Archive Page 2102

September 14, 2021

Marvel's Venom Let There Be Cabbage Carnage is delayed – as noted at this story at Gamesradar, the comic book is like the movie: delay, delayed, delayedest.

Batman goes to Prague – Radio CZ

Penguin show coming? Colin Farrell may reprise his The Batman role in HBO series – Variety

Profile of the book "Is Superman Circumsized?" – Sentinel Tribune

Superman and Lois Season 2 starts production – Looper

Why didn't George Reeves (dressed as Superman) get a cast credit for his cameo on an episode of I Love Lucy? Story at Cheatsheet

Lucille Ball found herself face-to-face with Superman in a crossover episode of I Love Lucy. But George Reeves, the actor who played the man of steel, wasn’t credited for his part. Why? Because Ball didn’t want her children to realize the superhero wasn’t real.

Hawkeye Preview Trailer

Remembering Ernie Colan's The 9/11 Report comic book adaption

Jacobson and Colon created a tremendously readable version of the 9/11 Report as a comic book. There were graphic interpretations for data and loads of information boiled down to a hundred-some pages of masterful comic book storytelling. "The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation" even received a promotional blurb from comic book legend Stan Lee: "It will surely set the standard for all future works of contemporary history, graphic or otherwise, and should be required reading in every home, school and library." It was and remains a milestone in graphic storytelling both in terms of displaying what the comic book form is capable of achieving and better understanding the history of an era.

Story at Valdosta Daily Times

Shang-Chi has more triumph "rules the weekend box office" – Variety

$35.8 million!

Reality check on the recent Superhero Movies

Apparently none of them can make a profit

Note that very generally speaking, movies must obtain twice (and more) in box office earnings (because the theaters are keeping the other half) against a production budget before any profit is made, so by doubling the production budget you see the base line a movie must reach. That doesn't include covering all the cost of marketing the movie, which can be significant, to say the least, for example consider the estimate published at the Observer that Black Widow may have had $150 million in post-production and marketing spent on it because of its start-and-stop release date problems, which means there's been $350 million spent on making Black Widow before looking at any money coming back to the makers.

With these kinds of calculations, no superhero film since the onset of the pandemic has turned a profit, with Black Widow being the only release that even remotely comes close to being a "success" while still being deep in negative numbers.

Black Widow | Worldwide earnings at $372 million against a production budget of $200 million

The Suicide Squad | Worldwide earnings at $162 million against a production budget of $185 million

Shang-Chi | Worldwide earnings at $175 million against a production budget of $200 million

Wonder Woman 84| Worldwide earnings at $166 million against a production budget of $200 million

Harley Quinn: Birds Of Prey| Worldwide earnings at $201 million against a production budget of $200 million

Snake Eyes| Worldwide earnings at $36 million against a production budget of $200 million

Bloodshot | Worldwide earnings at $37 million against a production budget of $45 million

[Sources: TheNumbers and BoxOfficeMojo]

What might have been? If China was on friendly terms with Disney (it ain't) and if the pandemic had not appeared, Black Widow might have been hitting a box office of $670 million by now according to Scott Mendelson at Forbes:

So, right now, Black Widow has earned $360 million worldwide. That’s already on par with Captain America: The First Avenger ($376 million in 2011) and with the theoretical $140 million in China and other “won’t necessarily open” territories, it might very well have earned $600 million global. Throw in (very rough guestimate) $100 million in total Disney+ purchases ($60 million on opening weekend, $40 million for the next two months), for which Disney gets 85%. So that’s $170 million in theoretical additional box office (although I’d never argue that every dollar toward Disney+ is a dollar otherwise spent at the box office) for a grand theoretical total of $670 million.

For more information on the mystery world of Hollywood accounting, read this ancient (in internet terms) article at the UK Guardian. The stars and film titles are all now "old," but the dilemma of whether a film is a "hit" or not is the same. The piece shows how the cost of making a movie has an unlimited series of variables to consider.

Comic book and pop culture auction September 25 in Cranston, RI. Will include Fantastic Four #1 and more – Yumpu

Jeffrey Wright talks about the differences between the coming The Batman versus older versions – Cinemablend

The Eternals gets a theatrical only release on November 5 – Deadline

Batman A Death in the Family – is this the darkest Batman storyline? – they wonder about it at Filmdaily

Original page September 26, 2021