YM!

Masters of Evil. It literally makes the most sense. We’ve never seen a bunch of heroes fight a group of villains. You get a bunch of villains people like together trying to powergrab or introduce some new cool ones: a mix of favorites like Namor, Mordo, Hammer, Mysterio (you can even say he’s still alive or some shit), Zemo, a comic relief like Titania and a few new ones maybe Moonstone or The Leader or depending on who lives in Thunderbolts one defects. Come up with some bullshit that Kang hired them if you need it that way or gave Zemo technology to take over Earth. The Thunderbolts get bitch made and FalCap recruits a team of New Avengers: Spider-Man, She-Hulk and Hulk, Strange, Shuri, an Ant-Man or Carol, Thor and Shang-Chi. The heroes get their ass beat because the villains and Zemo know their weaknesses but prevail because they’re a better team than the villains.

Putin couldn’t tolerate being defeated by Minion farts.

Think IO2 and Zootopia 2 should do over 500 unless like bad.

There’s been plenty of people who said DC is dead forever and their universe was kaput when the films started to flop. Let’s not pretend it’s just a Marvel thing. All franchises go through this.

I mean I agree that the overall fix it in post mentality doesn’t work and there needs to be an overhaul on how MCU does production but that’s like saying let’s throw away Jennifer Lee at WDAS because Strange World died awfully or Chris Melandandri should’ve not had a job because Hop did awful. Feige help make Disney into the juggernaut it once was.

The MCU won’t be over (think a hard reboot is way more likely than other care to admit) but if say the next few movies don’t do well including something maybe, if Iger says do a hard reboot or reevaluate further, Feige will do it.

Every poster with him on Wish has dude playing with his balls.

https://www.billboard.com/charts/tiktok-billboard-top-50/ This Wish is in second place.

Think a lot of it comes from the fix it in post mentality. Do think having experienced directors would help a lot who know how to use VFX and practical effects, even if that means having to compromise on a story detail or two or a slightly more divisive story. Though troublesome, the DCEU has been good at keeping budgets in check. Aquaman was at 160m, WW was at about 150m, both Shazams in the 100-125m range and Suicide Squad movies in the 175-190m range.

Think I’ll catch it this week. Got a set of exams and presentations this week but the theater near my campus is playing it.

I stand by Mackie being the right choice over Stan though. Between the two, Mackie at least has more charisma. People bring up FaTWS but neither of them really wowed, and at least with Mackie - his storyline had interest and I’ve never found Bucky interesting outside of TWS. As for the Ford thing. That’s like saying Robbie won’t do press tour for Barbie because Babylon flopped. By no means do I expect CA4, to do more than a third of Barbie domestic but I don’t think that’s the main concern. If anything they’d ask more about CBMs dying than Indy flopping. Do agree on a likely 250m budget, 500m isn’t sustainable.

I mean late legs wise, Creed III fell apart in early April which was around when the scandal first dropped but I can see it hurting Marvel movies more because Majors is considered one of the main faces and for all we know he won’t return after Creed III. Think the quality of Quantumania hurt the worst. That was the Justice League of the MCU in terms of quality and the lynchpin of the recent collapse.

Hunger Games is also a big wildcard too. Also heard things that make me feel breakout is imminent if it has a FNAF and gets last minute screen additions. Agreed on Trolls going wide this weekend. Felt this was done strategically because Comcast smelt blood in the water around when Encanto opened. Still think both can coexist and do well off each other. Grinch and Ralph 2 did 200m+ with less than 12 days away, think it’s possible if receptions good, both could do 150m+ in five days especially with how starved families have been.

Quite interested to see how it and Wish do OW. Feel confident on 40m+ for both if reception is good and they can keep momentum. Though presales are soft for both, it’s still relatively early. Trolls advertising is everywhere and Wish seems to be outpacing Elemental and Disney seems to be giving it the spotlight marketing over The Marvels (but that might be due to the latter about to die). Seems likely those two will be the biggest November movies which kind of reminds me of this past June lol.

So around 750k-1M. With likely decent WOM, what kind of OW would that mean for Trolls? Because I’ve been feeling good about 40m+ for it OW.

How’s the Trolls EA stuff looking?

Disney’s greed for the Plus, mainly by Iger and Chapek has harmed each of the theatrical brands.

Think post Secret Wars, they shouldn’t be doing more than 4 projects a year, even if it means we may not see every character that phase.

Tbh, I got Venom 3 and Cap 4 in the same 175-225m range. Unlike The Marvels, unless a similar first trailer response, there’s no evidence to believe FalCap has as much vitriol and you don’t need the show for the audiences because it was established in Endgame, Sam was Cap. I also think in most cases the Hulk stuff should be a saving grace even if it’s just a Red Hulk which would be more interesting than Hiddelston’s wife Kree and there’s some potential at least for kids about a black Cap. Think OS it’s kind of fucked due to racism, something like 150/300 on the low end and 225/500m range on the high end. Venom 3 unless they bring in Spider-Man, think will do about the same as usual, maybe a slight fall with audience fatigue. Thunderbolts is dying though, thinking about the same as Marvels unless really good and even then no more than Eternals/Shang-Chi numbers. Suicide Squad beat it to the punch twice, there’s no figures apart from Sentry with splashy powers apart from Ghost and maybe Debiri if she plays Songbird, and even then I think the audience are getting tired of an Evil Superman shtick. Think it’s infeasible for it to be a Plus project due to contracts in place though.

https://deadline.com/2023/11/how-to-train-your-dragon-live-action-movie-release-date-1235592783/ Universal trying to bully Elio. They really been on Disney’s neck since Lightyear flopped, scheduling family films next to their films closely.

Feel like Masters of Evil was the best opportunity for it. Bunch of villains trying to fill up that power vacuum and you can heroes team up to stop them.

DC’s The Siege of Savage Studio: Endless Entertainment DC Release Date: 5/22/Y10 Genre: Superhero/Sci-fi/Action Director: Jeff Fowler Writers: Pat Casey, Josh Miller, Craig Luck and Ivor Powell Score: Tyler Bates Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence, disturbing images, and peril Budget: $275m Theater Count: 4,430 Format: 2D, 3D, Dolby Cinema and IMAX Runtime: 145 minutes Cast: Charlie Hunnam as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow Jake T. Austin as Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle *Lance Reddick as J’onn J’onnz/John Jones/Martian Manhunter (posthumous role) Niles Fitch as Virgil Hawkins/Static Asa Butterfield as Michael Carter/Booster Gold Laurence Fishburne as Ma’alefa’ak J’onnz Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord Rose Byrne as Sally Erdel Jay Hernandez as President Julian Cortez Arden Cho as Jade Nguyen/Cheshire Lana Condor as Artemis Crook/Arsenal Lyric Ross as M’gann M’orzz/Megan Moores/Miss Martian with Benecio del Toro as Vandal Savage and Bill Hader as Patrick O’Brian/Plastic-Man Also starring: Previous Films Gross: DOM/WW Blue and Gold - $260,758,302/$673,094,229 (Y4) Static Shock - $210,117,717/$447,058,972 (Y5) Green Arrow - $160,250,223/$515,760,220 (Y6) Plastic-Man - $174,776,195/$450,442,936 (Y7) Static Shock: Frozen Summer - $244,380,585/$543,067,967 (Y8) Green Arrow: The Ninth Circle - $153,887,104/$500,055,345 (Y8) Martian Manhunter - $182,251,701/$516,572,166 (Y9) Plot: (7977 words) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S0vUd9zUVeY0lPgK9oH6fbelneX8f8aj2YgapLGctdM/edit?usp=sharing

I’m just going to say my last piece and get it over with. I think the main problem was it became too much like the comics as even though it’s as consistent as Phase 1/2 in quality. Most of it is mediocre to serviceable entertainment with a few standouts here and there (Iron Man, Cap 1, Avengers, GOTG, IM3 (though definitely not at the time lol) and TWS vs Shang-Chi, NWH, Wakanda Forever, Guardians 3, WandaVision, and Loki - each at about six fan favorites) but the problem is content has tripled. In Phase 1, there were six projects in 4 years and in Phase 2 there were six projects in 2 years so 12 projects in six year with two every year on average. In a two and a half year timespan, there have been 22 projects with the majority (17-ish being in Phase 4 and that was about a year and half of time). You’ve taken away the event status Phase 4. One can easily jump in a project, if they haven’t seen a past film - Marvel movies are designed to be like this as are most franchise installments but it now feels like homework because there’s just too many projects where it exhausts Feige and company (225m for a nine part series is ridiculous and I think She-Hulk is probably the best show they put out) as well as both fans and the GA are less forgiving to “mid” as that’s what most are. Especially when the Marvel attitude is a lot of the fixing is in post production is hard to do when you have 6 other projects that year to compete with. There also isn’t a lynchpin to help unite the characters. I think making everything an Avengers-level world ending threat bit them in the ass in a lot of shows and movies too. Avengers movies shouldn’t have to have world ending stakes everytime. I think if there was an Avengers film before Kang Dynasty, just uniting FalCap, She-Hulk, Strange, Thor, Carol etc and giving them time to bounce off and interact with each other would’ve helped these characters worm their way into hearts. Thor originally wasn’t interesting until a few Avengers movies, Hulk beat the flop rumors after Avengers, and Avengers was enough to wash the taste of Iron Man 2 out of the mouths of the GA. Why couldn’t they have fought Masters of Evil. A group of supervillains trying to fill in the power vacuum on paper seems like an idea most would get behind - you do not need to top Thanos, you just need to be coherent. The amount of time between TFA and TWS is about the same as TFATWS and BNW but SteveCap has had far more appearances and less media in between vs FalCap. It’s hard to get invested in a character when there’s waves before it. I also think they could’ve done a Ms. Marvel movie on budget of Shazam!/Blue Beetle, like wouldn’t have done more than Shazam but it’d be enough to attract more outside the fandom and get more invested. They could’ve also introduced the Champions/Young Avengers in one movie or show (preferably show because Disney/Marvel or any studio for that matter has the balls to do a LBGTQ romance) and then go from there. Sure, you can bring up Justice League but that had a myriad of other issues A small part of it is in fact a vocal minority spouting racism/misogyny (like I understand not liking Kamala but she has had more development in one show than MCU Peter who has repeated the same arc in six movies he’s been in) but I think the way Marvel moves forward post Secret Wars is a scale back on content, something like 2 to 3 films a year with (one having a lower budgeted more director driven approach) and 2 shows (a non canon one and a year long canon one). Maybe take a break right after Secret Wars, not one that was due to circumstances like Covid or the strikes but an actual break to figure shit out for shows and movies. Don’t start production until you have a script you’re proud of and everyone is on the same page The best they can do know is get through what they have now, and cut out or push back things that are still in development.

It’s prolly going to be an animation or Wonka to save the holiday and do 200m+ domestic. Trolls’ presales aren’t that bad, most have it around 1.5-1.7M without EA. If EA does 750k-1M and WOM is good, I think previews of 2.25M-2.7M would be acceptable. Not sure what kind of OW that leads - maybe like 45-55m?

RPatz is voicing the Heron?!