Five Valiant Universe movies announced by Sony... Bloodshot first in 2017 0

[kimik]

22 hours ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

I don't expect the Ninjak wesbseries to bring many non-comic readers to Valiant, but I think it will raise awareness amongst comic readers that aren't currently reading Valiant. They're putting out a lot of quality reads. Sooner or later people looking for that will take notice. Considering the low numbers, Valiant is ripe for speculation. There's risk, sure, but the numbers suggest a high potential payoff.

Only if you buy them for $1 or less a book. It does not make sense to pay full cover for them as there are better places to speculate on comics than a small publisher whose books may one day see the movie/TV screen. Otherwise, paying cover for a book that might hit $10 is not worth the time.

 

[Gatsby77]

Maybe - but most issues of Valiant since the relaunch have limited variants as well. So some of those current $30-$40 books could reach $200 or so a few years hence.

Me - I don't understand why you'd design your company with so many limited variants that it's impossible for *anyone* to be a completionist, let alone your niche collector base. 

[Illustrious]

Boom goes Eternal Warrior #4...

Jared Leto as Bloodshot

Edited July 25, 2017 by Illustrious

[Bosco685]

Wow! That would be a big name to get the ball rolling.

[ComicConnoisseur]

13 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

Wow! That would be a big name to get the ball rolling.

That would be huge as getting Leto to play Bloodshot would be like getting Johnny Depp 10 years ago to play a super hero in his prime.

This would take Valiant from the small-time to the big time very fast.

[jsilverjanet]

The difference is that Leto is an Oscar winner whereas Depp isn't 

[valiantman]

1 hour ago, jsilverjanet said:

The difference is that Leto is an Oscar winner whereas Depp isn't 

 

I think the bigger message is that Jared Leto is an actor who could really open the door for Valiant to talk to all kinds of other big names for the many roles Valiant will need to fill.  Even if Jared Leto doesn't end up working with Valiant, there are tons of other actors who would love to be at Leto's level and now might take Valiant seriously when they call.

[jsilverjanet]

Agreed. It also shows that Valiant/Sony are serious about this.

[Bosco685]

Have to agree with all those points, which is why I was excited to see Leto's name. If he is considering something, other high-caliber actors (and actresses) are going to ask questions about this 'Valiant thing' they heard of.

[AnthonyTheAbyss]

23 hours ago, Illustrious said:

Boom goes Eternal Warrior #4...

BOOM BOOM.

Been a fan of the Valiant universe since the lead up to "Unity".  They had some of the best stories and characters during that period.  If the artwork was better I honestly think they would have challenged Marvel and DC.

Eternal Warrior #4 is still somewhat affordable.  Harbinger #1 has been around $800 - $1,000 for over a year so that book is out of range for most.  But I highly recommend picking up a reading copy.  Great story.

***Harbinger #1 and Eternal Warrior #4 (Harbinger is blurry because it is in a bag)

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by AnthonyTheAbyss
Engrish not well

[valiantman]

Eternal Warrior #4 is a key issue for Bloodshot, but it's also a bit like Hulk #180 by only having him on the last page.  Worth having, but you don't get much Bloodshot.  (Rai #0 has more panels, and Eternal Warrior #5 has a full story.)

[Bosco685]

Quote

Dan Mintz, founder of Valiant's parent company DMG Entertainment, talks about the franchise's future after Bloodshot

 

Columbia Pictures and Valiant Entertainment probably had a much different vision for the summer of 2020 and the release of their first film together, Bloodshot. But you can't change the past (well, unless you're Valiant's Ivar the Timewalker). While news of an Ivar movie isn't out there yet, there are several other Valiant heroes in development for their silver-screen debut.

 

We spoke with Dan Mintz, founder of DMG Entertainment (the parent company of Valiant Entertainment), about their ambitions for a Valiant cinematic universe. Paramount Pictures is currently developing solo features for Valiant's Harbinger and Faith.

 

Newsarama: Dan, I wanted to start by talking about Bloodshot, the first entry into the Valiant Cinematic Universe. Right after it came out, a pandemic hit. What was going through your mind when that happened?

 

Dan Mintz: No one wants to open an important film like this in the middle of a pandemic. Obviously, that's not great. But I think we were still very fortunate on a lot of levels. It opened number one worldwide. It was number one on video on demand (VOD).

 

I think that's interesting to look at how cinematic universes are built. In the old days, [a franchise] always started big with film number one, then number two is okay, then number three was crappy and it died away. But it's been a little bit of a reverse lately. The whole point of a connected universe (and there's only three because it takes so long to build them) is that you get to watch your favorite character on the big screen long after they can no longer support their own film.

 

That's what a connected universe really builds - characters that you want to see again but maybe are not enough to hold an event film on their own. Still, Bloodshot is really our Blade. At the end of the day, it's really not part of this connected universe. It's more like that first one-off. But the response is really strong, scores have been good. It's picking up a lot of steam.

 

Newsarama: So after Bloodshot, how is Valiant building its own unique cinematic universe? What makes it different from the rest?

Mintz: Comic books have done those [stories] for years. It was Marvel that really built them into the cinematic world; they built a superhighway to that world. Our job is to find our lane. And I really think our lane is to raise the pirate flag – If you look at these established universes, they're kind of like network TV. We, however, are more like HBO. 

Don't get me wrong, those cinematic universes are great and I love them. They're doing incredible work. But if you look at them as Roger Moore, we're kind of like Daniel Craig. It's this edge that comes from being a product of its time. [Valiant] has these morally gray characters. They're people that don't always make the right decisions. They make you think, "Would I have made that decision?"

 

I think what's very fortunate for us is that we're standing on the shoulders of giants. We already have this established visual category of superheroes. If someone is sitting there in tights and has ray beams coming out of their eyes, you know that they are a superhero. You don't need to establish that. So now we can go and do deeper characters. And that's really what Valiant is about, that grayness of it.

 

Newsarama: What do you mean when you say Valiant can do "deeper characters"?

 

Mintz: I see [these characters] as very real because they are so gray. Life is gray, as we can see, and we put the transparency of that statement on the table very early on in Valiant.

Think of it like a Martin Scorsese film. When you watch those, you basically watch life compressed down into two hours. I've said this before, but if Scorcese was going to make a superhero movie, he would make a Valiant movie. His characters are so unpredictable, we just don't know what they're going to do. When Robert De Niro walks on screen, you don't know if he's going to kiss you or kill you. Those instances throw things off and spin stories off into different directions. 

The domino effect of those characters' actions makes for an interesting story in someone else's movie. Those big philosophical questions weigh on these characters. Anything that makes epic adventure is in there, in those layers and those complexities.

 

Newsarama: How are you making sure you keep these gray characters true to themselves on screen? After all, you've got decades of comic book history to turn into two-hour movies. How are you keeping those themes and complex characters when you transition to on-screen?

 

Mintz: Well, "that's the job," as they say. We have to ask: how do we focus on what makes these so different? What defines them? Then we take that defining element of a character and start sharpening it. It's like making a samurai sword. You put it in a fire, bang on it, fold it, and put it back in the fire. We're constantly identifying and compacting those defining moments, sharpening them to the point where they generate a level of emotion that resonates with people immediately.

 

We need to make very specific choices. You know, in the comics, we have different writers that make different choices based on the same character. But they might not have made the same choice as another writer. We need to find the same choices. And we need to know that five, seven, ten movies down the road, that that choice is going to affect something.

 

Newsarama: You've referred to comics in the past as " the anchor of pop culture." Could you explain what you mean by that?

 

Mintz: Well, first of all, in the film industry, I don't think people really get comics. They look at it and they say, "When is this fad going to be over? When will there be enough comic book movies?" The format, to them, is just a bunch of drawings with people that talk in bubbles. They think it's a fad, something that's going to go out of style. What they miss are two very important underlying issues. 

First, comics are the serials of our time. Like the western, gangster, pulp fiction serials of the '30s. The second thing they miss is that comics bring everything in pop culture together. That's what I mean by "they're the anchor of pop culture." 

Everything in pop culture is relevant in comics. You can reference anything you want, you can have a story that's set in the West in the 1860s but still reference David Hasselhoff. That puts you in on the joke and brings you into the story. We know you know the reference we're making. 

 

The person reading comics and the person writing comics are very similar. And that is a very unique relationship. You can reference anything anywhere as a throwaway and people will get it. Because they're in pop culture, they play video games, they look at comics, they listen to music, and they watch movies. 

 

Newsarama: Comic books have given so much to the film industry. In your opinion, how can the film industry, especially comic book films, give back to comic books?

 

Mintz: One of the things I'm really focused on is cross-collaboration, the kind that goes on between writers and artists and screenwriters and concept artists and storyboard artists. I'm very big on bringing those elements together. That's why I think there's a lot to gain from everybody. 

 

And what that does, I think, is make nerds around the world proud. We're all kind of nerdy in that way. We can look at the references in the movies and say, "it's not just me." When you put the work in to read the comics, these things pay off. Maybe it's a little Easter egg, or maybe it's a scene that went over everyone else's head. But you got it. Things like that are very rewarding.

 

[Buzzetta]

To be honest I’m looking forward to a partial collapse of the theater industry.  I’m standing on line at Apple right now so I cannot pull the article up in support of what I will say here (right now).

If the theater experience collapses then there will be more of a shift toward streaming where delivery of product is MUCH cheaper.  This would allow a wider breadth of films to reach audiences.  There are films that would get the green light that would ordinarily not if there was even more of a shift toward streaming. 

[Old_Man_Adam]

25 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

To be honest I’m looking forward to a partial collapse of the theater industry.  I’m standing on line at Apple right now so I cannot pull the article up in support of what I will say here (right now).

If the theater experience collapses then there will be more of a shift toward streaming where delivery of product is MUCH cheaper.  This would allow a wider breadth of films to reach audiences.  There are films that would get the green light that would ordinarily not if there was even more of a shift toward streaming. 

I’m split in this personally - I used to LOVE going to the movies but honestly it’s become a chore. Prices and people talking and two of my pet peeves (NOT to sound like a Prima Donna ) I tend to go more for re- releases ( comic book movies being the exception ) or places like Alamo drafthouse . 

[AGGIEZ]

On 8/5/2020 at 11:31 AM, Old_Man_Adam said:

I’m split in this personally - I used to LOVE going to the movies but honestly it’s become a chore. Prices and people talking and two of my pet peeves (NOT to sound like a Prima Donna ) I tend to go more for re- releases ( comic book movies being the exception ) or places like Alamo drafthouse . 

Completely agree with this! IF I wanted some strangers narration I'd watch Mystery Science Theatre 3000...

[blowout]

On 4/22/2015 at 2:04 AM, valiantman said:

According the article, there is an A&A movie in the works.

Not sure if that's with Sony.

Has the release of the Bloodshot movie had any effect on comic values?

I have long had a perfect raw copy of Bloodshot 1, but never considered sending it to CGC for grading. Might now be the time?

[valiantman]

2 minutes ago, blowout said:

Has the release of the Bloodshot movie had any effect on comic values?

I have long had a perfect raw copy of Bloodshot 1, but never considered sending it to CGC for grading. Might now be the time?

CGC 9.8 Bloodshot #1 is a consistent seller for $50, which is barely worth the cost of CGC grading (especially if it happens to come back as a CGC 9.6).

Prices were closer to $65-$70 when the Bloodshot movie was "coming soon" - but COVID killed the movie industry right as Bloodshot was released, and Valiant had a corporate takeover in 2018 by a company that doesn't seem to know what to do without movie excitement.

[blowout]

3 minutes ago, valiantman said:

CGC 9.8 Bloodshot #1 is a consistent seller for $50, which is barely worth the cost of CGC grading (especially if it happens to come back as a CGC 9.6).

Prices were closer to $65-$70 when the Bloodshot movie was "coming soon" - but COVID killed the movie industry right as Bloodshot was released, and Valiant had a corporate takeover in 2018 by a company that doesn't seem to know what to do without movie excitement.

So at this point its still fair to say that Valiant remains pre Unity or nothing as far as desirable books go?

[valiantman]

11 minutes ago, blowout said:

So at this point its still fair to say that Valiant remains pre Unity or nothing as far as desirable books go?

There are more recent books (2012+) which may only have around 1,000 copies (maybe even hundreds) which do sell for quite a bit of money ($100+ raw) but they are mainly valuable for being "rare" and not for their content - no one really knows how many exist, but if you're trying to complete a current set, it could take a while (or a lot of money).

Pre-Unity Valiant (up to July 1992) has always been about the content. Bloodshot #1 isn't Pre-Unity and there are nearly a million of them, released the same day as Superman #75 in November 1992, so Bloodshot #1 is probably the first Valiant victim of Post-Unity success (excess).

CGC's fluctuating grading standards don't help values stabilize much either, since Harbinger #1 (1992) was nearly impossible in CGC 9.8 until about 2009, and now they're much easier to find (still selling for $700+), which is pretty impressive for a non-variant from any company printed in the 1990s.

Edited October 28, 2020 by valiantman

[blowout]

14 minutes ago, valiantman said:

CGC's fluctuating grading standards don't help values stabilize much either, since Harbinger #1 (1992) was nearly impossible in CGC 9.8 until about 2009, and now they're much easier to find (still selling for $700+), which is pretty impressive for a non-variant from any company printed in the 1990s.

Is there a specific reason for the lack of 9.8's prior to 2009?

I have quite a few pre Unity valiants that I have also never got around to getting graded. Is there something i should look for on the harbinger 1 that would stop it getting a 9.8?