What's happening at Sony

Posted by Jeff Labels: , ,

Courtesy SPE
Last year Sony Pictures Entertainment [SPE] and Marvel Studios announced a blockbuster deal allowing Spider-Man and other characters from Spider-Verse to appear in Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as characters from the MCU to appear in SPE films and for the future live-action Spider-man films to be filmed by Marvel Studios while SPE retains distribution rights and funding the films. 

Even though that all sounds like a great deal, there are those at Sony who wonder if they gave up the house to save the car in the deal.    Here is how that argument works.

Under the terms of the IP that SPE controls there are a great number of villains (approximately 36) from Doctor Octopus, The Lizard, Electro, Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, Rhino, the Hobgoblin and so forth.   There are some compelling secondary characters including Aunt may, Jay Jonah Jameson, Harry Osborne, Gwen Stacey, Mary-Jane Watson amongst others.  

If you look at Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in other media, when the character is most compelling and audience friendly it usually involves Peter's interaction with another super-hero.
   The reason for this is it gives the writers a better outlet for Peter to express his problems.   Since no other super-hero has appeared in a Spider-Man film that automatically leads to the question, what other Super-Heroes does SPE control under the terms of the IP.   The answer is none.   Not Daredevil, Punisher, Ice-Man, Firestorm, Wolverine, Nova, Tigra, Power-Man, Spider-Girl, Silk or even Miles Morales.     The closest thing to a Super-Hero that SPE controls is the Black Cat.   This creates a situation where SPE's Spider-Man is virtually stuck on a hamster wheel telling variations of the same story. 


Spider-Man: Homecoming in theory allows SPE to do just that, with Robert Downey Jr reprising his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man with some sort of mentorship program between Iron Man and Spider-Man.    In that solution is the bigger problem, instead of multiple movies you still only have Spider-Man and 36 Villains.  They didn't get Miles Morales, Cindy Moon, Mayday Parker or Jessica Drew all of which are Spider-Verse characters in other media formats but not in SPE IP.  

So as these dissenting voices are suggesting, SPE has taken one step forward, but will have to take two steps back after Spider-Man: Homecoming is released as they only have one avenue, Tom Holland as Spider-Man, to release these films.

What about Venom and Sinister Six, anti-hero films that SPE has in the works.   The Sinister Six is now too late, no matter how good or bad the film could be it will always be compared to Suicide Squad and Deadpool.   Venom has possibilities but it will take real work to succeed, and with Tom Rothman in charge at SPE I doubt it will get the effort it needs (see X-Men: Last Stand).  

Courtesy SPE
From the top at SPE, Tom Rothman CEO, it may not matter, the hope is that Spider-Man: Homecoming will cost $50 to $70 M USD less than Amazing Spider-Man 2 and earn $50 to $70 M USD more domestically at the box office and $50 to $100 M USD more at the international box-office.   In essence earn $100 M USD more and cost $50 M USD less means $150 M USD more in their pockets.  So the question for this blog to answer, can it Spider-Man; Homecoming do that?

Costing less money is the easier part of the question, Marvel Studios and Disney have a solid recent history of doing just that, getting a better band for your buck than other studios. 

Box Office wise can a stand alone Spider-Man movie, with a young director, unknown cast, hit $325M USD domestically and $500M USD internationally?    

My answer today is no.   That doesn't mean it won't or that the things stacked up against it today won't change, but today's road makes that very tough to do.

The first problem is rating.   The Amazing Spider-Man and the Sequel were both rated PG-13, a very mild PG-13, but still PG-13.  SPE attempted to market both films as being family friendly, that marketing didn't work.   So the question becomes how far away from family friendly is SPE and Marvel Studios willing to take a movie about your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.   It is a quandary I am sure that Amy Pascale and Kevin Feige are still talking about.   Tom Rothman and other leadership at SPE would love to see the film rated PG not PG-13 and that really effects what you can and cannot do in the film.   It is the compromise that hurt the story telling in the latest two movies, besides obvious story issues.   

The next problem is competition, Tentpole films usually have a week or two to lead the way, not the case for this release schedule.   Despicable Me 3 is released the week before and War for the Planet of the Apes the following week.   I got to believe the date is going to change for this film.    There are better more solid dates where the competition is not so fierce.  

Courtesy Marvel Studios
The final question is whether or not the audience is comfortable with a THIRD Peter Parker in 10 years.   I know I am not, I think there were far better ways SPE and Marvel Studios could of handled the situation.

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New Executive Producer on Justice League

Posted by Jeff Labels: , , ,

The Batman Workout.
Warner Bros. has elevated Ben Affleck to Executive producer according to Movie Web.

It was somewhat humorously announced that Ben Affleck spent time in his bat-suit rewriting pages of the script for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice during production.   Outside of the DCEU Ben Affleck has won two Academy Awards for screen writing Goodwill Hunting (with Matt Damon) and Best Picture for Argo (with Grant Heslov and George Clooney).

Several sites are wondering how much control Ben Affleck is being given, from becoming the equivalent to Kevin Feige with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to just helping his ego.   Considering the work ben Affleck has done on other projects it seems more like over sight of the DCEU rather than helping his ego is in place.

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Captain America: Civil War - A Quick Review

Posted by Jeff Labels: , ,

Mostly Spoiler Free

I was sitting in my movie seat and after a great scene I took a quick look at my watch, I figured we had to be maybe an hour into the film, maybe 75 minutes, nope we were just under two hours. It is that kind of movie, a two and half hour movie that feels like it is 90 minutes long. Captain America: Civil War is a 2 hour and 26 minute long spectacle of a movie.

Many reviewers and audience members are suggesting it is the Avengers Sequel we deserved and I have to be honest while it is a good if not great movie it is not an Avengers movie, it is a Captain America movie and that is why it is good. It has a clear focus and even though many Avengers are in the movie it rarely deviates from Captain America perspective.
As an aside I want to address the other aspect of the Avengers Sequel we deserve philosophy; The Age of Ultron was an overly broad and complex story line, whose 2 hour and 21 minutes were far too short to cover the whole story. Age of Ultron could have been 3 hours and 21 minutes and not had enough screen time to tell the entire story that Josh Whedon wanted to tell. Age of Ultron suffered from the under telling of the secondary stories. Yet Age of Ultron did setup the story of Captain America: Civil War, in a similar fashion to how the story of Iron Man 3 was born out the original Avengers film. Without Age of Ultron you could not have anywhere near as compelling of story in Captain America; Civil War.


Captain America: Civil War is a re-envisioning of the 2006/2007 Marvel Comics crossover storyline Civil War. The story centers on conflict between Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) on whether or not the Avengers Initiative should have Government Oversight or not. Tony Stark is in favor of Governmental Oversight and Steve Rogers is not.   The film looks at many of the other known MCU super heroes as they come to terms on what side of the equation they belong.

The Film makers, not only the directors of Joe and Anthony Russo, but the scriptwriters Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely have done an excellent job of giving everyone a believable reason to be in the film, no one is simply there because they are a Marvel character. Every character contributes to the story and some answers are given to others who are not in the story.

Everyone I think can agree that Chadwick Boseman brought T’Challa/Black Panther to life in a way that people will be excited to see his standalone film. Tom Hollland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man will either be hit or miss amongst the audience.
 The actor or character that I found that advanced themselves, for the lack of a better term, was Paul Rudd as Scott Lang as Ant-Man.

Marvel’s diehard fans will appreciate the nearly 2 dozen Easter Eggs or subtle references to comics and prior Marvel Films, not all of which are in the MCU. I suspect as the film get more playtime more Easter Eggs will be spotted.

While I think Captain America: Civil War is a good movie, it is not a great film.

Certain directors have the ability to frame a Comic Book fight between super heroes, Captain America: Civil War could easily have been Cold War Spy Thriller in terms of action. It is hard to explain but the action lacks that certain something that makes it Comic Book Super Hero film.

The Marvel Comic Book storyline is one of the best story lines over the years, AVX and Secret Wars being the others, the film is not as good as the comic book story line simply because you don’t have 12 cross over issues and dozens of other comics to tell these stories in.

I am a big fan of cinematography and soundtracks in films. I want moments that make you ow and ah and marvel at what on the screen. I don’t want to say this film lacked those moments, but those moments weren’t as good as past Marvel films.

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Trailer Recreated in Lego

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Who Should Play X-23?

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Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Last week comic book hype broke the story that Laura Kinney, aka X-23, will make her movie debut in the forthcoming Wolverine sequel from 20th Century Fox.  
 
X-23, aka Laura Kinney, is a clone of Logan / James Howlett / Wolverine created by Dr. Sarah Kinney for a top secret program attempting to replicate the work of Weapon X.   As the Y Chromosome is damaged Dr. Kinney duplicates a X pair creating a female version.    X-23 is the first successful attempt at the procedure after 22 failed attempts, hence the name X-23.    Dr. Kinney names the young child Laura.   I'll skip a lot of the details, but X-23 is a killing machine.

Assuming X-23 is indeed in the forthcoming Wolverine Sequel, who should portray the raged filled teenager?

The first question is how old do the producers, how tall and how old.

The casting call suggests someone over 21 and between 4' and 4' 11" tall.    Well that's a tall order.   If only Kate Beckinsale was 10 years younger or....   That's my biggest problem with the part, I can think of half-a-dozen actresses that would be great fit for the part ten years ago, now everyone I can think of has potential problems.

Prior to the release of Deadpool director Tim Miller suggest that Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black fame was cast as X-23 for Deadpool.  Tatiana Maslany would be a popular choice and yes a safe choice for the part. 
 
Courtesy of SyFy
Hannah John-Kamen portrays the assassin, I mean bounty hunter Dutch on SyFy's Killjoys.     At 26 years old and experienced in working with Sci Fi, even if just in television Hannah has displayed the look and temperament of X-23 as Dutch on Killjoys, at 5ft 5in tall she is about 6 inches too tall for the part.  
As a side note she stars opposite Aaron Ashmore, the identical twin brother to Shawn Ashmore who portrays Bobby Drake / Iceman in several X-Men films.
 
 
 
 

Courtesy of Sy Fy
Ksenia Solo is most known for her role as Kensey Malikov on the Canada TV series Lost Girl opposite of Anna Silk.   Current she stars as Piggy Shippen on AMC TURN: Washington Spies.
 
From her roles on both TV and Cinema Ksenia Solo has shown the ability to capture a variety of different looks and appearances.   At 5ft 4in tall she stands almost half a foot too tall from the casting sheet.   None of her roles have shown the physical side of combat.  

Hailee Steinfeld is a fan favorite for any parts in the X-Men universe as her name has been linked to at least three different parts in the past three years from Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse to Vanessa in Deadpool.
 
Hailee has appeared in numerous movies, tv and music videos; however her role as Petra Arkinian in Ender's Game is what get Sci Fi Fans excited.  
 
She is 5ft 7in tall and only 19 years old so she does not necessarily fit description in the casting call.
 
 

Courtesy of HBO
Emilia Clarke is best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen on HBO's Game of Thrones.   Many of her Game of Thrones co-stars have roles in the X-Men universe, including Sophie Turner as the young Jean Grey and Maise Williams who is signed on to play Rahne Sinclair in the forthcoming X-Men: New Mutants.   
 
At 5ft 2in tall Emilia Clarke is the closest in height to the casting call, I should point out Hugh Jackman is 6ft 2in tall a clear half-a-foot taller than Logan is in the comic books.

 
 
 
 
 
So out of those I have listed who would I like to see get the part?   Well I think Brianna Hildebrand
would be the best choice.   Whoops she is already cast as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the X-Men universe.
 
From those listed I think Emilia Clarke is the closest to what the producers of X-Men have indicated in their casting call.   With many of her costars are already attached to parts in the X-Men universe clearly gives her a leg up if she is interested in he part.  If I were choosing I'd give a long look at Hannah John-Kamen but her height might be too much for the producers.
 
Just my thoughts.
 

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The Young Han Solo cast

Posted by Jeff Labels: , ,

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures 
The Wrap is reporting Alden Ehrenreich has been cast as the young Han Solo.

Alden Ehrenreich recently played Hobie Doyle in the Coen Brothers comedy Hail, Caesar! opposite Josh Brolin and George Clooney.  

The upcoming film, currently titled Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller is currently scheduled for release on May 25th 2018.

Current reports have Michael B. Jordan, (Creed, Fantastic Four) linked to the part of young Lando Calrissian and Joonas Suotamo playing the part of Chewbacca in the film.

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What's happening at 20th Century Fox

Posted by Jeff Labels:

So yesterday thanks to the posting of Josh Boone, director for the forthcoming X-Men: New Mutants film, I posted a quick update.   The posting wasn't five minutes old when I got the first email asking about other things happening at 20th Century Fox.   So here goes.

20th Century Fox has announced the following release dates:
  • 2016 May 27 - X-Men: Apocalypse
  • 2017 March 03 - Untitled Wolverine Sequel
  • 2017 October 06 - Marvel Film
  • 2018 January 12 - Marvel Film
  • 2018 July 13 - Marvel Film
Films that have been announced but not given release dates:
  • X-Men: New Mutants
  • Gambit
  • Deadpool 2
  • X-Force
Films that have been strongly rumored or suggested in the works by Simon Kinberg and Lauren Shuler-Donner (The Producers of the X-Men films):
  • Mystique - Stand Alone Film
  • X-Men 7

Untitled Wolverine Sequel

What we know: the Untitled Wolverine Sequel is to be set in the future and will be an adaptation of the Old-Man Logan story arc.       The movie began shooting either last week or this week depending on your source.

What is rumored: the casting call list two character descriptions that sound a lot like Daken and X-23.   Daken is the Wolverine's son, whose mother Itse was murdered by the Winter Soldier in the Comics.   X-23, aka Laura Kinney, is the first and only successful clone of Wolverine, however to be viable the male Y-Chromosome was replaced with an X Chromosome, so X-23 is a female clone.   I hope I got that right.

Notice the four claws.
There are some interesting possibilities here some of which I will talk about later.   Hugh Jackman has suggested that this will be his last appearance as the main character Logan/Wolverine.  He has said that before and is making this film and an appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse since that time.  So I am not totally convinced he is hanging up the claws, especially after  a posting on twitter in October.

The next thing that strikes me is two potential replacements, Laura Kinney is the current Wolverine in the comic books and Daken has taken up his father title more than once.   So it is possible that 20th Century Fox is looking at what comes next, especially with a film like X-Men: New Mutants on the way.  With strong female leads the rage in Hollywood today I would not be shocked that may be what happening.

Gambit

What we know: Doug Liman is set to direct Channing Tatum as Gambit.    The story was originally written by Chris Clairemont (Comic Book writer turned Movie writer) and adapted by Joshua Zeturner (Robo-Cop reboot).  The movie twice has been delayed by script problems and earlier this year the release date was changed to TBA.
What we think we know: Lauren Shuler-Donner and Simon Kinberg have made it fairly clear they want to move forward with this project and getting the script right (no pun intended) is more important than hitting a deadline.  
Rumors: Several names have been attached to parts including Léa Seydoux, the French Bond Girl from Spectre.  

Deadpool 2

What we know: The gangs all back for the sequel, Director, Writer, Cast, and many others who helped on the film.  We know the film will introduce Cable, the time traveling Mutant. 
What we think we know: The film will also be rated R domestically.
What the rumors are saying: Well not much yet, I think many people are still in shock that Deadpool has out grossed domestically Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

X-Force

What we know: It is still an announced project with Jeff Wadlow signed on to direct.
What we think we know: This project is on life-support
What the rumors are saying: This project is all but done.  
X-Force with Deadpool and Cable could be reimaged as Deadpool 2; but I still think that is not what 20th Century Fox has totally in mind.   I know many people in Hollywood are suggesting Deadpool standalone films are similar to Wolverine and X-Force could be the X-Men of the rated R version.   All said we have to wait and see on this.

X-Men: New Mutants

See yesterday's post.

Hellfire (TV Series)

What we know: A TV movie, backdoor pilot, for an X-Men series, set in the 1960's following X-Men: First Class.  The series will focus on a Government special agent attempt to block the Hellfire Club gains across America.  

Legion (TV Series)

What we know: The FX series features a star studded cast with Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) in the lead role.   Legion suffers from Multiple Personality syndrome and meets the women of his dreams, what could go wrong for a powerful mutant with multiple personalities?

X-Men 7

What we know: 20th Century Fox has already booked time at the same studio where X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse were filmed in Montreal.  
What we think we know: Bryan Singer will direct.
Rumors: We are getting a Dark Phoenix story line film.   Yes the Dark Phoenix was addressed in X-Men: Last Stand, but it wasn't supposed to be the focus, but you didn't know that. 

Mystique 

What we know: Lauren Shuler-Donner has made it clear that a stand alone movie featuring Mystique is in development.   Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse has change her opposition from flat out rejecting to at least considering the project.   I would like to point out how poorly she was treated on the set of X-Men: First Class and how far 20th Century Fox has come to accommodate her, and limit the time she needs to spend in the make up chair in the final two movies.  

What do I think the release schedule will look like?

  • 2016 May 27 - X-Men: Apocalypse
  • 2017 March 03 - Old Man Logan
  • 2017 October 06 - Gambit
  • 2018 January 12 - Deadpool 2
  • 2018 August 10 - New Mutants
  • 2019 May 24 - X-Men: The Dark Phoenix
I don't expect X-Men: New Mutants to be released on July 13th 2018, The Ant-Man and Wasp comes out the week before and Aquaman the following week, something has to give.   Because of that I am suggesting X-Men: New Mutants will be released in August 10, but that isn't the only time slot available, just the closest one.  

Given scheduling and times I have an inkling X-Men: The Dark Phoenix will fall back a year from 2018 to 2019.  

If 20th Century Fox moves ahead with either Mystique or X-Force project this is where dates could change.  I will point out no tentpole films are scheduled for memorial Day weekend for either 2018 or 2019 yet.    It is possible New Mutants could be pushed forward to May 25 2018, and the other project fall towards the end of 2018, October 19th for example but today I have a hard time seeing either moving forward without other changes.

Fantastic Four / Silver Surfer

The White Elephant sitting in the room that no one wants to talk about today.  
With the release of the 2015 Fantastic Four Film 20th Century Fox has until midsummer 2019 to set another Fantastic Four film into a production status.    With as big of financial failure as the 2015 film was the sequel has been removed from the release schedule.   Potato Potahto, it means it was canceled and 20th Century Fox had to eat any committed salaries and guaranteed contracts.   I have written extensively about the issue including this post last year. 
 
The obvious solution to this problem is either give the license back to Marvel or work with Marvel in the same way Sony has for Spider-Man.   This unfortunately requires that everyone at 20th Century Fox who is involved with Fantastic Four agrees they are at the end of the rope, which they don't.   It is a process known as Escalation of Commitment, i.e. throwing good money after bad.   
Several sources are suggesting that 20th Century Fox could make a backdoor reboot of the series using a Silver Surfer film.   Now don't get me wrong I think this is a better idea than an Aunt May spy thriller, but I am not sure it will work either.  
The Josh Trank bomb has backed 20th Century Fox into a corner and even though many think this will be a drawn out fight, I don't
 
Marvel TV studios is working with Fox on two TV series, Hellfire and Legion, neither of which could happen without an agreement between the two companies.  
If we hope in the way back machine to 2001 you'd find a lawsuit between these two companies, the behemoth 20th Century Fox sued Marvel and everyone thought 20th Century Fox was going to take the struggling company out behind the woodshed so to speak when the case was filed.   Funny thing happened, even though 95% of these cases are settled and another 4.9% are won be the litigant, 20th Century Fox in this case, Marvel won the lawsuit, not some little victory, a crushing knock it out of the stadium grand slam in the bottom of the ninth kind of victory.   The result of that victory Marvel Studios controls virtually its entire IP for Television, Radio and every other possibility that is not on the big screen.   Simply put Hellfire and Legion required Isaac Perlmutter's approval, CEO of Marvel Entertainment.   
I should point out Marvel Studios (Kevin Feige) no longer report to Issac Perlmutter, but Marvel Television Studios (Jeph Loeb) does.  
 
More to Come.
 


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