Lounge of Justice - Part 90

[Black Narcissus]

Julia Ducournau won the Palme d'OR for her film 'TITANE'. I can't post the trailer for obvious reasons. Making her only the second woman ever to do so. Her first film is beautifully brutal and one that a lot more folks should see. 'Raw'.

I can't wait to hear bald Feige try to talk her into a marvel flick and she tells him where he can go. lawd.

 

[MbJ]

 

[kguillou]

How is it that Jason Mamoa is just so effortlessly cool?

 

[Chip Chipperson]

He’s probably talking about blonde highlights at the end of his hair like we’ve been getting, but I genuinely think he can pull off a full dirty blonde look.

 

[dhandler01]

I am not going to tell him he can't

He sure seems upset to still be working for WB

 

[MbJ]

I know there were some credible outlets that were saying Wan was really angry at WB over the whole moving the 2021 slate to streaming move, but they seem to have mended fences. The claims that Jason was mad at the studio and on the verge of dropping out mostly seemed to be wishful thinking from certain people.

Looking forward to this one.

 

[dhandler01]

I am sure they told Wan what everyone already knew...they were not going to give up a potential billion dollars in BO receipts. (see also: Reeves Batman) Especially since Max doesn't have the overpriced "premium" option that Di$ney+ has.

Speaking of...that is almost certainly why a mediocre Space Jam film is going to beat BW at the BO this week...where are all the articles ripping them for "screwing over the theaters" who are definitely not banking as much as they should because of that? (like we got when WB moved their slate during the height of the pandemic) Where are all the conspiracy theories by clickbaiters and posters about how a female lead CBM is being dicked around with? Asking for a friend?

(no I don't think Di$ney is screwing over BW but they did damage the amount the theaters will take in because of this...I am sure the Press will get right on that )

The answer of course is that negative DC stories sell better because DC fans are just too easy to bait. Same reason grifters go after the Righties...they will believe what you want them to and create an awesome feedback loop that will generate millions.

And yeah the Long Halloween looks sweet

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I guess the world will never know if Jason Momoa is really cut out for Frosty the Snowman

what a travesty

 

[dhandler01]

I guess the world will never know if Jason Momoa is really cut out for Frosty the Snowman

what a travesty

What a bizarre idea anyways. I love Momoa but...Frosty? Talk about out of the box

Oh and on the topic of my last post:

Theater owners assert that Black Widow's performance at the box office has everything to do with its release on Disney+ Premier Access.

In a disappointing second weekend at the box office, Black Widow only pulled in $26.5 million in ticket sales. Theater owners are blaming this performance on Disney's decision to release the film simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+. "Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie's life," said the National Association of Theatre Owners in a statement, as reported by Variety.

"It ignores that Premiere Access revenue is not new-found money, but was pulled forward from a more traditional PVOD window, which is no longer an option," the statement said."Combined with the lost theatrical revenue and forgone traditional PVOD revenue, the answer to these questions will show that simultaneous release costs Disney money in revenue per viewer over the life of the film."

NATO also claims that without this simultaneous release, Black Widow could have opened to $100 million and made $130 million in its first weekend alone. This pushback comes at a time when theaters are still recovering from the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and these tensions between theaters and Disney are not new, as theater owners expressed frustration at Black Widow's release plan well before it premiered.

 

[MbJ]

A few paragraphs down, however, the article notes that pretty much all the big pandemic era blockbusters have suffered big second week drops, which tells me it's more an issue of many customers not feeling safe going back to theaters yet and the opening weekends being driven by more hardcore fans. Furious 9 also had a pretty steep decline and was previously hailed as the biggest hit of the summer.

But yes, the Disney+ thing certainly didn't help. I guess we'll never know if week 2 would've done better had people not been able to watch from home, but it would not shock me if Disney continues to lean on this strategy. They already cut the theatrical exclusive window for Shang-Chi down significantly.

 

[dhandler01]

Well the consensus seems to be that it hurt the first week as much as the second week which was also mentioned by the retailers. I have heard others discuss this phenomena as well (not about Black Widow specifically) and how the day and date model, especially a paid tier model such as Di$ney+, not only hurts the theaters themselves but actually hurts the overall returns as well including post theatrical. The quote from NATO touches on it but only scratched the surface obviously.

Unlike a lot of the other Pandemic releases Black Widow would have likely not had a 69% drop if they didn't go day and date. Too many people have been drooling over this film, and a Marvel film in general, for too long and it has an 81% RT score and pretty solid word of mouth from what I can tell. (I don't really pay attention since I don't watch MCU films most of the time) It should have coasted to an easy 2nd week win. Space Jam had almost zero buzz, terrible reviews and was available for friggin free on HBO Max! If this was a DC movie the headlines would be literally everywhere and rightfully so. (and WB would have announced a sequel in their weird attempt to fool literally no one)

I dunno I am not saying it is a bomb or anything, and I certainly wouldn't want it to be anyways cause most of my friends want to or have seen it, but I think Disney made a mistake here and I think later in the year there is going to be a lot of articles written that won't be as kind as Di$ney is accustomed to.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Man, Edge would make for a really great Victor Creed.

 

[MbJ]

Man, Edge would make for a really great Victor Creed.

Oh man, I can totally see it.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Oh man, I can totally see it.

I saw he returned to wrestling and looked him up. He’s even more shredded than before. And he’s a solid actor.

Plus he’s Canadian.

 

[Calvin Ellis]

BW preforming poorly is not due to Disney+ or the pandemic. It is preforming poorly because you have a movie that is a few years late. This movie should've been released after Civil War or IW at the latest. That's what is hurting this movie given the fact she is the second least cared about Avenger (with Hawkeye taking first place) so you're trying ask people to care about someone who has been long dead now and not reprising the role.

 

[dhandler01]

BW preforming poorly is not due to Disney+ or the pandemic. It is preforming poorly because you have a movie that is a few years late. This movie should've been released after Civil War or IW at the latest. That's what is hurting this movie given the fact she is the second least cared about Avenger (with Hawkeye taking first place) so you're trying ask people to care about someone who has been long dead now and not reprising the role.

Yeah that was weird too. Such a strange idea to put it out after they killed her off. I would assume the "New" Black Widow is introduced in the film and that is how they justified it but it is almost like Marvel/Di$ney was afraid before and over-corrected after they killed her in Endgame. My friends often commented they never really knew what to do with the character which is why she never caught on like others did.

Agreed after CW or IW would have made way more sense and probably makes this a bigger hit than Wonder Woman was. Showing how she copes with the fallout of those events on a grounded level (for as much as it can be) would have been red meat that had everyone drooling. Showing what she was doing in the 5 year gap as a way of showing how the "snap" changed the world would have been cool as well. Showing her in flashback mode is akin to WW84...

(I am not talking about quality of films, just the idea behind them)

 

[Chip Chipperson]

and I believe I heard that BW had a budget of close to 200 million? which seems insane to me. With that character and a more grounded story, you could make that movie for half the cost. Hell, you could argue it could be made for 50 or 60 million.

 

[Da-Scribe]

$200m on BW is wild af to me. Is that pure production budget?

 

[MbJ]

 

[Chip Chipperson]

oh man, can't wait for when they very obviously don't cast a red head, nor make said hair red at any point

that'll be a fun day on the internet

 

[kguillou]

BW preforming poorly is not due to Disney+ or the pandemic. It is preforming poorly because you have a movie that is a few years late. This movie should've been released after Civil War or IW at the latest. That's what is hurting this movie given the fact she is the second least cared about Avenger (with Hawkeye taking first place) so you're trying ask people to care about someone who has been long dead now and not reprising the role.

Honestly, and im not trying to throw shade, i just dont think audiences were wild about the movie. In my showing when i saw it a couple weeks ago, my audience was fairly muted. They chuckled a few times at David Harbour and Pugh’s quips but you could CLEARLY tell by when credits rolled that that the crowd was kind of like “meh” about the movie. You could feel the vibe of indifference.

Now, granted; im sure some of will tell me your audiences were having an uproarious time throughout the film but I just dont think that THIS was the MCU movie audiences were waiting two years for.

 

[MbJ]

The redhead erasure stuff is always funny because a large amount of the actors doing adaptations don't naturally have the same hair color as the fictional character in the source material, but for some reason it's redheads where the internet seems to get to get the most upset.

 

[chintai80]

i finally watched nolan's tenet.

i enjoyed it.
overall, i get the big picture of the plot, but lot of the details still confuse me.

this was like primer + james bond movies + the terminator.

but instead of a cybernetic organism - living tissue over metal endoskeleton, the terminator here is shirtless kenneth branagh on a yacht with a fake russian accent.

also, the spousal abuse stuff in this was a bit hard to watch - nolan likes to put his movie wives through the ringer
dammit.

 

[dhandler01]

The redhead erasure stuff is always funny because a large amount of the actors doing adaptations don't naturally have the same hair color as the fictional character in the source material, but for some reason it's redheads where the internet seems to get to get the most upset.

You mean like how Chris Evans looks nothing like Blonde Boy Captain America? Or how Barry Allen looks nothing like any actor who plays him? Or...ummm...JASON MOMOA!

There was grumbling over Supergirl not being Blonde but that died down quickly. The Redhead thing is going to lead to a civil war.

And in reality it is all because the fans have someone in mind who isn't chosen. Just like how every time the character of Lex Luthor is brought up every bald actor in Hollywood is named. Nevermind that wigs are a thing as is shaving your head...WE MUST STAY TRUE TO THE COMICS!1!!!1!!

Nerds are weird

 

[Spider-jedi]

when it comes to BW its interesting. a lot of factors caused what is happening

1. the movie should have come out before IW like most have said
2. if you are in a group its cheaper to stay home with family and watch it. movie tickets are expensive. here in NYC a decent theater is about $16 per person.
3. some people are still weary of the virus and the news of a new variant of it
4. the movie was just okay. not bad not great. just a good decent time.

all of this played into why its not doing numbers. i think this can be applied to every movie coming out right now. the FF movies have been a billion dollar franchise recently and it also didnt light a fire under anyone's butt.