Archive Page 2154

February 7, 2023

Here’s Gunn responding to a fan who said WB still has final say over all things DCU.

It’s a whole new era over there, thanks to the formation of DC Studios. pic.twitter.com/svtoZ9RFLA
— Superman On Film (@SupermanOnFilm) February 7, 2023

Auction of Tintin in America cover art by Herge expected to break auction record – UK Times and at Art Newspaper (scroll to bottom) - Auction in Paris on Feb 10

Are digital comics dead?

The video message seems to be that Digital is Inevitable but the current clime is untenable because of the lack of trust for the platforms plus some other factors.

Related: From Yahoo Finance about digital borrowing:

During the year, readers borrowed 555 million ebooks, audiobooks, digital magazines, comics and other digital content, a 10 percent increase over 2021. This record circulation led to another milestone: Readers have checked out a total of 3 billion digital books from public libraries, schools and academic libraries in the OverDrive network ....

"God of War Ragnarok Reveals Staggering New Sales Total" – Comicbook

Philatelics

The UK Royal Mail to release X-Men Stamps on February 16 – Kent Online UK

They are presenting a gaggle of products for this - buy them online at the Royal mail website

James Gunn maps out the DC Films future

James Gunn takes a shot at how films are made today, and the internet thinks he means not just DC Films, but Marvel too – Deadline Hollywood

...productions were known for their reshoots, Gunn promised, "People have become beholden to dates, to holding dates, to getting movies made no matter what. At the end of the day, I’m a writer at my heart, and we’re not going to be making movies before the screenplay is finished. And if that means our plan has to shift a little bit–it’s going to happen, we know it’s going to happen…we’re not going to be making movies and putting hundreds of millions of dollars in a film where a screenplay is only two-thirds of the way done and we have to finish it while we’re making the movie. I’ve seen it happen again and again, and it’s a mess. I think it’s the primary reason for the deterioration in the quality of films today versus 30 years ago." Gunn mentioned how on Suicide Squad he did no reshoots, and on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 he did a day of picking up "and it’s because of having screenplays prepared before we shoot. I don’t want to get into this massive spending of hundreds of millions of dollars on reshoots."

Batman Movie Batmobile Electric Car on clearance

Batmobile on clearance - Feb 2023

Unboxing Wonder Woman

The Artgerm Wonder Woman statue - big and heavy

Official News on The Batman Sequel

Its all around the internet that The Batman II from Matt Reeves now has a release date of Oct. 3, 2025. Apparently this is not to go in the obvious direction (a Joker movie) but to utilize "other villains in Batman's Rogues Gallery."

Internet rumour: A Plastic Man movie is possible from the new batch of projects from the James Gunn-run DC Films.

"Gods and Monsters" plan of ten projects from James Gunn for DC Films

Some of what's planned:

Superman movie in 2025 Superman: Legacy

Brave and the Bold movie

Batman and Son movie based on the Grant Morrison Damian stories, apparently

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow movie (apparently based on the Tom King series)

Swamp Thing film

Waller TV Series

Creature Commandos TV Series

What's already coming:

Shazam Fury of the Gods and The Flash films

And then there's also DC Elseworlds:

The Batman sequel with Robert Pattinson

A sequel to the Joker with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga

Coverage all over the internet:

MSN CNN

AV Club

Reuters

Profile of Bulletproof Comics in Brooklyn – Epic Center NYC

Graphic novel awards at 2023 ALA Youth Media event – Comics Beat

Complaints about chaos and trouble behind-the-scenes at MCU/Disney film-making – CBR

The article speaks from the perspective of "inside" people who have complaints about how things are being done. The pressure at Disney/Marvel to just coast on past successes and to let the mammoth earnings cover over flagging energy must be enormous. I say this without any actual insight into Marvel-Disney, but instead just how movie studios of the past seem to inevitably go off the rails after a long-winning streak (RKO, M-G-M, etc). It seems what happens is that someone dies (like a head of production who kept things lined up in good order and boxed the ears of anyone powerful enough to screw it up for everyone else) or that back-room owners and financiers decide they've made enough money and now they want to be a "Creative," too, and step forward with their great ideas. Perhaps the issue is simpler that what heralds trouble coming is the Joan Didion rule: when the creative energy is absorbed into making the contracts and distribution deals such that it doesn't matter if the film bombs because the interested parties have all been paid up front, that's a bad sign.

...one frequent issue that aggravates contractors is Marvel's request to alter endings rather than stick to what was initially agreed upon in pre-production. The animator explained, "It’s kind of like putting the last coat of paint on a car, and while you’re putting on this last coat, you’re trying to decide what color you want. They don’t figure stuff out early enough."

Hollywood cleaning house of "weak material, dumping it into theatres" – Forbes

This isn't new, it's a practice of Movie studios since the emergence of theatre chains and that's a hundred years ago. Vanity projects and stuff that looked good on paper but looks lousy on the screen gets hurled into theaters kind of the way the classic pasta chef hurls spaghetti on the wall to see if anything will stick.

Before we reach sequel oasis in March that offers Creed III, Scream VI, John Wick: Chapter 4 and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, you have to weather the drought of Plane, 80 for Brady, and Fear, among other discards from production companies hedging their bets in this bizarre post-pandemic marketplace.

Comparing the team ups of Marvel and DC Comics – Gobookmart

They lead off looking at Justice League vs Avangers

You will see Amazon links on this web site because I am an Amazon affiliate. I earn from qualifying purchases.

Verdusa Spider Tee – Amazon

Original page Febraury 14, 2023