RRA

My first 007 joint.

Spy is generally considered one of the better Bonds, so that isn’t too much of a bad take. LTK was Craig’s Bond before Craig’s Bond just handcuffed.

Ever seen Upgrade? Low budget, but that's the movie Venom potentially could've been if one thinks about it. To give credit though to whoever was responsible, the Hardy/buddy stuff with Venom is why people connected with it. Because that's really the only interesting thing (if we roll Hardy's acting choices into that category) going for the movie otherwise.

Yeah of all the friggin secondary people to bring back for a second movie, they bring HIM back? One of the worst 007 movies, just flat and wasting Christopher Friggin Lee or also wasting a simple yet cool for Bond levels pitch (duel with the world's top assassin!) As for who they'll get for Bond, they usually don't go after already big name folks. Think of their track record. Dalton? Character actor, been on their radar for almost 20 years by that point. Brosnan? TV actor, was Bond before infamously being screwed but stars aligned nicely for him to get his justice, Moore? TV star. Craig? Character actor, but not a star. The only true nobody they ever hired was George Lazenby. I knew recent press has been whether we'll get a "Jane Bond" (yeah No) but honestly it wouldn't surprise me one bit if we get a POC Bond for the next one. Not sure if Golding ticks off the boxes (not like he got good notices from Snake Eyes*) but that would be a stark way to say the least of differentiating yourself from not just the Craig era, but who came before. Be fascinating to see what tone EON will adopt for this new casting, as they've tried to do when a new guy puts on the tux. *=Then again that was Snake Eyes. Nobody came out of that well.

I know and didn't mean to suggest you did, but alot of folks online don't know any better. This happens every time a new Bond is speculated. Hell I still remember when tabloids back in the 2000s pre-Craig they claimed Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman were up for Bond. Or early 1990s when Liam Neeson was talked up. Thing is age is an issue and Hiddleston might be too old, nevermind he's clearly got an open-ended franchise commitment that might conflict with Bond and yeah EON don't want that. Cavill could've been a good Bond in an AU if the stars had aligned differently, same with Clive Owen (remember when he was a popular 007 fan pick?*) or Idris Elba, who unfortunately aged out. How EON casts and how the Internet/tabloids casts are two different metrics, to say the least. *=It got so obnoxious online, I forgot movie it was (Steve Martin's Pink Panther?) they had him do a cameo making a reference to that fancasting.

I can safely bet good money that it won't be Loki or Superman.

LOL I thought that as a kid too. Then again I remember when Peach was “Toadstool” originally in the West.

people will show up for this movie because it’s MARIO. It’s not exactly complicated.

The way Dune is doing OS, a no-Max American release will be a great What If? Topic around these parts.

It does feel like Scott Pilgrim 2.0 just in a much smaller scale. im curious to see how people react to it post-Malignant

With the reviews, you might have to pay people to watch it.

Honestly I'm not sure ITH would've substantially made more if it was exclusive. It had good reviews but even the Max numbers IIRC on OW were lukewarm. Like TSS later that summer, sometimes people just don't want to watch something even with marketing or good write-ups. It happens unfortunately. Personally I think something about summer doesn't scream musical for many folks. Would it have done better in the holiday season? DEH, I think only fans (and Film Twitter) cared about that and even said many of those fans were sharing those Film Twitter quibbles. Next weekend will be interesting. Three new releases, only one exclusive is Venom 2. Even if the others were exclusive, I don't think the others would be moving the needle.

Well they needed something after ITH bombed hard and they gave the Pikachu shock face. I just don't think this movie has enough legs in pop culture to be remembered months from now even in Film Twitter. I mean even Cats, that's easily more memorable for obvious reasons. If anything they'll hop on the Dune train next and mostly move on.

I still remember when many folks online* had DP pegged pre-release to be a juggernaut hit. I think with nostalgia for that multi-generational property that's relatively not been fully exploited at the movies I think to a certain extent people will give it a pass as long as the movie isn't completely terrible. *=I...was one of them. I'll admit it.

Honestly I'm still surprised Marvel had those fan screenings for SC. Sure they were held after the premiere/critics saw it first, but that's something they usually don't do with their stuff. I guess they just wanted to make sure that positive WOM would spread pre-release, and apparently it worked (maybe Black Widow's performance spooked them?) I'm curious to see how folks who liked the first (poorly reviewed) movie respond to this. Maybe this franchise is review proof? Of course that's the thing Venom had going for it: That surprised many people, some in the "better than the dog poop I was expecting" category.

MCU really wasted Mads.

Was Voldemort even a great villain?

Tired: “Pratt wut?” Wired: This is an Illumination movie. Are we actually expecting something good here?

He made 600 something million from his movies which he pissed away (according to his Rolling Stone profile a few years back) so he certainly tried to emulate his hero/buddy Brando in the burning bridges department.

IIRC it’ll be 9/30 (same day as it’s Thursday night previews.)

All this Eternals/Oscar talk and I had this thought: if Disney had cash to burn and ambition to spare, they would throw the dice and actually mount a serious awards campaign. for Tony Leung. A supporting actor nod would fit that tradition once upon a time of popular movies with well-reviewed character actor roles that captured people’s imagination. Alec Guinness (SW), Pat Morita (The Karate Kid), Jack Palance (City Slickers*), Sean Connery (Untouchables*), Dean Stockwell (Married to the Mob), Tommy Lee Jones* (The Fugitive), John Malkovich** (In the Line of Fire), etc. And yes of course, Heath Ledger* (TDK) Leung has never been Oscar nominated (tough for foreign film actors to break through.) That would bring some sort of nice career appreciation notice for him. *=Winner **=Malkovich actually lost to TLJ

This reminds me of how Disney back in the day was stunned by Beauty & the Beast getting a Best Picture Oscar nod (first toon movie to do that) so then-Disney animation boss Jeff Katzenberg was driven to make a movie that would win it, really concentrated alot of time/effort/money into it and hyped it up internally. So much that when in-studio animators were given a choice to either work on this or The Lion King when both were being developed along the same time in that pipeline...most chose to do this, the plum gig. Disney in fact was still high on this movie punching through that glass ceiling for them and animation, even after Katzenberg left to go launch Dreamworks. That movie? Pocahontas. Like nothing against that movie, its...fine I guess, but in retrospect, this is hilarious. I mean King Kevin didn't make Black Panther to win awards. Nor Eternals tbh, but I could see how after BP was nominated and seeing Eternals come together, he probably thinks could cross that hump for whatever reason.

They might've considered if not for Encanto premiering that same day.

I'm old enough to remember when Disney didn't release their older cartoon movies on video, so if you didn't catch it during their periodic re-releases...too bad. This would make sense. What's funny is that Snake Eyes was suppose to hit Paramount Plus 45 days after its theatrical premiere and nowhere to be found. Perhaps it going to digital early caused that to get kicked down to October, but I would laugh if Shang-Chi was on D+ before Snake Eyes.

What’s weird is that awhile back THR polled industry folks and top 10 favorite movies of recent years, 3 were superhero films: BP, Endgame, and Wonder Woman (which of course infamously got zero Oscar nods.) then again look back at the 80s and the contempt Spielberg got. He wouldn’t win his Oscar until 1994. Sometimes a town hates the king simply because he’s on the throne.