EP 209: Hopper Lives! Ben Affleck Speaks! Sonic Booms At the Box Office! Birds of Prey Busts & Todd’s Top Ten
Feb 20, 2020
PODCAST | Ben Affleck Speaks About His Batman Exit, Sonic vs Birds of Prey at the Box Office, Stranger Things 4 Teaser (Hopper lives!), Todd Black’s Top Ten Comics!
It’s official: David Harbour‘s Chief Jim Hopper will in fact return for Stranger Things season 4, and there’s a teaser video to prove it.
Harbour himself has been trying to throw people off the scent after — spoiler alert — his character seemingly met his end in the underground Russian facility back in season 3. “We don’t know yet, we don’t know,” the actor said when asked again about a comeback during German Comic Con Dortmund. Most recently, reports about a supposed cast list for the new episodes were floating around and suggesting he wouldn’t return. Now, we know for sure.
At the end of season 3 in a post-credits sequence, operatives at a snowy Russian facility made mention of an “American” being held in their custody. The new teaser for season 4 confirms Hopper is that captive and he’s being forced into working on some kind of railroad with other prisoners.
Ben Affleck Gets Candid About His ‘The Batman’ Exit
After showing a confidant his plans, the actor was told, “I think the script is good. I also think you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went through again.”
He stepped aside, allowing Matt Reeves to take over (and Robert Pattinson to don the cowl), after deciding that the troubled shoot for “Justice League” had sapped his interest. Affleck never seemed to enjoy his time as Batman; his sullen demeanor while promoting “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” in 2016 resulted in the hit meme Sad Affleck. “I showed somebody ‘The Batman’ script,” Affleck recalled. “They said, ‘I think the script is good. I also think you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went through again.’”
Sonic Booms At The Box Office
►Box office: Filmmaker Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog hopes to boom loudly over Presidents Day weekend with a four-day debut in the $45 million to $50 million range. The adventure pic, based on Sega’s video game about the world’s speediest hedgehog, is easily expected to race ahead of a crowded pack of films and top the long four-day holiday frame. The preview
Sonic the Hedgehog wakes Paramount from hibernation. Every Hollywood studio has its ups and downs at the box office, but Paramount has endured a dismal run, topped by big-budget misses such as Gemini Man and Terminator: Dark Fate in late 2019.Sonic marks an important victory for Paramount and studio chairman Jim Gianopulos after scoring the top opening of all time for a video game adaptation. Gianopulos picked up the project out of turnaround from Sony in fall of 2017, not long after he took the job and was tasked with righting the ailing studio.
–“Sonic was the right film at the right time. And it couldn’t have come at a better time for Paramount, a studio that desperately needs franchises. God forbid the industry loses another major studio to a rival,” says box office analyst Jeff Bock
Segment 2: ‘Birds of Prey’s Box Office Troubles Go Back To One Bad Decision
The story of Birds of Prey was told with an R-rating, making it the first DCEU title to carry that MPAA certificate. Unfortunately, the R-rating is likely what kept Birds of Prey from fulfilling its box office potential. Comic book movies with R-ratings hailing from major studios, like Birds of Prey, used to be an unthinkable prospect. Thanks to the massive box office success of recent R-rated comic book movies like Deadpool and Logan, though, it’s now a regular occurrence for the genre. However, not all R-rated takes on Marvel/DC properties are destined to be equally big box office juggernauts, as seen by Birds of Prey.
Segment 4: Spin The Comics To Movie Racks
WHAT DO YOU DO?
I’m a comic writer, novel writer, and overall creator of various things. I’ve made series like Guardians, Home, 10,000 Miles, Seekers of Science, Sherlock Holmes – The Greatest Detective and now…Tokyo Blade Detectives.
WHAT DO YOU GOT GOING ON THESE DAYS?
I’ve got a new Kickstarter going on, and am about to release the fifth book in my Sherlock Holmes series. Also have another comic in the works and Seekers of Science #3 will arrive later in November.
GOT A HOT TAKE?
I’m tired of people saying that the majority of the DCEU films are terrible. I prefer Batman V Superman to Civil War any day of the week and twice on Sundays! Plus, I’m more excited for Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 than any of the Marvel movies in 2020.
Discover where your favorite superheroes saved the day on The Super Tour of NYC. You’ll see over 40 filming locations from movies and TV shows like The Avengers, Spider-Man, and Jessica Jones. Receive 10% off with code SECRETS at checkout. Heroes, comics, more!
PODCAST | We came to rank! Who are the best Jokers of all time? What are the worst Kevin Smith movies? And Vault E-I-C Adrian Wassel ranks the Vault comics YOU need to be reading right now before they hit the big screen!
“Big Little Lies” star Zoe Kravitz has been tapped to play Catwoman, the antiheroine and sometime love interest of the Caped Crusader, in Matt Reeves’ upcoming “The Batman.”
Kravitz will star opposite Robert Pattinson as Batman.
In recent weeks, the role came down to Kravitz, Zazie Beetz of “Atlanta,” “Deadpool 2” and “Joker,” “Baby Driver’s” Eiza Gonzalez and Oscar winner Alicia Vikander. Ultimately, Kravitz won out, despite some worry about scheduling issues with “Fantastic Beasts.”
Pre-production on the Warner Bros.-DC Comics pic is expected to start this summer. No official start date has been set, although insiders tell Variety that filming could start in late 2019 or early 2020. “The Batman” is scheduled to hit theaters June 25, 2021.
Reeves, the filmmaker behind the last two “Planet of the Apes” sequels, took over “Batman” directing duties from Ben Affleck in January 2017. Affleck departed his role as Batman following “Justice League,” allowing Reeves to pick his own Bruce Wayne. Reeves’ “Planet of the Apes” collaborator Dylan Clark will produce.
Box Office: ‘Joker’ Goes Crazy With $55M; ‘Addams Family’ Buries ‘Gemini Man
Globally, ‘Joker’ has collected a staggering $544 million. Meanwhile at the specialty box office, ‘Parasite’ scored the biggest location average in three years with $125,421.
Todd Phillips’ Joker is laughing all the way to the bank, earning an outstanding $55 million in its sophomore weekend for a 10-day domestic total of $192.7 million and a massive global haul of $543.9 million.
Joker easily remained at No. 1, although MGM and United Artists Releasing’s early Halloween family pic The Addams Family came in a strong No. 2 with $30.3 million, ahead of expectations and more than enough to bury Ang Lee’s big-budget Gemini Man, starring Will Smith, which followed at No. 3 with an estimated $20.5 million.
Overseas, Joker remained a powerhouse for Warner Bros., grossing $125.7 million from 79 markets for a foreign cume of $351.2 million.
Gemini Man, conversely, took in a soft $31.1 million from 58 markets for an early $39 million offshore total and $59.5 million globally. Mexico and Russia led the weekend with $2.7 million each, followed by $2.2 million both in the U.K. and South Korea. The movie was beaten by Joker in many places; at the same time, in 25 territories, the pic marks Lee’s biggest opening. Gemini Man has big aims for China, where it launches Friday.
Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the twisted supervillain, fell only 43 percent in North America, one of the lowest drops ever for a superhero or superhero-related pic behind Aquaman. The latter debuted over the year-end holidays, when films generally have huge second weekends.
The CG-animated Addams Family, co-financed by Bron, features a star- studded voice cast led by Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron, along with Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll and Bette Midler. The film’s opening is a big win for MGM and UAR — the joint distribution company owned by MGM and Annapurna Pictures — and there almost certainly will be a sequel.
“We always knew this piece of great IP was worthy of bringing back to the big screen,” says Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM’s Motion Picture Group. He added that launching the film close to Halloween was key. “Timing has as much to do with making a theatrical experience an event as the movie itself.”
The Addams Family cost around $50 million to produce before marketing.
Gemini Man, from Skydance and Paramount, reportedly cost $140 million to make after rebates and will need to do big business overseas if it isn’t to lose money. The two companies each have a 35 percent equity stake in the pic, while China’s Fosun has a 25 percent stake, followed by Alibaba with 5 percent.
Outside of the groundbreaking technology used to create a younger version of Smith, critics have ravaged Lee’s film. The story follows an elite assassin who faces off with a younger version of himself.
Joker no doubt is impacting Gemini Man, since both skew male. In North America, the latter pic played to an ethnically diverse audience: Caucasians made up 39 percent of ticket buyers, followed by African-Americans (26 percent), Hispanics (22) and Asians/Other (13 percent), according to PostTrak.
The VFX-heavy Gemini Man opens three years after Lee’s last movie, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, all-out bombed at the box office. Lee used cutting-edge technology to shoot both films in high frame rates for 3D screens, a format that has been on the decline.
Gemini Man, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and Addams Family received B+ CinemaScores.
Segment 2: Kevin Smith’s Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes
12 Cop Out (18%) This is the first and last time that Kevin Smith has directed a movie that he didn’t write. It’s a buddy cop action comedy (scarce on both action and comedy) starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as a couple of detectives on the trail of a rare baseball card. RELATED: The 10 Best Characters Kevin Smith Created, Ranked Smith and Willis famously clashed on the set, which resulted in a movie that felt very disjointed. On top of that, the script wasn’t very inspired. The characters didn’t feel like real people, the plot plodded along, and it didn’t end with a satisfying conclusion. The movie was a disaster from start to finish, on-screen and off. 11 Yoga Hosers (22%) The second installment in what Kevin Smith is calling his “True North trilogy” (three vaguely connected horror-comedies set in Canada) is even zanier than the first – and the first involved a guy getting turned into a walrus! Yoga Hosers stars Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith and Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp as a pair of convenience store clerks (both named Colleen) who have to fend off a horde of Nazi sausages. The movie was panned by critics, who felt that Smith’s downfall was self-indulgence and laziness, but let’s face it: a movie about Nazi sausages is never going to be boring. 10 Jersey Girl (42%) This was Kevin Smith’s attempt to pivot his career towards more audience-friendly material. He’d built up a niche fan base with comedies that were crass, crude, and filled with expletives. Jersey Girl was an attempt at a heartwarming Hollywood romcom.
It stars Ben Affleck as a widowed single father who reluctantly dips his toe back in the dating pool when he meets an “it” girl played by Liv Tyler. The movie has its heart in the right place, but unfortunately, the most notable thing about Jersey Girl is that it was the first major motion picture to contain a joke about 9/11. 9 Tusk (45%) One of the only movies to be adapted from a podcast episode, Tusk stars Justin Long as a podcaster who goes out to interview a crazy old man, played by Michael Parks, who wants to turn him into a walrus. This was based on an episode of Kevin Smith’s podcast SModcast, in which he and co-host Scott Mosier discussed a Gumtree ad where a man had offered a room at his place rent-free to anyone who’d be willing to dress up in a walrus costume. The movie is as weird as it sounds, but unfortunately, that weirdness becomes excessive at a certain point.
8 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (52%) Jay and Silent Bob are sort of the R2-D2 and C-3PO of the View Askewniverse. They appear in every movie to provide lovable support. But there’s a reason why R2-D2 and C-3PO have never been given their own movie (well, not yet – give Disney some time and they’ll get there). RELATED: Every Single Kevin Smith/View Askewniverse Movie (In Chronological Order) They’re better party guests than they are hosts. The same goes for Jay and Silent Bob. They’re fun in small doses, but a little tiresome when they take center stage. Having said that, the upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Reboot does look like it’s going to be a lot of fun. 7 Mallrats (55%) Kevin Smith’s sophomore effort failed to drum up the same critical acclaim as his directorial debut. Where Clerks was about a bunch of people talking in a convenience store, Mallrats was about a bunch of people talking in a mall. In theory, anyone who liked Clerks should like Mallrats. It doesn’t have the rawness of Clerks as there’s a lot more wackiness, while the larger studio budget allowed by Clerks’ success actually became its successor’s downfall. However, it has the same zany New Jerseyan characters with New Jerseyan dialogue, as well as a hilarious Stan Lee cameo, so it’s not all bad. advertising 6 Red State (60%) The first non-comedy directed by Kevin Smith, Red State is a thriller with horror elements about a trio of high school students who are lured into a house with the promise of sex and end up getting captured to be sacrificed by a sadistic religious cult. As a firefight breaks out between the cult and the police, these kids struggle to escape. It’s an exciting movie with a strong hook and plenty of action. It’s not perfect by any means – its climax is resolved disappointingly quickly and the stakes escalate rapidly at the start and stay at the same place for the rest of the movie – but it is an enjoyable thriller. 5 Clerks II (63%) The sequel to Kevin Smith’s directorial debut swapped the black-and-white film for color and swapped the convenience store setting for a fast-food restaurant. It begins with the store from the first one burning down and Dante and Randall taking jobs at a fast food place called Mooby’s. RELATED: 10 Funniest Quotes From Clerks This time around, even worse things happen to the poor guys, but it leads them to even greater emotional resolutions than the first one, too. Sadly, it looks as though Clerks III has been called off for good and we’ll never get to see the Clerks trilogy concluded, but at least this one left the characters in a good place.
4 Zack and Miri Make a Porno (65%) Kevin Smith hoped that Zack and Miri Make a Porno would be his first big box office hit because it had a high-concept premise and two members of the Apatow company of actors – Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks – in the lead roles. Alas, thanks to a reserved marketing campaign and the fact that most theaters couldn’t even name the movie, it performed as well as Smith’s other movies (a middling response; not a bomb, but not a smash hit by any means). It’s a shame because the movie found the perfect balance between mainstream Hollywood comedy and idiosyncratic Kevin Smith romp for the first time in the director’s career. 3 Dogma (67%) A passion project of sorts for Kevin Smith, who was raised a devout Catholic, Dogma tells the tale of two fallen angels who try to get back into Heaven based on a loophole in God’s rules, but since such a loophole would prove that God is fallible, their success could undo the history of all creation. RELATED: The 6 Best And 5 Worst Kevin Smith/View Askewniverse Movies (According To IMDb) The film inspired protests from Christian groups (some of which Smith attended in disguise as a joke). It takes on the subject of religion in a comical, but ultimately respectful way. Everyone in the ensemble cast – from George Carlin to Alan Rickman to Alanis Morrisette as God – is fantastic. 2 Chasing Amy (87%) The premise of Chasing Amy makes it sound like a crass, juvenile, high-concept romantic comedy. It’s about a comic book artist who falls in love with a girl, only to be devastated when he finds out she’s a lesbian. However, in the hands of Kevin Smith, this is actually a poignant reflection on sexual identity and human relationships. Holden and Alyssa are a proxy for any pair where one person wants to be with the other, but due to uncontrollable circumstances, they just can’t be. Chasing Amy introduced audiences to some key players in the View Askewniverse, not to mention some cult icons of the ‘90s. 1 Clerks (88%) The movie that made Kevin Smith’s career remains his best-reviewed work. It’s a comedy set over the course of one really bad day in a convenience store clerk’s life, and the story behind the film’s production is almost as interesting as the film itself. Smith maxed out ten credit cards to shoot it; he shot it on black-and-white film because it was cheaper than color; he used the convenience store he was working in as a location, and since he was working there all day, he could only shoot at night (hence a running gag about the shutter being stuck all day) It premiered at Sundance to instant acclaim and made Smith a household name.
The Jokers, Ranked How does Joaquin Phoenix measure up to the actors who have played the Joker before?
Leto with Common, left, and Margot Robbie.CreditClay Enos/Warner Bros., DC Comics
Phoenix certainly can’t do much worse than Leto. The Oscar-winning “Dallas Buyers Club” co-star’s run at the role was preceded by breathless reports of his Method-style madness throughout production — gifts of dead animals and used condoms, intimidation of crew members, only communicating in character, etc. — so the result was the wrong kind of shocking: Leto is barely present in the final cut, with only a handful of mercifully short scenes in which the actor cackles desperately, menaces frantically, preens embarrassingly and is generally about as scary as your average trick-or-treater. It’s a frustratingly shallow performance, in which the actor and his director focus on flashy surfaces (his comically on-the-nose tattoos include the words “Damaged” and “HAHAHAHA”) rather than plumbing the depths and darkness that made the Joker so memorable in the first place.
6. Cesar Romero, ‘Batman’ (TV, 1966-1968), ‘Batman’ (Film, 1966)
Then again, perhaps Leto was paying homage not to the recent Jokers of note, but the original onscreen portrayal: the film and television star Romero, who played the role throughout the three-season run of the comic book’s initial television adaptation, as well as its 1966 feature film expansion. The half-hour series was basically a live-action cartoon, with bright colors, lively music and snazzy graphics reflecting the Pop Art aesthetics of the era. Thus, the broad portrayals of Gotham’s supervillains were appropriate to the material, and Romero’s interpretation of the Joker as a merry prankster is one of the show’s highlights. But he doesn’t make much of an impression to modern eyes — and the series’ recent high-definition upgrade draws even more attention to his regrettable decision not to shave his mustache for the role.
5. Zach Galifianakis, ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’ (2017)
This mutation of two Warner Brothers tent poles (the DC Universe and the “LEGO Movie” franchise) is less a “real” Batman movie than a spoof of the property, with gags explicitly sending up earlier onscreen incarnations of the Caped Crusader. So Galifianakis isn’t reaching for the usual effects in his voice performance; most Jokers aim to disturb and terrify, while the primary goal here is laughs. But remarkably, the comic actor delivers not only on the character’s humor, but his pathos — the picture’s smart screenplay casts the relationship between the Dark Knight and his most frequent antagonist as one of mutual reliance and even codependence, with the Joker uproariously staging acts of villainy primarily for Batman’s attention. In a strange way, this interpretation gets at an essential truth of the character that eludes its darker variations.
4. Jack Nicholson, ‘Batman’ (1989)
Nicholson’s payday for his top-billed turn in Tim Burton’s blockbuster — which included not only a handsome cut of the profits, but a robust piece of the merchandising bearing his likeness — was a record-breaker. And one gets the sense, when watching the final product, that the picture’s producers wanted to get their money’s worth; Burton seems to use every second of footage he shot, even when it amounts to little more than his expensive actor dancing at length to Prince songs. (That happens twice.) This appears a mostly undirected performance, but Nicholson invests the role with the kind of assumed danger and to-the-balcony theatricality that producers surely had in mind when they signed his checks.
3. Cameron Monaghan, ‘Gotham’ (2015-2019)
The minds behind the Fox series, which explores the pre-Batman history of Bruce Wayne and Commissioner James Gordon, have taken great pains to insist that the twin brothers Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska (both played by Monaghan) are not the Joker — and technically, that’s true. But the show’s presentation of those characters is clearly meant to loudly echo the “Dark Knight”-era reading of the Joker, and Monaghan’s interpretation of them is undoubtedly influenced by Heath Ledger’s work. Yet the younger actor isn’t just cosplaying; the definition of the distinct characters, and the breadth of their multi-episode arcs, allow him to explore the nooks and crannies of the Joker’s psyche in ways both familiar and fresh.
2. Mark Hamill, ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ (1992-1995), ‘Batman: Mask of the Phantasm’ (1993), ‘The New Batman Adventures’ (1997- 1999), ‘Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker’ (2000), ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ (2016)
No actor has spent more time living inside the twisted mind of the Joker than the “Star Wars” headliner Hamill, who first took on the role for the four- season “Animated Series” and revisited it for several subsequent series and feature-length spinoffs. Over the course of his nearly two-decade run, Hamill mastered the character’s giggling menace and loaded, purring contempt (“Beneath this Puckish exterior lies the mind of a genius years before my time!” he gloats, in “Return of the Joker”), constructing an interpretation both entertaining and unnerving. The Joker is, above all else, a performer, and Hamill is clearly having a great time chewing the scenery (or, more accurately, chewing his microphone).
1. Heath Ledger, ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
Ledger won a much-deserved posthumous Oscar for his chilling, haunted turn as the Joker, the clearest indication that he was up to much more than “comic book movie” slumming. Under the sure hand of the director Christopher Nolan, Ledger creates one of the scariest villains in all of cinema — and one that’s frighteningly real, an honest-to-goodness sociopath whose nihilistic philosophy (as Michael Caine’s Alfred memorably puts it, “some men just want to watch the world burn”) invests the character, and the film, with a terrifying feeling that all bets are off, and that good may not prevail. Though widely acclaimed at the time, Ledger’s performance seems to only expand in our popular imagination with the passing years — and the growth of our increasingly shared sense of hopelessness and dismay. This was, truly, a Joker for our time.
Segment 3: Adrian Vault Comics
Heathen has a big name to it.
You guys seem to, from my vantage point, tell confined trades. Are you interested in ongoing or very finite. What is the businessmodel?
Also, you guys are interested in publishing. I don’t see your names in the credits elsewhere. Didn’t anyone tell you there’s no money in comics?
Friendo is by far the best title I read because it’s scary.
Tim Seely’s new book.
NYCC plans?
Wasted Space audio book
What have you learned between 2018 to 2019?
Name
Adrian Wassel
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Editor-in-Chief of Vault Comics. I select all the comics we publish — plus a lot of other stuff.
WHAT DO YOU GOT GOING ON THESE DAYS?
Vagrant Queen just wrapped filming its first season (10 one-hour episodes) for SYFY. The film adaptation of Heathen is moving along brilliantly. Catherine Hardwicke is directing and Kerry Williamson has finished an incredible screenplay. Wasted Space is now available in audio adaptation. And our seasonal horror imprint debuted with The Plot which crushed in sales and critical reception.
GOT A HOT TAKE?
I don’t love the way binge-watching has begun to reshape narrative structures in serials. One of the things I love about serialized fiction is the form and the anticipation of the next issue/episode. I don’t want all of our narratives flattened out to the same shape.
WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE?
Twitter: @afwassel
5 90’s Marvel Characters That Are Still Awesome (& 5 That Haven’t Aged Well)
by Julian Beauvais – on Oct 13, 2019 in Lists
In the ’90s comic world, ‘grim-and-gritty’ anti-heroes dominated the market: spandex- clad, gun-toting men and women whose steroid-enhanced, body-builder physiques and ridiculously buxom and scantily clad bodies were out-shadowed only by the large number of pouches they wore (so, so many pouches).
10 STILL AWESOME: Sleepwalker
Introduced as an alien police officer whose beat is the human dreamscape, Sleepwalker is a prime example of creativity that bucked the trend. Bonded to Rick Sheridan’s subconscious, Sleepwalker both protected Rick’s mind and fought crime in the waking world. At a time when comic characters were all muscle-bound and armed to the teeth, part of Sleepwalker’s appeal was his unique and somewhat spooky appearance: thin and frail, inhuman, and carrying no weapons. Although the character would struggle to find popularity with readers, (perhaps as a result of being too original for the time), a modern reboot with the right creative team might gain ground with fans looking for something a little off the beaten path.
9 HASN’T AGED WELL: Rage
In the ’90s, street gangs were the subjects of constant media (over) coverage, stimulating public anxiety regarding urban violence. As an inner-city youth, Elvin Haliday experienced this reality first hand, until a dip in some chemicals granted him super strength, invulnerability and aged him to an adult. With his grandmother’s encouragement, Elvin donned a costume and joined the ranks of the super-folk, spending time with both the Avengers and the New Warriors.
Going by the alias Rage, Elvin’s costume represented all the cliches the public had about a gang member’s appearance, from the all-leather attire to the fingerless gloves. His
characterization never really venturing beyond the one-dimensional, Elvin’s recent death put his readers out of their misery. Advertising
8 STILL AWESOME: Gambit
With his good looks, mysterious backstory, exotic accent, cool powers, and impeccable fighting skills, Gambit was immensely popular when he made his debut. Typifying the ‘brooding-loner-with-a-heart-of-gold-and-crazy-ninja-skills’ trope that was popular in ’90s action films, Gambit’s mystique was further enhanced by his apparent familiarity with the other side of the law, and his relationship with fellow X-Man Rogue.
Despite several revelations regarding his dubious past and the less-than-scrupulous reasons he may have joined the X-Men perhaps taking the shine off his apple a touch, the Ragin’ Cajun has evolved over time while retaining his popularity with the fans, so much so that Hollywood is still considering him for a solo film.
7 HASN’T AGED WELL: Bishop
Dystopian alternate futures were always a popular feature in comics and science fiction, but even more so in the ’90s, perhaps through the massive success and influence of Terminator 2 and The X-Files. The X-Men have particular experience dealing with alternate futures, as they’ve worked to ensure so many of them don’t come into existence. The X-Man known as Bishop was a refuge from one of those futures and made his gun- toting, pouch-wearing debut in 1991. Having grown up in a future where the X-Men were betrayed and killed by one of their own made the character interesting, as he tried to discern which member the traitor could be. However, as the storyline drew out so did his appeal, and when it reached its inevitable conclusion, interest in the character had faded considerably.
6 STILL AWESOME: Squirrel Girl
At a young age, Doreen Green found she could communicate with squirrels and later, developed ‘powers’ associated with her totem animal: strength and agility, large front teeth, and a prehensile tail. Making her first few appearances in the mid-’90s and conceived as comic relief, Squirrel Girl was definitely atypical for a superhero of her time: she was not brooding or dark, and she stayed clothed throughout her appearances. In recent years, Squirrel Girl has strung up an impressive series of victories against Marvel’s most dastardly villains, including Doctor Doom, Galactus, and even Thanos! (Yes, that Thanos). Moreover, her recent ongoing series has proven popular with younger audiences, providing them a positive role model and out-showing her 90s contemporaries in relevance and longevity.
5 HASN’T AGED WELL: Darkhawk
When Darkhawk first appeared in his self-titled series, he had all the trappings of a perfect ’90s hero: mysterious origin, dark costume, and an angsty alter-ego in teenager Chris Powell. With his ability to create force blasts, enhanced strength, regenerative powers, and claw-cable, Darkhawk kept the streets of New York City safe. The amulet at the source of his powers remained shrouded in mystery until issue 21 of his series, where it was revealed that the suit was an alien cyborg body that switched places with Powell when he activated the crystal. Expecting a more mystical or supernatural origin for the character, many readers winced at the hokey B-movie science fiction elements woven into his origin. Interest in the character waned and has never really gained traction since. 4 STILL AWESOME: Carnage
A funny thing happened to Venom, the wildly popular Spider-Man villain, in the ’90s: he joined the likes of the Punisher and Wolverine and became an anti-hero, his twisted sense of justice allowing him to kill criminals with ease. With Venom on the heroes’ side, Marvel needed another symbiote to pit against Spider-Man. Enter Carnage, the maniacal spawn of Venom.
More violent, more psychotic and dangerously more powerful than Venom, Carnage allowed Marvel to have their cake and eat it too: simultaneously, readers could get their fill of the fan-favorite symbiote villain and the fan-favorite symbiote anti-hero at the same time. Well-received since his debut and right into the pages of the currently-running Absolute Carnage, the character has kept evolving over the years and because of it, has never lost his edge or appeal.
3 HASN’T AGED WELL: The Scarlet Spider
Replacing a classic character with clones or stand-ins was all the rage in the ’90s, as companies tried to emulate the financial success of The Death of Superman. DC tried the successful formula again with Batman and Green Lantern, while Marvel tried it with Spider-Man in the now infamous Clone Saga. A clone of Peter Parker from a 1973 story arc, Ben Reilly first reappeared as the Scarlet Spider and was thought to be the real Web- Slinger for a time, until his death revealed he was actually the clone. To this day, the mere mention of The Clone Saga makes Spider-fans wince in disgust, and despite the character’s recent return, his grunge-style costume and convoluted backstory are best left consigned to the decade in which they (re)appeared.
2 STILL AWESOME: Deadpool
When Deadpool made his first appearance, he was an unremarkable assassin who bore more than a passing resemblance to DC’s Deathstroke, albeit wearing a knock-off Spider- Man costume. As was obligatory for comic book assassins in the ’90s, he was ninja- trained, carried guns (and pouches) and had a shadowy past.
Over the years, writers have parlayed Deadpool’s ability to run his mouth during a fight into a defining character trait, endearing him to fans who appreciate a sprinkle of comedy in their heroes. Now an unofficial ambassador for pop-culture referencing, 4th-wall-
breaking comedic superheroes (and cool Canadian actors), Deadpool’s popularity has transcended the decade he originated from, making him the biggest Marvel success story of the ’90s.
1 HASN’T AGED WELL: Cable
The pouch-wearing patriarch of ’90s superhero chic, Cable epitomized every trait the decade’s characters were to have: he was tough, grim, deadly, calculating, had a mysterious backstory and was armed to the teeth. As the leader of X-Force, Cable advocated a more confrontationally proactive approach to human/mutant relations than Professor X, but was not a militant in his ways as Magneto, which appealed to the sensibilities of the day. Revealed to be Cyclops’ son from the future, the appearance of multiple versions of the character (and their convoluted histories), as well as the counter- logic of having an Alpha-level mutant rely on such a ridiculous amount of firearms (and pouches), diminished his popularity, ironically leaving him a relic of the past.
EP 191: Joker Review, NYCC Recap, SyFy Wire Writer Kevin Sharp
Oct 10, 2019
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The name of the film is #Joker and it’s ALL of these. We bring in Syfywire writer Kevin Sharp on to help us parse through the noise as we review Todd Philips new film. PLUS: We recap our NYCC 2019
►Box office:Jokerslays the record books. The Warner Bros. film opened to $93.5 million domestically and $140.5 million overseas for a $234 million haul globally. It’s the biggest October opening ever, topping last year’s supervillain flick Venom, which debuted to $80.3 million, and the best domestic opening for Warner Bros. in two years, since the firstIt. Joker delivered despite (or perhaps in part because of?) the scrutiny the film has faced over its nihilistic story, and concerns around violence in theaters. The numbers.
+In fact,Jokerbroke a number of records, delivering the best opening weekend for any film from Robert De Niro, Joaquin Phoenix, and director Todd Phillips, a slew of October records, both domestic and international, and the fourth best weekend for any R-rated feature, behind only It and the Deadpool movies. The list.
+Joker‘s “wake-up call” to Hollywood. Pamela McClintock examinesJoker‘s blockbuster opening, with 62 percent of the audience male (comparable to other superhero flicks) but only 8 percent between the ages of 13-17, below the average for the genre. The success reveals a potential box office opportunity for studios willing to take the risk.
Quote: “I think Joker‘s debut is another wake-up call — one that is coming in on Batman’s red phone — telling everyone in the industry that R-rated superhero films are here to stay,” says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Hopefully Disney will take that call soon. If they don’t, DC will be happy to staff the call center with its people.” The story.
Segment 2: Joker Review
The Comic That Explains Where Joker Went Wrong
Alan Moore’s classic 1988 story, Batman: The Killing Joke, was an inspiration for Todd Phillips’s grim new film—but not in the one way that really mattered.
In The Killing Joke, Moore took that earlier tale and tried to deepen it. The 45-page “one-shot” story reveals the Joker’s past: He was a struggling stand-up comedian who had lost his wife and unborn child in an accident, embarked on the robbery of a chemical plant to make ends meet, and fell into a vat while fleeing Batman. The narrative removes the Joker’s background as a master criminal and emphasizes that he was a relatively ordinary man who had “one bad day” that drove him to lunacy. In the present, the Joker kidnaps and brutalizes Barbara Gordon (the daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon and the current Batgirl), paralyzing her and torturing her, then taking lewd pictures of her to torment her father with.
It was a shocking story within the parameters of DC Comics, all the more so because it was presented as canon, not as an adult-oriented tale existing outside the monthly Batman story lines. Barbara Gordon remained paralyzed for decades, all because of a stunt by the Joker intended to demonstrate that what had happened to him could happen to anyone. “You had a bad day, and everything changed. Why else would you dress up like a living rat?” the Joker says to Batman. “When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was, I went crazy as a coot! I admit it!”
The story ends with Batman bringing in the Joker “by the book,” as Commissioner Gordon insists, to “show him that our way works”; the Joker’s efforts to drive Gordon mad fail. Batman, also transformed into a costumed creature by trauma (the death of his parents), reminds the Joker that he himself never succumbed to evil. But despite that bittersweet ending, The Killing Joke helped cement the villain’s reputation for nihilism, forging a modern template for a man once portrayed as a vicious trickster.
Phillips’s film keeps much of Moore’s characterization, tracking the life of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) as he struggles with mental illness, is attacked and harassed in the street multiple times, and becomes a figure of public ridicule when one of his strange stand-up sets is mocked by a legendary talk-show host (Robert De Niro). But the thing that Joker lacks is Batman. The film does include a young Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson), but flips the order in which the characters’ alter egos are created, having Joker’s transformation into a public menace spur a riot that ends with Bruce’s parents getting murdered.
Without Batman to play off, the reason for Joker’s existence as a protagonist in Phillips’s film is vague at best. The narrative tracks his evolution into an evil creature, providing a revamped and simplistic origin story for a figure who has only ever existed as a distorted mirror image of the Caped Crusader. Even when compared with Moore and Bolland’s comic, Joker is a bitter and humorless work, an attempt to add gravitas to a character who typically hasn’t stood for anything broadly metaphorical. In the movie, Joker commits an act of murder on live television and somehow becomes an icon of rebellion and class upheaval as a result. It’s an arc that tries to justify his leap from supporting player to star—and fails spectacularly
Segment 3:
Name
Kevin Sharp
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“Jack of many writing trades, master of none.” Author, recovering screenwriter, video game writer, comics blogger, podcaster.
WHAT DO YOU GOT GOING ON THESE DAYS?
I currently run the comic creator interview series “Between the Panels” @ Fanbase Press. I’m also a staff contributor for SyFy Wire & a few other geek sites.
GOT A HOT TAKE?
Depending how much in depth we want to go, there’s the Joker’s comics history from killer in the Golden Age, to harmless clown in the Silver Age, then swinging back to dangerous in the Bronze Age (& continuing on from there w/ Killing Joke, Death in the Family, etc).
Could also discuss different onscreen Jokers and/or favorite Joker stories in comics if time.
EP 183: Avengers: Endgame Blu-Ray Review, Dr. Strange Sequel News, Sean Lewis ‘Thumbs’ Interview
Aug 15, 2019
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PODCAST | Fans are still feeling the ripple of the Avengers: Endgame, but does the Blu-Ray Stack up? Plus: We kick off our Marvel Phase 4 coverage with Dr. Strange and the Multiverse: Is the villain someone we all know?
AND: We welcome ‘Thumbs’ creator Sean Lewis to talk about his hit Image Comic.
What you get: Region-free 4K Blu-ray disc, Region A/B/C HD Blu-ray,
Region A/B/C bonus feature Blu-ray
Extra Features: Featurettes on Iron Man’s movie legacy, Captain America’s movie legacy, Black Widow’s movie legacy, Stan Lee’s movie legacy, the Russo Brothers journey to Endgame, and the women of the MCU; six deleted scenes; gag reel; director and writer commentary track
Our Take: Forget the techie details, this is all about whether or not this film holds up. For me, it never did to begin with. Give me Infinity War any day of the week, Endgame isn’t even in my top 10. – Mike
Segment 2: Doctor Strange 2 Theory: Scarlet Witch IS The Multiverse Madness
Scarlet Witch’s vast powers came at a terrible cost. As Doctor Strange noted in Avengers #503, Wanda possessed abilities that she had neither earned nor understood. “Can you understand the delicate mindset of a woman, a person, who has control over reality,” he asked the Avengers. “It means reality controls her.
Spotlight: Sean Lewis
Name
Sean Lewis
WHAT DO YOU DO?
I am the writer of THUMBS, COYOTES, THE FEW and SAINTS (Image Comics) and BETROTHED and CLANKILLERS (Aftershock Comics). I also contributed to DEATH BY DESIGN: A tribute to Megadeth from Heavy Metal. Prior tot hat, I was an award winning and internationally produced playwright.
WHAT DO YOU GOT GOING ON THESE DAYS?
THUMBS. THUMBS. THUMBS.
GOT A HOT TAKE?
It would make worse radio but better life to hav eless hot takes. Epstein was murdered.
WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU ONLINE?
@seanchrislewis on twitter @seanlewis6026 on Instagram
Taking you INSIDE the source material for your favorite films.
Marvel Comics’ 80th anniversary has been (like most publisher anniversaries) an opportunity to put more comics on the stands. But unlike past celebrations of the Marvel line, this year’s milestone efforts extend beyond the traditional anthology format projects Marvel Editor-in-Chief CB Cebulski explained the approach to the comics focusing on eight decades of the House of Ideas by tying them to his general editorial approach for Marvel in the here and now.
“We were figuring out how to celebrate the 80th anniversary. Going back to [that idea of] ‘Look back to the past to respect the future,'” told CBR at Comic-Con International.
EP 180: SDCC 2019 Recap, Marvel Phase 4, Top Gun 2, Terminator
Jul 25, 2019
We want YOUR thoughts!! Click the links to YouTube and share your comments below! Subscribe to our channel for new videos every Wednesday!
PODCAST | It’s our San Diego Comic Con review – straight from the host who was there! Who won the weekend? What was the biggest announcement? Did you really wait overnight for those Hall H passes? We have the scoop!
The biggest announcement from Hall H at ComicCon was..?
^Welcome to Phase 4. Kevin Feige took the stage at Comic-Con to pull back the curtain on Phase 4 of the MCU, which includes Black Widow, Disney+ shows and sequels to Thor and Doctor Strange… ► Mahershala Ali to star in Blade reboot. He’ll take over for Wesley Snipes in a reboot of the franchise centering on the hero who tries to rid the world of vampires as a way of avenging his mother. How he was cast. ► Simu Liu cast as lead in Shang-Chi. The actor, best known for his role on the CBC sitcom Kim’s Convenience, was cast as the titular character. Also joining the movie will be Awkwafina and veteran actor Tony Leung. Arriving Feb. 2021. ► Natalie Portman returns to Thor. The actress will return to the franchise as a female Thor, with the story taking its cues from the recent comics run penned by Jason Aaron in a Taika Waititi film arriving Nov. 2021. Details. ► Angelina Jolie makes Eternals debut. “I’m gonna work 10 times harder,” said Jolie to the elated panel crowd. “Because what it means to be part of the MCU, what it means to be an Eternal, to be part of this family.” Quotes. + What it all means: Richard Newby writes: “In Phase 4, it’s also the attention to inclusivity. Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi, WandaVision, the new Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and the new Thor each offer a much needed and desired perspective to the MCU, be it a diverse cast, female superheroes, an Asian-American hero, a Black Captain America, a female Thor, and an LGBTQ characters
Comic-Con’s winners and losers … As chosen by THR’s on-site team of Lesley Goldberg, Aaron Couch, Borys Kit, Mia Galuppo and Patrick Shanley:
+ Winner: Marvel: The studio unveiled its Phase 4 as it dated numerous movies for 2020 and 2021 and slotted its “event series,” the shows that will debut on the Disney+ streaming service that also tie to the movies, all the while throwing at the audience logos and star power.
+ Loser: Veronica Mars (Hulu) Surprise! All episodes of the highly anticipated revival are available to stream a week early! The early drop was a regular topic on Friday but by Saturday, it had already been drowned out. Early release.
+ Winner: Paramount. Tim Miller brought Paramount and Skydance’s Terminator: Dark Fate footage to the panel that was filled with enough Sarah Connor and fun one-liners to make even the most temperamental of fanboys happy. And the surprise Tom Cruise appearance and Top Gun: Maverick trailer at the end of the session added a particularly nice touch.
+ Winner: The Witcher (Netflix) With impressive production qualities and a bona fide movie star (Henry Cavill) at the top of the call sheet, the first footage from the streamer’s upcoming fantasy drama was the buzz of San Diego.
+ Winner: The Walking Dead (AMC). AMC closed out the panel with a teaser for its Andrew Lincoln-led TV movies that, in a massive change, will no longer air on AMC. Instead, they will be released exclusively in theaters via a pact with Universal Pictures.
+ Winner: Watchmen (HBO) It’s damn-near impossible to cut through at Comic-Con, but that wasn’t a problem for Damon Lindelof’s highly anticipated take on Alan Moore’s beloved Watchmen. Fueled by a social media campaign, the trailer debuted to overwhelming buzz. More losers.
Loser: The Eisner Awards It’s not the winners of this year’s Will Eisner Comic Awards (i.e. the Oscars for comics) that were the problem; it’s that the day after the awards were given out, those who attended were talking more about what was wrong with the ceremony than who won any category. Complaints included an ill-considered joke about ICE agents coming for MAD Magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragones, multiple presenters complaining about the difficulty they had with nominees’ names and commentary about how easy the convention has to be for hot girls. Perhaps it’s time for a rethink before next year’s awards?
Winner: It Chapter Two (New Line/Warner Bros.) While Warner Bros. didn’t bring its DC heroes to the Con, its New Line Cinema unofficially kicked off Comic-Con with Wednesday night’s ScareDiego, an off-campus event that is becoming a must-attend. Conan O’Brien moderated a star-packed panel with Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader and the rest of filmmaker Andy Muschietti’s Losers’ Club. They showed off an early look at the Chapter Two trailer, as well as three extended scenes that showed there are new and inventive scares in store. For those who wondered if Chapter Two‘s adult cast could match the chemistry of their young counterparts in the 2017 hit, the answer appears to be yes. There was lots of good-natured teasing (and even a duet between Muschietti and Chastain).
Loser: Game of Thrones (HBO) Heading into the annual event, the fantasy drama series was easily the most-anticipated panel at the confab. That changed days before the convention center doors opened when creators and showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss bailed on their scheduled appearance, which was poised to feature their first comments about the divisive final season and series ender. Instead, the remaining castmembers on hand were left to defend the series after a Comic-Con representative opened the session with an odd and out-of-place PSA about acceptance amid threats of panel-crashers. Not helping matters was co-star Conleth Hill, who literally blamed a “media-led campaign” for strong reaction to the final season.
Winner: Westworld (HBO) Showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan pulled the curtain back on season three with an explosive trailer for the highly anticipated third season (coming in 2020). The typically tight-lipped married duo also were a little more forthcoming than usual and engaged in a lively discussion that was only tempered by divorce jokes between the pair when the conversation got a little too spoilery. One request: Please name the new Nazi-focused world featured in the season three trailer, because just the thought of “Nazi World” is downright horrifying.
Loser: Ruby Rose
The most San Diego would see of the star of The CW’s groundbreaking Batwoman was on hotel key cards and other promotional fare as the actress — TV’s first openly gay leading character played by an out actress of a superhero show — was a no-show in San Diego for Saturday’s panel. (Producers and Rose, in a social media post, blamed her absence on production.) The CW drama, though, did generate strong buzz from Wednesday night’s preview screening and its formal public unveiling. Bonus points to Berlanti Productions topper Sarah Schechter for her wardrobe choices during Saturday’s panel.
Winner: Tom Hooper
Not only did the Cats trailer fully paralyze Twitter and monopolize all conversations at Comic-Con on Thursday, but a couple of hours later the trailer for HBO’s His Dark Materials — of which Hooper directed a few episodes — debuted to much praise in Hall H.
Winner: Tom King
The Batman and Mister Miracle writer is on a high right now. Not only did he have an almost clean sweep at the Eisner Awards on Friday night, but his Comic-Con is to be followed by some time in Los Angeles writing the screenplay for Ava DuVernay’s New Gods movie. With a big Batman storyline starting this past Wednesday and a mystery upcoming collaboration with his Mister Miracle partner Mitch Gerads on the cards, King is… well, the current king of comics, it seems.
Winner: The X-Men (Marvel)
At a Comic-Con with few actual comics announcements, Marvel’s Saturday reveal of the first six series to be part of its X-Men relaunch (subtitled Dawn of X) felt like a big deal — even more so in the panel room where X-Men, X-Force and the other new titles were introduced, and the excitement was palpable. If this is a sign of the reception awaiting writer Jonathan Hickman’s take on the beloved franchise, Marvel has to be very excited about what lies ahead.
Winner: Undiscovered Country (Image Comics)
The end of The Walking Dead left Image Comics without a flagship title anchored by fan-favorite creators with a killer high concept hook… until Scott Snyder, Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s Undiscovered Country was unveiled Friday. Described by its creators as “Land of the Lost meets Lewis and Clark,” it’s an adventure story set in an America three decades after it has been shut off from the rest of the world behind a literal wall. A limited-edition preview given away at the show revealed that there’s far more going on than any dig at today’s political reality: Expect literal monsters to accompany metaphorical ones when the series launches in November.
Winner: Riverdale (The CW)
The Archie Comics-inspired drama is carrying late star Luke Perry’s wishes by bringing his longtime friend and former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty for a tribute. Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa revealed that Perry, who died in March at age 52 after suffering a stroke, had been advocating for Doherty to appear on Riverdale since the beginning: “They were such good friends, and when we were putting together this tribute episode, we wanted to make it as special as possible, and so we asked Shannen to do a pivotal, super-emotional role. She read the script and immediately said yes. It’s very impactful.”
Loser: Agents of SHIELD (ABC)
Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ TV series — the ones with the same movie stars from the billion-dollar feature film franchises roles — were part of the comic book titan’s Hall H film presentation Saturday night that generated enough major announcements to make your head spin. But the ABC drama, that has long been hog-tied when it comes to direct tie-ins with the MCU, headed into the Con with news that it would end next season. Rather than having the cast take a final curtain call alongside the film (and TV!) stars, Marvel banished its first-ever primetime scripted drama series to a low-energy Thursday session in yet the latest sign of the former disassociation between its film and TV arms. Imagine what could have been if SHIELD had, from the start, regularly tied in to the MCU in way similar to what Disney+ is doing. Instead, the network remains in last place among the Big Four broadcast networks and is in the midst of rebuilding efforts.
Winner: Star Trek (CBS All Access)
Trek boss Alex Kurtzman came to Hall H to sell his ever-expanding universe, and largely succeeded in convincing the crowd that there was enough variety among his plans to sustain the franchise. Discovery pulled back the curtain on its surprise 1,000-year time jump teased at the end of season two; Rick and Morty producer Mike McMahan laid out his vision for Lower Decks, a Next Generation-inspired animated comedy that is sold as having the zaniness McMahan is known for with the heart of Trek; and Patrick Stewart — Hall H royalty in addition to being an actual knight — commanded the room with the class and calm he’s known for. The actor choked up speaking about his last day on the Next Gen set, and he revealed more details about Picard, including the fact that a slew of Next Gen stars will be appearing and that the series will involve the Borg in some way. Make it so.
Ep 173: Godzilla Review, Robert Pattinson Batman, Jaime Tworkowski Interview
Jun 06, 2019
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PODCAST |All Hail The King? We give you our take on Godzilla: King of Monsters! Must-see or wait for cable? We discuss the newest installment of the Titan-verse.
PLUS: Holy Twilight! We’ve got a new Batman To Discuss!
AND: We interview TWLOHA founder Jaime Tworkowski on the eve of the Mental Health Comedy Tour.
‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ not only sold fewer than half as many tickets as its 2014 precursor, but it also had a worse opening than the 1998 ‘Godzilla.’
Five years ago, the people complained there wasn’t enough Godzilla in the Godzilla remake. So, they put more of Godzilla and many other major monsters in the sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but the people just didn’t care anymore. That’s what it looks like now that King of the Monsters is proving to be anything but the king of movie franchises here in America, debuting not only far below its 2014 precursor but also significantly lower than the 1998 Godzilla, which was considered to be a box office disappointment. As always with properties like this, though, at least there are the international grosses.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters did open in first place on the domestic chart, which looks positive. However, the Warner Bros. MonsterVerse sequel only sold 5.3 million tickets in North America. That’s fewer than half of the amount of the previous Godzilla, which drew 11.2 million in its first weekend. It’s also a significantly smaller debut audience than fellow MonsterVerse franchise release Kong: Skull Island, which opened with 6.9 million tickets sold in 2017. As for that 1998 flop, the Roland Emmerich-helmed Hollywood attempt drew 9.4 million people in North America for its domestic box office kickoff, also reigning in first place.
The lower turnout for King of the Monsters wasn’t much of a surprise. Reviews turned out to be mostly negative, its Rotten Tomatoes score of 39% being the lowest for the brand since the 1998 version’s 16% and the third worst overall. The other two MonsterVerse titles were Certified Fresh, both with the same score of 75%. But King of the Monsters also wasn’t tracking very well. Back in early April, Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast put its domestic opening gross in the range of $46-60 million with $46 million being its more precise prediction. Last week, the site raised its expectations, however, to a guess of $56 million. The actual domestic gross through this Sunday is estimated to be $47.8 million.
Overseas, King of the Monsters isn’t faring much better, despite the optics of its additional $130 million grossed outside North America. Consider the amounts pulled this week compared to the 2014 grosses in the UK ($4.4 million vs. $10.4 million), Russia ($2.5 million vs. $9.1 million), Mexico ($4.6 million vs. $8.9 million), France ($2.6 million vs. $6.5 million), and Korea ($2.2 million vs. $4.5 million). Fortunately, the Godzilla sequel about doubled the 2014 take in China, debuting with $70 million vs. the previous movie’s then-record-breaking $36 million. In the franchise’s original homeland of Japan, King of the Monsters also slightly improved over Godzilla, grossing $8.4 million vs. $7 million.
We can expect a huge drop next weekend, too, as word of mouth won’t help bring a lot of extra moviegoers in North America, at least. King of the Monsters received a ‘B+’ grade via CinemaScore polling, which is level with Godzilla‘s grade five years ago, as well as that of Kong: Skull Island. At least the fans like these movies consistently and better than the 1998 movie, which earned a ‘B-‘ grade. The audience score from verified ticket buyers on Rotten Tomatoes does look more promising, however, at 87%. Those are surely the fans who felt they got what they wanted with the monster battles and don’t care about its screenplay and human character problems.
The question now is whether this disappointingly dwindling audience will be even fewer when the next MonsterVerse installment, already in production, arrives in theaters next March. In that sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong, the King of the Monsters wrestles with the great ape King Kong. That might be enough of a mashup matchup to woo additional crowds who didn’t care about Godzilla vs. Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. Probably not enough to make this a franchise that keeps on going given its scale and cost and the limitations of where the MonsterVerse can venture creatively. No, we probably won’t get more Ghidorah or Mecha King Ghidorah or Destroyah.
Spotlight: Jaime Tworkowski
Spotlight: Jamie Tworkowski
Name
Jamie Tworkowski
Phone
(848) 248-5718
Email
becky@bigpicturemediaonline.com
WHAT DO YOU DO?
Jamie grew up in the surfing world and later fell in love with music and writing. TWLOHA began as his attempt to tell a story and help a friend in 2006. Today, Jamie spends much of his time on the road, telling the TWLOHA story and encouraging audiences at universities, concerts, and music festivals. He has been interviewed by NBC Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning and Rolling Stone magazine. Jamie’s favorite things are his family and friends (especially his new nephews, Landon and Declan), music, surfing, basketball (#TeamKorver), and Dr. Pepper. He drinks iced coffee every morning, even when it’s snowing. Not many people know this, but Jamie is an introvert. His first book, If You Feel Too Much, is now available.
WHAT DO YOU GOT GOING ON THESE DAYS?
Florida-based non-profit To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) is teaming up with the Mental Health Comedy Tour for a one night event at Comic Strip Live on Thursday, May 30th. Tickets are available now for $25, with half of proceeds benefitting TWLOHA.
The line up for the evening includes TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski, comedian Joe Matarese, and host Preston Gitlin, who will be using their voices to fight the stigma that surrounds mental health.
Since its start in 2006, TWLOHA has sought to remind people that their story is important and they are not alone in their struggles. In their 13-year history, TWLOHA has donated over $2.3 million directly into treatment, traveled more than 3.4 million miles to meet people face-to-face at nearly 3,000 events, and has responded to over 210,000 messages from over 100 countries.
Earlier this month word leaked that 33-year-old English actor Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame was the front-runner for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in writer/director Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Now Deadline has confirmed that Warner Bros. has approved Pattinson for the film, which will be the first of a planned trilogy.
Another Englishman, Tolkien and Dark Phoenix star Nicholas Hoult, was a heavy runner-up for the role. He made a dueling audition tape to Pattinson’s. Although the studio liked both actors, Reeves’ preference apparently was for Pattinson, who has the Cannes film The Lighthouse opening later this year and will next co-star in Tenet for previous Batman filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Reeves’ film will feature a younger Batman, a major reason behind former Batman star Ben Affleck vacating the role, and will have a film noir tone focusing more on the character’s detective abilities.
Since his breakout role in the Twilight films, Pattinson has largely stayed away from blockbuster films. His credits include Maps to the Stars, Queen of the Desert, Life, The Lost City of Z and Good Time. More recently, Pattinson starred in High Life, a sci-fi/horror film that saw release earlier this year.
Reeves (Cloverfield, Apes franchise) will write and direct The Batman, produced by Dylan Clark (War for the Planet of the Apes) and should hit theaters on June 25, 2021. Now that the title role is settled, other casting announcements should quickly follow. The film may begin pre-production this summer.