull.   In the past week we have had trailers for War for the Planet of the Apes, Spider-man: Homecoming, and a few others.   Suddenly instead of being number 1 by a mile, they are number 3 or 4 as the movie opens.

Over all the reviews are good, upper 70's on rottentomatoes.com, 67 on Meta Critic, other aggregate sites are posting similar numbers, but those aren't game changing numbers.   Scores below 50 could scare casual fans away, scores above 85 can draw fans in.   You are in that middle ground where the reviews affect the potential viewership minimally if at all.

The more you know about Star Wars the more you are going to like this film.  We have all heard it from the first viewings, from critics, from fans, from me, and that is going to scare the not so hard core fans.

So where does this film end up after the first weekend?
I think internationally this film is going to do better than expected.    It has the features that international audience crave, when it comes to multicultural cast, solid directing, a good story, and the added bonus of an American funded high budget.     International reviews have been more positive pushing the upper 80's (out of 100) on aggregate sites.    $175 M to $215 M are the ranges if the models hold true and best guess is just under $185.

Domestically this film is not going to have some of the high end numbers some people are expecting.   Even with its build audience its looking more towards the lower end of the scale.   Models in the $125 M to $145 M seem in line with $137 seeming to be a best guess.

Domestic - $137
Foreign - $185
Worldwide - $322

“I want Deapdool and Wolverine in a movie together,” says Reynolds. “What we’re gonna have to do is convince Hugh. If anything, I’m going to need to do what I can to get my internet friends back on board to help rally another cause down the line.”

We might be showing up at Hugh’s ranch in Australia with a rag with chloroform on it. You just never know.

Okay, lets be honest here, you just read the title and immediately saw Ryan Reynolds dressed as Deadpool on the stage receiving the Golden Globe giving his acceptance speech.  

Yes Deadpool was indeed nominated fro Best Motion Picture in the Musical or Comedy category, along with critic favorite La La Land, so don't expect a win.  

Variety is reporting Luke Cage has been renewed for a second season on Netflix. The Marvel Entertainment television show becomes the third show behind Daredevil and Jessica Jones to receive a second season on the streaming service Netflix. Iron Fist and the Defenders are also in development for their first season.

Sweet Christmas arrived 21 days early! Season Two coming soon! Forward....Always.

— Cheo Hodari Coker (@cheo_coker) December 4, 2016

Burbank, CA – November 21, 2016 – Legendary and the Frank Herbert estate have reached an agreement granting the production entity the film and television motion picture rights to the beloved novel DUNE, one of the most revered science fiction novels of all time. The agreement calls for the development and production of possible film and television projects for a global audience.

Set in the distant future, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides whose family accepts control of the desert planet Arrakis. As the only producer of a highly valuable resource, control of Arrakis is highly contested among the noble families. After Paul and his family are betrayed, the story explores themes of politics, religion, and man’s relationship to nature as Paul leads a rebellion to restore his family’s control of Arrakis.

Dune has long been considered the crown jewel of science fiction properties. Its’ legacy and influence is witnessed in everything from STAR WARS to THE MATRIX and often referred to as the science fiction version of LORD OF THE RINGS with its sprawling world and multi-dimensional politics.

The agreement was negotiated by Mike Ross and Jen Grazier on behalf of Legendary and Marcy Morris and Barry Tyerman of JTWAMMK on behalf of the Herbert family.

About Legendary Entertainment

Legendary Entertainment is a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures), television and digital (Legendary Television and Digital Media) and comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning, producing and delivering content to worldwide audiences. Legendary has built a library of marquee media properties and has established itself as a trusted brand which consistently delivers high-quality, commercial entertainment including some of the world’s most popular intellectual property. In aggregate, Legendary Pictures-associated productions have realized grosses of more than $13 billion worldwide at the box office. To learn more visit: www.legendary.com

According to Variety David Leitch has been confirmed as director of the Deadpool sequel.

A month ago Tim Miller director of the first film departed the project citing creative differences, those differences were later rumored to be between Ryan Reynolds and Tim Miller on choice to play the part of Cable and budget of the film.  

Deavid Leitch has co-directed John Wick, starring Keenu Reeves and been involved in stunts and stunt coordination in film for over 20 years.  

Blackbolt - Image Curtesy of Marvel Entertainment

According to Deadline TV ABC has picked up Marvel's Inhumans TV Series for the Fall of 2017. In an interesting twist, the premier will be Theatrically released in Imax two before it airs on ABC.

The show is not a direct spin off of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and will be a part of the MCU.


 

Deadline is reporting that Universal has inked a deal to make a remake of the 1981 classic horror film, An American Werewolf in London.

[DEADLINE] EXCLUSIVE: An American Werewolf in London is officially getting a remake with The Walking Dead‘s David Albert and Robert Kirkman producing through their Skybound Entertainment for Universal Pictures. The remake of filmmaker John Landis’ classic 1981 comedic horror film will be written by his son Max Landis, who also is attached to direct. The news comes after the elder Landis and filmmaker Anthony Waller (An American Werewolf in Paris) sealed a deal with the studio on the rights. The younger Landis’ deal is being negotiated. Skybound has a first-look production deal with Universal.

The other day I wrote a small piece on the surprising profits that many studios have announced recently.    I have received a request to clarify a section.

In 2016 we have 8 movies domestically reach $200 M or more in box office receipts.  With 4 potential additional movies that may reach that plateau by years end.   This is clearly in line with the past five years with 12 or 13 movies over the $200 M mark.
The problem is $100 M dollar movies.     Over the past five years we have had an average of 20 movies take in between $100 M and $200 M in domestic box office revenue, this year we have 11.   With the release schedule for the remainder of the year, unless we have several break out hits we will have the fewest number of $100 M or greater movies since 2006.

The domestic box office tracking numbers in Millions of Dollars US for some forthcoming movies:

Title:     Opening Weekend:    Total:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story |  $125-$150 ($135) | $375-$410 ($405)
Moana* | $60M-$80M ($65) | $250-$300 ($285)
Doctor Strange | $88 M | $250-$300 ($275)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | $70-$90 ($75) | $175-$210 ($205)
Passengers* | $30-$40 ($35) | $125-$200 ($175)
Sing* | $15-$30 ($25) | $95 - $125 ($115)
Trolls | $30 | $65 - $125 ($110)
Arrival | $20-$35 ($25) | $75-$95 ($90)

*Opens prior to the weekend

Some notes on these:
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been holding steady since the first numbers started trickling out during the late summer.   There is an idea that the film has legs and will make an decent 3x its opening weekend.     Many of the top films of the past couple of years are 2.0 to 2.2X multipliers.   However it is not predicted to have a Star Wars like opening.  

Five of the remaining seven movies are trending down, the exceptions are Doctor Strange and Arrival, when looking at their tracking numbers over the past month.  

Moana is tracking below Zootopia and Big Hero Six in terms of online hits, hashtags and so forth one month before its release, yet it trending above both in terms of its tracking numbers.

The tracking numbers for Trolls are very divergent in terms of their range.   Many associate this to a question about how a toy from the 80's will work for children of the 2010's?



 

In a series of surprising announcements this week several major studios announced a profit for the most recent quarter.   When you couple this with quarterly or seasonal box office revenue down in two of the three most recent quarters/seasons and the over domestic and international movie revenues being down for the year those statements make little sense without taking a deeper dive into them.

In 2016 we have 8 movies domestically reach $200 M or more in box office receipts.  With 4 potential additional movies that may reach that plateau by years end.   This is clearly in line with the past five years with 12 or 13 movies over the $200 M mark.
The problem is $100 M dollar movies.     Over the past five years we have had an average of 20 movies take in between $100 M and $200 M in domestic box office revenue, this year we have 11.   With the release schedule for the remainder of the year, unless we have several break out hits we will have the fewest number of $100 M or greater movies since 2006.

In 2006 the average movie made $15 M in total domestic box office receipts, which is on the low end but pretty typical for the past 10 years.   In 2016 we are on pace to finish with sub $13 M average.  Major Studio releases are headed for a $59 M average domestic box office receipts compared to $69 M average over the past 5 years.   The lowest total in that time was $66 M.

If you add in the lack luster Blu-Ray and DVD sales and streaming sales (iTunes/Amazon/other) well below expectations how can it be possible that Studios are turning a profit.

The answer is fairly simple, Movie Studios are spending far less money on production of films this year than in past years.   This year of the top 15 films of the year studios spent on average $30 M less in production expenses than the previous 5 years.    When looking at the overall budget for Major Studio films the average has decreased by nearly $14 M a film according to multiple sources.  

Back in June I made some predictions on the success of movies at the box office.    Time to check out how I did.

Predicted to Flop - Financially come no where close to recouping production costs at the domestic Box Office.

• Alice Through the Looking Glass   Production $170 M | Domestic Box Office $77 M 
• Warcraft: The Beginning    $160 M | $47 M
• The Legend of Tarzan    $180 M | $126 M
• Ben-Hur (2016)   $100 M | $24 M

I am not surprised that The Legend of Tarzan out performed expectations and continued to do solid business through out the year, however $180 M in production costs are going to be tough to recoup.   When analysts looked at the film the problem for the Movie was timing and the marketing campaigns of the films it was directly competing against.     The film opened over Fourth of July Weekend and doubled most opening weekend predictions at $38 M for the three day and $46 M for the four day holiday weekend.
Warcraft: The Beginning was doomed from the get go and no one asked for a sequel to Alice or a remake of Ben-Hur and not surprisingly very few people saw them in the theaters.   

Under Performing Films - Movies that should be either moderately successful or successful but will not turn a profit in the domestic box office.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows    $135 M | $82 M
• Star Trek: Beyond    $155 | $135
• The BFG   $140 | $55 M

No surprises among these three films.   The BFG probably could have added 50% to 100% of its domestic take if it was released in different time frame instead of summer filled with a solid ten children films.   Star Trek Beyond, even as the 50th Anniversary for the legendary franchise approached, could not make a name for itself.   TMNT: Out of the Shadows was both a kids film and a superhero film in a summer filled with both.

Moderately Successful - Movies that make the studios money back and maybe turn a small profit.

• Kubo and the Two Strings  $60 M | $47 M
• Pete's Dragon   $65 M | $75 M
• Suicide Squad   $175 M | $323 M
• Angry Birds   $73 M | $107 M
• Now You See Me 2  $90 M | $66 M
• Ice Age: Collision Course   $105 M | $62 M
• X-Men: Apocalypse  $175 M | $155 M

A couple films in this group I like many other analysts thought they had a larger built in audience. Now You Seem 2 and Ice Age: Collision Course are sequels whose previous films clearly beat expectations but neither film had the same connection to their audience.   In the case of Ice Age: Collison Course part of its failing was the high level of competition from other kids films which syphoned off part of its audience.   Now You See Me 2 is a bit of a different story, I am not sure I can tell you why it did only 50% of the prior film. 

I am pretty sure many accounts rested a lot easier when Suicide Squad pulled in $323 M domestically and another $420 M overseas, but the brass at DC are still very concerned about the continued under performance of the DC films.   Geoff Jones has his work cut out for him.

Movies that could exceed expectations

• Independence Day : Resurgence   $165 M | $103 M
• Jason Bourne   $120 M | $156 M
• Ghostbuster (2016)   $144 M | $128 M

Totally acknowledging the fact I blew these three films.   Ghostbusters was neither a reboot nor a sequel and as something in the middle with all four leads playing the Dr. Venkmen role from the original.   It didn't work and the audience didn't show up.    Independence Day: Resurgence even with it eye popping, spectacular CGI, the audience never connected with the cast in the same way the Will Smith's character Capt. Steven Hiller, did in the original.    The writing was on the wall for the first two films the third film Jason Bourne under performance at the Box Office totally caught me off guard. Finishing with $162 M it in third place amongst the Bourne Film collection behind the third film Bourne Supremacy and the spin-off Bourne Legacy.

Most likely to be Successful, clearly turning a profit.

• Captain America: Civil War   $250 M | $408 M
• Finding Dory   $200 M | $438 M
• The Secret Life of Pets   $75 M | $360 M

Enough said on these three films.

The summer films are actually down 5% in total number of tickets sold compared to last year.   Clearly this is an indicator that it isn't just the number of films cannibalizing each others audience, but as the second lowest number of tickets sold since 1992 people didn't go to the theaters, only 2014 was lower.     Compared to a typical year 35 M fewer tickets were sold during the summer blockbuster season in a year with record number of films released. 

There is an international Reb-Box trailer that is also available on YouTube, you can find it here.

LOGAN pic.twitter.com/IeIvcvFyTE

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) October 5, 2016

Hugh Jackman announced the official title of his third standalone, simple called Logan.

Okay I am on vacation in the Caribbean and what do learn.

The 27 year old actor was killed in an automobile accident over the weekend.

Rick Famuyiwa has signed on to direct Warner Bros. and DC's The Flash.

His most notable directing experience is Dope (2015) about a geeky kid invited to a sophisticated underground party leading to an adventure outside in the tough neighborhood.     The film was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in 2015.

Brie Larson

According to Variety Brie Larson is in negotiations to play Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel in the upcoming film.

Brie Larson is the Oscar winning actress whose credits include Room (2015), King Kong: Skull Island (2016), 21 Jump Street (2012) amongst a many others.

A two more names has also been dropped for director's chair; Jennifer Kent and Niki Caro.   Jennifer Kent best known for her indie film Babadook (2014) .  Niki Caro whose films include Whale Rider (2002) and McFarland USA (2015).

On mobile

Bryan Singer has told L.A. Times he is taking a break from working on X-Men movies, but he may return.

Bryan Singer spoke with Fandango concerning the Original X-Men Cast (Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellan, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, and Hugh Jackman) and third movie of the original trilogy, X-Men: Last Stand.

"I like finishing things, I like finishing this particular iteration. I know X-Men 3 was quite rushed and I didn't complete it, and I felt a little like it was probably my responsibility to do that as a filmmaker, and I didn't."

When asked about the possibility of the Original cast reuniting Singer responded "I hope so,".

Entertainment Tonight caught up with Mark Ruffalo and Woody Harlson to discuss their upcoming film Now you See Me 2.    Of course questions about Mark's involvement with Thor: Ragnarok had to come up.

Check out the short video from ETOnline.com

Jeff Goldblum

The Wrap is reporting that Karl Urban and Jeff Goldblum have signed onto join the cast of Thor: Ragnarok.

Karl Urban the New Zealand actor has appeared as Bones McCoy in the Star Trek reboot movies and will appear in the up coming Pete's Dragon film from Disney.   He will play Skurge the executioner an Asgardian Villain.

Jeff Goldblum has appeared in the Jurassic Park trilogy of movies, Independence Day and its forthcoming Sequel will play Grandmaster an Elder of the Universe and equal to the Collector.

Kevin Feige added “The continuation of the epic Thor franchise will be powerful and unique, and with the additions of Cate, Jeff, Tessa, Karl, and Mark to the cast we have the makings of his most dangerous and heroic adventure yet,”

Directed by Taiki Waititi Thor: Ragnarok reunites Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo with Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban and Jeff Goldblum.

Natalie Portman will not be reprising her role as Jane Foster in the sequel.

Karl Urban

No word on Jamie Alexander, Zakary Levy, Ray Stevenson,  Tadanobu Asano, Kat Dennings or Stellan Skarsgard will reprise their roles.

Michael Keaton at the Birdman

So it seems that Michael Keaton only momentarily pulled his name out of the contention for the Vulture.

Several reports today suggest that Michael Keaton is in final negotiations to play the principal villain in next year's Spiderman: Homecoming.   Just under a month ago Michael Keaton and his representatives withdrew his name from consideration for the part principally over concerns on Money.   With Robert Downey Jr. also in negotiations Michael Keaton and his representatives believed it was impossible to bring both major contracts under the fold; however we have learned that creative finances have allowed the Sony / Marvel Studios film to get Robert Downey Jr. contract completed and make a reasonable offer to Michael Keaton.


The Vulture

Additional sources are suggesting The Tinkerer will be involved in the film.   While an actor has not be named according to sources the Tinkerer will be a business associate of the Vulture, who builds the Vulture's suit from stolen Chitari technology.

Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr, Zendaya, and Tony Revolori are all ready under contract for the Jon Watts film set to be released July 7, 2017.

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Lawrence was asked about her future in the X-Men universe.

“Fassbender and McAvoy and I were all talking,” she says, “Like, ‘Will you come back?’ ‘I dunno.’ ‘I’ll come back, if you come back.’ Fox should be terrified because the deal we made was like if one of us doesn’t come back, none of us are.”

Jennifer Lawrence spoke originally after X-Men: First Class suggesting that she would never do another X-men film beyond her contract and as recently as last year told MTV "The next one [X-Men: Apocalypse] is my last one."

Her stance has softened in the past year and recently she has suggested she would be open to return if her co-stars also return.

The interweb is in an uproar this morning when a site called Movie Creed posted that Blade, Ghost Rider and Moon Knight were all potential new limited series on Netflix. 

There has long been a rumor of a Blade series, last linked to American Crime show runner John Ridley, and rumored to be focused on Blade's Daughter Fallon Gray.

Ghost Rider, which had two big screen adaptations with Nicholas Cage in the lead role has an on and again off again revival, linked to Daredevil.

Moon Knight is another show that many fans have been calling for but Marvel TV studios has not found a home for.

Agent Carter is another show getting serious consideration for a limited series on Netflix.

Season 1 Finale - Fear the Walking Dead Elizabeth Rodriguez

According to the Entertainment Weekly, Elizabeth Rodriguez (Fear the Walking Dead) is in talks for a minor role in the forthcoming sequel.

Rumors have suggested it is for the role of Sarah Kinney, the scientist who clones Wolverine into X-23.

The rumor mill is about to go into overdrive concerning issues within Warner Bros., DC Studios, and Justice League Helmer Zack Snyder.

Recently it has been reported that many Warner Bros. executives were humiliated by the caustic reviews of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.   The movie scored a 27 (out of a possible 100) on Rottentomatoes.com, metacritic scored it a 51 (and people think they were being very generous) and audience reviews we generally middling.
At $166 M the movie did open to 7th largest domestic opening in history (has since dropped to 8th) before falling off the face of the box office cliff.  The film will earn slight less than 2x its opening weekend, currently at $326, where most tent-poles are in the 3x category or more.   Domestically it is on track to fourth highest grossing super-hero film of the year and possibly it might even slide into fifth.

Ben Affleck was elevated into a executive producer's role for Justice League Part One.
Seth Grahame-Smith leaves the directors chair for the Flash (2018) over creative differences.
A Harley Quinn stand alone movie is in the works with Margot Robbie producing.
Jason Wan, currently attached as director of Aquaman (2018) film has had to TWICE deny leaving the project.
Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were installed as co-runners of DC Studios (think Kevin Feige at Marvel Studios).

The final budget for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was not announced; however we know the film was substantially over its announced budget of $250 M.     Rumors from sources that should be in the know have suggested the production budget was closer to $300 M with another $150 M to $250 M in the films marketing campaign.   Just assuming the total budget was some where between $450 M and $500 M is not out of the question.    Considering the film returned just under $500 M to Warner Bros. when you assume standard returns for ticket sales suggest the film was very much in the barely broke even category, give or take.

Reports that Warner Bros. have placed a hard cap on production costs for Justice League: Part One at $200 M are unnerving in the industry.

What exactly is Ben Affleck new role as Executive Producer mean for the project has been debated across the web.   Here is what we know; Ben Affleck has an Oscar for screen writing and an Oscar for best picture to go along with his 67 other awards, Zack Snyder has a grand total of 3 minor awards and no Oscars.   Ben Affleck movies have a ROI of about 3 to 1, Zack Snyder's is roughly 1 to 1.   See where we are going with this?  
It's clear that after two less than stellar performances with DC products Warner Bros. is not happy with Zack Snyder and his wife Deborah Snyder who produces all of Zack's movies.    Warner Bros. has seen a lot of success in multiple genre of films with Ben Affleck and he is a professed comic book fan.
Executive Producer can mean lots of things, from someone who made the film possible to the actual boss on the project.   It could be a reward for his role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice or Warner Bros. could have looked at his record and asked him to take the lead.
Reports indicate that Ben Affleck will have final say on the script, which has been penned by Chris Terrio who previously worked on Argo with Ben Affleck and assisted on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.   
Other reports suggest that Ben Affleck also has the ability to "strongly suggest" changes to filming direction for scenes and takes.   Early reports are indicating that Zack Snyder is not totally comfortable with this situation.

Seth Grahame-Smith who is mostly known as a writer, but was in the directors chair for the Flash (2018) stepped down citing, as usual, creative differences.   What's unusual about this situation is Seth Grahame-Smith is a first time director with a large background in writing (Dark Shadows, Lego Batman Movie) compared to a few others with half-a-dozen other movies under their belt.     No replacement has been named.

Word surfaced a Harley Quinn solo or female driven DC film was being considered with Margot Robbie producing, she also plays Harley Quinn and is assumed she will reprising her role as Harley Quinn.  

Finally the big news hit yesterday afternoon, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were named co-runners of DC Studios.   They are in a similar situation as Kevin Feige who is President of Marvel Studios.  This is a new position in Warner Bros. and DC Studios, and several other sub-studios also had show-runners named and it is assumed more will be named in the future.
Geoff Johns will be in an interesting position, up until yesterday he was Chief Creative Officer at DC Comics, a producer with writing credit in DC TV universe and Co-Writing the upcoming untitled Batman movie with Ben Affleck.   Originally he as comic book writer for DC Comics.  
Jon Berg is a executive VP at Warner Bros. who has extensive history working with Ben Affleck on several movies including Argo, Gone Girl and the forthcoming Live by Night.

The DC movie slate is expected to change dramatically in the next few months, but it may take far more time than that for the public to know.  For example was the idea of a Harley Quinn movie before or after the leadership change.  Will it survive?

Time will tell.

There is a scene in X-Men: Apocalypse that sums up the movie in a very ironic way.   Scott Sommers / Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Gray (Sophie Turner), Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee (Lana Condor) are exiting a movie Theater after watching Return of the Jedi while discussing whether or not third movies in a trilogy can be as good as others.   How Ironic.

Much like Return of the Jedi, fans will like this film, but it will be far from their favorite and many will have a dozen suggestions on how it could have been made better.

There are a number of solid story arcs through out the film and each character has a unique point of view.  Their stories are muffled by the sheer number of characters and constant action in the film.   X-Men: Apocalypse features a strong cast with a good mix of returning actors and new up and coming actors.    As an audience you never become fully attached to many of the characters on the screen.   Even though they have a unique story most story arcs and characters are not on the screen long enough for us to truly care about them as characters.

In X-Men: Evolution (2000), the animated television show, the central story arc of "Age of Apocalypse" spent 4 seasons  and 46 episodes leading up to the showdown with Apocalypse.   The same story arc in this movie is given just under two and half hours, it just doesn't work.   It is too involved of a story.   The first 40 minutes of the film is made up a series of very short scenes that jump from place to place to place to place at break neck speed that only Quicksilver could appreciate.   Those not versed in X-Men lore may find it difficult to keep up and lose interest in the secondary story arcs.    

There are six true tent-pole super-hero movies this year; Deadpool, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, Suicide Squad, and Doctor Strange as well as X-Men: Apocalypse.   The other five, if just in the trailers, attempt to separate themselves from the pack by taking chances in creating new and different situations for their super-heroes.   You can argue how successful BvS: DoJ was but the other two so far this year were very successful.  X-Men: Apocalypse doesn't necessarily take chances, it is extremely formulaic, even though it is set in 1980's.   As an audience you kind of know what is coming next because that is what the blueprint says to do.

Marvel Studios (Disney/Buena Vista) has a clear advantage when it comes to VX/CGI.   X-Men: Apocalypse being released so close to Captain America: Civil War highlights the disadvantage most studios are faced with today.   The VX/CGI effects looked dated and incomplete in comparison to Captain America: Civil War.   The film felt more in line with X-Men: X-Men United (2003) than it does with X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

In a Hollywood Reporter story yesterday it was reported that Warner Bros. and DC entertainment were moving forward with a Movie centered upon the Women in DC Comics, including Harley Quinn, played my Margot Robbie in this summer Suicide Squad, Bat Girl and the Birds of Prey.

Margot Robbie would take on a role of producer and it is assumed her character would be the focal point of the movie.

DC Comics boosts a number of interesting female characters, both good and evil as it were, with Cat Woman, Super Girl, Poison Ivy, Black Canary, the Huntress, Lady Blackhawk, Katana, and the Man Hunter.  

There has been no official confirmation from either Warner Bros. or DC Studios on the potential project.

Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg are making the rounds promoting X-Men; Apocalypse which is being released next week, took some time to answer some questions about other films in the X-Men universe.

When asked about the possibility of X-23 replacing Wolverine in future films by Fandango Bryan Singer responded.

"I have discussed that  with the studio, I actually initially pitched the X-Force and the female."

He later added.

"Anytime you throw all these characters together to hit a start date, it can make a lot of money, but it can also be a cluster$%#^. To me, it has to be done with a lot of care. These things can get overwhelming, and if a character doesn’t belong in a movie, don’t use him. If the tone can still maintain itself, I’m all for it. What I’m not for is throwing a bunch of characters together and hoping it works.” 

In another interview Simon Kinberg added:

I was a little shocked to hear that another Fantastic Four script is being looked at and or considered by 20th Century Fox.

Okay shocked is not the correct term as per the contact 20th Century Fox has to have another film in production in the near future (dates vary by source from 2017 to 2019) or the IP is turned over to Marvel Enterprises.

But why now?
The last film was a total flop, IF 20th Century Fox thinks they can make more money selling the IP back to Marvel getting something moving will actually force Marvel to move forward rather than sit back and wait.   It is a typical business position to attempt to force you partner to move first.  

What's the IP Worth?
That is an interesting question, while I don't have an exact amount I'd guess somewhere between $250 Million and $500 Million right now to Marvel.    No one else would pay that amount but Marvel might under the right circumstances.

Why is it worth so much to Marvel Studios?
One word - Villains. 
Marvel Studios now controls the IP for many Super-Heroes, the story on Villians is another story.   Most of the space based Villains belong to the Fantastic Four IP, including the likes to Galactus and Doctor Doom.   Many of the street level villains belong to the Spider-Man IP and X-Men has a long list of villains in their IP.

When could we see public activity?
I would be shocked if third parties haven't acted as go between at a minimum in this situation so far, but direct talks might not be out of the question either.  

So what is this new script you are talking about?
I don't know when this script was originally written or how official it is and there is lots of issue with its validity in the first place.   It could simply be a interweb rumor/hoax (not that it would be a first) nor the even the first I liked.   None the less.  

The potentially new script is a soft reboot of the 2005/2007 films as opposed to a hard reboot like the 2015 film.    Being a soft reboot it is not an origin story, the Fantastic Four have their powers to begin with.   It also means that events in the first two film kind of happened.   They may not focus on them, but there is no denying what did happen.   In the same family as the soft reboot with Incredible Hulk (2008) to Hulk (2003).

My feelings?
I this point I have to think this is more of a ploy to increase the value of the IP and force Marvel's hand than to actually make another movie.   I thought that before and we got Fantastic Four 2015, so I guess anything is possible.
     

X-Men: Apocalypse opens on May 27, lets take a quick look at expectations in the Box Office.

It needs to be noted the film opens on Memorial Day Weekend, a four day weekend which makes predications a bit fickle as it generally messes with comparable films.

Comparable films open between $86 M and $121 M with an average of $97 M for the three day weekends and $115 for a four day weekend.

The film is opening against Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter which is not a direct competitor but very close competitor when it comes to market share.

The film had solid hype and was well received in the early stages of production however concerns on the look of Apocalypse seem to stall the hype machine for extended periods of time.    Initial reviews where pretty negative, on May 5 the first wave of reviews on rottentomatoes.com put the film at 38 and metacritic at 44.   However subsequent reviews have been much better on May 14th the score on rottentomates.com had increased to 58 and metacritic to 51, which is a fairly substantial jump for both considering the number of reviews.  
What is more interesting is the current scoring of audience reviews, the film is actually the highest rated film in the Franchise.   Yes it is early, but the film is tracking about 5% higher in early fan reviews than it predecessors at this same juncture.

An interesting side note, the length of the film has changed.   On May 1st the film was listed as 2 hours 16 Minutes, in the past few days many sites now list the movie as 2 hours 24 minutes.   It leaves the question on whether all reviewers saw the same cut of the film.

X-Men franchise saw new life with the release of Deadpool earlier this year.   The irreverent R-Rated film set a new standard with $132.4M opening weekend.    Many of suggested a potential Deadpool bump similar to the Avengers bump that all the Marvel films saw.

Four day Memorial day Weekends generate between $215M and $320 M dollars when adjusted for inflation.   Two tent poles released on the same Memorial Day Weekend the numbers are from $275 to $320 M.   If we assume the standard 70% for the tent poles this gives us a $192 M to $225 M for the films.   That in theory suggests $115 M to $135 M on the four day for X-Men on the four day and $93 to $109 M on the three day.

However I think competition on opening weekend and potential holdovers push the numbers down domestically.  

$87 M Opening Weekend ($110M Four Day)
$217 M Domestic Total
$570 M International Total
$787 M World Wide.

In news broke by the Hollywood Reporter, Michael B. Jordan is in talks with Marvel Studios to join the cast of Black Panther.

Black Panther directed by Ryan Coogler from a screen play by Joe Robert cole would reunite Michael B. Jordan and Coogler again, previously they worked together on Creed (2015) and Fruitvale  Station (2013).

Chadwick Boseman is set to reprise his role as T'Challa/Black Panther for Marvel Studios with Lupita Nyong'o also in negotions to play T'Challa love interest in the film.   Andy Serkis has long been rumored to play Ulysses Klaue/Klaw reprising his role for 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Michael B. Jordan played Johnny Storm in the 2015 Fantastic Four film released by 20th Century Fox.   He is the second Human Torch to make a move to Marvel Studios from 20th Century Fox.  Chris Evans starring in the 2005 and 2007 Fantastic Four films before becoming Steve Rogers / Captain America.

As an interesting side note Black Panther and The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) are more like enemies than friends in the comics for extended period of time.     This would be an interesting way to merge the multiverse.

All kidding aside there are several parts Michael B. Jordan could be considered for; White Wolf, Death Tiger and American Panther come to mind.

SuperGirl is moving to the CW, Agent Carter has been cancelled, Marvel's Most Wanted didn't get picked up, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was picked up early as the CW renews Arrow, Flash and DC Legends of Tomorrow.

CBS
The audience for CBS skews older than any other TV station is America.   The average age of the typical viewer is a tad under 60.   CBS green light Supergirl last year in hopes of drawing a younger audience.   In a compromise Supergirl was actually a crime procedural show with a Comic Book character lead.   You know what they say about compromises?
SuperGirl actually was the most watched new Drama on TV; however its viewership numbers never came close to matching the existing dramas on CBS.   While the Audience skewed younger for SuperGirl, the older audience turned off their TVs. 
CBS renewed SuperGirl however it moved the show to its sister station the CW.   The expectations is the SuperGirl will continue to draw similar audience numbers and free up a valuable time slot on CBS for a show that more matches the demographics of its audience.

CW
Arrow, and the Flash were renewed fairly early this season leaving the question of whether or not DC Legends of Tomorrow would be renewed.     It was renewed as well about a week or two ago.   With SuperGirl transitioning from CBS to CW there are four DC Comic products on CW this coming season, too many, too early to tell.

NBC
With Heroes Reborn cancelled and little else that qualifies as Sci-Fi/Comic Book/ Fantasy on the channel not much to discuss.   At some point an in depth look at SyFy Channel's shows may be do, but this is not that time.

ABC
In a minor shock ABC cancelled Agent Carter and decided against picking up Marvel's Most Wanted, while renewing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fairly early.
Agent Carter had low ratings which normally is an easy indicator on the forthcoming cancellation of TV Show; however the show had a female lead (Haley Atwell) which is unusual in its own right, but also had a female show runners (Tara Butters) which is so unusual these days that it is one of a small handful of shows that have both.   ABC has been attempting to promote itself is very diverse and suddenly the show that qualifies as being diverse is on the cutting block.   It was obviously not enough to change the shows fate.
The rumors over the past week indicated that Marvel's Most Wanted was not going to be picked up.   Initially I was caught off guard as this was a show that ABC had pushed for.  The show starring Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood (reprising their roles form Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.) had the two ex-spies/agents working against another global conspiracy with a slightly darker point of view that Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. It will be interesting to hear what happened and why a promising project failed since the pilot was green lighted.

ABC still has thee additional Marvel shows in development but little is known for sure on these three projects.

On Freeform (formerly ABC Family) Cloak & Dagger is in production for a January debut.

Even though Agent Carter was cancelled by ABC yesterday it is very likely that a third (and potentially more) will be filmed and aired on a streaming service.    Netflix is rumored to have approached ABC and Marvel Studios as far back as January on taking over the show.    Season 1 of Agent Carter airs on Amazon Prime under an exclusive agreement between Amazon and Marvel.    Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and three additional Marvel TV shows air on Netflix.

It is assumed that Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood will be returning to Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. as both were highly like by the viewers.  

Marvel Studios
There three additional projects in production.  Hellfire Club and Legion are X-Men universe projects that will air on Fox and FX in the 2017 time frame.    Empire of the Dead is a limited edition comic being developed into a TV series by AMC.

Box Office Mojo has reported on some announced release date changes.

An untitled DC Movie was moved from 2020 June 19 back a month to July 24th.   The movie is expected to be Green Lantern feature film.