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BLACK WIDOW: THE MOVIE (TBD)
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2,016 posts in this topic

2 hours ago, Oddball said:

Why are DC fans disgruntled? I’m a DC fan and I can’t wait to watch BW on Disney+. I’ve said this very early on in this thread. Not everything has to be a childish Marvel VS DC debate. If someone doesn’t like the movie you like it’s really ok. I’ve expressed my dislike of Marvel and DC movies and moved on. But if someone constantly trolls the movie in its own thread well hey that’s fine too as it says more about that persons level of maturity. Easy to dismiss at that point. 
As for the theater, I would probably see BW there, will wait on a few reviews. But guaranteed theater trips will be for No Time to Die, Dune and MI:7. Maybe Top Gun and Matrix 4.

(worship)

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All the movies made pre pandemic are facing a massive uphill battle. They were made with a different mindset, big budgets, and a set distribution plan that insured a decent chance to make money.  Post pandemic were are going to lose theaters, and the studios are going to be operating at least for the next several years in a very different reality. Movies being shunted to streaming or a hybrid release are going to be very challenged to recoup 200 million dollar investments for only 2 hours or so of run time. They were created for a entertainment world that does not exist right now. It is based on this, that I think most of the movies that were in the can prior to all this are going to be financial bombs, no comment on their quality. 

 

The studios are going to be forced to adapt and already are switching to TV series and streaming releases, with smaller budgets. Even films that were designed to be the start of the next phase will struggle. It is very difficult to create buzz and cultural impact with a one and done streaming experience like a movie. The theater's exclusivity and experience were often a large piece in creating these big movies, that is gone for now.  They created a culturally shared experience, streaming does not do that in the same way. In addition, streaming services are starting to find that series on a weekly release schedule in this new world are more effective in creating buzz and excitement. These movies are going to get lost on these services.  If this has not been already proven look at the recent Disney announcements, they were all about streaming series.  Out of 10 Star Wars announcements, one was a movie. Marvel was similar, all the new stuff was mainly shows.

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20 hours ago, drotto said:

streaming services are starting to find that series on a weekly release schedule in this new world are more effective in creating buzz and excitement. These movies are going to get lost on these services.  If this has not been already proven look at the recent Disney announcements, they were all about streaming series.  Out of 10 Star Wars announcements, one was a movie. Marvel was similar, all the new stuff was mainly shows.

Okay, we get it, streaming content will increase dramatically because of the pandemic. But big budget theatrical movies aren't going away the same way America isn't going away. The pandemic is about to be in the rearview mirror and society and corporate America will adapt. Whether it's more drive-in movies, more screenings, more theaters with the big seats and more employees to constantly clean, the movie theater industry will adapt quickly. America wants to get back to business. Heck, half of America thinks the whole thing is a hoax anyway.

As for Disney's recent content announcements, yes, Star Wars may find better life on Disney+ if it's going to focus on smaller professionally made fan films that feature one or two characters. But Marvel isn't dropping its theatrical film model. It may start to lean on cost cutting effects like The Volume to lower the bottom line, but they're not going away. The Disney shareholders event was just that, an event to feature the upcoming content of the very important Disney+ which so far has had little new content.

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9 minutes ago, @therealsilvermane said:

Okay, we get it, streaming content will increase dramatically because of the pandemic. But big budget theatrical movies aren't going away the same way America isn't going away. The pandemic is about to be in the rearview mirror and society and corporate America will adapt. Whether it's more drive-in movies, more screenings, more theaters with the big seats and more employees to constantly clean, the movie theater industry will adapt quickly. America wants to get back to business. Heck, half of America thinks the whole thing is a hoax anyway.

As for Disney's recent content announcements, yes, Star Wars may find better life on Disney+ if it's going to focus on smaller professionally made fan films that feature one or two characters. But Marvel isn't dropping its theatrical film model. It may start to lean on cost cutting effects like The Volume to lower the bottom line, but they're not going away. The Disney shareholders event was just that, an event to feature the upcoming content of the very important Disney+ which so far has had little new content.

But neither are other studios like WB/DC.

What WarnerMedia pulled the bandaid off on was the fact the 2020 portfolio of films were going to disrupt later film releases. So it went with a hybrid release schedule for 2021, recognizing this year is going to take a while to resolve the horrible threat of COVID globally. So streaming as a primary - theaters as a recognized secondary - i distributes this long-pending content to move forward. Just like Disney is slowly coming around with as it rolls out films like Hamilton On Broadway, Mulan and Soul. Disney dragging it out to wait and see how theaters open up more is an approach. Yet at least Feige is using the Disney+ platform to focus more on individual characters and small teams to keep the stories going. Streaming is going to dominate when it comes to potential like that to tell a 6-8 hour dedicated story versus a 2-3 hour movie. That's a great thing!

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14 hours ago, @therealsilvermane said:

Okay, we get it, streaming content will increase dramatically because of the pandemic. But big budget theatrical movies aren't going away the same way America isn't going away. The pandemic is about to be in the rearview mirror and society and corporate America will adapt. Whether it's more drive-in movies, more screenings, more theaters with the big seats and more employees to constantly clean, the movie theater industry will adapt quickly. America wants to get back to business. Heck, half of America thinks the whole thing is a hoax anyway.

As for Disney's recent content announcements, yes, Star Wars may find better life on Disney+ if it's going to focus on smaller professionally made fan films that feature one or two characters. But Marvel isn't dropping its theatrical film model. It may start to lean on cost cutting effects like The Volume to lower the bottom line, but they're not going away. The Disney shareholders event was just that, an event to feature the upcoming content of the very important Disney+ which so far has had little new content.

You need theaters to distribute these movies to make the money we have seen in recent years.  Most estimates are saying we are going to lose at least 30% of our movie screens.  There is likely going to be places in the US where going to a movie will not be practical because the closest is too far away. It becomes much harder to make money with so many fewer screens. So one of two things is going to happen, either less movies will be going into theaters, or they will be shown on fewer screens which limits ticket sales.  I personally think it will be the former.  I think most small to mid sized movies will all be straight to streaming. Theaters will become the almost soul domain of big budget tentpoles.  Even very successful smaller budget films like Joker my have issues finding theaters.

 

Second is it will be hard going back.  A potion of the movie going public is going to decide they do not want or need the theater experience. They will either say they can wait, or demand for same day, or shortened windows for films to hit streaming services or VOD. Once you give in on stuff like this, it becomes very hard to take away.  The president has been set. The theatrical window will be forever shortened.  Less exclusivity means less box office. You have offered people an easier and cheaper way to get their movie fix, you think they are going to give that up?

 

Third is possible a more short term problem.  Studios do not have money right now.  They have expensive films collecting dust, that cost them millions per month not to release.  One estimate I saw said the James Bond film is costing the studio 1 million dollars per month in interest charges.  No money coming in means they can not spend money or at least not spend as much.  So till they start to make money again, the can't commit 200 or 300 million to one film. Which means less movies, or lower budgets, likely both.  Which is why they have shifted (possible just for now) most of their resources to streaming series.

 

The pandemic is going to cause permanent changes to the entertainment industry, but it just accelerated things already happening. Just look at how streaming and YouTube have very quickly changed entertainment consumption.  I grew up watching network TV at a set time on set nights.  Now network TV is dying.  Cable TV is dying. The exclusivity of movie theaters was the only thing that was keeping them alive, now that may be gone. My kids have never sat down for appointment television.  They watch when, where, and how they want using technology. So habits can change very quickly. 

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5 hours ago, drotto said:

You need theaters to distribute these movies to make the money we have seen in recent years.  Most estimates are saying we are going to lose at least 30% of our movie screens.  There is likely going to be places in the US where going to a movie will not be practical because the closest is too far away. It becomes much harder to make money with so many fewer screens. So one of two things is going to happen, either less movies will be going into theaters, or they will be shown on fewer screens which limits ticket sales.  I personally think it will be the former.  I think most small to mid sized movies will all be straight to streaming. Theaters will become the almost soul domain of big budget tentpoles.  Even very successful smaller budget films like Joker my have issues finding theaters.

 

Second is it will be hard going back.  A potion of the movie going public is going to decide they do not want or need the theater experience. They will either say they can wait, or demand for same day, or shortened windows for films to hit streaming services or VOD. Once you give in on stuff like this, it becomes very hard to take away.  The president has been set. The theatrical window will be forever shortened.  Less exclusivity means less box office. You have offered people an easier and cheaper way to get their movie fix, you think they are going to give that up?

 

Third is possible a more short term problem.  Studios do not have money right now.  They have expensive films collecting dust, that cost them millions per month not to release.  One estimate I saw said the James Bond film is costing the studio 1 million dollars per month in interest charges.  No money coming in means they can not spend money or at least not spend as much.  So till they start to make money again, the can't commit 200 or 300 million to one film. Which means less movies, or lower budgets, likely both.  Which is why they have shifted (possible just for now) most of their resources to streaming series.

 

The pandemic is going to cause permanent changes to the entertainment industry, but it just accelerated things already happening. Just look at how streaming and YouTube have very quickly changed entertainment consumption.  I grew up watching network TV at a set time on set nights.  Now network TV is dying.  Cable TV is dying. The exclusivity of movie theaters was the only thing that was keeping them alive, now that may be gone. My kids have never sat down for appointment television.  They watch when, where, and how they want using technology. So habits can change very quickly. 

That's a lot of reality spelled out there. Maybe too much for some.

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6 hours ago, drotto said:

You need theaters to distribute these movies to make the money we have seen in recent years.  Most estimates are saying we are going to lose at least 30% of our movie screens.  There is likely going to be places in the US where going to a movie will not be practical because the closest is too far away. It becomes much harder to make money with so many fewer screens. So one of two things is going to happen, either less movies will be going into theaters, or they will be shown on fewer screens which limits ticket sales.  I personally think it will be the former.  I think most small to mid sized movies will all be straight to streaming. Theaters will become the almost soul domain of big budget tentpoles.  Even very successful smaller budget films like Joker my have issues finding theaters.

 

Second is it will be hard going back.  A potion of the movie going public is going to decide they do not want or need the theater experience. They will either say they can wait, or demand for same day, or shortened windows for films to hit streaming services or VOD. Once you give in on stuff like this, it becomes very hard to take away.  The president has been set. The theatrical window will be forever shortened.  Less exclusivity means less box office. You have offered people an easier and cheaper way to get their movie fix, you think they are going to give that up?

 

Third is possible a more short term problem.  Studios do not have money right now.  They have expensive films collecting dust, that cost them millions per month not to release.  One estimate I saw said the James Bond film is costing the studio 1 million dollars per month in interest charges.  No money coming in means they can not spend money or at least not spend as much.  So till they start to make money again, the can't commit 200 or 300 million to one film. Which means less movies, or lower budgets, likely both.  Which is why they have shifted (possible just for now) most of their resources to streaming series.

 

The pandemic is going to cause permanent changes to the entertainment industry, but it just accelerated things already happening. Just look at how streaming and YouTube have very quickly changed entertainment consumption.  I grew up watching network TV at a set time on set nights.  Now network TV is dying.  Cable TV is dying. The exclusivity of movie theaters was the only thing that was keeping them alive, now that may be gone. My kids have never sat down for appointment television.  They watch when, where, and how they want using technology. So habits can change very quickly. 

*precedent

Otherwise, I agree! :)

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It doesn't matter whether a title was an indie film which would reach a smaller audience or a blockbuster title with a zillion dollar marketing campaign, the landscape of release dates was shaken when theaters had to shutdown due to a global pandemic in 2020. Now, in 2021, movie studios are hoping to get their titles onto big screens in front of audiences which can safely gather to watch them together. For Marvel Studios, the next title hoping to drop in theaters is Black Widow, quickly followed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is thrilled to share WandaVision and other Disney+ shows with the world throughout the year but admits the movie schedule is a bit less concrete.

 

"I mean, confidence is meaningless in today's world because nobody knows anything. Hope springs eternal," Feige told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview on Sunday. "A year delay, you hope would be enough, there's a vaccine out there now. We'll see. I certainly hope so. I want to be back in the theater with people."

 

Black Widow had already launched a marketing campaign in early 2020 when it was planned for a release in May of last year. Now, Disney and Marvel Studios have to maneuver re-launching that campaign, plus adding Shang-Chi on its back for a release two months later.

 

"We've had that before. Endgame and Far From Home were the same time," Feige explained. "We have the pleasure and the privilege of working with the greatest marketing department in the history of Hollywood, so restarting that campaign, any of those campaigns, I have great confidence in. What I don't have confidence is the timing because we're dealing with this whole pandemic."

 

For now, two of the Disney+ shows have dates locked in with others to follow later in the year. WandaVision kicks of Marvel's return on January 15 with new episodes every Friday, followed by The Falcon and The Winter Soldier on March 19.

 

Why Wanda and Vision? It's a two part answer," Feige said of the series which is the first foray into TV for Marvel Studios. "One is the characters in comics have a story potential that is vast and we've just scratched the surface of it and the other answer is because Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany play those two characters. They're spectacular performers, spectacular actors. Again, I believe you've only scratched the surface of seeing what they can do with those characters in the movies to this point. When we developed it, it was one of the first Disney+ series, and now the first to debut."

 

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On 1/9/2021 at 3:12 AM, Oddball said:

Not a Scarlett fan in this particular role. I wish Emily Blunt hadn't turned it down when it was offered. Still looking forward to this movie as the trailers look great. 

I like to imagine what Emily Blunt might've brought to the role as opposed to ScarJo as Ms. Romanoff. For me, I think it's a blessing that Emily had to bow out and ScarJo was cast. I think Scarlett is a better fit for the role. To be a proper spy, you need to be manipulative and accessible, so that the spy can get close enough to the target. To me, Scarlett Johanssen has warmer features, seems more accessible. You wouldn't think she's a badass spy at face value, which makes her a great spy. Emily Blunt, on the other hand, has colder features, seems more aloof, a little more regal. I look at her and know something is going on there. I'm not sure she'd make a good spy. Maybe a character of higher stature. I've said before I think Blunt would be a great Clea to Cumberbatch's Dr. Strange.

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Here we go again. Late last year, Warner Bros. was skewered after announcing that all of its new movies in 2021 would debut simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. Cinema operators, rival studios and even some of the filmmakers behind the movies wondered aloud why, with the prospect of coronavirus vaccines looming, Warner Bros. would make such a sweeping decision? It was a move that appeared to wave the white flag on moviegoing for the next 12 months.

 

Nobody expected mass immunization overnight, but with vaccinations being administered at a crawl in the U.S., it now looks like Warner Bros. may have been forward-thinking in acknowledging the box office’s slow return. Numerous films remain on the release calendar for early 2021, yet cases of the virus in many areas are higher than ever and approximately 65% of U.S. theaters — including those in popular markets like New York and Los Angeles —  remain closed. Getting back to the movies in any normal fashion seems as unrealistic today as it did last March when cinemas across the nation were shuttered.

 

To be sure, the majority of potential blockbusters have already been postponed to mid-summer or later. But there are a handful of films scheduled for the first quarter of the year: Sony’s “Cinderella” starring Camila Cabello (Feb. 5), Disney and 20th Century’s “The King’s Man” (March 12) and Jared Leto’s superhero thriller “Morbius” also from Sony (March 19), to name a few. These seem very unlikely to keep their theatrical release dates, at least without embracing some kind of hybrid digital or video-on-demand debut.

 

Even in traditional times, the stretch between January and March is kind of a cinematic dumping ground. So it’s not entirely unexpected that the current release calendar doesn’t pick up in a meaningful way until May, with the debuts of Disney and Marvel’s “Black Widow” (May 7), Warner Bros. and Legendary’s “Godzilla vs Kong” (May 21), Ryan Reynolds’ “Free Guy” from 20th Century Studios (May 21), Paramount’s “Infinite” starring Mark Wahlberg (May 28), Disney’s “Cruella” with Emma Stone (May 28) and Universal’s “F9” (May 28). But many of these titles are expected to shift as well if conditions don’t drastically improve in the next month or so.

 

Hollywood players will continue to take different approaches to operating and finding the best way to reach audiences during the pandemic. Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal appear more primed to ride out the next few months, with contingency plans that range from day-and-date releases on streaming services to accelerated premium video-on-demand windows. Neither Sony nor Paramount have a streaming service ready to offload titles, so those companies will probably continue to delay release dates or sell their movies to platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Paramount has auctioned off most of its upcoming movies and doesn’t have anything on the horizon until “A Quiet Place Part II” on April 23, which it has no plans to sell.

As it stands, “Cinderella” is slated as the first release of 2021 from a major studio. However, it’s hard to believe the Kay Cannon-directed fairy tale adaptation will keep its early February release date.

 

Edited by Bosco685
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11 minutes ago, Bosco685 said:

Maybe. Just maybe. WarnerMedia/WB was on to something about going with a hybrid 2021 release schedule.

Just playing devil's advocate, but with all the release date changes and fluctuations (because of COVID and other irregularities), this is starting feel like The New Mutants.

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Just now, sagekilz said:

Just playing devil's advocate, but with all the release date changes and fluctuations (because of COVID and other irregularities), this is starting feel like The New Mutants.

I think there are some major differences--New Mutants had issues during production, for example, whereas BW was ready to go were it not for the pandemic. I'm unconcerned.

 

On 1/9/2021 at 3:12 AM, Oddball said:

Not a Scarlett fan in this particular role. I wish Emily Blunt hadn't turned it down when it was offered. Still looking forward to this movie as the trailers look great. 

I think ScarJo has been amazing. One of my favorite parts of the MCU--doing a lot in relatively supporting roles, and I'm glad to see her finally get her own picture.

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2 minutes ago, bpc3qh said:

I think there are some major differences--New Mutants had issues during production, for example, whereas BW was ready to go were it not for the pandemic. I'm unconcerned.

 

I think ScarJo has been amazing. One of my favorite parts of the MCU--doing a lot in relatively supporting roles, and I'm glad to see her finally get her own picture.

He's talking about the ever-bumped release schedule. Not the quality of the film.

This is getting ugly. The further studios keep bumping out 2020 films in 2021 these could impact the success of 2022 films waiting to move forward.

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3 minutes ago, bpc3qh said:

I think there are some major differences--New Mutants had issues during production, for example, whereas BW was ready to go were it not for the pandemic. I'm unconcerned.

 

 

Fair points: TNM was in post-production hell for quite some time IIRC but BW might be relegated to the same 'fate'.  More clearly, release date hell.

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