The DC/WB Superhero Movies Thread

[Sycophant]

Test Audience Feedback.

[Spinal]

Julie Taymor. What could go wrong?

[Winston*]

Julie Taymor. What could go wrong?

Have you read Glen Berger's Song of Spider-Man, Spinal? It's pretty good (albeit self-serving).

[Spinal]

Have you read Glen Berger's Song of Spider-Man, Spinal? It's pretty good (albeit self-serving).

I haven't! Oh, that sounds pretty good. I'll have to check it out.

[Morris Schæffer]

George Miller.

Starting now....for release in 2035.

[Sycophant]

Cool. Who should direct?

The collective anxieties and insecurities of a bunch of second-guessing millionaire studio executives.

[Skitch]

The collective anxieties and insecurities of a bunch of second-guessing millionaire studio executives.

Sooooo you're a big fan of BvS and Suicide Squad?

[Sycophant]

Haven't seen them, tbh. Just observing this clusterfuck at a comfortable distance and with safety goggles.

[Sycophant]

Why do I bother reading and following this stuff when I am so apathetic and/or antipathetic toward the movies themselves?

Because in the year twenty sixteen, if I want to talk about the movies of today, I can either get involved in armchair studio executive-ing of a bunch of boring $300 million mainstream action-adventure movies that I have no interest in seeing, or I can make a comment on a new-ish indie film I watched that maybe someone else might get around to streaming when it pops up somewhere in the next three to twenty-four months.

[Ezee E]

Hey... 2016 has Central Intelligence. The only non-franchise/animated movie in its top 25 movies of the year as the box office goes.

[Skitch]

I wasnt busting your balls, Sync. Just jokin around. its all good. I get it. Its a rough age for cinema fan that doesnt give a shit about comic book movies. It will pass, and move into a more reasonable release model. Like the western did.

I just asked who everyone would like to see put there spin on it. Youre right, thats who has been making the biggest decisions, unfortunately. Personally Im glad all this ruckus is happening on Suicide Squad, a property I dont have a history with or care too much about. I think the real tell will be with Justice League, because as I understand it, that will be the first full production completely under Geoff Johns watch. If that one has the same tampered feel, well, then....shit isnt going to change until DC breaks away from WB.

[Winston*]

Hey... 2016 has Central Intelligence. The only non-franchise/animated movie in its top 25 movies of the year as the box office goes.

Got Stephen Chow's latest at 7th internationally though.

[Irish]

Because in the year twenty sixteen, if I want to talk about the movies of today, I can either get involved in armchair studio executive-ing of a bunch of boring $300 million mainstream action-adventure movies that I have no interest in seeing, or I can make a comment on a new-ish indie film I watched that maybe someone else might get around to streaming when it pops up somewhere in the next three to twenty-four months.

This perfectly captures the frustration I've felt for the last several years.

[Irish]

Its a rough age for cinema fan that doesnt give a shit about comic book movies. It will pass, and move into a more reasonable release model. Like the western did.

This is a good observation but I worry about it.

It's not solely about comic book movies. It's about the belief a studio movie has to be a tentpole that plays overseas. Mid-list movies have almost completely disappeared.

I miss American movies that have locations and complicated camera set-ups and extras and even a little bit of scope (eg: a lot of the genre stuff people love from 30 or 40 years ago that had comparatively mild budgets.)

Today, it's either blockbuster or blumhouse -- or nothing. Even if "comic book movies" become less popular, I fear that trend will stick for a long, long time.

I think the real tell will be with Justice League, because as I understand it, that will be the first full production completely under Geoff Johns watch. If that one has the same tampered feel, well, then....shit isnt going to change until DC breaks away from WB.

God I hope you're right, because part of me wants to see Batfleck succeed in a big way.

[Skitch]

Today, it's either blockbuster or blumhouse -- or nothing. Even if "comic book movies" become less popular, I fear that trend will stick for a long, long time.

Yeah I don't see the overall tentpole model changing until enough of them bomb...which I would've said isn't happening soon, but this year has been a fascinating diversion from the expected at the box office. Evidence!

As someone who enjoys the big summer movies, I really really don't want it to be all that or blumhouse either. Cinema is in a transition and I know it can seem hopeless right now, but its just because we're in the midst of change. Remember when everyone was afraid we'd all be forced to watch all movies in 3D? Sure, its still around, but I feel like they've pulled back on it.

[Sycophant]

I wasnt busting your balls, Sync. Just jokin around. its all good. I get it. Its a rough age for cinema fan that doesnt give a shit about comic book movies. It will pass, and move into a more reasonable release model. Like the western did.

Oh yeah, I know. I've had a tense few weeks teaching a course that's just come to an end and was blowing off steam.

[Sycophant]

It's not solely about comic book movies. It's about the belief a studio movie has to be a tentpole that plays overseas. Mid-list movies have almost completely disappeared.

Yeah. This is what it comes to for me.

Also, while sequelization and franchisization have long been features of the studio landscape, we're in the age of the Cinematic Universe. It's not even that we are inundated with comic book movies, it's that everything needs to be Marvel now.

Star Wars? We Marvel now. Batman? We Marvel now. Universal monster movies? We Marvel now.

These models haven't worked nearly as well for other franchises yet, but it's about to go swimmingly for Star Wars. This could potentially fall apart, but if other people start making money out of it, this kind of interlocking, never-complete production masterminded by one or two producers wearing the skins of directors plucked from scenes that could've fostered interesting creativity for the sake of giving this billion-dollar behemoths a whiff of artistic credibility will become what we have available to us.

I miss American movies that have locations and complicated camera set-ups and extras and even a little bit of scope (eg: a lot of the genre stuff people love from 30 or 40 years ago that had comparatively mild budgets.)

My heart.

[Sycophant]

Was talking about Japanese cinema with my class the other day and was talking about how the production committee system and other developments have basically turned mainstream Japanese film into TV-at-the-cinema, in aesthetics, in narrative, and in their finances.

And was so deeply disheartened when my students were basically like "Yeah, that's what we like. Movies should be more like TV."

[Ezee E]

Funny how they swapped. TV shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Stranger Things.... These are the shows that seem to be the 2000's original way of storytelling, which had one producer with many directors at the helm. It broke into movies with the Marvel universe.

Now, in the TV World, we're starting to see movies/TV shows like Mildred Pierce, Angels in America, House of Cards, and Vinyl attracting the directors.

[Dead & Messed Up]

If superhero movies are going to go away, I don't think they're gonna kick back to "simmer" like the Western did - I think it'd have to just plummet. Because superhero movies don't have a meaningful low-budget B-movie side to them like the Westerns did. Despite the occasional efforts by people like James Gunn, superhero movies are all but exclusively the province of Big Brands and Big Studios, designed for maximum spectacle to be sold overseas.

My personal theory is that superhero movies are the new musical, and I'm trying to develop it further.

[Spinal]

Have you read Glen Berger's Song of Spider-Man, Spinal? It's pretty good (albeit self-serving).

Just finished it. This was a really great read. Thanks!

[number8]

!!!

[Skitch]

Genius!

[Dukefrukem]

Deathstroke coming to EDC? (Solo Batman movie? / Test shot? / Cyborg?)

[number8]

He's the villain of the solo Batfleck movie.

http://www.thewrap.com/deathstroke-w...vie-exclusive/