Octopus Overlords

Superhero burnout and Hollywood hasn't noticed...or is ignoring it.

Daehawk wrote:Superhero burnout and Hollywood hasn't noticed...or is ignoring it.

The MCU films released this year are three of the four highest grossing moves of the year. And Endgame just became the highest grossing movie of all time.

So much burnout.

Combustible Lemur wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:17 pm

dbt1949 wrote:If they had a muscular guy playing the part they should have a muscular woman for the part.

Have you seen pics of the mcu guys before their starring roles? With the exception of maybe Chris Evans, they were waifs, or in the case of Pratt a little heavy.

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I can just see Natalie Portman as a WWF Diva.

dbt1949 wrote:

Combustible Lemur wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:17 pm

dbt1949 wrote:If they had a muscular guy playing the part they should have a muscular woman for the part.

Have you seen pics of the mcu guys before their starring roles? With the exception of maybe Chris Evans, they were waifs, or in the case of Pratt a little heavy.

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I can just see Natalie Portman as a WWF Diva.

Heh. That would be awesome.

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Smoove_B wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:28 am

Since they're doing it for the fourth film, they won't need to do it for the Disney+ series:

Marvel Studios’ first animated series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, What If...?, is coming to the Disney Plus streaming service in summer 2021. Marvel revealed the date and a new actor coming to the MCU, Jeffrey Wright (Westworld, Casino Royale), at its Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

Marvel also announced that “many actors from across the MCU” will reprise their roles as voice talent in What If...?

Jeffrey Wright will voice The Watcher, a race of celestial beings who observe events in the Marvel universe.

msteelers wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:53 pm

Daehawk wrote:Superhero burnout and Hollywood hasn't noticed...or is ignoring it.

The MCU films released this year are three of the four highest grossing moves of the year. And Endgame just became the highest grossing movie of all time.

So much burnout.

lol yeah. It's not about superhero/sequel burnout, it's simply about quality. I saw a critics 'discussion of burnout mentioning disappointing performance from MIB, Dark Phoenix, etc - I wanted to reply it's not burnout with these examples, it's just not a great movie. Along comes Spiderman Far From Home and where's the burnout talk now?

hepcat wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:45 pm I wasn't questioning her acting ability. I was simply stating that I thought she had expressed reservations about being in this type of film.

Dump trucks full of money tend to have a salutary effect.

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:58 pm

hepcat wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:45 pm I wasn't questioning her acting ability. I was simply stating that I thought she had expressed reservations about being in this type of film.

Dump trucks full of money tend to have a salutary effect.

I'm assuming we are talking about Natalie Portman? Cuz there's also this: Vox Lux Domestic Total Gross: $727,119

I doubt that was even enough to pay for her hair and make up.

At that level, they play in films like Thor 4 so they can go do work like Vox Lux.

I'm just tickled pink that Chung from Kim's Convenience is Shang-Chi

I’m really looking forward to Shang Chi. I need some real Kung Fu fun to wash the taste of Iron Fist out of my mouth.

IceBear wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:58 pm I'm just tickled pink that Chung from Kim's Convenience is Shang-Chi

I hid from all the announcements because I know I'm going to see the movies no matter what and like to go in blind. But I'm really happy to see that - I enjoy his work in Kim's Convenience.

IceBear wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 7:58 pm I'm just tickled pink that Chung from Kim's Convenience is Shang-Chi

Apparently, he only found out he got the role a few days before the Comic Con announcement. What a wild week he must be having.

rittchard wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:23 pm

msteelers wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:53 pm

Daehawk wrote:Superhero burnout and Hollywood hasn't noticed...or is ignoring it.

The MCU films released this year are three of the four highest grossing moves of the year. And Endgame just became the highest grossing movie of all time.

So much burnout.

lol yeah. It's not about superhero/sequel burnout, it's simply about quality. I saw a critics 'discussion of burnout mentioning disappointing performance from MIB, Dark Phoenix, etc - I wanted to reply it's not burnout with these examples, it's just not a great movie. Along comes Spiderman Far From Home and where's the burnout talk now?

I think there is or at least will be some superhero burnout. Yes quality matters but even a mediocre Marvel superhero makes/did make bucket loads of cash. At some point people will get burnt out and those mediocre films will lose money (Hello Iron Man 2). It has not happened yet but I would imagine it to be inevitable. Kevin Feige is no dummy and I expect that he expects this to happen. This may have contributed to his decision to break the mold with Phase 4 and get away from the "standard" stuff. Phase 4 will give him a chance to experiment and expand the genre. Worst case you go right back to basics in phase 5 if it flops and keep printing Disney Bucks.

If course the era of super hero domination will come to an end. Eventually. But it hasn’t happened yet, and any statements otherwise are clearly incorrect.

I plan on enjoying the ride for as long as I can.

I agree with some of the above posts. I just plain don't like Natalie Portman. I have not seen all her films, but the ones I have, I wish somebody else had been cast.

msteelers wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:19 am If course the era of super hero domination will come to an end. Eventually. But it hasn’t happened yet, and any statements otherwise are clearly incorrect.

I plan on enjoying the ride for as long as I can.

Sure everything has to come to an end at some point, but given they haven't even started to mine the never-ending well that is X-Men, I suspect it will be quite a long time.

Phase 4 will be very interesting for me. Frankly I don't have much interest in most/all of the announced stuff. I never got into Shang-Chi much, and Eternals bored the crap out of me. But I was never that big on Captain America, Thor, Black Panther or Iron Man either, and had never even heard of Guardians - yet I ended up really liking almost every one of the MCU movies and now I consider Endgame one of my favorite movies of all time. So I'm still going to go with the theory that they will find ways to keep making the movies feel fresh and maintain their overall vision and purpose and surprise us even with material that may not sound great on paper.

I think superhero films, or any type of film, can survive over saturation if they’re well written, acted and directed. And Marvel has been quite good at getting decent scripts, great actors and excellent directors. I don’t see interest waning until Marvel screws up and starts going for the easy money over good work.

DC on the other hand.

morlac wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:01 am I think there is or at least will be some superhero burnout. Yes quality matters but even a mediocre Marvel superhero makes/did make bucket loads of cash.

Most of them that I see are after they come to some service that I'm subscribed to (Amazon, HBO, Starz). Eventually, people tell me, the kids will sit still through a full movie in a theater and the market for everything refreshed goes up by 2. I think I was 12 the last time I read a comic book and I have no intention getting my kids hooked on them, so the movies need to be entertaining on their own merits. I could care less about their quasi-literary legacy, just be entertaining.

Superhero films have one thing going for them: they can be tense dramas, comedies, teen dramas, romantic comedies, action blockbusters, be over the top, down to earth, a whole spectrum. l Ant Man, Iron Man 1, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Black Panther are completely different types of films, despite taking place in the same universe.

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:11 pm Superhero films have one thing going for them: they can be tense dramas, comedies, teen dramas, romantic comedies, action blockbusters, be over the top, down to earth, a whole spectrum. l Ant Man, Iron Man 1, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Black Panther are completely different types of films, despite taking place in the same universe.

There are other "universes" I'd like to see brought to life in TV/movies. Two that come time mind are Robert Lynn Asprin's Thieve's World series of short stories (with many contributors all with their own main characters) and Larry Niven's Known Universe of sci-fi short stories and novels. The broader concept is certainly not unique to Marvel; you'd think at some point a studio would buy up a cheaper IP and develop it with a similar quality to the Marvel stuff.

You need quite a bit of money for shows that would require heavy special effects. And niche IPs would be risky. Better to stick to the well known properties with a built in audience ready to go.

They keep trying. DC flubbed it badly. Godzilla is trying it. Amazon seems to be trying something similar with Tolkien. They tried and failed with the Universal Monsters.

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:41 pm They keep trying. DC flubbed it badly. Godzilla is trying it. Amazon seems to be trying something similar with Tolkien. They tried and failed with the Universal Monsters.

Building a cinematic universe is difficult. Marvel can seemingly do no wrong, but they had to work to get to the point they are now. Even knowing they were building to Avengers, I don't think any of us could conceive of the inter-connectivity that they've had back when the Phase 1 films were coming out. Even phase 2 films weren't all that connected in terms of characters crossing over. You had a brief appearance by Bruce Banner in IM3, and BW and Nick Fury were in Winter Soldier. That's pretty much it. It wasn't until Phase 3 where they totally took the reins off. Now we don't bat an eye when we hear that a Scarlet Witch TV show is going to build to a Dr. Strange film.

Comics are also natural fit for a cinematic universe, because those storylines have been interconnected for decades now. DC screwed up by trying to do too much too fast. Universal Monsters could have been cool, except they started off with a terrible film. Godzilla and King Kong, I think, are being smart about their universe. If you aren't paying attention, you wouldn't know that they are connected at all. Outside of a handful of nods, and one organization that has been in all the films, you wouldn't know they were connected.

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 10:41 pm They keep trying. DC flubbed it badly. Godzilla is trying it. Amazon seems to be trying something similar with Tolkien. They tried and failed with the Universal Monsters.

Marvel tried before as well, it just sucked

Do any of you remember the olde Spiderman TV shows? I thought they were pretty cool for the time.

Yep, only saw a few episodes as a kid, but we thought it was pretty neat.

Haha yeah I loved those old Spiderman shows. I suspect if I saw them now I would cringe, but our standards were so different back then. I remember when I thought the Battlestar Galactica special effects were the greatest thing I'd ever see on TV.

The other cinematic "universes" currently in play (that I can think of) are The Conjuring and The Walking Dead. Oddly enough, both are horror franchises. The Conjuring has done well with lower budgets and lower expectations with decent horror films, and it seems to be working well for them. The most recent Annabelle movie was clearly intended to leave room for a number of other movies to be made by showing glimpses of creepy evil objects of of power. TWD is more interesting in that it's primarily a TV franchise that seems to have already over-extended itself and yet they are going all in in terms of investment. Now it looks like the TV movies are going to risk it and be in theaters only. Personally I think it's a terrible idea for a waning TV series but I will be really happy if I'm proven wrong.

They even did a Dr. Strange tv movie...starring Archer's mother as the villain.



And they must have been unable to get the rights to Iron Man for tv back in the 70s, so they went with Exo-Man instead.

Smoove_B wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:28 am From 1977:

LOL!

Men who get mad when male superheroes are rebooted as women are called Thor losers. Thank you.

Then she needs something stronger than aspirin.

Spider-Man is OUT of the MCU.

pr0ner wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:19 pm Spider-Man is OUT of the MCU.

this is just irritating on all levels. I don't know which of them is being greedier but they both suck for not sucking it up for the fanbase.

Marvel should just create a new character called SpiderGuy and pay to get Holland out of his contract to Sony.

hepcat wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 6:30 pm Marvel should just create a new character called SpiderGuy and pay to get Holland out of his contract to Sony.

OMG that would be hilarious!!!!! I would totally be a SpiderGuy fanboy.