Ongoing Sci-Fi, Comic Book Movie Thread v2

[Nadal Fan]

The biggest problem for Black Adam at the box office was that: it was too expensive and it didn't get a release in China. Had it cost say $150 mill and made another 50 mill in China then we would be having a different conversation.

I don't know why this film had such sky high expectations no one had heard of the character of Black Adam before the movie was released. First Cap movie was just okay and made $370 mill before a great sequel came out and made double.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I want to rewatch The Batman but the length really deters. That's 3 hours I could be watching something I haven't seen.

You could just stop when the riddler was arrested in my head cannon that is where the movie ends. With the shot of the question mark in the coffee cup.

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by Nadal Fan

The biggest problem for Black Adam at the box office was that: it was too expensive and it didn't get a release in China. Had it cost say $150 mill and made another 50 mill in China then we would be having a different conversation.

I don't know why this film had such sky high expectations no one had heard of the character of Black Adam before the movie was released. First Cap movie was just okay and made $370 mill before a great sequel came out and made double.

The Rock was obsessed with getting into a character that could go toe to toe with Superman. I love him, but I think his ego was a problem here. He wanted to be a top end power in the DCU. I think somewhere along the line someone close to him sold him on Black Adam. This is like one of those deals that makes it into Shark Tank that nobodies family member had to heart to tell them before hand was a bad idea and they should stop spending their money on it.

The expectations were high because The Rock holds a lot of influence and he made them high as he was trying to sell the movie to people.

Not getting the China release was a problem for sure, others will say Well look at BP2, it did really well without China.

Yes BP2 had several high profile movies behind it and a successful franchise to be a part of. BA had Justice League and Batman V Superman.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

The Rock was obsessed with getting into a character that could go toe to toe with Superman. I love him, but I think his ego was a problem here. He wanted to be a top end power in the DCU. I think somewhere along the line someone close to him sold him on Black Adam. This is like one of those deals that makes it into Shark Tank that nobodies family member had to heart to tell them before hand was a bad idea and they should stop spending their money on it.

The expectations were high because The Rock holds a lot of influence and he made them high as he was trying to sell the movie to people.

Not getting the China release was a problem for sure, others will say Well look at BP2, it did really well without China.

Yes BP2 had several high profile movies behind it and a successful franchise to be a part of. BA had Justice League and Batman V Superman.

I dont know what China's rules are, most of the time they seem fairly arbitrary.

But you're essentially right, I just dont think you took it far enough.

Black Adam was a character nobody knows about, DCEU is a shambles at the moment at the cherry on top is that their parent company WBD is a complete nightmare.

Yeah, its not great.

[Galakanokis]

Black Adam was a good story it was just handled so poorly. I don't think the relative unknown character played that much into it. Marvel took lesser known characters in The Guardians of the Galaxy and turned them into a loveable bunch of goofs that are must have now. They crafted a good story with characters you want to root for. All Black Adam was the Rock. Same guy that wrestled 20 years ago with a different outfit on. There is nothing loveable about the Rock and you definitely don't root for him. I for one get tired of his schtick. Same move every time.

DC just cannot create drama with these characters. They just cannot develop characters you invest in. You just sit back and wait for the all powerful to come in and save the day. Sure Marvel is like that to a degree as well and this one universe thing has actually hurt them to some degree in that sense. They still just do a better job of telling the persons story rather than them just being a supper hero.

The original Superman worked because of Clark Kent not Superman. They have forgotten that with every movie they have made in the last decade.

[Finger Cookin]

Superman is in this weird position as an IP because for a generation of fans, Superman is most well known for fandom arguments about whether or not a good Superman movie has been made in the 21st century, and arguments about how to make a good Superman movie and what that entails. Outside of the comics, that seems to be what the character means for most of the people.

[Brendone]

Got around to watching Black Adam tonight…. What an incoherent pile of cr@p! I could have been watching Jar Jar on the Star Wars marathon instead of that dumpster fire. DC needs to not make movies for a while, because almost everything they’ve been pushing lately is near unwatchable.

[Nadal Fan]

What's everyone's top 5 most anticipated superhero/comic book movies of 2023? Mine are (no surprises here lol)

1) Aquaman 2
2) The Flash (Keaton as Batman again)
3) Across the Spiderverse
4) Blue Beetle
5) Guardians 3
HM: Shazam 2

[KTrain]

1) Across the Spier-Verse
2) Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania
3) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
4) The Flash (I'm a sucker for Keaton too)
5) Kraven? No idea how they're going to do this without using Spider-man but I'm here for the trainwreck.

[Coach]

Not sure of an order...but:

Quantimanium
Across The Spiderverse
Guardians 3
Blue Beetle
Kraven (I think this will be way better than Venom.)

Is The Flash even still happening? I know very little about Blue Beetle so that intrigues me. Sorry but pretty much everything stemming from ye olde DC is just not interesting to me. I'll give it another shot once it's re-vamped with Gunn. Really, really hoping to see period pieces for those.

[blankall]

1. GotG3
....
....
....
....
2. Quantumania

Honestly, not really excited for anything else. I'll see it if they get good word of mouth though. Otherwise, I'll be waiting for free streaming.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Across the Spider-Verse is by far my most anticipated movie in the genre. Into the Spider-Verse was so good

[Locke]

That spiderverse thingy was okay, but the new trailer does not instill me with tons of confidence.

I will say...I am intrigued about 'The Flash.'

Not the film itself per se because I generally couldnt care less about the Flash, I think the Keaton thing could be cool...but as an event.

Just...the releasing of this film as part of society's collective zeitgeist. I just think its going to be interesting.

A film with the legendary Keaton...but centrally stars a genuine sociopath, a film plagued by delays, budgetary nightmares, further mired by being a central cog within a huge corporate merger that has itself inspired a good amount of chaos.

I genuinely have no idea how this is going to go, but I am keenly interested in watching, what I fully anticipate to be a tragedy, unfold.

[Johnny Makarov]

i really enjoyed Ezra Miller as the Flash. too bad he went flashcrap crazy and his acting career may be done.

[Nadal Fan]

Today would have been Stan Lee's 100th birthday, in honor of him here are my top 10 Marvel live action movies:

1) Logan
2) Spiderman 2
3) X-Men DOFP
4) Captain America Winter Soldier
5) End Game/Infinity War
6) Iron Man
7) X2
8) Black Panther
9) Spiderman No Way Home
10) Deadpool
HM) Guardians/ First Class

[blankall]

Watched Black Adam last night....It actually had potential, but was not executed well. It could have been fixed with better editing and a more directed and consistent plot.


The pacing was really thrown off by a bunch of unnecessary action sequences. Why did we need magic air bikes? Also, why do they keep using Amanda Waller for character exposition? Did the actor sign a contract guaranteeing her so many roles?

They kept presenting Adam as kind of a bad guy...but then he'd almost do a fourth wall breaking wink to remind you how cool/good he was. Black Adam is an archenemy of Shazam, so it would have been perfectly fine to present him as consistently evil through the whole film. He should be a guy who means well, but accomplishes his goals via violence and totalitarianism. There was no need for the awkward character growth and constant confliction. To preserve the Rock's brand, they likely don't want to present him as too evil, which really took away from the character.

The movie could have been a lot more straightforward and about 30 minutes shorter. Pretty simple, have Black Adam team up with the JSA to take down the bad guys, then Black Adam goes rogue and executes the bad guys. This leads to a fight between the JSA and Black Adam, ending with Black Adam on the throne ruling over Kahndaq as a despot, setting Black Adam up for a later conflict with Shazam.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by blankall

Watched Black Adam last night....It actually had potential, but was not executed well. It could have been fixed with better editing and a more directed and consistent plot.


The pacing was really thrown off by a bunch of unnecessary action sequences. Why did we need magic air bikes? Also, why do they keep using Amanda Waller for character exposition? Did the actor sign a contract guaranteeing her so many roles?

They kept presenting Adam as kind of a bad guy...but then he'd almost do a fourth wall breaking wink to remind you how cool/good he was. Black Adam is an archenemy of Shazam, so it would have been perfectly fine to present him as consistently evil through the whole film. He should be a guy who means well, but accomplishes his goals via violence and totalitarianism. There was no need for the awkward character growth and constant confliction. To preserve the Rock's brand, they likely don't want to present him as too evil, which really took away from the character.

The movie could have been a lot more straightforward and about 30 minutes shorter. Pretty simple, have Black Adam team up with the JSA to take down the bad guys, then Black Adam goes rogue and executes the bad guys. This leads to a fight between the JSA and Black Adam, ending with Black Adam on the throne ruling over Kahndaq as a despot, setting Black Adam up for a later conflict with Shazam.

Well....

That essentially just sums up the DCEU.

"It didnt have to be crap, but it was....because poor decisions were made."

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Locke

Well....

That essentially just sums up the DCEU.

"It didnt have to be crap, but it was....because poor decisions were made."

It's partly DC and partly the public too. They always come up with these off the beaten path/darker ideas, but then cave to all the people complaining about things being too gritty. So they end up with a mangled mess of partly gritty and partly MCU clone...the worst of both worlds.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by blankall

It's partly DC and partly the public too. They always come up with these off the beaten path/darker ideas, but then cave to all the people complaining about things being too gritty. So they end up with a mangled mess of partly gritty and partly MCU clone...the worst of both worlds.

I wholeheartedly agree.

But then again I think you have to have some vision and some fortitude. Oh! And a Plan works too.

I know DC is far more commonly accused of 'meddling' in movies than Marvel is, but I dont know how true that is.

But what Marvel did and frankly, what every major Company regardless of product should do, is have an over-arching framework with goals, directions and plans and then let people operate within it.

A perfect example is the last Star Wars Trilogy.

Why was this absolute 'Slam Dunk' of a property a giant Hot Mess?

Because you had no over-arching framework, you had no plan, you had no touchpoints you essentially locked a few people in a room and let them do whatever they wanted and let the chips fall where they may.

And it turned into a complete mess.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Locke

I wholeheartedly agree.

But then again I think you have to have some vision and some fortitude. Oh! And a Plan works too.

I know DC is far more commonly accused of 'meddling' in movies than Marvel is, but I dont know how true that is.

But what Marvel did and frankly, what every major Company regardless of product should do, is have an over-arching framework with goals, directions and plans and then let people operate within it.

A perfect example is the last Star Wars Trilogy.

Why was this absolute 'Slam Dunk' of a property a giant Hot Mess?

Because you had no over-arching framework, you had no plan, you had no touchpoints you essentially locked a few people in a room and let them do whatever they wanted and let the chips fall where they may.

And it turned into a complete mess.

DC had a plan. It was just very ambitious and different. Snyder had a plan that would have been the Darkseid invasion, the apocalyptic future, and then the Flash altering the timeline.

The DC execs stepped in and squashed that and made an MCU clone. It really seems like the DC execs are hands off and/or just ignore what's going on until the very end. Then they step in and mess everything up. It's like the people beneath them aren't running it by the top guys....or maybe they are, and they are ignoring them.