Darth Lehnsherr

Yes it's easier to get people to see franchise films but it gets to a point where you inevitably have people because of the franchise not wanting to see the film whereas if an original film truly breaks out there is no limit to how many people could watch it. In any case though congrats to Avatar again despite not loving it still really excited for the sequels.

Henry Jackman is doing the score

Staggered release is the way to go if some other territories cannot open at the same time. Hope selfishly overseas gets that week early release.

Raya is what Avatar and Korra would cover in a season. As far as the shift in priorities there's no denying Disney+ exclusive content will be as important as theatrical releases but atm Pixar and WDAS are only making Disney+ content to supplement their theatrical release. The real shift will be when instead of announcing a bunch of original films for theatrical release it will be Disney+ original shows or movies.

I didn't love this film as I did The Rider but nevertheless another very human and grounded story by Chloe Zhao that isn't aiming to tell a specific narrative as much as just showing us what nomad culture is and what the life is like. There's something about her films that allows us to access the people in her movies that is without the "cinema shine" that other similar films may fall under. So happy as well that got to watch this in cinemas. B+

Since we don't have HBO Max I expect Matrix 4 to do good business. Encanto will probably release on Boxing Day like most other WDAS films should do decently too.

Ranking this era of WDAS films 1. Zootopia 2. Wreck it Ralph 3. Tangled 4. Moana 5. Raya and the Last Dragon 6. Frozen 7. Winnie the Pooh 8. Frozen II 9. Big Hero 6 10. The Princess and the Frog 11. Ralph Breaks the Internet

I'll just say as well inevitably how well a movie is received here will have some bearing on the reaction to a movie's performance. Not many people have watched Raya here it seems but reception for it positive while WW84 was divisive at best.

Hard to judge what metrics Disney is using with PA but one some level they must have been ok with Mulan's result on some level to try again. I don't think anyone will deny it's a BO flop or even bomb. Idk what Disney takes out of it while Raya is an original IP it does have the Disney Animation brand behind it which has been very successful in the last decade. Hopefully they bounce back with Encanto later this year.

Forgot to add James Newton Howard's score is the best in a Disney film (not just animated) in years. Certainly the only one close to it in the animated movies is Christophe Beck's Frozen work.

Another winner by Disney Animation after a bit a of a dip with a Ralph Breaks the Internet and Frozen 2 (though I still enjoy them both). Firstly this will sound repetitive but the animation is actually insane in this film. Particularly creative with how water is used and the way the "lens" of the camera portray depth of field is next level. The action scenes are some of the best I've seen in CGI animation rivalled only by The Incredibles films. Raya herself is a really good protagonist ranking her along side Moana and Judy. She has the optimism that all Disnry protagonists seem to have but also a degree of cynicism that was refreshing to see. The villains have sympathetic motivations however the ending of the movie is a bit rushed to resolve the conflict. Awkwafina initially was a bit grating as the dragon but once you understand why she is in the story she fits in much better than the trailers suggest (same goes with rest of the cast). I'm not gonna compare this to Avatar except to say there's a reason why the TV format was the best format for that story as lots of this movie is rushed to fit in the under 2 hour runtime. If this was live action this could easily have had an epic length. All in all very satisfied with this film and although it doesn't seem like it'll do well at the Box Office hopefully enough people watch it on Disney+ as this easily had the most potential for sequels/spin-offs since Zootopia.

Oh yay ranking time 1. Avengers Endgame 2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier 3. Avengers Infinity War 4. The Avengers 5. Thor Ragnarok 6. Black Panther 7. Guardians of the Galaxy 8. WandaVision (was No 5 but the finale bumps it a bit down) 9. Captain America Civil War 10. Spider-Man: Far From Home 11. Spider-Man: Homecoming. 12. Iron Man 3 13. Iron Man 14. Captain America: The First Avenger 15. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 16. Captain Marvel 17. Avengers: Age of Ultron 18. Ant-Man 19. Thor 20. Doctor Strange 21. Ant-Man and the Wasp 22. Iron Man 2 23. Thor: The Dark World 24. The Incredible Hulk

Apparently according to some MCU fans every new property introduced in the MCU is to set up the X-Men Can't wait for the "10 Reasons why Black Widow sets up mutants"

Enjoyed the finale as a wrap up to the story though it is probably for me the weakest episode of the series.

Yeah no denying the early OS results are not very encouraging but hopefully any good WOM will allow the movie to play over a long time seemingly there will be little competition for a while after. It is a shame though that for Pixar and Disney Animation that it had to be all their original films that got affected by the pandemic. It shouldn't and I don't think will but hope it doesn't affect their thinking to make original films.

I'm not sure I like the idea of Obi-Wan having any sort of involvement in the Rebellion prior to A New Hope. I'm already a bit wary of him having too many adventures outside of his solitude in Tatooine. A couple of references are alright but preferably no appearances.

When the Disney+ shows were revealed this was my most anticipated one since the Cap series is my favourite from the MCU. Now since then WandaVision has become Top 5 of my favourite MCU things ever so I don't expect this show to exceed that bar for me. Some may criticise MCU for being the same thing but don't tell me WandaVision and Falcon and Winter Soldier will be the same show. Variety is what will help these shows appeal to different people while satisfy the core MCU fanbase.

Look anything is possible but Disney has traditionally released the Marvel May films a week early OS (yay me). For spoiler reasons they didn't do that with Infinity War and Endgame. They can do other things like shortening the theatrical window to say 4 weeks before moving to a hybrid Disney+ release.

Talk about a major upgrade if that happens! Though like other rumours with Rebels characters not sure if they would use Vanessa Marshall since it's been years since she's done live action work.

It was billed as the first all Asian cast in a big Hollywood film for 20 years. Can understand why it appealed especially to Asian Americans. It's also partly why it overperformed in Australia compared to other overseas territories.

Raya is up on Village Cinemas now thankfully. Hope it will be the case for other chains across the world.

Yeah just checked Village Cinemas there's a decent amount of showtimes for Raya. One of the disadvantages of the simultaneous Disney+ Premiere Access though is Disney can't delay the release like they normally would to take advantage of the school holidays. Nomadland has showtimes as well which I'm very happy about

Ngl I have nostalgia over Home on the Range because for some reason it was one of the few Disney DVDs my parents bought. Same with Meet the Robinsons though that one I genuinely actually think it's pretty good. Movies: Minari: Like The Farewell this one touches something deep in my own personal experience of growing up as an immigrant and the dynamics between my grandma and myself. David was the MVP for me. The Rider: Wanted to watch this before I (hopefully) watch Nomadland this week and something very human about this film that's rare among other films even indie ones. Still can't believe that pretty much everyone in the film were not actors. TV: My Hero Academia Season 3: Nearly halfway through S3 and while I didn't quite enjoy the first half of the season as I did S2 love now that the show is clearly moving the story forward in a big way Attack on Titan Season 4: If you told me in S1 that the best part of the show for me would be the political intrigue I would have been so confused but serious love how the show evolved from a simple story of survival and good vs evil to something more complex and interesting. All for whatever they do to wrap this up Superman and Lois Season 1: Best pilot for a CW show I've seen since The Flash. Really enjoy Superman in this alot more than when he was in Supergirl and it's much to do with how much older Clark seems in this show. Inevitably I expect CW drama with the teens but I'm definitely intrigued by how they handle Clark as a parent. Ducktales Season 3: Really sad this show is ending this season. One of the best Disney animation shows in a long time it had so much more stories it could tell The Wire Season 1: This is a rewatch since I got up to the end of Season 3 but never continued so wanna rewatch it til I can finish the remaining two seasons. There's no other show quite as human and real as The Wire. Riverdale Season 5: Don't ask me why I still watch this show

Yeah I think unfortunately we still have some ways to go with regards to recognising how diverse Asia is portrayed in Hollywood. Don't get me wrong I still love that this film exists but we can have films of Asian representation without having to resort to getting actors from Crazy Rich Asians for example. But this and Shang Chi are great steps for tentpole films.