Deadlines? What Deadlines?

Season 2 of Arcane won't be out this year.

You don't watch MAX. You strap yourself in and feel the G's! Yeah, dumping "HBO" is a dumb choice, especially since there doesn't seem to be much of a promotional campaign behind the change.

Well remembered. Yeah, The Wire was a far superior show IMO. I liked The Sopranos but it felt like it went on for a season too long. The final season was good though.

Whedon too for that matter. Avengers was great in this regard. Although, the Marvel films had this annoying tendency of breaking the tension by having "this" or "that" characters closeup or a mildly funny banter or a sight gag every 60-120 seconds. I get that a good bit of that is dictated by the studio, but it gets tiring after a while. It's like when I saw Basic Instinct in the cinema all those years ago. More than once, I'd say to myself, "Oh hey, this is turning into an interesting suspense... Aaand, they're fucking again. Fantastic."

Yeah, this. Probably my single biggest complaint (about a movie I like) is the action sequence at the end of GotG Vol.2, which is kind of what you're talking about here. Not that I mind spectacle. I love spectacle. but action sequences should have a dramatic arc of their own and Cameron excels at that.

Glorious.

Clearly the IP is a big deal in this case. There's "doing well" and then there's this. Mario had a monster opening weekend, internationally and domestically. It either broke or came close to breaking records. There also seems to be a pretty steep divide between critics and audiences. The critical reception is somewhat mixed (56% on RT) and some of the negative reviews are not charitable at all. But audiences love it. Anyway, my nephews loved it. I don't know if they have any awareness of Rotten tomatoes.

My nephews dragged their parents to an early screening. In 3D. They are 9 and 7. The 9 year old is a Mario fanatic. ETA: the real question is, who are the people making this a box office success when they conspicuously didn't show up in droves for several animated films in 2022?

It's so fucking grey. Were they burning coal in ancient Egypt? I caught a little of it. The thing that stood out to me is that it didn't feel like a Guy Richie movie. Did I prompt this? Anyway, SW: ANH in '97 was an amazing theater experience. Also noteworthy: Revenge of the Sith: the first and last time my boss came to me on a Friday afternoon and said, "Hey, some of us are taking off this afternoon to see this. You wanna come?" Um, yes. Yes I do. Seeing The Exorcist ('91-'92) at a theater that showed classic films every weekend. I also saw Blade Runner and Alien there back in the late '90's. The difference is that the reels for The Exorcist had probably been sitting in that theaters broom closet since 1973. They'd dust them off once in a while and show the film. Scratches, cracks, emulsion flakes, Bits of hair and scotch tape whizzing by. The soundtrack on reel two was all fucked up. I'd never seen a movie that was that rough. At one point, I kid you not, the film got stuck and melted. Classic. Gremlins 2. A bonkers film in the best way with the best 4th wall gag ever. If you'd seen it in a theater you'd know the one I'm talking about. The Back to the Future films. Because they're so damn good. I could go on. Verhoven is a genius.

I know, right? George is amazing for hiring that guy.

Yeah well, George hired that Nick Gillard guy so, nya! But I get your point. "It takes a village, yada, yada". Gillard was the stunt coordinator. He didn't direct or edit those scenes did he? Also worth noting, Lucas came up with Indiana Jones and produced that film. We nearly got "The Adventures of Indiana Smith" directed by Phillip Kaufman, but history played out differently. As a creative producer and story/concept guy, Lucas is damn good.

That what you like? the loquacious type? I think the lightsaber battle at the end of TPM is the best of the saga. An opinion I stand by despite being scourged for it on these boards at least once. Gotta hand it to George, whatever his failings as a film maker, he knows how to put an action sequence together. Maul had no backstory then. He was just some kind of quasi-demon looking thing with a double bladed red lightsaber. And he's taking on two Jedi at once? Holy crap that guy must be evil! There have been some good ones since, mostly from the Clone Wars cartoon. And yeah, the final confrontation between Kenobi and Maul is pretty amazing, though not really for the battle, which is over in 2 seconds. There's a cool Easter egg of sorts involved there though.

Hell yeah. Obi Wan riding around on that giant bird-iguana beastie was cool. That opening shot of the battle of Coruscant is just epic. Mostly the scenes where there's little to no dialogue. Yeah.

It's possible that the flood of recent streaming content is a bit of a historical accident. You have Disney launching their streaming service at exactly the same time movie box office and parks tourism both vaporize because of the pandemic. "Moar content!" was the command and the studio delivered. Now that the service has been launched and other revenue streams are recovering, more care being taken with fewer shows could happen. But I think you definitely have a point here. Look at James Bond. They've averaged one film roughly every two years since 1962, with more recent films having longer gaps between them. No TV show tie-ins or extended universe stuff, although that might still happen. There've been some ups and downs but they've always found an audience and left fans waiting for the next one.

Truthfully, I was never much bothered by the Greedo thing. I might not have even noticed it when I saw it for the first time. Literally one of the most memorable moments of my life was seeing the re-release of ANH back in '97. Opening night. Packed theater full of mental patients. My god, I've never seen a theater erupt the way it did that night when "STAR WARS" blasted on the screen after the "long time ago..." script. I've never had more fun watching a movie. Before the dark times... I've even defended the prequels, warts and all. If you could take the best qualities of the prequels and the better aspects of the ST, you'd have a winner. I'm just not sure they're capable of that at the moment. They'll continue to explore it. I just think its hiatus as a theatrical phenomenon will continue for a while.

Beside the point. The comparisons did and do get made. Sometimes in bad faith. You can find any number of film reviews and articles that take the opportunity to bash one while praising the other. That's my point. I'd love to see both franchises on the big screen and I'd love the films to be great. In a previous post, I answered the question about "insulting the SW legacy" by defending the Disney SW output by saying some of it has been pretty good. To your point, I answered your question about why I think it's a bad idea for these franchises to overlap theatrically. Nothing corrosive about it.

I must've imagined all that MCU vs. DC stuff then I guess. For something a little more current. https://www.cbr.com/universal-crushing-disney-animated-box-office/ https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/05/why-minions-beat-lightyear-at-the-box-office.html

I'm more concerned with narratives the commentariat like to set up regarding "competing" franchises. Those narratives, once established, tend to endure and are corrosive to the whole discourse surrounding a particular film or franchise. Given that SW is kind of feeble at the moment, if it stumbles commercially or critically while something like Avatar goes from strength to strength, that would be a disaster. Avatar has the advantage of being in the hands of its creator. A creator who has a vision, who's kind of a genius, who knows what he's doing, and who has the power to maintain his independence. A creator who literally built a bubble city on the other side of the world to make his films. He could have shot those films in a warehouse in Saskatoon, but he didn't. It's an 18 hour flight from L.A. to New Zealand and I bet the corporate jet isn't rated for a flight like that over open water. That's not an accident. On the other hand, SW is still trying to figure out the correct organization for its many, many cooks. How refreshing was it that the franchise film media ecosystem practically ignored films like Avatar 2 and Top Gun 2? No fan casting, no leaks, no scoops, no speculation about cameos or story beats; nothing. Just, "here's a trailer"; "here's a second trailer"; "here's a BTS video"; "the film will release on such and such a date". And while slick assholes are echoing Scott Mendelson's, "no cultural footprint" malarkey, Cameron is busy releasing literally one of the biggest sequels of all time. Seriously, there are articles predicting an Avatar 2 flop that were published after the opening weekend. And not a single YouTuber or forum-poster yodeling about how this thing is getting the lore wrong or it's shitting on the legacy or any of that.

Bigger question is, what's that "dude" doing working at the museum in Athens? He seems awfully "Southern California" for someone who should have a Greek accent. I dunno. I do intend on seeing this sometime, but I'm afraid whatever virtues or flaws this movie has will always be overshadowed by its failure at the box office. It's a now virtual certainty that this thing will not reach Morbius' cume, which is less than DC: League of Super Pets (which I liked), and less than half of Black Adam. Yikes. And this is in the same month where other sequels have set franchise records and Mario Brothers is having a huge opening. There have to be people at WB who're scratching their heads over this. Marvel Studios too for that matter.

Oh, sure. I can be as salty as anyone when it comes to my disappointments with the Disney era. But it's easy to forget that there've been some real gems since 2012. I already mentioned the final season of Clone Wars. Rebels was pretty good. I haven't finished Andor but apparently it was well received by those who have. Everything else is a bit more mixed but there was some good stuff there. TFA and Rogue One were both worthy additions to the cinematic saga, even if they were a bit derivative. I liked Solo a lot when I saw it in the theater. It's not great but, considering its production history, I'd say it turned out alright. Exactly what the magic formula is, I don't know; but they have the ingredients.

Twist my arm and I might concede to sometime in 2027-2029. Of course, if the MCU were to experience a significant slow down, which is a distinct possibility at the moment, that could change. I still think SW and Avatar having theatrical runs that overlap is a problem. Mangold's film would be 3 years off, minimum. True. The final season of Clone wars buys a lot of goodwill in my book. We're ahead of the curve. I'd just like to see them get out of the inter-war periods, settings, and characters they're dealing with now. Jedi origins would be fine. Sith origins would be better. One should always listen to Lance Henriksen. Just literally pick anything he talks about here.

First 10 Minutes

As enthusiastic as I am for the Mangold project, I still contend that we will not see a new SW film until the end of the decade.

They have so much fertile ground with pre-OT stuff. 30,000 years of galactic history. The founding of the order could be a trilogy. The founding of the Republic could be a trilogy. The first Sith war... I could go on. Probably the coolest thing I've ever seen from SW from a cinematic perspective is the promotional animated shorts for the Old Republic and KOTR. Amazing. "Why don't they do this?", I might have said.