The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

[Ryan Reynolds]

 

[filmlover]

I was just looking up to see what every studio's 2024 looks like after Disney released their slate up until the end of June and this is what WB's 2024 looks like:

 

2/2: Wise Guys

3/15: Godzilla x Kong

3/29: Mickey 17

4/12: Animated Lord of the Rings

5/24: Furiosa

6/7: The Watchers

8/2: Trap

9/6: Beetlejuice 2

10/4: Joker 2

 

And nothing for November or December at the moment. For those who have been wondering why there's been discussion of some of WB's movies from Q4 of this year moving to next, there's your answer (especially when Barbie's looking to be a big enough smash that their quota for 2023 might be met or surpassed all thanks to one movie alone).

Edited August 10, 2023 by filmlover

[XXR & Friends]

 

[Mojoguy]

53 minutes ago, filmlover said:

I was just looking up to see what every studio's 2024 looks like after Disney released their slate up until the end of June and this is what WB's 2024 looks like:

 

2/2: Wise Guys

3/15: Godzilla x Kong

3/29: Mickey 17

4/12: Animated Lord of the Rings

5/24: Furiosa

6/7: The Watchers

8/2: Trap

9/6: Beetlejuice 2

10/4: Joker 2

 

And nothing for November or December at the moment. For those who have been wondering why there's been discussion of some of WB's movies from Q4 of this year moving to next, there's your answer (especially when Barbie's looking to be a big enough smash that their quota for 2023 might be met or surpassed all thanks to one movie alone).

Yikes! None those films are getting over 250M DOM except Joker.

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

57 minutes ago, filmlover said:

I was just looking up to see what every studio's 2024 looks like after Disney released their slate up until the end of June and this is what WB's 2024 looks like:

 

2/2: Wise Guys

3/15: Godzilla x Kong

3/29: Mickey 17

4/12: Animated Lord of the Rings

5/24: Furiosa

6/7: The Watchers

8/2: Trap

9/6: Beetlejuice 2

10/4: Joker 2

 

And nothing for November or December at the moment. For those who have been wondering why there's been discussion of some of WB's movies from Q4 of this year moving to next, there's your answer (especially when Barbie's looking to be a big enough smash that their quota for 2023 might be met or surpassed all thanks to one movie alone).

That is a pretty underwhelming schedule outside of Mickey 17 and Furiosa. 
 

[dudalb]

1 hour ago, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

That is a pretty underwhelming schedule outside of Mickey 17 and Furiosa. 
 

Are you talking about your own peronal likes and dislikes or box office?

I ask because alhtough I agree it is not a strong schedule, I think four of five films on that list will do better then Mickey 17 and Furiosa.

[WittyUsername]

2024 is looking like an underwhelming year in general, especially after Avatar moved and Spider-Verse got taken off the schedule. 

[excel1]

Honestly, its ABSURD that WB doesn't have THE BATMAN 2 for winter 2024. 

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

2 hours ago, dudalb said:

Are you talking about your own peronal likes and dislikes or box office?

I ask because alhtough I agree it is not a strong schedule, I think four of five films on that list will do better then Mickey 17 and Furiosa.

Personal likes, should have clarified that. GxK and Joker I see doing well. 

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, excel1 said:

Honestly, its ABSURD that WB doesn't have THE BATMAN 2 for winter 2024. 

 

No, it really isn't.

 

One of the bigger problems in Hollywood the last 10 to 20 years is rushing out films before they are ready.  Not gonna tag Tele (as I doubt he wants to be tagged into this thread), but he is right on when he complains about films locking in dates years in advance.

 

The more I think about it and the more I observe substandard or mediocre films/shows that needed more baking in the oven the more I am convinced that Hollywood's obsession with locking in calendar dates is one of the bigger drivers of current dissatisfaction.

 

Everything from sloppy VFX to half-baked plots to bloated, ballooned, budgets can be laid at least in part at the feet of rushing out films/shows to meet arbitrary deadlines.

 

Plotting/scripting should be an obvious one so I won't spend time on it.  VFX is slightly more obvious if one takes into consideration  if outfits are being told to do six to nine months worth of work in three to six.  Budgets are a less obvious one, but they too can balloon thanks in part to corps "throwing money at the problem" in an attempt to get the project out the door on time (even as they overwork the folks who are on the project).  The irony, of course, is that people will look at the bottom line budget and wonder "well what the hell did they spend it on?"

 

Of course not nearly everything can be laid at the feet of calendar setting when it comes to projects that aren't at the level they should be (once again, making art of any sort is ***HARD***). Not by a long shot. But it sure isn't helping matters.

 

tl;dr:  Stop obsessing about calendar dates and start obsessing about only putting out projects when they're ready for primetime.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Porthos

[excel1]

5 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

No, it really isn't.

 

tl;dr:  Stop obsessing about calendar dates and start obsessing about only putting out projects when they're ready for primetime.

 

I was factoring in that THE BATMAN both 1) was delayed 10 months, 2) ended on a huge cliffhanger w/ the flood; before making that point. December 2024 would be nearly 3 years after PART 1 opened anyway, its baffling WB wasn't more prepared with the 2nd. 

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

3 1/2 years between movies is good actually. If anything that's not really out of the norm, or at least used to not be out of the norm.

[excel1]

2 minutes ago, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

3 1/2 years between movies is good actually. If anything that's not really out of the norm, or at least used to not be out of the norm.

 

When was more than 36 months ever normal? Not in the 25 years I've followed box office weekly. TLW or MIB 2 or TDKR taking longer were exceptions to the rule. 

 

My mind isn't changing. WB should have 100% had THE BATMAN 2 ready for December 2024 or Q1 2025 at latest. Its waiting far too long. 

Edited August 11, 2023 by excel1

[filmlover]

Just now, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

3 1/2 years between movies is good actually. If anything that's not really out of the norm, or at least used to not be out of the norm.

People tend to lose interest in stuff quicker than ever these days, that's why striking while the iron is hot is considered important or else you find yourself at risk of arriving past your sell-by date (the failure of the DC movies this year can be at least partially attributed to that in particular).

[Porthos]

Just now, excel1 said:

 

I was factoring in that THE BATMAN both 1) was delayed 10 months, 2) ended on a huge cliffhanger w/ the flood; before making that point. December 2024 would be nearly 3 years after PART 1 opened anyway, its baffling WB wasn't more prepared with the 2nd. 

 

Again, it really isn't. It's not like they were gonna be working on the second film to a huge degree while doing the first, so the delay of the first isn't much of a factor.

 

As for Dec '24, do think a little thing called "WGA Strike" is in play here (much like COVID was for previous films).  It might be unfortunate timing for folks who want films in rapid succession, but both the 'rona and the dual strikes are upending things. That has to be factored in here when looking at the span of time between films.

 

Mind, if you want a half-baked project, then by all means let's accelerate things.  But if you want a good to great films?

 

Well, sell make no wine film before its time.

 

(it wasn't the only reason by far, but absolutely one of the reasons for an... uneven sequel trilogy for SW was rushing out films every two years)

[Arlborn]

11 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

 

(it wasn't the only reason by far, but absolutely one of the reasons for an... uneven sequel trilogy for SW was rushing out films every two years)

It was one of the main reasons though, wasn't it? They should have spent a lot longer on laying down the actual story of the trilogy either before the first movie even started production or at the very least between the first and the second movies, no?

 

If I recall correctly they sorta went blind into the whole trilogy thing and made things up as they went along, hence why the focus of the story changed in such a jarring manner from one movie to the next. Am I misremembering it?

[Porthos]

22 minutes ago, Arlborn said:

It was one of the main reasons though, wasn't it? They should have spent a lot longer on laying down the actual story of the trilogy either before the first movie even started production or at the very least between the first and the second movies, no?

 

If I recall correctly they sorta went blind into the whole trilogy thing and made things up as they went along, hence why the focus of the story changed in such a jarring manner from one movie to the next. Am I misremembering it?

 

Not the Disney Thread (or any of the current SW threads for that matter), but... It's a bit more complicated than just timing or fly-by-seat-plotting, though the former is much more of a culprit than the latter, IMO*.  Especially for TROS which really needed at least six more months of work before being put in front of the cameras.

* I also am semi-convinced that folks pay waaaaaaaaay too much attention to having things plotted out multiple projects in advance, but that *IS* a highly controversial opinion of mine so I'll leave it to the side for now.

 

I keep threatening to do my own personal post-mortem on the SW Sequel Trilogy, and maybe I'll do it one of these days, but to give a sampler, I think a HIGHLY underrated/under-discussed aspect of the ST was:

 

Too many central characters (with more added in each succeeding film) and not enough narrative time to focus on them

 

and

 

Splitting narrative focus between old OT and new ST characters to a highly unhelpful degree.

 

Now having more time to work on the projects or more of an upfront plan probably would have finessed this to some degree.  But sometimes there are just... issues with projects.  Which I simply note as a general point and am pointing out the SW ST as an example (in a last ditch attempt to keep this as Not Off Topic as I can)

 

Anyway, as I said, NOT the Disney Thread so consider this a (hopefully) very brief diversion.  Any other comments, especially any in-depth ones, I have to make about this, I'll pop over there.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Porthos

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

38 minutes ago, filmlover said:

People tend to lose interest in stuff quicker than ever these days, that's why striking while the iron is hot is considered important or else you find yourself at risk of arriving past your sell-by date (the failure of the DC movies this year can be at least partially attributed to that in particular).

While true, it depends on how long. I would say 4 years is when you really start pushing people’s patience and interest unless it’s a series that’s been away for a long time. 5 years is definitely gonna start hurting. Between 3-4 years is the sweet spot to have enough time between films to keep people engaged while also giving the folks making it time to work. 

[Jonwo]

15 hours ago, filmlover said:

I was just looking up to see what every studio's 2024 looks like after Disney released their slate up until the end of June and this is what WB's 2024 looks like:

 

2/2: Wise Guys

3/15: Godzilla x Kong

3/29: Mickey 17

4/12: Animated Lord of the Rings

5/24: Furiosa

6/7: The Watchers

8/2: Trap

9/6: Beetlejuice 2

10/4: Joker 2

 

And nothing for November or December at the moment. For those who have been wondering why there's been discussion of some of WB's movies from Q4 of this year moving to next, there's your answer (especially when Barbie's looking to be a big enough smash that their quota for 2023 might be met or surpassed all thanks to one movie alone).

They have Twisters OS as well as the undated Coyote v Acme, I would imagine Juror Number 2 will end up in mid to late 2024. 

 

 

[JustLurking]

On 8/6/2023 at 5:44 PM, SpiderByte said:

Yeah, Barbie isn't IMAX and it's kicking Oppenheimers ass. Not that it doesn't help to have IMAX, but having vs not having isn't quite sink or swim like people think.

 

Obviously the pandemic and hybrid HBO Max release was an impact, but if they want a big jump from the first leveraging the cast is gonna be a must.

Dune was one of the absolute most PLF-skewing films. That's like saying it wouldn't have made much of a difference if Oppenheimer didn't have IMAX.

 

It may not be the case for every film, but the IMAX exclusive is a big fucking deal here, and even if it moves WB will almost certainly try to move it to a window where they can get that.

Edited August 11, 2023 by JustLurking