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excel1

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Posts posted by excel1

    Gladiator 2 | November 22, 2024 | DENZEL IS REUNITING WITH RIDLEY?!

    in Box Office Discussion

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    On 1/18/2024 at 9:32 AM, Merkel said:

    Gladiator was a movie with a very mediocre script that was greatly elevated by a great cast, great direction and production values and an absolutely star-making performance by Russel Crowe. In fact, I can't think of many big budget productions that were so crucially carried on the shoulders of its lead actor. He truly deserved that Oscar. Had they had any other actor in the lead role and the movie would've collapse on itself (imagine someone like Orlando Bloom).

     

    So I really think this sequel is missing the most crucial element in its predecessor's success, and that's Crowe

     

    Phoenix was utterly brilliant as well. And the script quite good. And numerous other leads would have succeeded there. Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas were eyed and both would have been tremendous. Bruce Willis was at top of him game back then and would have been perfect. Jude Law begged for the part of Commodus but they opted for JP, Law would have been tremendous too. 

     

    I have always felt Gladiator was similar to Batman Begins in that is a perfect "prestige popcorn" blockbuster with strong enough themes and developed enough characters to be a prestige film but its at its core an obvious popcorn crowd pleaser.  

    • Like 4

    The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

    in Box Office Discussion

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    Canning Batgirl was no doubt about further protecting IP that was already clearly going in the wrong direction. They would have further diluted the brand and for the worse. I wanted to return Burton's Gotham as much as anyone but that is what it is. They can't give the mouse that cookie. Multiple versions of these characters at once is insane and worked for 1 film (NWH).

     

    Wouldn't be surprised at all if it does make it's way out down the line after a new DC era has been established and there will far less emotional reactions from fans.

    The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

    in Box Office Discussion

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    1 hour ago, WittyUsername said:

     I’ve seen a lot of people go out of their way to root for WBD and defend David Zaslav from any kind of criticism, which I find embarrassing. 

     

    It isn't "defending" Zaslav to note that he took over an epic dumpster fire and was going to have to make extremely tough choices for the company to right itself, it is being factual. 100x more common than any unfair "defending" is the "unreasonable hating" by outsiders who seem to have a primitive grasp of how a company of that size functions. 

    • Like 2

    The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

    in Box Office Discussion

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    People rooting for Zaslav or Iger want WBD or Disney to stay (and thrive) as large media company, probably because the people doing the rooting are fans of the content the companies make. 🙄

     

    Obviously people can be fans of companies whose product they like and wish for them to successful, what a strange thing to otherwise insinuate. @Scubasteve716 is 100% on point. 

    • Like 1

    WEEKEND THREAD | Wonka 14.4, Night Swim 12, Aqua 10.6, Migration 10.2, Anyone But You 9.5 (increased from last weekend!)

    in Numbers and Data

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    2 hours ago, Juliet said:

     

    The Ashton Kutcher- Orlando Bloom- Freddie Prinze Jr etc generation I blame entirely on Hollywood. Didn't know what to do with them. They were fine when they were in Cosmo Girl but once they aged out the Studios had nothing for them. Joshua Jackson is another one that deserves to do better. I was hoping more people would pay attention to him after The Affair.

     

     

     

    Eh the larger issue in general is they were mostly terrible actors. The ones with any hints of depth or range (Ledger, Gyllenhaal, Hartnett) all got serious opportunities, while others got franchise film type stuff ala Freddie Prinze Jr got Scooby Doo, Bloom got Pirates, Ashton Kutcher got Punkd, Hayden Christensen got Star Wars etc.

     

    Revisionist history does show it did not have to be this way. I think we all know that had Ledger survived, he would probably still be a huge star to this day. Had Hartnett wanted to be Nolan's Batman, he would have been, and no doubt his A-list status would have last many years longer than it did. Paul Walker wasn't really a draw outside of F&F, but who knows.

     

    2 hours ago, Maggie said:

    J Jonah Jameson Laughing GIF

     

    Not going down this rabbit LOL. Heath showed the most charisma but Hartnett showed the most range of all of them early on. His characters in Faculty, Virgin Suicides, O, Harbor, Black Hawk Down, the sex comedy etc are all very different, and he is generally pretty good in all of them. He would have been more than capable as Nolan's Batman and would probably still be A list to this day had he accepted it. 

     

    My opinion wont change, I have never seen a Brad Pitt performance that I don't think Hartnett could have matched.

    WEEKEND THREAD | Wonka 14.4, Night Swim 12, Aqua 10.6, Migration 10.2, Anyone But You 9.5 (increased from last weekend!)

    in Numbers and Data

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    3 hours ago, TMP said:

    Kind of shocked Evans made it so far considering he’s good at neither comedic or dramatic work and doesn’t have a lot of charisma either. I guess he’s OK at being a human-sized GI JOE, much like Cavill. Weird age of leading men where a majority of them are just white dudes who look like muscle beach rejects and possess no other discernible skills lol

     

    The young actor group from the turn of the millennium is just notoriously bad, and the ones who didn't go the superhero route but still have major careers are few and far between. Yes, we still have Jake Gyllenhaal acting in major stuff, but the best actor of the ground passed away in 2008 (Heath Ledger), Joaquin Phoenix went off the deep end for a while but has somewhat leveled ooutthe other big talent Josh Hartnett abandoned mainstream Hollywood. Paul Walker also passed away unfortunately. The Ashton Kutcher/Orlando Bloom/Jesse Bradfords/Freddie Prinze Jr/Matthew Lillard/Wes Bentley/Ryan Phillippe/Billy Cudrup/Sean William Scott/Chris Klein/James Franco  all went absolutely nowhere with mainstream film. 

     

    The 1990s biggest stars if Leo, Pitt, Cruise, Smith etc are all still Hollywoods biggest names. 

    WEEKEND THREAD | Wonka 14.4, Night Swim 12, Aqua 10.6, Migration 10.2, Anyone But You 9.5 (increased from last weekend!)

    in Numbers and Data

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    39 minutes ago, DAJK said:

    The "franchise" trend of the 2010s (which is still strong mind you) is somewhat becoming eclipsed by a "star + concept" model which honestly excites me. 

     

    It's been this way for some time, tbh. See Joaquin Phoenix as Joker, Margot Robbie as Barbie, The Rock as Black Adam, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as country singers, etc. Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn may legitimately be the most impactful comic book casting since Nicholson as Joker way back when. She is going to bring an insane amount of hype that already high profile film.

    • Like 2

    Superman | July 11, 2025 | James Gunn writing and directing | David Corenswet is Clark, Rachel Brosnahan is Lois

    in Box Office Discussion

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    18 hours ago, dudalb said:

    Agreed,

    I suspect a lot of names got tossed out in the early stages of casting. But that is it: a name get mentioned in casting, but is quicky shot down.

     

    Over the years, a lot of them have actually been confirmed. Hartnett has been confirmed by a ton of people including Ratner, who also confirmed Bomer. Fraser, Paul Walker, and Ashton Kutcher all confirmed it themselves. There is a screenshot of Cavill's test out there. The reporting in general is pretty accurate. Anthony Hopkins was signed as Jor-el throughout, Brett Ratner and the studio both viewed Josh Hartnett as their first choice in 2002, which was the 2nd time he was offered the role (the first being for BvS earlier in 2002), he rejects, the studio moved on Ashton Kutcher and Paul Walker, also reject it, Ratner and co. again approach Hartnett with the infamous mega offer, he rejects, they do not want to offer the same contract to Kutcher or Walker, studio pushed Brendan Fraser while Ratner wants Matt Bomer, can't agree, Ratner quits, McG comes in, casts Robert Downey Jr as Lex Luthor and zeros in on Henry Cavill and Jared Padalecki for the lead role. Film falls apart shortly thereafter. 

    • Like 1

    Superman | July 11, 2025 | James Gunn writing and directing | David Corenswet is Clark, Rachel Brosnahan is Lois

    in Box Office Discussion

    Superman | July 11, 2025 | James Gunn writing and directing | David Corenswet is Clark, Rachel Brosnahan is Lois

    in Box Office Discussion

    Posted · Edited by excel1

    Veteran of SuperHeroHype too and followed the development of the project which became Superman Returns closely from day 1 way back in 2002 when it first started off as Batman vs Superman and moved into solo film s. Smallville helped reinvigorate interest in the character but it was obvious from the JJ Abrams script onward that they would casting someone else as Superman in their feature film. There were absolutely some fans who initially wanted Tom Welling as Superman but they died down quickly when it was clear that the studio was going a different direction. Welling was in a couple of films ala Cheaper by the Dozen and The Fog remake but they clearly wanted someone who FILM audiences knew.

     

    Mind you, fanboys were impossible to please back then. There was no consensus candidate for Superman as there had been for Batman where 90% of fanboys #1 pick was Christian Bale prior to his casting. If there was any unity, it was against certain people.

     

    Josh Hartnett was clearly the studio and medias first choice but he made it clear early on it wasn't his thing, and at that point we got into some really crazy territory. See below for my memories of fan reactions on the web:

     

    "Josh Hartnett? Did you not see Pearl Harbor? The wooden teeny bopper pretty boy can't play a serious role. He would be great for the trailer, terrible for the movie. Why is Hollywood trying so hard to make us like him?"

    "Ashton Kutcher? Kelso is the absolute last person who would be Superman!! So goofy, the guy works in stoner comedies and nothing else, he is better served continuing to work with MTV on Punkd than playing a serious superhero"

    "Paul Walker?! He makes Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher look like Marlon Brando! And he is blonde!"

    "Brendan Fraser? Would have been awesome 10 years ago, now he is old and looked puffy in Mummy 2"

    "Jude Law could do it, but he would need to grow 6 inches, add 40 sounds of muscles, wear a wig, and change his accent. Other than that, yeah he could do it"

    "Matt Bomer? Who?"

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