Eric the Clown

It's because capitalism is killing us faster than corona will

ORANGE SKIES KILL PEOPLE TREE. PEOPLE ARE DYING. THATS WHY YOU NEED EMPATHY YA DINGUS

Just heard RITMO on the radio earlier today. GOAT shit! 🙏

...were you asleep yesterday?

https://deadline.com/2020/09/tenet-broken-hearts-gallery-warner-bros-sony-weekend-box-office-1234575805/

This would honestly be the most devastating thing ever for me. The only reason I got into movies in the first place was the box office and reading Gitesh Pandya's BOG updates every week. It was just as interesting reading how movies were doing as much as movies themselves, and gave me the avenue to actually get into films and even appreciate them. Taking it away is just as gut-wrenching as the streamers refusing to give out viewership data. It doesn't even make sense from a business perspective. Wouldn't these studios want box office and viewership numbers published as a form of free publicity? Having daily reports on what Joker or Bad Boys 3 was doing helped keep it in the conversation and discussed. Movies like Parasite or Jojo Rabbit need box office reports so they can stay in the conversation and drive WOM in our corporate BS society. Wouldn't Netflix or Disney want to highlight how well Hamilton or Old Guard was doing every week to keep people talking about them or make them want to rewatch it again and again? Give them promos for their shiny and special streaming services? It's so stupid! And I know the real reason is because these bigwigs don't wanna give creatives and filmmakers better residuals or deals. But that's also garbage on a stick. Chapek, Hastings, Bezos, Stankey, and Shell already have enough money to afford that huge yacht to fill all those smaller yachts. I think it's fair to give the hard-working directors and writers and producers who make your companies ultra-successful a bone when it comes to deals and let them know how they're doing. This is all just pure garbage, and it's pathetic that these rich asshole companies can just take away something people love like this.

Guys nobody cares about this lmao

Hollywood trying to kill theaters is bad enough. They want to kill BOT too? Those monsters!

That forum is for general VOD discussion and threads for movies going to VOD or streaming. We’ve had streaming shows here since the beginning and it’s simply easier for us to organize and manage it here. And if people can’t find the TV forum, the OP for all streaming general discussion threads have links to select shows.

Nah. It's a TV show, so it stays in the television section

@Brainbug @baumer @YourMother the Edgelord @excel1 Hope you all like this one! It took a lot of work, and 2009 certainly won't be a walk in the park, but it was all worth it, and I feel this is the best part I've done so far for this retrospective. @MrPink @charlie Jatinder I guess I'm obligated to @ you guys because of these movies lol

Sixteenth place would see the surprise smash hit Slumdog Millionaire. Dev Patel plays Jamal Malik, a poor Indian Muslim living in the slums of Mumbai. Malik appears as a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and finds himself answering each question correctly. While accused of cheating, Malik explains to the cops his life story and how his story allowed him to answer each question correctly. Based on the award-winning novel Q & A, Slumdog was written by Simon Beaufoy, who took part in three different research trips to India, interviewing some of the children living in India’s slums. This was a major influence in Slumdog’s writing, as Beaufoy tried to capture the imagination, energy, and community these children had with each other. Summer 2006 would see Beaufoy’s script get picked up by British production companies Celador and Film4 and both parties began courting Danny Boyle as director. Boyle wasn’t all that interested in a project based around Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, but after learning Beaufoy wrote the script, whose film The Full Monty is one of Boyle’s favorite movies, the director committed himself to the project. Shooting was set to begin in 2007 in India, and it’s here where Loveleen Tandan enters the picture. Initially a casting director, Tandan suggested to Boyle and Beaufoy that the script needed pieces of Hindi to really sell the movie. This resulted in Boyle asking Tandan to write those moments of Hindi herself, taking up a third of the script. And just before shooting began, Boyle was so impressed with her work he decided Loveleen Tandan would serve as co-director on the project. Boyle and Tandan used Slumdog Millionaire as an attempt at an homage to Hindi cinema, with a big influence being the works from Salim-Javed. 1975’s Deewaar, 1998’s Satya, 2002’s Company, and 2007’s Black Friday were also influences here. One of the first casting choices for the game show host was actor Shahrukh Khan, who actually hosted India’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? for a time. Khan rejected the casting call, believing it would give his audience the impression the game show he worked on was a fraud and he was a fraudulent host. Despite Slumdog’s success, he has shown no regrets in rejecting the call, but was still a fan of the film. Warner Independent Pictures acquired the domestic distribution rights for the film in August 2007, while Pathe saw the international rights, with Slumdog Millionaire all set to do great things for its 2008 release. But then, tragedy struck. Warner Independent was shut down in May 2008, with all their films being sent to Warner Bros. proper. Because Warner failed to see much commercial appeal here, Slumdog Millionaire was intended to go direct-to-video in the United States. However, August would later see Warner Bros. make a pact with Fox Searchlight. Both shared distribution of the film, with Searchlight buying 50% of Warner Bros.’ interest and taking care of the US distribution. Warner Bros. took charge of distribution overseas except in India, with Fox Star Studios in charge there, and Europe, where Pathe distributed. For Fox Searchlight, this would turn out to be one of the best things to ever happen to them. Slumdog Millionaire premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festival, where it saw intense love from fest goers, earning the People’s Choice Awards at Toronto. This love would translate in rave reviews, gearing up for the film’s opening in 10 theaters on November 12. And it did rather well, earning $427,715 over five days. Sure enough, the film would continue its expansion, coming into 11th place on its second weekend, with about $947.8 thousand. Its sixth weekend, the weekend before Christmas, even saw the film in eighth place, earning about $3 million for a then $12 million cume. However, the real story was in the New Year, specifically when its awards went into play. The 66th Golden Globe Awards on January 11 saw Slumdog Millionaire earn all four of the awards it was nominated for, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture - Drama. Sure enough, with the following weekend being MLK weekend, Slumdog saw itself earn a 55% jump from its previous weekend, earning $7 million for the 4-day. Its cume by that point was $43.8 million. And then, the Oscar nominations were unveiled on Thursday, January 22. Slumdog Millionaire saw itself with 10 nominations. And alongside an expansion to over 1,450 theaters, those nominations really compelled people to check this film out. So despite this being after a holiday weekend, Slumdog found itself increasing almost 83% from last weekend, earning $10.7 million and landing itself in fifth place. It had earned $56.1 million at that point. And sure enough, Slumdog continued to pull in solid box office during the ramp up to the Oscars. And on that fateful night, February 22, it got crazy. After already earning $98.3 million before the ceremony, Slumdog Millionaire saw eight Oscar wins, including Best Director and Best Picture. This only continued Slumdog’s popularity at the multiplex, as the following weekend saw a 43% increase from the previous weekend, earning $12 million and hitting third place on the charts. It was at $115 million at that point in time. And with all that hype, Slumdog Millionaire earned $141.3 million domestically at the end of its run. Overseas was a similar story. The UK is where the film increased 47% on its second weekend, the biggest jump for a wide release in the region. And with its Oscar wins, Slumdog also saw massive increases across Europe. This also saw the third-biggest opening weekend for a Western release in India. Long story short, Slumdog Millionaire found itself $237.1 million overseas and $378.4 million worldwide. It’s honestly a fitting conclusion for a film about a poor teenager hitting it big and finding success. The film that was almost set to go direct-to-DVD managed to take the whole world by storm and be rewarded from several critics groups and award bodies. This film served as Fox Searchlight’s biggest film ever, put Dev Patel on the map, and was a strong feather in Danny Boyle’s cap. And while its reception in India was on the polarizing side, it just goes to show what you can do with a good concept and a strong director at the helm. Finally, we’ll end this lookback on 2008 with 23rd place, where we see the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder. This comedy stars a set of eccentric actors filming a Vietnam War movie. Ben Stiller plays a washed-up action star, Robert Downey Jr. a method actor, Jack Black a lowbrow comedy star and drug addict, Brandon T. Jackson a rapper, and Jay Baruchel a newcomer in the field. These big personalities make filming the movie a nightmare and months behind schedule, so the film’s director drops them in the middle of the jungle out of pure frustration. And so, the actors must use their own skills to work together and make it out of the jungle alive. This project first began in 1987, when Ben Stiller was shooting Empire of the Sun. Stiller wanted to make a film about the actors he met over the years. Specifically, the actors who become “self-important” after taking part in boot camps to prepare for war movies. Stiller and co-writer Justin Theroux used that idea to develop a spoof of Vietnam films like Apocalypse Now, Rambo, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Deer Hunter, among others. Theroux felt the script was an easy one to write, as people are much more aware about Hollywood politics and its inner workings thanks to celebrity blogs and industry magazines earning more prominence online. For the characters, Stiller wanted to make sure all of them felt larger than life as well as over-the-top. But perhaps the trickiest one to develop was Kirk Lazarus, played by Robert Downey, Jr. At the time, Downey was only given the character personality of a “method actor”, and had to build his idea from the ground up. This would see him settle on a jive-esque speech pattern and a deep ragged voice, which in turn allowed him and Stiller to create Kirk as a crazy Australian who is so obsessed with becoming his character he even alters his skin color to become Black. Russell Crowe, Daniel-Day Lewis, and Colin Farrell were all references. Downey had to have two hours of make-up application every day. Downey was of course nervous this role would be taken the wrong way. However, Stiller knew that this wasn’t done in malice, but rather to make fun of method actors. Kirk Lazurus went to these extremes for one movie, and this allowed Stiller to skewer the Jared Letos of the world who think they need to take themselves super seriously over their craft. To make sure this was considered tasteful, the film was screened to NAACP journalists, many of whom reacted positively to the character. Tom Cruise is one of the actors in the movie, and was set to appear as Stiller’s character’s agent. However, Cruise suggested there should be a studio head character, which led to the creation of Cruise’s new character, Les Grossman. For the role, Cruise was almost unrecognizable, donning a fatsuit, giant prosthetic hands, and a bald cap. Cruise’s appearance was intended to be a secret, and Paramount refused to show him in any promotional media. However, images of his appearance emerged from paparazzi sites, in yet another instance of the media ruining things for everybody else. Paramount went all out here in terms of its promotion, knowing that they had a winner on their hands. Sketches on American Idol and the MTV Movie Awards, military screenings, a making-off spoof on E! True Hollywood Story. Yet the most creative was a series of websites promoting some faux films. The film showcases trailers for films starring the main characters. Ben Stiller in an over-the-top action movie, Jack Black in a fart-themed comedy, Robert Downey Jr. in a dramatic title. Paramount/Dreamworks’ promo teams created these websites as a way to drum up hype and give a stronger background to the characters they created. A Heart of Darkness parody titled Rain of Madness was also released two weeks into the film’s run to keep positive buzz going. And boy was that buzz positive. After a premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, Tropic Thunder released on August 13, a similar strategy to films like 40-Year-Old Virgin or Superbad. The film had found itself into a bit of controversy, as Stiller’s character appearance in the film Simple Jack, a spoof of Oscar bait where Stiller goes “full r**ard”, was considered offensive and demeaning by disability advocates. Some have defended the film upon seeing it, but in many ways, this helped keep the film in the conversation and bolster ticket sales, as people had to see the movie for themselves. It opened to #1, dethroning The Dark Knight, with a $36.8 million 5-day weekend. And with zero competition and solid reviews, Tropic Thunder stayed at number one for the next two weekends, ending its run at $110.5 million domestically. It saw $195.7 million worldwide, becoming Stiller’s most successful film as a director. It just goes to show with the right premise, comedy, and marketing, you can do something amazing when it comes to your rewards. This also served as another role that cemented Downey Jr.’s return to the A-List. Iron Man gave him a new franchise, while Tropic Thunder was a chance to show his comedic chops. And he was greatly rewarded for it, earning an Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nomination for his role as Kirk Lazarus. It’s a true underdog story and it was clearly deserving for such a talent. A spin-off based on Cruise’s character had been mentioned since its release, but nothing has been mentioned since 2012. And that’s only a sample of what 2008 had in store that year. Outside of the big stories, Sex and the City went to the big screen to great success. Marley & Me made men cry. The Incredible Hulk was Marvel’s only dud. Wanted showcased the POWAH of Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Get Smart returned to solid success. Four Christmases saw the biggest Thanksgiving debut for a live-action film. Benjamin Button boasted incredible aging VFX. Bolt was Lasseter's first true attempt at reinvigorating Disney Animation. Journey to the Center of the Earth boasted digital 3D before it was cool. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was a sequel nobody cared about. Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler both saw comedies barely cross $100 million. Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a movie we all let happen for some reason. High School Musical was taken to the big screen to great effect. Pineapple Express continued Seth Rogen’s rise. Doug Liman gave us the glory that is Jumper. Cloverfield shrouded itself in mystery. Keanu brought back The Day the Earth Stood Still to mixed results. Hellboy II had the unluckiest release date in film history. Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert saw the biggest Super Bowl opening ever. Australia tried to epicify the region to mixed results. Speed Racer became an epic bomb, but a success story in our hearts. Three garbage spoof movies came out in one year. Fireproof sold itself to faith communities, a potentially lucrative market for the future. And lastly, Space Chimps...came out I guess. This was 2008.

Clint Eastwood was really grumpy in twelfth place with Gran Torino. Eastwood starred Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran who blocks himself from his family and finds himself hating everything about the world. Things seem really rough when a Hmong teenager steals Kowalski’s Gran Torino. But after thwarting the boy’s plans, he soon develops a relationship with the boy and his family and realizes that there is something worth living for. While Eastwood directed and starred, this was the passion project for writer Nick Schenk. Schenk worked at a VHS factory in Minnesota in the early 90s, and it’s there he became acquainted with Hmong workers and as a result the history and culture of the Hmong people. This soon led to Schenk creating a story about a Korean War veteran trying to handle the changes in his neighborhood that emphasized both a look at Hmong culture and a major culture clash. He would work on the script at his local bar every night when he was not at his day job, writing page after page and getting consulted by the bartender and even his brother’s roommate on the project. When Schenck was pitching his film to Hollywood, the project saw rejection after rejection. While it was well-made, the film’s focus on an old man, especially a racist old man, made it a hard sell. However, Schenck was able to sell his script to Warner Bros. and after Invictus saw a delay, Clint Eastwood had time in his schedule to direct and star in this feature. And apart from a change in setting, Eastwood refused to change even one syllable in Schenck’s script, which never happens in Hollywood. And both Eastwood and Schenck knew that it was important to make sure this was as authentic to Hmong culture as possible, especially because they never saw any treatment in mainstream American film before. Ten Hmong actors were casted, almost all of whom were first time actors. Some of them were not even proficient in English. Five of them, including co-star Bee Vang, were from Minnesota. This seemed like an issue, but Eastwood’s low-key directing style apparently made things easier for the Hmong cast. He would give little acting tips, but would move at a fast rate that didn’t allow them time to think, in turn making it seem more natural and genuine. Eastwood also hired Hmong extras, production assistants, and consultants, although things weren’t exactly perfect...more on that later. Releasing in only 19 theaters on December 19, Gran Torino had significant buzz going in, being Eastwood’s first return to acting since 2004’s Million Dollar Baby, and earned $468.2 thousand on its opening weekend, averaging $24.6 thousand. Already stellar stuff, and the following weekends continued to bring in the limited crowds, making the film all set to do big business in wide release. Sure enough, on January 9, Gran Torino finally released in 2,808 theaters, and would see an astonishing $29.5 million weekend. This was by far the biggest wide opening in Eastwood’s long career, and with solid reviews and strong word of mouth, Eastwood managed to pull in strong numbers throughout the coming months, finishing with $148.1 million domestically and $270 million worldwide, the highest-grossing film of Eastwood’s career at that time. What made this even stranger was that despite releasing in awards season and tackling complex subject matter that often gets rewarded at the Oscars, wasn’t an Oscar darling. I was honestly surprised when I read this, but Gran Torino wasn’t nominated for a single Oscar and only got one Golden Globe nomination. Yet at the same time movies like Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button were getting accolades and awards buzz, Gran Torino outgrossed them both, at least domestically, and was just as, if not more iconic than those films. Whether it be Eastwood’s starpower or its interesting subject matter, Gran Torino was so exciting to people it didn’t need an awards campaign to sell itself to people, and it was rewarded for it with praise from many. Of course, the one question here is what the reactions were within Hmong communities. And in those cases, things were split. While largely positive, and Bee Vang has stated he is satisfied with the movie, there had been detractors from Hmong-Americans, citing the film’s inaccuracies and stereotypes. And to make matters worse, the Hmong crew were reportedly not treated the best on set. Bee Vang mentioned the Hmong cast was treated unfairly on set, as Eastwood failed to give the newcomer cast any tips to improve their craft, and some of the white cast members made them feel excluded. Yikes. Either way, the film at the very least still saw success and tried to bring to light a culture that still sees little representation. And this would soon lead up to Eastwood’s biggest hit six years later. Thirteenth domestic but fifth worldwide was the hit musical Mamma Mia!, based on the famous jukebox musical. Amanda Seyfried plays Sophie Sheridan, a young woman living on a Greek island who is set to be married. And before her wedding day, Sophie sends three letters to three very different men, all of whom are potentially her father. And thus, hi-jinx ensue in a narrative strung together by tunes from the Swedish pop group ABBA. First debuting in the West End in 1999, Mamma Mia! served as a massive hit in the theater community and rejuvenated interest in ABBA across the UK. It was also hugely successful upon its Broadway debut in October 2001. This was a feel-good, light-hearted romp, so having this come out just one month after the unfortunate Twin Towers attacks made it all the more appealing to musical theater fans, resulting in one of the longest-running Broadway shows in history. And with international productions popping up throughout the world, it was clear there was interest in a film adaptation, with many of the original creatives in charge of adapting. Filming was in late 2007, on the Greek island of Skopelos. And the producers here knew they had to go all out in terms of the cast, bringing in a wide variety of talents that could appeal to every white suburban mom out there. Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, and most importantly Meryl Streep. Streep signed on because she was already a huge fan of the musical and took singing lessons when she was a little girl. Streep said that Mamma Mia! reaffirmed that life is beautiful and worth living for in the midst of the destruction of 9/11 and wanted to replicate those feelings in a major motion picture. Sure enough, Mamma Mia! opened in the US on the same day as The Dark Knight, July 18. And while The Dark Knight understandably took up all the headlines, Mamma Mia! was no slouch, earning $27.8 million, the biggest opening for a film based on a Broadway musical. And despite mixed reviews and godawful singing voices, Americans still had a great time, as it continued to leg out in the coming weeks, seeing consistent sub-40% drops. As a result, Mamma Mia! finished its run with a mighty $144.1 million gross, 5.19 times its original opening, and only further cementing the brand and ABBA as an iconic one. The real success story however was overseas, particularly Europe, where sold-out showings and #1 debuts were common. With ABBA an even bigger draw there, Mamma Mia! saw an astonishing $465.7 million overseas. In the UK, Mamma Mia! was actually the highest-grossing film ever in the region. All of this led to a worldwide total of $609.8 million, making it the highest-grossing musical of all time and the highest-grossing film directed by a woman of all time. In 2018, a follow-up titled Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was released and was also a success, earning $395 million. A third film is in development. Fifteenth domestic and tenth worldwide was The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. This sees the Pevensie children return to Narnia once again, only this time the land is in shambles and disarray. They are thus tasked with facing off against an evil king and restoring the rightful heir to the throne, a young man named Prince Caspian. The screenplay for Prince Caspian was written before the release of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. While Prince Caspian was the fourth book chronologically, Andrew Adamson knew that since the child actors were starting to get too old for their parts, they had to get things rolling on this sequel before it’s too late. Screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely used this sequel as a chance to explore the idea of the Pevensies returning to Narnia, at first turning into kings and queens and then magically transformed back into schoolchildren again, and how it affects them. The writers also wanted to explore the guilt the children had, leaving Narnia behind and seeing the destruction that arrived upon their departure. Andrew Adamson made sure that this sequel was much darker and grittier than its predecessor, with a more medieval look. This was done to emphasize the harsher world and more human antagonists the Pevensies were forced to face. As a result, the creatures of Narnia had a wilder appearance, emphasizing them being forced into hiding in the forests from persecution. Adamson also wanted to make sure the film was larger in scale and spectacle than the last Narnia film. This led to an explosive budget of $225 million, almost $100 million of which spent on the special effects. Initially Prince Caspian was set to release in December 2007, but Disney moved it to May 2008 for two reasons: it was set to compete with The Water Horse, another Walden Media title, and seeing as how Potter was able to do so well in both the holiday and summer, surely Narnia would do the same. Disney put in a massive $175 million marketing campaign, and industry expectations had the film opening in the $80 million range. But then when it released on May 16, things got ugly. Despite positive reviews and the goodwill of the first movie, Prince Caspian opened to $55 million, far below Disney’s expectations and even below The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’s $65.6 million opening. And that came out in December. The main reason has been debated by many of the film’s insiders. Disney CEO Bob Iger said the film being sandwiched inbetween Iron Man and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull meant Prince Caspian was lost in the shuffle. Maybe it would have been easier if Disney owned all those movies instead. Producer Mark Johnson also felt the darker tone was a turn-off for fans and the family audience, feeling like turning this sequel into a boys action movie alienated certain audience sectors. Whatever the reason, the film still did okay, earning $141.6 million domestically and $419.7 million worldwide. Still, after the first film did so much business and had so much potential for a Potter-esque franchise for Disney, it still felt like so much money and potential was left on the table. However, Disney was still interested in one more Narnia production with Walden Media that was thwarted over budget negotiations. Disney wanted the next Narnia film, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, to cost $100 million, while Walden Media wanted $140 million. And with fears that the costs could have escalated during filming, Disney dropped out of the project, and 20th Century Fox was then in charge of distribution. Ironically, after Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, the Mouse House now owns Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the entire Walden Media Narnia trilogy. Go figure. Voyage of the Dawn Treader also did lukewarm business, and Walden Media lost the rights for further Narnia films in 2011. Sony planned on developing a new Narnia series beginning with adapting the book The Silver Chair with Joe Johnston. However, those plans were superseded by the biggest bombshell the Narnia property ever received. In October 2018, Netflix announced they made a multi-year agreement with the C. S. Lewis Company to develop a new series of film and TV adaptations based on the Narnia series. Not much else is known about this plan or these movies and shows, but Coco writer Matthew Aldrich is expected to oversee the entire Narnia Netflix universe, and it should be interesting to compare the Disneyverse and Netflixverse when the time comes.

Seventh place was home to the vampire teen romance Twilight. Based on the Stephanie Meyer novel, this starred Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenager who recently moved to the small town of Forks, Washington. There she meets Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson. He’s a mysterious figure that Bella becomes fascinated with, and as time goes on, Bella soon learns Edward is a vampire. From there, their relationship blossoms into love, while Edward and his family try to keep Bella safe from a coven of evil vampires. Released in 2005, the original novel of Twilight was a major success despite lukewarm reviews. Hitting #1 on The New York Times’ bestseller list, this book would go on to have a massive fan following, becoming America’s answer to Harry Potter. With three very successful sequels and a compelling premise, a film adaptation of the series was all but inevitable. In fact, MTV Films acquired the rights to Twilight back in 2004, although it was initially very different from the source material. Sure enough, in 2007, the relatively unknown studio Summit Entertainment acquired the film rights from Paramount and planned to use the first film as the stepping stone for a potential Potter-esque franchise. Catherine Hardwicke was attached as director while Melissa Rosenberg was hired as a writer in 2007. Twilight was actually almost set to be hurt by the impending WGA strike during development. Rosenberg and Hardwicke worked overtime developing an outline and a screenplay, trying to get it finished before October 31 rolled around. During development, the filmmakers made sure the film was as faithful as possible to the original novel. While the plot was condensed, it was important this was still the same story fans knew and love and wanted to see on the big screen. This meant Stephanie Meyer was a constant presence throughout the production process, giving notes on the script, appearing on set during filming, and giving a list of things that could not be changed for the film. Prior to pre-production, Meyer wanted Emily Browning and Henry Cavill to play Bella and Edward, but both actors were too old for the part, and new actors were needed. Kristen Stewart was chosen during production of Adventureland, as her screen test absolutely captivated Catherine Hardwicke. However, Edward was more complicated. Hardwicke needed an otherworldly actor for the role, and she failed to find somebody good for the role. But then she got a final four consisting of four actors: Shiloh Fernandez, Jackson Rathbone, Ben Barnes and Robert Pattinson. Apart from The Goblet of Fire, the latter was actually a relative unknown and was in a lot of trouble. He lost his job, was unemployed, had major debt. Yet he needed the money and decided to pay for his flight to Los Angeles to audition and do a read with Kristen Stewart. And when Stewart and Pattinson were together, Stewart did everything in her power to convince Hardwicke to make him the lead, as she felt connected to him the very first moment. Sure enough, Pattinson was cast, albeit to major backlash from fans of the book. Pattinson admitted he never even heard of the book series before his audition, but upon being cast, he immediately read every book in the series, and even got to see parts of the manuscript for Meyer’s Midnight Sun, which told the events of Twilight from Edward’s perspective. The one condition Pattinson had to do for Hardwicke was to not do anything funny with Kristen Stewart. She was 17 at the time, and if he didn't focus and show respect towards his co-star, things would have gotten ugly. Filmed on a budget of $37 million, Twilight was initially set to release on December 12. However, after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moved from November 2008 to July 2009 (we’ll get to that next time), Twilight swooped in as the big YA attraction, now opening on November 21. And despite not having the cache of Potter nor any starpower, Summit smartly placed it on this weekend, because they knew they had something real special up their sleeves. In its first weekend, Twilight saw itself earn a stunning $69.6 million. It was expected for the movie to be big, but this opening shocked everyone. Twilight earned the fifth biggest November opening in that release date, as well as the fourth biggest opening of the year. And not only was this based on a novel that was popular but not the ultra-famous behemoth it would soon become, but also had no stars, a limited budget, and was distributed by a smaller studio. Yet it’s through this intense fanbase that was dying to be satiated with a property they love, Twilight opened to incredible numbers and slowly took the world by storm. And while it would become more fan-driven over time, Twilight managed to have okay legs all things considered, with about $192.8 million domestically and $407.1 million worldwide. This was a bit of a game changer for many parties. Not only did it make Summit a bigger competitor in the industry, but it turned both Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson into major movie stars, with both actors going on to have solid careers. Pattinson is even becoming a big name in blockbusters, having recently starred in Tenet and set to play Bruce Wayne in 2021’s The Batman. And for the Twilight property, a whole new audience got to experience the story for the first time, both in theaters and at home, when it became the best-selling DVD of 2009, with over 10 million copies sold. This all saw a massive boom in popularity for the book series going forward, and allowed Summit a franchise to call their own. And one year later, the Twilight franchise was set to explode into something incredible. Eighth place domestic, sixth worldwide saw the return of the castaway zoo animals with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. This follows immediately after the last movie with Alex and friends trying to get their way back to New York City. But after leaving the island of Madagascar, the animals crash-land in the middle of Africa, where they find themselves trying to blend into animal society. Alex discovers his lineage, Marty befriends a pack of zebras who act just like him, Melman becomes a witch doctor for a pack of giraffes, and Gloria tries to find love with a clan of hippos. Dreamworks had high hopes Madagascar would be a hit and developed the sequel just when the first film was released and planned for a fall 2008 release date. Initially the film’s subtitle was The Crate Escape, but at the last minute, Dreamworks changed the title to Escape 2 Africa instead. Similar to Shrek 2, Madagascar 2 had two purposes: give audiences the same comedy they know and love, while also expanding the world and characters to bring something fresh and exciting to audiences. And thanks to that good ol’ Dreamworks charm, the animation studio did exactly that. With an opening on November 6, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was an event, generating $63.1 million its first weekend. This served as the biggest Dreamworks opening for a non-Shrek title, the seventh-biggest animated opening weekend in general, and the fifth-biggest November debut, only to be unseated by Twilight a couple weeks later. This was a substantial increase from the first Madagascar’s $47.2 million, and showed how much kids and even adults loved the franchise’s zany humor and goofy animation. Yet despite that major opening and earning better reviews than its predecessor, Escape 2 Africa’s legs left something to be desired, as the film actually earned less than the first Madagascar domestically with $180.2 million domestically, about 2.86 times its opening. I guess it was too wacky for some people? Nevertheless, it still saw an increase worldwide for a $603.9 million haul, and was proof there was enough interest in the franchise to keep the gravy train rolling. A few months later, Nickelodeon released the animated spin-off series The Penguins of Madagascar, which was a solid hit, lasting three seasons. Bond came back with a vengeance in ninth place (seventh worldwide) with the Casino Royale follow-up Quantum of Solace. This time, Bond finds himself seeking revenge over the death of his lover from the last movie, who along with another Bond girl finds himself facing Dominic Greene, a greedy businessman and a member of the Quantum organization. Quantum plans to stage a coup d’etat in Bolivia to seize control of their water supply and Bond is the only one who can stop him. During post-production of Casino Royale, Eon mentioned the next Bond adventure would be a completely original story from producer Michael G. Wilson. This story followed up on the death of Vesper Lynd, as well as focus on environmentalism as a major theme. Roger Mitchell was in negotiations to direct. A fitting choice, since he worked with Craig on films like Enduring Love and The Mother, but because there was no script at the time, Mitchell dropped out, only for Marc Forster to join in 2007. Incidentally, Forster marked the first time a Bond movie wasn’t directed by a man from the Commonwealth, and joined the project despite not being a Bond fan, only joining because of his love for Casino Royale. Speaking of the script, Quantum of Solace was one of the more notable releases to be hit by the strike. The initial script was written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade, with rewrites given by Haggis, Forster, and producer Michael G. Wilson. Haggis’ final contributions were written two hours before the strike officially began in fact. However, the script was still reportedly bare bones, and the strike meant Forster had nobody to punch things up or make the dialogue sharper. However, one loophole was that Marc Forster and Daniel Craig were not writers, and were allowed to work together on the script. This meant the two made uncredited rewrites, often on the set of the film, as a way to finish the film. Craig was not a fan of this, as he himself is not a writer. Either way, the film was shot and finished in 2008, with the title Quantum of Solace revealed in January 2008. And with Casino Royale reinvigorating the brand, Quantum was rewarded with a huge $67.5 million opening on its November 14 opening. This was not just the biggest Bond opening ever, but also was light years ahead of what Die Another Day earned in 2002, even after you factor in ticket price inflation. It also saw a record debut in the UK. If Casino Royale proved that Bond was back, Quantum of Solace proved Bond was here to stay and set to be bigger and better than ever. However, things weren’t perfect. Reception was far more mixed on the sequel, feeling it failed to capture the magic of Casino Royale. And so, despite the large opening, Quantum only managed to earn $168.4 million domestically, just a million or so above what Royale did in 2006. There was also a dip worldwide with about $589.6 million. But still, it was at least good enough to keep Daniel Craig’s tenure going for a few more movies. And little did we all know that in four years, Craig would take this series to heights never seen before. Tenth place was the Dr. Seuss adaptation Horton Hears a Who! Jim Carrey voices Horton, an elephant who finds himself the sworn protector of a little speck of dust that contains a tiny city known as Whoville. And despite derision from some of the jungle animals and obstacles trying to destroy that little speck of dust, Horton goes through a large adventure to protect the citizens of Whoville and maybe teach the world a person’s a person, no matter how small. After Seuss’ death, his widow Audrey Geisel began making film deals with several parties for her late husband’s work. But things changed after 2003’s The Cat in the Hat. Despite having many of the same elements and producers of the 2000 Grinch film, The Cat in the Hat was a pure disaster in every form. It was both a box office failure, and absolutely despised by both critics and audiences, finding it an insult to the innocence and creativity found in the original Seuss book. And nobody was more upset about this film than Audrey Geisel herself, who was so offended at the movie she refused to allow any live-action film adaptations of her husband’s work. However, animation was still on the table. And after wrapping up the 2005 film Robots, Blue Sky Studios began making deals with Geisel to get the adaptation rights for Horton Hears a Who!. And after Robots art director Steve Martino and story consultant Jimmy Hayward showed off both a Horton model and several animation tests, Geisel agreed to the project, creating a seven-figure deal with Blue Sky. Another stipulation was that Geisel had to be a supervising producer and watch the production throughout. This was actually a blessing for the team, because Geisel allowed Blue Sky to look through her late husband’s entire archives. This meant they had the chance to look at the sketches and 3D sculptures he had made for his book characters, the work he did for the 1953 film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, and memos he shared with animation legend Chuck Jones over the iconic Grinch animated TV special. This all meant Blue Sky had all they needed to make their film feel as Seuss as possible. Blue Sky also wanted to make Horton feel very distinct and original compared to the mammoth characters they did in the Ice Age movies. The solution was not just widening Horton’s mouth, allowing for cartoonier facial expressions and giving voice Jim Carrey more freedom in his performance, but also have Horton often walk on two legs, giving him a unique appearance and giving him more opportunities for slapstick mayhem. Finally, five years after Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who! opened on March 14 to instant success, with a $45 million opening weekend. With little competition and strong reviews from critics, arguing it was the first good Seuss feature film, Horton earned the fourth-biggest March opening weekend, and was yet another hit for Blue Sky. It would continue to play well thanks to Easter and spring break, with $154.5 million domestically and $298.6 million worldwide. This would be the last Seuss adaptation Blue Sky would do, but it at least put confidence back to Hollywood there could be money made in an animated retelling of these timeless stories, resulting in films like The Lorax and The Grinch years later.

Oh yeah, other movies came out this year. Third domestic and second worldwide was the glorious return of Indy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Set in 1957, Indiana Jones is now fighting against Soviet agents in the search of a telepathic crystal skull. Alongside the return of Marion Everwood and Indy’s son Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf, Indy finds himself in his biggest adventure yet and may see something out of this world in his experience. Back in the late 70s, Lucas and Spielberg had a deal set with Paramount for five Indiana Jones films. But after The Last Crusade, George Lucas felt he didn’t have a good idea on where the series could go further, so the last two sequels were scrapped and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was created instead. However, after Ford recorded a scene in the show, Lucas saw there was massive potential in a story about an older Indiana Jones. With it taking place in the 1950s, George Lucas saw the perfect idea: have Indiana Jones 4 serve as a tribute to the sci-fi B movies of the era, with this film’s plot device being aliens. Harrison Ford wasn’t into the idea, and Spielberg was tired of making stories about aliens. And despite Lucas’ insistence on the idea, and even a script developed by him and Jeb Stuart in 1993, the idea went nowhere, as all three men moved on to other projects. That was until 2000. The American Film Institute was paying tribute to Ford, and it was there where the actor, Spielberg, Lucas, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy all got together for the first time in years. All of them began admitting they missed the experience of filming another Indiana Jones project, and with Spielberg’s kids continuing to ask him for another movie, it was decided they were gonna play around with Indy one more time. And by this point, Lucas was still adamant on having this next installment be about aliens and serve as a B movie tribute. However, what made Spielberg convinced on the idea was Lucas stating they were not “extraterrestrial” but “interdimensional”, taking inspiration from multiverse theory and super string theory. Lucas also suggested using crystal skulls to give the idea believability. However, another question emerged: who was going to write the film? In 2002, M. Night Shyamalan was hired as writer, with plans to shoot the film that year. However, M. Night had issues writing a sequel to one of his favorite movies and couldn’t get Ford, Spielberg or Lucas to stay focused on the project. So he dropped out. Stephen Gaghan and Tom Stoppard were also asked to write, but scripting duties actually went somewhere with Young Indiana Jones writer Frank Daranbont. His script was Indiana Jones and the City of Gods, focusing on a series of ex-Nazis pursuing Jones in the 1950s. While Spielberg loved the script, Lucas was not a fan and decided that he would be in charge of the story itself. The duo also felt the Soviets should have been the bad guy, due to the Cold War time period and Spielberg being hesitant to satirize Nazis after Schindler’s List. Jeff Nathanson would develop the story further in 2004, with his last drafts arriving in November 2005. David Koepp followed up Nathanson’s work, giving it the subtitle “Destroyer of Worlds”. It was changed to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull because Spielberg thought it was more enticing of a title and named the plot device. And so, in June 2007, filming went underway. At first glance, the biggest issue with a movie like this is having a 64-year old action star. Harrison Ford was not as spry or agile as he was in the 80s, and there was concern about whether he was too old to handle the stunt work and choreography. However, Ford was adamant on the idea, and stayed fit for decades out of the hope he could return to the role. For the movie, Ford spent three hours a day at the gym, practiced the bullwhip for two weeks, and had a high-protein diet consisting of fish and vegetables. In fact, Harrison Ford wanted to show that he was 64 and proud of it. He requested David Koepp to have more lines that referenced his age, refused to dye his hair, and did many of his own stunts. This was because Ford wanted to make people less paranoid about aging. If Indy is still a rock star at 64, you can too! This was also notable for its heavy use of CGI effects. The stunt work was still traditional, and Spielberg planned to use as little CGI as possible, so as to remain consistent with the original trilogy. However, as filming continued, more and more CGI work was needed and in many cases proved to be important for many elements. This resulted in about 450 CGI shots in the film, with about 30% of the film consisting of CG matte paintings. One notable example was a chase scene in a non-deforested jungle. Doing it in a real jungle full of trees was dangerous to film a car chase, so it was decided the crew would film the scene in Hawaii with CGI plants to give the illusion of a giant, untouched by man forest. During the marketing of the film, much of the plot was shrouded in secrecy, with Spielberg and Frank Marshall pushing for viewers to know as little as possible, despite several hardcore fans trying to decipher the plot through leaks and Lego sets. To distract fans trying to find the title during filming, Spielberg submitted five fake titles in order to distract fans from the trail. He also planned to have Karen Allen’s return as Marion be a secret until the film’s release, but he decided to reveal this tidbit during Comic-Con 2007. Speaking of Comic-Con, this had one of the biggest marketing campaigns of the year. Coasting off nostalgia years before everybody else was doing it, Paramount spent almost $150 million to promote the film, including major sponsorship deals with M&Ms and Dr. Pepper, an appearance at the Indy 500, and even a Disneyland promo before Disney even owned Indiana Jones. And Paramount needed to market this hard if they wanted to see revenue. When the studio partnered for distribution with Lucasfilm, the teams agreed for Paramount to only receive 12.5% of the film’s revenue. They also had to cover some of the film’s costs, after the $185 million beast went above the proposed $125 million budget. So for Paramount to see a profit beyond their distribution fee, Crystal Skull had to get at least $400 million at the box office. Launching on Memorial Day weekend, May 22, Paramount’s fears were completely swept away. Its opening day amounted to $25 million, leading to a FSS of $100.1 million, the tenth biggest opening weekend ever. Including Memorial Day Monday, its first five days amounted to $152 million, earning the sixth-biggest five-day start. It also earned the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend ever ($126.9 million), only behind At World’s End one year prior. But despite the obvious success here, things weren’t rosy. Reviews from critics were positive, but more polarizing than the last three films. Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin loved it, while James Berardinelli was lukewarm. And when it comes to fans, things were all over the place. Some loved it, others felt it was enjoyable enough, while others were disappointed. Many fans were disappointed at the creative decisions made, with “nuking the fridge” referencing a scene where Indy survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge, became a meme and a usage for when a property becomes too absurd for its own good, and was even spoofed in an episode of South Park. A Lucasfilm title post-1999 that’s polarizing with its fans? Truly I speak pure witchcraft! Anyways, Lucas expected this mixed reaction after his work on the Star Wars prequels. David Koepp said likewise. Spielberg said he was still proud of the film he made, but acknowledged some ideas would not sit well with fans. Two years later, co-star Shia LaBeouf mentioned he felt the film “dropped the ball” on the legacy of the franchise and felt the movie should have been better. One year later, Harrison Ford said Shia LaBeouf was a fucking idiot. That's not a joke by the way. Still, Crystal Skull was huge for Paramount, earning $317.1 million domestically and $790.6 million worldwide. And after being acquired by Disney in the Lucasfilm buyout, a fifth Indiana Jones film was announced in 2016, with Spielberg directing, Koepp writing, Marshall and Kennedy producing, and Lucas exec producing. However, things have hit a few snags. Development has been on-again off-again, with writers coming and going and Spielberg dropping the director’s mantle in favor of Ford v Ferrari director James Mangold. It was set to film this year, but has been pushed back due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, with it currently set for a 2022 release date. But with such a lengthy development process, and Harrison Ford approaching 80, who knows if we’ll actually get a fifth movie, at least with Ford as the star? Fourth place by all accounts was Will Smith yet again with the Peter Berg superhero title Hancock. Smith plays John Hancock, an alcoholic with incredible superpowers like flight, super strength, and invulnerability. However, despite his powers, he is hated by the public, both for his drunken escapades and the millions in damages he creates for the city of Los Angeles because of his careless actions. But with the help of a public relations specialist played by Jason Bateman, he may be the one person Los Angeles needs. Initially titled Tonight, He Comes, the script for this film had been around since 1996, written by Vincent Ngo and intended to be directed by Tony Scott. Ngo wrote the script as a huge fan of Superman and an interest in depicting a Superman figure in a more real, more challenging manner. Soon enough, producer Akiva Goldsman found the script and convinced Richard Saperstein, the president of development and production at Artisan Entertainment, to acquire the script in 2002. Michael Mann was attached to direct, but he left the project in favor of Miami Vice and Artisan left the project shortly after. Goldsman would go on to acquire the spec script and used his connections to get this project through. John August and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan rewrote the script and Jonathan Mostow became attached to the feature. Mostow would go on to pitch the idea to Will Smith. Many studios bidded for the distribution rights, with Sony winning in the end in February 2005, and plans for the film to be shot in summer 2006. Smith earned a pay or play contract of $20 million and 20% of the film’s gross, and was set to film this and then go on to film I Am Legend shortly after. However, Mostow left the project due to creative differences, and in his place came Italian director and Pursuit of Happyness editor Gabriele Muccino. However, because Muccino was hard at work on Happyness, Smith decided to switch his projects, filming I Am Legend first and then following it up with filming Tonight, He Comes in summer 2007. Peter Berg would be attached to direct in October 2006, who joined after hearing about the project and calling up Michael Mann, one of the film’s producers. This was his first film with major VFX work, and it’s these special effect sequences he considered his least favorite part of the film. There was a sense to Berg that he was not in control of these parts of the movie, but rather the VFX team. This resulted in Berg wanting to make the film more of a character study, which he felt would help sell the movie to people after Iron Man did it so well two months prior. Tonight, He Comes went through major title changes after filming, going from John Hancock to simply Hancock. The marketing team felt the title was too vague and demanded a title change that emphasized the heroics. However, Berg felt the title served well to showcase that John Hancock is the main focus and that the film was going to emphasize Will Smith above all else anyway. The film also went through major changes to the MPAA. Originally rated R, Berg re-edited the film to earn a PG-13, including the removal of two fucks, intense shots of needles going into arms, and a scene featuring statutory rape...thank God we didn’t get to see that. But even then, there’s still that one scene in the movie where Will Smith shoves a prisoner’s head up another guy’s ass. Have I mentioned the MPAA is weird? Opening in prime Will Smith season, July 2, Hancock was one of the riskiest films of the summer. This was pretty much the only original live-action piece of the summer, with everything else being a sequel or adaptation of a famed property. This was a completely original $150 million action movie with controversial subject matter, an asshole main character and is stuck in a film climate that is solely consisting of corporate extensions to major moneymaking franchises and nothing else in terms of original concepts (boy that’s fucking relevant). But thankfully, Big Willie’s boyish charms saved the day again. For its five-day weekend, including Tuesday previews, Hancock served up $103.9 million, $62.6 million for the three-day. This was not a record-breaking debut, but a very, very successful one, becoming the fourth-biggest extended Independence Day holiday opening weekend. Only behind Spider-Man 2, Transformers, and War of the Worlds, all of which had iconic IP to sell themselves. The following weeks saw it do robust business despite mixed reception, earning $227.9 million domestically and $624.4 million worldwide. This was Will Smith’s eighth consecutive number one opener, his eighth consecutive $100 million grosser, and his seventh consecutive year of having a film reach $100 million. Like I’ve said over and over again, Will Smith’s starpower was so incredible just his face was enough to sell movie tickets, and there’s really nobody else with this kind of pull since then and probably ever. Yet this was also kind of an end of an era for Will Smith. After this, Seven Pounds was released in December and broke Smith’s #1 opening and $100 million streak, and the actor went on a four-year hiatus until 2012’s Men in Black 3. And while he can still generate a hit, it’s really only possible when he is attached to a popular brand like Suicide Squad or Aladdin or Bad Boys, as original films like After Earth and Gemini Man floundered. Still, the actor is very popular, has a hugely successful YouTube channel, and is still going to pop up many times in the next few years. A Hancock sequel has been discussed with the creatives, but nothing has come of it in the past few years. Pixar showed off their box office muscles in fifth place (ninth worldwide) with the sci-fi environmental classic Wall-E. After megacorporation Buy-N-Large destroyed the Earth and turned into a garbage wasteland thanks to rampant consumerism and environmental neglect (boy that's fucking relevant), humanity left the planet behind in a giant starliner known as the Axiom, while a bunch of robot trash compactors took charge of the mess. Centuries later, only one robot, a sentient and lonely little machine named Wall-E, is still alive and performing his duties. But after another robot named Eve finds herself on the planet, Wall-E finds himself traveling to outer space, discovering what has happened to humanity, uncovering a universal conspiracy, and possibly finding a way to save the Earth from the dumpster fire it has become. This film has its origins traced all the way back in 1994, at a lunch meeting during production of Toy Story. Director Andrew Stanton, alongside Pixar vets John Lasseter, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft, got together to brainstorm ideas for their next projects. Films like A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, and Monsters, Inc. all found life at this meeting, but one idea, about humanity forgetting to turn off one single robot trapped on Earth, took a bit longer in the oven. While Stanton had the idea of a lonely waste collector robot alone on Earth, the development for the project, then called Trash Planet, failed to take off. This was because the Pixar team were unsure if they could pull off a feature film with a simple main character that acts like Luxo Jr. or R2-D2. But after ignoring development in favor of other projects, a few other ideas did emerge in Stanton’s head. Wall-E discovering a tiny plant would be the impetus of the story, and the main plot would be about Wall-E looking for love, believing it was the perfect progression from loneliness. Stanton began working on the film in 2002 after completing production of Finding Nemo, and after a 20 minute story reel, Lasseter and Steve Jobs were impressed and moved forward with production. However, despite the first act coming together perfectly, one stumbling block for Stanton was how to depict the humans. Initially, the humans on the Axiom ship were actually going to be gelatinous aliens, who were going to have their own monarchy, speak gibberish, and be revealed to actually be humans who had become so atrophied and lazy and impacted by the effects of weightlessness they turned into Jello-like blobs. However, Stanton began to realize the idea was too weird for audiences to understand, and instead just made the humans on the ship look more like big babies, symbolizing that humanity needs to grow up and take care of the planet they live on and realize these big megacorps will kill us all. Viva la revolution people! For the animation team at Pixar, Wall-E was the most complex work the team had done since Monsters, Inc., as the film required 125,000 storyboards, and an emphasis on the film’s lighting and cinematography to look realistic. For the film’s Earth scenes, Stanton wanted this film to do for air what Finding Nemo did for water. Make it seem as crisp and believable as possible and take viewers into a world that felt familiar yet astonishing to look at. Famed cinematographer Roger Deakins and special effects artist Dennis Muren were consulted to create the realistic lighting Stanton was looking for. One of the most unique aspects of the film is that the robots in the film almost never talk. Apart from a few garbled pieces of audio and an occasional word here and there, robots like Wall-E and Eve rely entirely on body language and facial expressions to convey their emotions, interests, and goals. The story crew and animation team watched a Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin film every day so they could get things right for these characters, and it paid off. Stanton realized that the advent of sound made filmmakers too reliant on dialogue for exposition, and there was something special about a film that uses no dialogue to relay a story. In fact, the most dialogue from the first act doesn’t even come from the movie. The 1969 musical Hello, Dolly! was used to further strengthen Wall-E’s emotions on Earth, with two musical numbers from the film, “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes a Moment”, used to symbolize Wall-E’s yearning for companionship and how he understands love. Stanton chose the film as he was in a high school production of the musical, and earned the permission from composer Jerry Herman to use his songs. Herman didn’t know what they would be used for, but upon seeing the movie, he thought it was pure genius. Opening on June 27, Wall-E was yet another hit for Pixar in every way, shape and form. With rave reviews from just about everybody, the film opened to $63.1 million, making it Pixar's ninth consecutive number one. It was also the seventh-biggest debut for an animated movie and the third highest for a Pixar movie. And with great word of mouth, Wall-E continued Pixar’s box office reign with $223.8 million domestically and $521.3 million worldwide. And since its release, Wall-E has remained a favorite among Pixar fans and earned accolade after accolade, appearing at many critics awards and earning Best Animated Feature at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars. In fact, Disney submitted the film for Best Picture, but was soundly rejected, which like Dark Knight also sparked outrage AMPAS was too elitist over mainstream fare that was considered just as good, if not better than the middlebrow crop that was actually nominated. Like The Dark Knight, this snub would result in a major expansion for Best Picture nominees, moving from five to ten nominees, and later having a weird sliding scale that depended on votes. By the way, fuck corporate greed and fuck Jeff Bezos! Sixth domestic and third worldwide was the Dreamworks hit Kung Fu Panda. Set in ancient China and starring anthropomorphic animals, Jack Black voices Po, a clumsy panda and kung fu enthusiast who finds himself forced to become the Dragon Warrior, a fierce and powerful kung fu master destined to save all of China. This seemed like a total accident, and both his reluctant kung fu trainer and fellow teammates the Furious Five treat the buffoon like an outcast. But with his own unique style and determination, Po proves the world wrong and looks to become the one guy who can save the world. The idea first came from Dreamworks Animation executive Michael Lachance, who envisioned the project as a Shrek-style spoof of kung fu movies. However, John Stevenson was against the idea, in favor of a character-based wuxia comedy. Stevenson loved wuxia films, both for their action and emotional spirit, and knew that while the film would be more comedic, Stevenson knew they could use the world of animation to create stunning imagery, incredible fight scenes, and tie it all into a heartfelt story. Despite the laughs, they were going to take the art of kung fu, the movement of kung fu, and even the philosophy of kung fu seriously. No joke, whenever I get stressed or frustrated over the world, I often find myself listening to the wise words of Master Oogway and his monologues peppered throughout the film. Stephen Chow’s martial arts comedy Kung Fu Hustle was a major inspiration for the film’s tone and style, and both Stevenson and co-director Mark Osborne wanted to make sure the film celebrated Chinese art and cinema. This led to production designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang Heng spending years researching Chinese painting, sculpture, architecture, and kung fu films to bring the film’s look to life. Films like Hero, Blade of Flying Daggers, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were some of the biggest influences. For the animators, this was the most complex film they ever built. The character designs, the movement, the editing, the production design, the art direction. All of it was some of the most challenging work the studio had ever done. VFX supervisor Markus Mannien even laughed at the production team knowing what they were going to go through bringing this movie to life, and only said “good luck”. Yet the animation team still had a great time working on it, and were rewarded handsomely at the box office. Opening on June 6, Kung Fu Panda earned $60.1 million on its first weekend, becoming both the third-biggest Dreamworks opening and the third-biggest June opening at that time, as well as the fifth-biggest opening for an animated non-sequel. And with great reviews and a non-competitive marketplace apart from Wall-E, the film legged itself out to $215.4 million domestically, the biggest non-Shrek film for Dreamworks. Worldwide was $631.7 million. Overseas, the biggest success came from China, the film’s setting. It not only became the first animated film to earn over 100 million Yuan from the region, but it also earned praise from Chinese critics over the film’s sincere attitude towards Chinese culture. This even led to introspection in the Chinese film industry as to why they haven’t made a film like this. And while arguably not a direct influence, Kung Fu Panda’s success in the region arguably sparked the Chinese blockbusters of today, both animated and live-action Dreamworks saw great rewards here, earning one of their biggest franchises ever. Kung Fu Panda would go on to see two more sequels, two television series, a holiday special, and even a manga. It also saw a surprisingly high number of rip-offs, which is how you know you made it to the big time.

Well, after that little adventure, let’s talk about second place domestically. Despite only being in eighth place worldwide, this film is one of, arguably the most important blockbuster in the current box office landscape. And it feels so nice to talk about this franchise. So let’s dive into Papa Feige’s Iron Man. Robert Downey, Jr. is billionaire playboy and master genius inventor Tony Stark. Upon being captured by a terrorist group in Afghanistan and forced to build weapons for them, he teams up with a fellow captive where they make a unique weaponized suit of armor as a means to escape. This suit makes Tony Stark become Iron Man, who uses his armor to save humanity and use his technology for good. Like many other comic book adaptations, Iron Man had been in development hell for years. Back in 1990, Universal Pictures bought the rights to develop a film based on Iron Man, planning to make a low-budget feature directed by Stuart Gordon. That sadly didn’t go anywhere, and the project was then given to 20th Century Fox in 1996. Jeff Vintar and Stan Lee developed a screenplay together, and actors like Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise both expressed interest. Even Quentin Tarantino was considered to write and direct for a while. But because Fox already had too many other Marvel movies in development at that time, plans fell through, and the rights were transferred over to New Line Cinema in December 1999. New Line threw away Vintar and Lee’s script and put Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, and Tim McCanlies in charge of a new script. New Line approached Joss Whedon as a director in 2001, and the new script would later see rewrites by David Hayter, which focused on being about Tony Stark fighting against his father Howard Stark, the latter of which would be War Machine. Nick Cassavetes was attached as director in December 2004, and was set to release in 2006. But just when things were ready to go, the plans fell through yet again, and the rights were reverted back to Marvel Comics. This was set as the beginning stages for Marvel’s next major plans in the world of film. It may sound crazy to some of you younger BOT members, but in the mid-90s, Marvel Comics was actually bankrupt. That’s a whole discussion in and of itself, but when it came to movies, Marvel was forced to license out character and property rights to other studios to get movies made. Yet despite the success of films like Blade, and especially X-Men and Spider-Man, Marvel barely got any of the money. For the first two Spider-Man movies, Marvel only got $62 million from both features. Granted they also got a lot of revenue from consumer product sales for these movies, but it was still chump change from these global blockbusters. Marvel Studios’ COO David Maisel wanted to develop and produce Marvel movies in the company itself, both to earn more creative control and earn more profits. And thus, Maisel decided to have Marvel develop their own movies with the characters they did not license out to other companies. In 2004, Marvel earned a $525 million loan from Merrill Lynch, set to last for eight years and for 10 movies. However, there was one major condition: if Marvel’s independently produced movies didn’t make their money back in the next eight years, the characters Marvel planned to make movies for, including Ant-Man, Black Panther, Captain America, Doctor Strange, etc. would be owned by the bank. This pretty much meant their first film had to be a slam dunk right out of the gate or else lose valuable properties and revenue. And so, with this risky venture, the one character Marvel Studios decided would kick off with Iron Man, seeing as how the character was their most famous hero yet to have a feature film at the time. Marvel also made a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures to release the film. For its director, actor Jon Favreau signed on in April 2006, after having a great experience working on the Marvel film Daredevil with producer Avi Arad. Favreau was excited to work on an action movie, but he also wanted to make a film that was politically ambitious and reminiscent of spy films, stating he found inspiration for the film from the likes of Tom Clancy, James Bond, and RoboCop. He also liked the idea of the film being a story about a man reinventing himself upon learning the world is far more complex than he originally believed. Art Marcum & Matt Holloway worked on the script, with Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby developing their own version at the same time. This allowed Favreau to combine both screenplays and create the best of both worlds. Favreau wanted to make sure two elements from the film were as strong as they could be. The big one was the villain. Favreau did not want to go with The Mandarin, Tony Stark’s most famous nemesis, because his supernatural abilities clashed with the science-heavy nature of the script. This led to Obadiah Stane, who was set to appear in the second film, to appear as the bad guy in this. Jeff Bridges played the role. Second, Favreau wanted to show the construction of the Iron Man suit through three different stages, to make Tony and his invention seem more believable. Famed make-up effects creator Stan Winston worked on metal and rubber versions of all the armor types. For the casting, Favreau started out looking for an unknown for the role of Tony Stark, believing the Marvel branding and sci-fi action could sell itself. Yet as casting went through, Jon Favreau started looking for a recognizable name. Sam Rockwell was offered the position and had strong interest. However, Favreau immediately dropped the idea when he saw a screen test for Tony played by Robert Downey, Jr. In the late 90s, Downey had gone through a slew of personal troubles, being arrested on charges related to drugs like cocaine and heroin. But after five years of arrests, relapses, and rehab, Downey saw a full recovery and solid work in both independent and mainstream fare. Downey’s story compelled Favreau to give him the role. Both figures went through hell and back, and their struggles have been documented by the news media. And in the end, they both had to find their own inner peace and understand what really mattered. His work in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang also swayed Favreau. However, Marvel was still hesitant in hiring an actor with such baggage and little name recognition. Yet Favreau knew this was the perfect casting choice and refused to take no for an answer. The casting was made official in September 2006 and Downey was paid $500,000 for the role. Filming began in March 2007, but with one catch: the script wasn’t finished. The story outline was already chosen, and the action was planned out. But for the dialogue, much of it was completely unwritten. Therefore, the actors were forced to improvise. Downey often did multiple takes of the same scene, improving whatever piece of dialogue came to his head and being recorded by two cameras so as to allow more angles for one take. In some instances, Bridges and Downey would swap characters for rehearsal to hear how their lines sounded. This caused even further stress towards Marvel executives seeing the cast struggle to come up with dialogue the day of filming. Of course like with any great film, there was really nothing to worry about. Iron Man was hyped up with a massive marketing campaign. A Super Bowl spot, Burger King and Audi promos, Hasbro figures, and more all made sure this movie was an event to both Marvel fans and general moviegoers. And on May 2, Marvel’s massive gamble, the one film that could make or break their future projects and Merril Lynch deal, paid off. More than paid off actually. For its first weekend, Iron Man shocked everybody with a $98.6 million gross, $102.1 million when including Thursday previews. This was not only far above expectations in the $70-90 million range, but also resulted in the second biggest Paramount opening and the tenth largest opening weekend of all time, as well as the second biggest opening ever for a non-sequel, only behind Spider-Man. It’s kind of quaint nowadays in a world where Marvel prints money, but this was up there as one of the most impressive debuts for any movie ever. Iron Man was a popular figure, but wasn’t as iconic or recognizable as Spider-Man or Batman. So to see it have one of the biggest debuts ever and ahead of Marvel staples like X-Men and Fantastic Four is nothing short of a miracle. The next few weeks were even more surprising in terms of its legs. With incredible reviews and word of mouth, Iron Man dropped only 50% one week later, earning $177.8 million in its first 10 days, the biggest 10 days for a non-Spider-Man superhero flick. And despite competition from Indy and Prince Caspian, Iron Man still managed to stay strong throughout May, earning 38% and 36% drops the next two weekends. And with positive buzz continuing throughout the rest of the summer, Iron Man finished its haul with an incredible $318.6 million domestically. Worldwide amounted to $585.4 million. And oddly like The Dark Knight, what made Iron Man so successful was its maturity, especially compared to other superhero movies. It was certainly lighter and less complex than the Batman flick, but it was able to tackle relevant issues in a way few other superhero blockbusters could do. Tony Stark wasn’t a relatable teen like Spider-Man, an oppressed mutant like the X-Men, nor an idealized billionaire like Batman. Tony Stark is rich and a super genius, but he has his inner demons, insecurities, and uncertainties about what his future should be. He’s cocky, a smart-ass, but also vulnerable. It’s relatable stuff, and the film doesn’t shy away from those issues. The film also happens to feature awesome action, great dialogue, and a charismatic performance. I guess that helped. After Iron Man’s success, everything changed. Marvel Studios proved to the world they could make it on their own, and in a way create something fresh and never seen before. Robert Downey Jr. saw a massive resurgence in his career, becoming one of the richest men in Hollywood, and spearheading several features. Mostly from Marvel, but his recent film Dolittle is #4 on the 2020 worldwide charts...that’s good, right? Either way, this was the perfect hit for his true comeback and a real turning point from his previous lifestyle. And of course two more sequels hit the silver screen. But of course, there was one scene that is the most important of all. And funny enough, most people who saw the movie for the first time probably had no idea this scene was even in the movie. Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite baseball cap-wearing megaproducer. Kevin Feige, a massive Marvel fanboy, became close friends with producer Laura Shuler Donner, and became an associate producer of the first X-Men movie when he was only 27 years old. He managed to find the right connections, and soon became second-in-command to Avi Arad, the head of Marvel Studios. But in 2007, at the age of 33, Feige became the studio chief and oversaw Iron Man’s production. And it’s there he had a bold idea. Marvel Comics was notable for creating its own shared universe that allowed the opportunity for heroes across the universe to co-exist, crossover, and have certain events impact one another. And apart from a few major players, Marvel Studios still had ownership to the core members of the Avengers. So Papa Feige had one brilliant idea: what if all the Marvel movies lived in the same world? What if there was a movie series that transcended franchises? What if something that happened in Iron Man impacted a Captain America movie? Or a Thor movie? Hell, why not have a bunch of the characters come together into an epic crossover, and the movies all tried to hype up this big movie event? This shared narrative continuity would result in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a sprawling series of movies that would all connect and play off one another, creating a unique film franchise unlike any other. And Iron Man was where it would all start. In a post-credits tease, SHIELD director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, visits Tony Stark in his house. He tells Tony he’s not the only superhero in the world and says he wants to discuss something called the Avengers Initiative. And everybody there knew what Fury was talking about. This scene was hidden away from the press, with only a skeleton crew shooting it and Feige even pulling it from preview prints in order to keep it a surprise. Yet it’s those last few minutes that everything changed. People were excited to see The Avengers on the big screen. And people were curious to see just how big this idea and this world seemed to be. Who were the other heroes? Why was Tony so important? What will this all lead to? Of course, we all know the answer now. And for this retrospective, we’re going to talk a lot about that answer. But needless to say, this brief segment was the stepping stone for one of the biggest, most important franchises in film history. The biggest thing in pop culture was being planted all the way back in 2008. And trust me when I say it’s gonna be one wild ride. It may have been just a little tease. To most people, it was just an interesting idea that may not go anywhere. And on its initial release, most people probably didn't even know this scene even existed. But little did we know that Iron Man would result in something big, something special, and something truly unlike anything else.

2008 The bursting of the US housing bubble and excessive risk-taking by banks causes a global financial crisis, a 7.9 earthquake hits Sichuan months before the Beijing Olympics, and Barack Obama wins the presidential election, becoming the first African-American President. SpaceX creates the first privately developed space launch vehicle to make orbit, NASA lands the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars, and Spotify and Bitcoin are founded. TV saw the true ripple effects of the Writer’s Strike, with the Golden Globe Awards being completely scrapped with a press conference used to announce the winners, as well as major losses in ratings and revenue for all major channels at the time. Shows like 24 halted production, while others like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives couldn’t complete their full seasons. Regardless, the most notable debut was the streaming platform Hulu, which prided itself as a free on-demand service for recent television shows, before morphing into a general entertainment service owned by Disney and hosting series like The Handmaid’s Tale and Little Fires Everywhere. New shows that year included Secret Life of the American Teenager, Total Drama Island, Sons of Anarchy, Fringe, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The latter’s pilot movie aired in theaters just months prior to its Cartoon Network debut. For music, Lady Gaga saw her debut album and Katy Perry exploded in popularity with her second album. All the while, Mariah Carey’s "Touch My Body" gave the artist her 18th #1 single, while Rihanna and Beyonce both earned their fifth #1, earning the record for most #1s of the 2000s for a female artist. Two of the biggest video game launches were from Nintendo, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii. The latter has gone on to be one of the best-selling video games in history, earning over 37.32 million copies. Rockstar also unveiled Grand Theft Auto IV, which became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history, earning $310 million in its first day. Other games include Metal Gear Solid IV, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, Fallout 3, and Left 4 Dead. Deaths this year included Roy Schieder, Arthur C. Clarke, Charlton Heston, Sydney Pollack, George Carlin, Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Paul Newman, Michael Chrichton, and Eartha Kitt. And in terms of media deaths, the most tragic comes from a fire at the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. Used both as a theme park attraction and an active movie studio backlot, this fire destroyed three acres worth of the lot, with 40,000-50,000 archived digital video and film copies and 118,000-175,000 audio master tapes being destroyed. For movies, two releases were the real talking points of the year, and both served as the #1 and #2 releases respectively at the box office, at least domestically. They reinvigorated a genre into becoming the dominant pop culture force, they shaped the future landscape of blockbuster cinema, for better or for worse, and gave us two beautiful Papas who I, and many others, hold near and dear to my heart. And so, let’s begin this retrospective with Papa Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Following up Batman Begins, this follows Bruce Wayne still in the Batman role and teaming up with Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent to stop the organized crime that plagues Gotham City. All the while, a new crook known as The Joker plots to bring the entire city into anarchy and destruction, and testing Wayne’s abilities in the fight against injustice. This film traces its origins to a script written by David Goyer just before Batman Begins. The two sequels Goyer had in mind focused on both the Joker and Two-Face, with the second looking at Joker’s rise in Gotham City, and the third focusing on Joker transforming politician Harvey Dent into the deformed and corrupt Two-Face. While Christopher Nolan was hesitant on directing the sequel, the idea of taking the Joker and creating his own unique spin was too good to pass up. And thus, Nolan and his brother Jonathan began working on the screenplay. So on July 31, 2006, Warner Bros. officially announced this Batman Begins sequel titled The Dark Knight, the first time a Batman movie was released without his name in the title. During script development, the one thing the brothers knew to put in this story was the idea of escalation. The idea that Batman’s presence brings out the crazy in criminals and his vigilantism can cause more harm than good to Gotham. This escalation would lead to one crazy event after another and test Bruce Wayne as both a hero and a vigilante. Harvey Dent would also play an important role, serving as the one to earn an emotional arc as he develops into a criminal, as well as emphasize the friendly rivalry between Wayne and Dent. With filming beginning in Chicago in March 2007, the biggest technological breakthrough of The Dark Knight was its usage of IMAX cameras. While countless blockbuster movies saw IMAX releases, especially from Warner Bros., these did not use the IMAX technology you would find in science and nature documentaries. IMAX cameras were very bulky, very heavy, very expensive, and very noisy. They also had very small film loads which made it hard to film lengthy sequences. So if a film wanted to be released in IMAX, studios simply converted the files and negatives into IMAX DMR to play it in IMAX theaters. However, Nolan saw huge potential for these cameras in a narrative feature, and wanted to work with the technology for 15 years. So for The Dark Knight, four sequences, including the opening bank robbery and car chase midway through the film, were shot with IMAX cameras, making the action seem larger than life and highly detailed. This would be a huge selling point for the movie and a common practice for many more blockbusters to come. Of course, when it comes to this movie, everybody knew that one thing had to be done right. The Nolans knew, WB knew, the cast knew, and the crew knew. They all knew that one element needed to be the best it could be, or else the whole thing would have gone kaput: the Joker. Arguably the most famous villain in all of comic books, Joker needed to not only bring justice to the character’s iconic legacy, but also be unique from all previous interpretations, and serve as a strong hook when it comes to the marketing. The Nolans decided to abandon any idea for an origin story with the character, believing it would diminish the threat he posed on the story. By giving him a backstory, it diminishes his rage and psychopathy, resulting in an absolute with no humanity and no shades of gray. By showing his rise, not his origin, it made the character all the more terrifying. Christopher Nolan asked his brother Jonathan to watch the Fritz Lang film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse as a reference for the character. For the casting, actors like Paul Bettany, Lachy Hulme, Adrien Brody, Steve Carell, and Robin Williams all expressed interest, but Nolan was adamant in casting Heath Ledger for the part. Ledger was on the shortlist for Bruce Wayne back when Batman Begins was in development, and Nolan always wanted to work with the actor on a project. In fact, Ledger was the one who created this interpretation of The Joker seen in the film after watching Batman Begins in the cinema. Ledger’s interpretation played into the psychopathy of the character, serving as a harbinger of chaos and destruction wherever he went. A schizophrenic mass murderer without a trace of empathy or heart, and wishes to use his crime to upset the social order of Gotham. Ledger locked himself in a hotel room for a month to help develop his character’s voice, posture, mannerisms, and personality, all the while recording a diary that documented his thoughts and feelings. The design of the Joker was also a major departure from previous interpretations. Instead of his white skin and red lips coming from chemical bleaching, this Joker earned his trademark look through crude makeup, as if the guy put it on his face without even consulting a mirror. This was a perfect look for the character, as the Joker didn’t care about social order or what others felt, thereby creating a grungy, scruffy look that made it seem he was always on edge. This clown makeup only required three pieces of stamped silicone, and the simplicity of it all meant Ledger only had to deal with the makeup artists for less than an hour. This design became iconic instantly, and was the first step towards Warner Bros. using the Joker to promote this anticipated sequel, beginning with WhySoSerious.com. This website served as a way for fans to find new information about the project, while at the same time having to make fans work for that new information. E-mails were sent to fans that slowly removed pixels to reveal what the Joker was going to look like in the movie, before being hidden by a series of “hahas” and a cryptic message stating “see you in December”. As it turns out, Warner Bros. put the entire opening sequence for The Dark Knight in front of IMAX screenings of I Am Legend, building hype for both movies and emphasizing this was a film that had to be seen on IMAX screens. Meanwhile, Six Flags created a Dark Knight roller coaster, Harvey Dent campaigns popped up in major cities, and there was even an animated film Batman: Gotham Knight which told a variety of short stories between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Alas, the marketing campaign was turned into a sad one upon the death of Heath Ledger in January 2008. Ledger went through health problems during production of both this and I’m Not There, and suffered major sleep problems and a respiratory illness during production of his follow-up film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He also dealt with substance abuse issues all his life, which unfortunately saw his life taken away by an accidental overdose of medications. This put a damper on the marketing, yet the film still soldiered on. Nolan was adamant in making his great performance seen and showcased to the best of his ability. Warner Bros. also put a memorial on the websites promoting the film alongside other adjustments of the promotional campaign. And so we come to the general release, July 18. It opened in 4,366 theaters, beating At World’s End's theater count one year ago. 94 IMAX theaters played the film, with all of them being sold out on the first weekend. Midnight showings were massive, earning a record $18.5 million. This all accounted to a record opening day of $67.2 million and the film beating out Spider-Man 3’s opening, with a record opening weekend of $158.4 million. $6.3 million came from IMAX, yet another record. And really, the records here are too many to count. This earned the biggest Sunday of all time with $43.9 million, and sped its way to box office milestone after milestone. It became the fastest movie ever to reach $100 million in the span of two days, reached $200 million after only 5 days, and hit $300 million in 10 days, its second weekend of release. This also saw the biggest opening week of all time, earning $238.6 million. Its first Monday and Tuesday also served as the biggest non-holiday, non-opening grosses for those respective days. Considering what the first three Batman films managed to do when it came to their opening weekend records, it was fitting for this release. However, things just got crazier from there. For its second weekend, Dark Knight managed to drop about 53% from its opening weekend, earnting $75.2 million. This served as the biggest second weekend for any movie, beating Shrek 2 for the honor. And after that, the hits just kept on coming. It would stay #1 for four weeks in a row, passing $400 million in the span of 18 days. Its fourth weekend saw it only at #3 in the all-time domestic charts. And on Labor Day weekend, the unthinkable happened. On August 31, its 45th day of release, The Dark Knight earned over $500 million, becoming the second film ever, the other of course being Titanic, to cross the half-billion milestone. This was truly a film unlike any other, and an iconic piece in the world of movie box office. It finished its run with $533.3 million domestically. With strong hauls across the world, most notably Australia, the UK, Germany, France, and South Korea, Papa Nolan’s little Batman film earned $469.7 million overseas for a grand total of $1 billion worldwide, the fourth film to reach that benchmark. Even today, The Dark Knight’s gross is mind-blowing. Batman Begins did well, but it wasn’t this massive sensation, and was arguably a bit of a disappointment upon its release. So the fact that its sequel beat its domestic total in the span of six days, and went on to be in the top 5 highest-grossing movies ever is nothing short of a miracle. And sure, we all love the movie, but why did it do so well? What was the magic touch here that made people so excited? What made it so that people would check it out on opening weekend and come back for more? What was the winning formula? Everybody and their grandma has their opinion as to why The Dark Knight became a phenomenon. But for me, the one thing that makes The Dark Knight so memorable is one word: escalation. The Nolans wanted to raise the stakes, challenge Bruce and the viewers, and create something larger than life. And they succeeded in just about every way. The action is grander, Bruce’s conflicts and walks on the edge between heroism and vigilantism test everybody’s limits, its themes and ideas of class warfare, corruption, and evil bring incredible weight to every aspect of the story and the villains are scarier and more unpredictable than ever. In fact, the Joker was arguably the main reason why the film works so well. Taking from all incarnations of the character while at the same time creating his own unique interpretation, Joker works because we don’t know much about him. There’s no backstory or tragedy that makes him human. He’s a mysterious force that propels others into taking part in devious actions. He’s unpredictable and dangerous. Nobody knows what he’ll do next or whether there’s even a way to stop what he’s doing. There’s no understanding about how his morals or humanity work, because he wasn’t given any. As much as tragic, complex, and sympathetic villains have their face, nothing is scarier or threatening than a villain you barely understand. This makes his rise in Gotham City all the more incredible to see and all the more terrifying. The Joker, as well as all the other aspects I mentioned, made this film seem like a true epic and something truly incredible to watch. And with a passionate fanbase and critical adoration, it came as quite the surprise it did not find itself a Best Picture nomination in spite of eight other nominations. This snub, alongside Pixar’s Wall-E, saw heavy scrutiny from film fans and supposed snobbery over such a popular and beloved film being ignored in favor of films few had seen and arguably worse in quality. This would prompt an expansion for the Best Picture category the following year, but that’s another story. Yet what was really important was one win in Supporting Actor. As I said, Heath Ledger as the Joker is the crux to why the movie is as good as it is. And everyone in the crew for the movie knew that Ledger’s performance was something special. And so, on that fateful night, Ledger became the first actor to win posthumously since Peter Finch. And with such a storied career, there’s something beautiful that his final and arguably greatest performance was his big reward. Since then, The Dark Knight has become one of the most important pieces of Batman media and one of the most important blockbusters today. The Batman property is arguably as big as ever, with many more movies, even up to today, as well as a major presence in video games, television, and more. And for blockbusters, it legitimized to Hollywood the value of both Papa Nolan with numerous titles from Warner Bros., and superhero titles, both as a source for compelling drama and as a source for making a lot of money. This paved the way for many more DC and even Marvel projects to come, though it was also helped by the film just a few pegs below it.

Moderation We're not gonna allow this kind of rude, dickish behavior in here. You don't have to like each other, and you are more than free to clal people out for their behavior or statements. I know I have many times in the past. However, being a condescending asshole or telling somebody they are "a cancer" is beyond disrespectful and immature behavior. If you can't handle being nice to somebody, then get out of here. Because this website is better without your posts. Also, if you really can't stand a guy's posts, hit the "Ignore User" button. You'll make things so much better for me, the forum, and yourself. That's all I have to say on the matter.

The National Association of Theater Owners (yes they’re called NATO. Yes I hate that too) has tried to put out a campaign to Congress (I gave my signature for that), but that’s about it. A combination of incompetency and frankly bigger fish to fry has made movie theaters unimportant to our government. The only other hope are the studios, but they seem only vaguely concerned about theaters here. Which is weird, because aside from Disney, none of them have a compelling avenue to distribute their big flashy films, at least at the moment. You would think they would try and put the money up for theaters, and yet... But hey, at least you guys will see things on the big screen a few weeks in advance while us Yanks are forced to pay $20-30 at home on these titles

Lmao this obviously isn’t coming out in December guys come on

Just as a heads up, I'm planning to publish 2008 tomorrow night. Needless to say, there's gonna be a lot of exciting stuff here, and I know many people are beyond excited to see me talk about some of their favorite blockbuster hits that year. And I guess to whet your appetites, I'll just say we're doing things different here. As you might have guessed, I like to give the #1 domestic film each year its own dedicated post. They were number one after all, so they deserve recognition for what they've done. However, #1 and #2 of 2008 are both up there as some of the biggest, most important movies in the current blockbuster landscape. I have a lot to say about both of them, and they both deserve plenty of recognition. So expect two individual posts for the top 2 domestic earners tomorrow. It was a real blast writing about both of them.