RRA

If WB was smart (iffy as always) they would understand TSS is fighting the same uphill battle BOP had. Even without the pandemic, this wouldn’t have done the same business as the first movie. If TSS is a winner, let that long term restore/add luster to the brand/characters. The fact they quickly went ahead with a Peacekeeper show is good sign of faith. OTOH this is still WB. We all know how they are…

At this rate King James will try to get him to produce the next Lakers’ season.

Maybe Sixers fans want to vicariously live through a movie what winning the big game feels like this year?

I just remember right until opening night, countless 4chan “leaks” claimed Cap was going to take a dirt nap.

Reminds me of the folks who preach against “bathos,” so that is one good thing about Marvel: they made some dudes use a dictionary.

Her specific problem more than anything else is that fanboys/girls of the actor in question, apparently Heard wronged their honorary uncle or something. Let's remember those idiots kept telling us, oh WB will drop her from AquaDude 2. Nope. 😆

Having rewatched the original movie recently....this has a legit shot of being better. (Didn't hate it, but even though its my generation that insists upon calling it a classic, I found it merely inoffensive. It was more fascinating to me though as a mid-1990s pop culture artifact.)

Looking briefly at that Twitter feed, I'm skeptical.

Long term what I’m more curious about is how the kids weened on that stuff of this era* how that influence (if any) will be reflected in their own respective contributions to media/pop culture when they’re grown up. Seeing them now wrapped up/invested in the mythos reminds me as a kid similarly with Star Wars and obviously SW had a massive impact on Gen X/Millennials and their output. Or lesser extent, how Baby Boomers were impressed by 007 and wanted to express that inspiration (see Indiana Jones, Lupin III, etc.) *=You’re already seeing that online now with young adults who’s childhood was Phase 1 (remember say an 8 year old who saw Iron Man in theaters is now an understudy in college beer pong.)

It’s less trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill and more us trying to speculate why this mega franchise keeps chugging along. I mean I had no use for say “Joker” but it made an absurd amount of money and articulating why it might’ve connected would be expected from the curious, no? I would argue what others already said about them MCU is true though one detail is missing: while it’s established a rather sizeable fanbase who’ll show up for everything, it also explains why many others don’t and are choosy simply because the genres/gimmicks appeal to them more then others (Contrast the last few movies’ box office with say AM&TW’s intake.)

From my experience, people are remarkably able to suspend their disbelief as long as they’re sucked in. I find the “lack of stakes” argument to hold less water with most people. To use a classic example, “The Hound of Baskervilles” was written after Sherlock Holmes’ death (but before his resurrection) and it was set before his demise. Didn’t stop anybody from enjoying it. I mean for all the complaints at WW84, did anybody not like it because they knew (1) the hero would live and (2) the world didn’t end in 1984 because obviously she’s around for a couple of DCEU joints set decades later that we’re released before WW84? I sincerely doubt it.

Trolls of their ilk who know their audience of marks and pander to them. It’s why you’ve had Star Wars-oriented YTers “scoop” every week or so that Kathleen Kennedy is going to get fired….for the last 4 years at least. Toxicity aside, I respect the hustle/racket they’ve achieved to pay the rent.

I would have to agree and I would boil it down to films being a singular experience alongside the ritualism that a fan goes through for most of these movies. It's not just showing up at the theater and staying for the credits tags (and roll your eyes at people who still get up and leave once the movie ends) but also the pre-release online speculation and trying to read tea leaves with reactions/reviews and of course (at least in my OCD case) trying to place how the movie and characters fit within the MCU canon/universe (case in point, that Oakland ending in Black Panther and I'm thinking "hey Ant-Man and his crew are across the bay from them!") Then looking/reading up Easter Eggs that one might've missed the first time around, which ties into that last point I suppose.

Not sure it will even without PA but we'll see. Have we gotten any data that PA numbers are significantly that box-office altering? Of course even if they are, it's not like Disney will be complaining obviously. You know last I checked, aren't insulting labels suppose to be....insulting? 😆Disney should trademark that slogan and (to quote Owen Wilson) "slap it on a T-shirt." (OT I'm more annoyed whenever lefties who should know better adopt talking points/memes that originate from the 4chan pits of the Interwebs.) Other than the usual franchise war soldiers, you had some folks on Twitter investing hard on the narrative about critics treating this film with "kid gloves" (not my words) and about how studios rig who sees a film first so they can (potentially) get alot of positive write-ups first, get that big splashy RT fresh rating for ads/online discourse/boost PS/etc. before other more critical/potentially negative reviews drop to potentially flatten that rating. Thing is, this isn't exactly breaking news. BW and WW84 didn't exactly invent this studio approach with their blockbusters and critics/bloggers. To emotionally invest in outrage over *those* films doing this, it's not a good look. I doubt some of those same folks will exert as much energy on a No Way Home or whatever the hell.

If they did fudge, then nature truly is healing.

I missed the days when “mixed” reviews inferred a polarizing reaction. Most positive MCU reviews (outside of stans obviously) might usually go “liked it but _____.” The only thing these non-media embargoed folks reacting indicates is that this is probably mid-tier MCU. Take that what you will.

I’ve got that beat: my local is pairing it up with….They Live. I mean awesome classic, but at least Rush is a racing movie and F9 has cars. What does TL and F9 have in common other than outer sp-ooooohhhhhhhhhh.

Exactly. I mean we were talking spandex cinema after all.

Or…hear me out…a lot of those critics just didn’t care for it? I’m too lazy, but I would be curious to see what if all those critics behind those backloaded negative reviews be cross referenced with their ratings for other films of that ilk.

Somebody posted her video in this thread. As a carny, she knows how to get clicks from marks.

honestly as much as we fall into conspiracy theories, I think it’s much more simpler and basic: People really liked that first movie and the sequel (generally speaking) was considered a step down. You expect something as good or close to #1 and you find #2 isn’t. Emotionally, disappointment is a strong emotion. I’m reminded of how people felt after IM2 and AOU. So backlash makes sense. (Now why WW84 did worse on RT than those two? Beats me, slight MCU bias? I don’t know.)

67% on RT is a “critical hit”?

Calling a movie with 67% a "critical hit" is a stretch, no?

It’s really strange for the MCU faithful to be up in arms considering today we have FOUR movies and 5-6 shows this year. One entry not exactly firing up the world won’t bust the machine. But hey nature is clearly healing if we’re back to overreacting to social media reacts LOL

Taskmaster apparently wasted does bum me out.