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I hope there’s more Gal Gadot in the “ultimate cut,” as she was one of the very few bright spots in B v. S.

I’m also glad to see Jena Malone in anything. I hear she’s the best thing in THE NEON DEMON.

I might argue, actually I *will* argue, she’s the only good thing in The Neon Demon, maybe with the score and colorful lighting aiding the journey.

from great but choppy to a amazing, one of the best comic book movies ever for sure

Liked BvS but the ultimate cut made it way better, explained a lot more to the people who don’t know comics.

Doesn’t really improve my own enjoyment of the film.

For me, the whole problem with the movie is the “outside-looking in” approach that it takes.

For Jorel’s sake, you’ve got a naked Amy Adams in a bathtub scene! The screen should burn with passion!

But that scene, between Clark and Lois, has the same level of emotional impact as Batman making Kryptonite weapons.

I really wanted to like this movie, but it just disappoints. Sigh.

Maybe it will improve with age, like HEAVEN’S GATE and ISHTAR did.

Well Jena Malone was great in this Ultimate Edition despite her small role, hopefully we’ll see her back in Justice League.

“2016: The Worst Summer Movie Season Ever?”

http://screencrush.com/2016-worst-summer-movie-season-ever/

I’ve seen a few good movies this summer: Green Room, The Nice Guys, Captain America: Civil War, and … uh, that’s it.

I thought the theatrical version was awful and have no intention of spending $20 more to get a slightly more drawn out film that’s likely still awful. Also, any more footage of Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor is too much footage. How do you take the two most prolific characters in DC comics and come up with something this bad?

And at three hours, I have to wonder why DC didn’t break this up into two films. If they could have saved that ridiculous “Your mom’s name is Martha too?” nonsense for the second film, they might have made more money with the first than they did cramming everything into one excruciatingly horrid piece of filmmaking (and I use the word “filmmaking” with a salt mine, much less a grain of salt).

Alexander, perhaps in your rush to write up a few more snarky comments about Batman v Superman, the facts got lost along the way. Collider reported that the extended version of the film will be released *digitally* on June 28th, while the Blu Ray and DVD editions will be on sale starting July 19th.

For the record, I liked the movie and look forward to seeing more of it.

Egg on my face, you’re right and I’m wrong!

I’m glad you enjoy the film. I didn’t, particularly. Not trying to take the piss out of anyone who likes it. I was really looking forward to it and was sorely disappointed, so I find my peace in criticizing the work. I won’t ever criticize its fans.

What a gracious reply. Thank you for the distinction. Sorry the movie wasn’t your cup of tea.

Fans will be quick to dismiss this news, and I’m skeptical, of course. But say what you will about Geoff Johns’ work, he does actually care about these characters. If he’s actually given some real power over “DC Films” (cough), then maybe Batman will stop killing people and Superman will crack a smile now and then. Anyway. Fingers crossed.

At least with Johns we get as close to apologies for whatever initiatives don’t work at WB/DC that we’re going to get.

Not actual apologies, mind, but the closest we might get.

After being disappointed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I watched Man of Steel again. It was a solid movie, genuinely interesting with a lot of potential for the series. Then they started fighting… and fighting… and fighting… and all of the goodwill the movie had built up with me evaporated. This was well before Superman killed Zod.

I had completely forgotten how good the movie was up until that point. That’s how damaging the latter portion of the film was.

It would seem smart to take what worked with MoS and expand it in the sequel. This did not happen. Clark/Superman got no further character development or sense of direction. His relationship with Lois gained no depth. Superman’s interaction with the world got no clarity. Many things were implied, but the result was not something I cared about. BvS did not serve Superman the character well at all.

As for Batman/Bruce Wayne, his character arc is deeply flawed. So much so that it undermines the film’s credibility. After living through the destruction of Metropolis, Bruce’s substantial ill will towards Superman is understandable. What is not understandable is Bruce apparently not investigating Superman.

With relatively little to go on Lois Lane learns the identity of Superman in MoS. This was before he put on the costume and presented himself to the world, before he put Smallville on the map through his hyper-destructive battle with Zod and crew, before he is seen as Superman at the Kent’s residence showing significant interest in Martha, before the world is told on live TV that Lois Lane knows who Superman is.

It is entirely logical that a Superman and metahuman obsessed Lex Luthor would be able to find out that Clark Kent is Superman. It is entirely ILLOGICAL that a Superman obsessed crime fighting detective named Batman who is also a billionaire industrialist would not find out that Superman is Clark Kent and that his mother’s name is Martha.

There are certainly other problems with the BvS, but my point is that these issues should have been identified and addressed well before filming began — at the screenplay stage.

Snyder is getting a lot of blame, but whoever greenlit and produced this film deserves just as much. Maybe these new appointments at DC/WB will improve things, but I am skeptical. As the article states, Johns and Berg were already involved.

“It is entirely logical that a Superman and metahuman obsessed Lex Luthor would be able to find out that Clark Kent is Superman. It is entirely ILLOGICAL that a Superman obsessed crime fighting detective named Batman who is also a billionaire industrialist would not find out that Superman is Clark Kent and that his mother’s name is Martha.”

I completely disagree with this analysis. The whole point is he doesn’t need to find out who Superman is. He doesn’t see him as a human being until the largely chided (and I think greatly misunderstood) “Martha” moment in the film. SUperman is an enemy to be destroyed, first and foremost to Bruce/Batman. He doesn’t “:figure” out who SUperman is because he doesn’t want to and sees him as the furthest thing from human on the planet. It’s not until the “Martha” moment and her name’s connection to his own personal tragedy that he even considers for a second that Clark/Superman could be anything other than an enemy that needs to be destroyed. The “martha” moment in the film ultimately stops Batman because it makes him realize Clark/Superman isn’t this “conceptual” enemy but could actually be considered to be a living breathing if not human, than at least non-enemy being.

I’ve long thought that Marvel should explore their non-super-hero comics for film and TV projects and that’s about 1000% more true for DC.

Adam Strange.
House of Mystery.
House of Secrets.
Weird War Tales.
A Jonah Hex movie that didn’t suck.
Challengers of the Unknown.
Kamandi.
OMAC (Kirby original, not the pale copies which followed)
The Warlord.
Arion.
Arak, Son of Thunder.
‘Mazing Man.
Night Force.
And I’m sure bigger DC fans than me could go on and on and on.

The bonus being that many of them would be less expensive than the now standard super-hero flick and wouldn’t have to worry about competing with Marvel.

Mike

In reply to Erik Scott:

One investigates an enemy not to humanize them, but to identify their weaknesses. The more powerful the enemy, the more important the investigation.

Erik Scott nailed it.

Erik Scott gets BvS in a way that most other vocal fanboys don’t. He actually watched what was on the screen (instead of cataloguing all the ways the movie didn’t match the mental checklist he had in his head). It’s amazing how clear some things are if you actually pay attention.

Awesome how BvS fans can still insult people who simply didn’t like the movie. “haters didn’t actually watch and get the movie.” Nope, a large portion of living humans did, and they found it dull and calculated, and also poorly conceived. Why was that little girl’s mom in a skyscraper and she was just hanging out in the downtown by herself? Because the movie was poorly conceived. And an insult to people who love the characters.

Love it if you like, that’s your thing. But don’t insult people who dislike it. There are a multitude of reasons to not like it.

Will Johns be better? I’m not a big fan, but he can’t do worse.

“The whole point is he doesn’t need to find out who Superman is.”

Well, the actual point is why would anyone think Superman HAD a secret identity. Why would you assume a god-like being who can fly anywhere he wants at amazing speed waste his time being anything else?

I mean, does anyone in the Marvel movies have a “secret identity” besides Spider-Man? And they actually explain why he does in Civil War…which is what movies that genuinely have a brain do to separate themselves from movies that just pretend to have one.

Mike

I just looked it up on BoxOffice Mojo – Deadpool droppd 57% in it’s 2nd weekend.

Movies are supposed to drop in their second weekend. I fail to see how a 68% drop is somehow shocking or cause for concern.

@MonstrousReporbate Most films that open big and have good reviews generally don’t drop over 60%. Over 60% generally indicates that interest among general audience (especially those who are waiting) may drop rapidly week to week, So a film may not have long legs. Under 60% means there is a chance good word of mouth. Look at Deadpool again, notice how the weekends afterwards its falling under 40%, showing a high interest usually this means repeat business from its biggest fans. A better example might be Zootopia. One of the top reviewed movies of the year held under 40% drop for a few weekends, Disney actually added theaters for one weekend.

Carl: Disney didn’t add any theatres as they don’t own any but it may well that they requested from the cinema chains that extra screens would be a good idea. More likely even is that extra screens are added automatically if certain ticket levels are maintained.

I’ve no idea how BvS will do long-term but I wouldn’t bet against it making money for the Warner Brothers buy the time overseas income, DVD sales, cable tv contracts and other revenue streams are figured in as film accounting is an arcane art that borders on magic for better or worse. Neither Warner or Disney have any reason to tell anyone the truth about what their films actually make.

Ye gods, can we stop with the excuse-making?

BvS is currently running well behind Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Dark Knight Rises at the box office. When all is said and done, BvS will probably wind up making a good bit over $300 million in the U.S. and at least $450 million overseas.

It’s not a bomb. It’s not a disaster. But it is not doing any thing close to what Warner Brothers expected or wanted it to do.

Mike

MBunge – correct me if i’m wrong, but BvsS had the 7th biggest opening weekend of all time right?

I find all of this desire for the film to fail to be very odd. If comic books and comic book properties fail, we all fail.

If you didn’t like the movie, don’t see it. I just don’t understand this bizarre cynical tribalism.

” Furious 7 dropped 60%, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 fell 72% “:

Those are the 7th and 8th films in series with die hard fanbases. Nobody is jumping on those that late in the game based on word of mouth (especially HP 7 PT 2). BvS is meant to bring in new fans, even if it is a sequel (and on that note, at least only film #2, not film 7 or 8).

The biggest new release this past weekend was God’s Not Dead 2: Eschatological Boogaloo. If the second week of Batman <3 Superman hadn’t come out ahead of a independent fundieporn sequel with an even-lower Rotten-Tomato score, that Justice League of Avengers movie would be looking at a direct-to-DVD release.

“Content improvement”. Best euphemism ever. Film-making as contract negotiation followed by marketing. They must be frustrated that the movie actually has to be filled with something before they can make their money. Don’t people realize how much work it took to market this thing?

I feel like WB could really save their own bacon by cutting ties with Snyder and either bumping James Wan into the Justice League director’s chair, or going out and spending a truck-load of money on an attention grabber.

I still don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that Justice League gets delayed from that April 11th start date. I just don’t see where it gets the billion dollars it needs at this rate.

If the movie were in fact as huge a worldwide hit as WB wanted it to be, there wouldn’t be reports of studio agita, now, would there?

Does this increase or decrease the pressure on “Rebirth” to succeed?

-B

http://deadline.com/2016/01/release-dates-for-wonder-woman-and-justice-league-part-one-made-official-1201687725/
“As expected, Wonder Woman will hit theaters June 23, 2017, and Justice League Part One will follow later that year on November 17.”
“Warner Bros has yet to set dates for subsequent films in the meta franchise.”
WW is in production. Justice League begins this April..

As for Jimmy….
“Director Zack Snyder explained his controversial decision to sacrifice the character in an interview with EW:

“We just did it as this little aside because we had been tracking where we thought the movies were gonna go, and we don’t have room for Jimmy Olsen in our big pantheon of characters, but we can have fun with him, right?”” They wanted a big star in the role, use it as mis-direction, play with the audience’s expectations.
…
Yeah. Nope.

Brian, increases to neutral for Rebirth pressure. The studio will have bigger fish to fry, but the opening week means it’s not a full-on “burn down the house” crisis.

Zack Snyder’s horrific tendencies made him a good choice to direct the ultra-violent, R-rated WATCHMEN. But he’s a lousy choice for directing mainstream DC superheroes. He began his career with a horror film (the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake) and it looks like he’s returning to his roots.

I can’t imagine a dark, gritty and brutally violent Justice League movie. But that’s what we’ll probably get, because that’s the only kind of movie Snyder knows how to make.

A JL movie needs the sort of exuberance and FUN that Joss Whedon brought to the first Avengers movie (before he burned out on the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

The criticism of this movie is out of control. It’s actually pretty decent.

Mike

Critics be damned! Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was great fun. I loved the Dark Knight Returns references from the comic book as well as those from the Doomsday comics. Yes, it’s over the top, but what do you expect? I didn’t have high hopes for this one, but they truly delivered. And Diana, Wonder Woman, kicked ass!

The criticisms will likely only affect the movies staying power. The Hollywood Reporter indicated that more than 66 percent of ticket buyers were white, male and between the ages of 18-34. Only 6 percent were above the age of 44 and 3 percent over the age of 55.

This was DC’s largest salvo, opening everywhere at the same time (including China) on a holiday weekend and the first big blockbuster of the year with no competition.

I’m seeing fanboys talking about going 2, 3, sometimes 4 times during the weekend. That won’t keep up. That 29% RT rating, and other similar critical scores will likely eventually catch up with it.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-5-reasons-batman-878521

Agreed, they’ve also adjusted down, so the final tally is actually 166.1 million. Friday to Sunday was a huge drop-off.

Haven’t you heard that Marvel paid critics to pan this movie? That’s what fanboys are tweeting. They can’t imagine anyone honestly disliking any superhero movie. Fanboys don’t seem to have much contact with people outside their own bubble.

At least this is a switch from the usual fanboy position, which is that critics PRETEND to dislike superhero movies in order to impress their “hip” friends.

Film critic Matt Singer put it best, when he tweeted that “superhero fatigue” doesn’t mean critics think there should be fewer superhero movies. It means they want BETTER and MORE VARIED superhero movies.

” … more than 66 percent of ticket buyers were white, male and between the ages of 18-34.”

Sounds like the demographics of DC’s readership! No wonder their sales are in the toilet, with such a narrow range of people buying their comics.

“They can’t imagine anyone honestly disliking any superhero movie.”

Batman v. Superman has its problems, like Cavil being a complete and utter dud, but it’s far better than a true disaster like Green Lantern. It does seem like there’s a bit of piling on here.

Mike

[…] of the Brubaker/Phillips Partnership Great, Mostly Goofy World’s Finest Covers BATMAN v SUPERMAN looks to score WB’s biggest opening with $170.1 million Random Shadow Print Imagery The Black Callus Interviews: Tyler Landry Inhumans Pin-Ups By Jack […]

“It does seem like there’s a bit of piling on here.”

Yeah, it’s hard to believe that people actually hate garbage movies, right?

http://zharazhar.blogspot.co.id/2016/03/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice-movie.html
It’s adult superhero movie every parent or adult people should reconsider themselves if they want to bring their children to watch this movie. Event for adult people themselves, it is uneasy to digest the messed up plot and story particularly for the casual viewers. It is inaccessible to them, they might don’t really understand some specific things, such as the opening movie scene that showed the closing moment of Man of Steal movie from Bruce Wayne’s perspective, the idea of the omega symbol during Bruce Wayne’s dream sequence which is a symbol of Darkseid. The one that explained by Lex Luthor in the end of the movie.

[…] Source link […]

5 Things Need to Happen on “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”5 Things Need to Happen on “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
http://zharazhar.blogspot.co.id/2016/03/5-things-need-to-happen-on-batman-v.html

Interesting take:

“The Dark Knight Returns smashed Batman and Superman. The book was intended to tell the last Batman story, and to use it as the blueprint for a whole new universe seems bizarre at best. Here’s our new superhero franchise, and we’re going to start it off by taking notes from a story that explains why superheroes are synonymous with fascism. Let’s get really violent to prove it to you.”

birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/02/24/r-rated-superhero-stories-are-inherently-revisionist

NICE FINALLY GET TO SEE SOME PENISES

I’ve read that SUICIDE SQUAD may be released with an R rating. So may the future Batman films with Ben Affleck. Hollywood’s takeaway from DEADPOOL, it seems, is that superhero movies don’t always have to be PG-13.

Batman vs. Superman will probably open at Number One, as most superhero movies do (except maybe Ant-Man). If it quickly fades — or, worse, fails to take the top box-office spot — heads will likely roll at Warners.

With all the speculation over B vs S, little attention is being paid to Captain America: Civil Wars, which opens two months later. I haven’t seen much enthusiasm for this movie, except among the most hardcore superhero geeks. A lot of people were disappointed in the Avengers sequel (which quickly faded), and Civil Wars looks like more of the same.

Marvel took a small, but real hit last year in the lessened box office for Age of Ultron (which admittedly, it’s a hard hill to climb to best the first film’s gross) and Ant-Man, which just barely was able to squeak past Captain America: The First Avenger on some relatively decent legs.

Civil War has quite a few elements in its favor, Iron Man and the new Spider-Man namely. But weirdly, Marvel still hasn’t really played that card on the latter. That may be the final marketing push is my guess.

For what it’s worth, the schedule benefits Batman v Superman more, as Civil War has an X-Men movie right on its heels towards the end of May.

Interesting article from L.A. Review of Books arguing that comics’ “dark and gritty” era began not in the 1980s with Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns, but in the 1970s. That’s when Batman went back to being a grim avenger, and violent antiheroes like Wolverine and the Punisher were introduced — all of them influenced by movie characters played by Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson.

Spider-Man failing to save his girlfriend’s life (in 1973) was also pretty dark.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/when-were-superheroes-grim-and-gritty

[…] Beat – WB preps Justice League for an April start date – You mean all those reports that Warner Bros. was in chaos was full of […]

If this doesn’t quite make the money WB wants, I’m fascinated to see where they go next. Suicide Squad is basically done, barring post-production, and Wonder Woman is in front of the cameras right now. Those movies are happening no matter what.

Do they just kinda abandon Superman altogether? Beg George Miller to take over Justice League? What becomes the end game? If there’s one at all…

Scott Mendelson wrote up a good article at Forbes regarding this movie possibly being Zack Snyder’s “Batman Returns”, which as a cinephile who is a little fatigued from the Marvel way of doing things, would be welcome news…less so the bean counters at WB. https://t.co/i8OZtwJO3e

At least Suicide Squad is getting decent advance buzz, as opposed to the more uneasy feelings about BvS, (which is more due to the feelings about the earlier Man of Steel than anything else).

The open question which is kept under wraps, is how Wonder Woman plays into the plot of BvS. This could the the aspect which makes or breaks the film. It could be that WW plays the role of teacher, guiding the two title characters into trying to understand each other. At least that’s my hope.

If what I’m hearing about the potential villain of a JLA movie is right, I’m worried about the franchise. Darksied he’s way too similar to Marvel’s Thanos, who’ll feature in the next Avengers movies.

“The open question which is kept under wraps, is how Wonder Woman plays into the plot of BvS.”

I hope she has plenty to do, because she’s the only reason I plan to see this movie.

I wonder if it will end up being a situation kind of like what happened with the Spider-Man movies, where they still made money but weren’t connecting with the audience like they used to so they scrapped them all. No way it doesn’t make money, that’s for sure though. I desperately want BvS to be good but with Snyder at the helm, I don’t have much faith that they will be, so it’s gonna be a nervous few months.

Two words.

Sucker. Punch.

drew mcweeney also said that there would be no jokes in the DC universe. Even just from the trailers of the movies this is clearly wrong.

“there is no Kevin Feige at WB”…The moment I read that,,,the article and the site promoting this BS lost its credibility.

Ofcourse….since the last movie was so divisive among audience and a select audience watching the follow up to that sequel cannot be taken as the final reaction. There’s a huge number of comic book fans and general audience highly anticipating its release. Looks like this angle/rumor is building up from a series of fan hatred towards Snyder’s accomplishment to this date with all his work and the last trailer that had a positive reaction quickly needed an offset treatment from the obvious sources.. Sources trying to relate to Kevin Feige’s creative model as the method to adopt are keeping a biased approach since the latest outings from Marvel didn’t perform money wise as in the expected range.

“I’d guess both of these reports are true enough as far as they go. My entire key to understanding the WB comes from a conversation I had a few years ago at San Diego when I was randomly seated next to a former WB writer who told me ‘The problem is, the studio just doesn’t like or get superheroes.'”

Wasn’t one of the reasons for forming the DC Entertainment division to overcome this very problem?

“since the latest outings from Marvel didn’t perform money wise as in the expected range.”

What does this mean?

“Avengers- Age of Ultron” made over a billion dollars and it wasn’t even a good movie. Also, all the talk of Ant Man’s mediocre box office returns came before it was discovered that the money had legs and continued to make good money long after opening weekend. Its final box office numbers are pretty good- better than Captain America and close to Thor- especially since it was Marvel’s cheapest movie to make.

I don’t doubt that BVS will cross the billion dollar mark, but the final cost for production is ranging from between $200 million and “450 million. If the latter number proves true, BVS could make Avengers-level money and still be not as profitable.

WBs business model seems flawed. Too much money is getting thrown around. I’m pretty sure “Suicide Squad” will be a HUGE (Guardians of the Galaxy-type) success, but nobody I know personally- just random voices online- seems to be excited about Wonder Woman. The idea of having her exist in 2016 feels too dated. Most people I talk to aren’t even that excited about her presence in the BVS movie. My guess is that this will be WBs first big failure.

Then the real panic starts.

From The Atlantic: “The Trouble With Superman”

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/the-trouble-with-superman/435408/

The problem “has less to do with the character himself and more to with DC Comics, which found itself stuck with a flagship character it thought needed fixing. In trying, it broke him nearly beyond repair.”

Trying to force Superman into the dark, grim and violent mold of Batman (and too many other heroes since the ’80s) DOES NOT WORK. The traditional, light-hearted tone of the Supergirl TV series is what DC should be going for.

“Trying to force Superman into the dark, grim and violent mold of Batman (and too many other heroes since the ’80s) DOES NOT WORK. ”

Except for the people that it does work for.

Superman Returns worldwide box office numbers: 391 Million

Man of Steel box office numbers: 668 Million

That’s a good point you raise Erik. I think the worldwide gross on BvS will tell the tale really. Did fans enjoy what they saw the first time from Snyder? Do they want to come back for more?

My gut says probably, but I’m not terribly in touch with what a non-comics audience is looking for.

It was funny that they can’t even use Superman in commercials the dread that surrounds the character right now….

The tale is likely told in the halls of power at WB when the smoke clears, all of those terrible expectations.

And then staying power until Civil War, which should give a good yardmarker to measure BvS’ success.

Okay… someone take the “imported from Detroit” Super Bowl ad
https://youtu.be/iHozLw6f5rI
and mash it with Gotham/Metropolis rebuilding.

Hmm… does this mean that Turkish Airlines will have product placement as an airplane caught in the middle of the action?

And doesn’t Luthor own LexAir? Wouldn’t Wayne and Luthor have private jets, or was this just for civic pride?

“Except for the people that it does work for.

Superman Returns worldwide box office numbers: 391 Million

Man of Steel box office numbers: 668 Million”

Ant-Man worldwide box office $519 million.

Iron Man 3 worldwide box office $1.,2 billion.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 worldwide box office $708 million

Yeah, I think it’s fair to say that dark and violent is probably NOT the best choice for Superman, when he’s doing just a bit better than freakin’ Ant-Man and a bit worse than a Spider-reboot-sequel so disappointing it stopped Sony in mid-trilogy and made them loan the character back to Marvel for Civil War.

Mike

Iron Man worldwide box office: $585.2 million

Thor worldwide box office: $449.3 million

X-Men: Last Stand worldwide box office: $459.4 million

Captain America worldwide box office: $370.6 million

All of these films were considered to be huge box office successes when they were released, and one or both of the dark Superman movies did as well or better than them.

Some people may not like the darker interpretation of Superman. That’s fine. But a lot of people (like me) do.

Maybe I’m showing my age, but don’t want a dark, grim, unsmiling Superman. Notice that Supes doesn’t smile once in the BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN trailers. Yes, this is serious, adult filmmaking! (He said with sarcasm.)

Audiences will go for a lighthearted, Silver Age-style approach in TV shows and movies. (See: ANT-MAN and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.) But the people who read comic books, it seems, will not accept that approach in comics. They want everything to be “dark and gritty,” as proof they’re reading “adult” material.

The Atlantic article nailed it here:

“Since the 1980s, the dominant trend in the industry has been specialty comics shops replacing newsstands as primary distributors. Given this change, companies like Marvel and DC have focused their marketing toward an ever-dwindling market of adult fans, darkening their characters in an attempt to keep the interest of a readership desperate for mainstream respectability. In effect, adults were colonizing young-adult narratives and warping them in the process—an early example of what later occurred with Michael Bay’s legendarily crass Transformers films.

“In one of the uglier paradoxes of the superhero-comics industry, characters who were devised to entertain children soon became completely unsuitable for them. Leaning into this trend in an effort to entice new adult readers, DC largely abandoned its strengths as a publisher of optimistic, bizarre superheroics and fumbled for an edgier identity.”

If DC’s sales are any indication, they’re still fumbling.

“All of these films were considered to be huge box office successes when they were released,”

The only one of those considered a real smashing success was Iron Man and that was because no one expected it to do that well. The first Captain America’s box office was definitely “meh” and X-Men: The Last Stand was absolutely disappointing.

If you like Dark Superman, that’s your right but it simply WASN’T a huge success with the public. It wasn’t a disaster but it wasn’t a success.

Mike

We *might* disagree about that box office for X-Men: The Last Stand. Its big drop on that Memorial Day weekend was troubling, but taken in context (2006 superhero film, prior to any of these films hitting a billion) it was a hit and the biggest earner of the franchise until Days of Future Past, which is the first time that series has ever hit the 700 million dollar mark.

Product placement for a watch?

-B

So, they go to the same tailor?

Ummmmmmmmmmmm…

Team Batman?

If we’re lucky, horrible grimdark (trite, boring, overdone) dystopianism will cause those execs to lose their jobs, and someone new will say “you know, the guys doing Green Arrow and the Flash are pretty successful at this, maybe we should try a Superman their way…”

If we’re not, DC will make enough money to not realize why they are losing at movies but winning at TV…

Wow, love the way that last shot of Superman looking at the mask invokes the shot from previous previews of Batman’s costume where Alfred has the voice over about good men turning cruel. Very nicely done.

I’m really looking forward to this, and I hated the premise initially.

So happy to see this dark and cool looking. Loved the Superman movie and the Batman films. you want light…go see some Marvel movie or watch all the WB shows on tv…..this is the tone I love and look forward to in the cinema. How people think all usuperhero movies should be bright and light is beyond me. Like any genre we need to see different takes and different moods. All horror movies should not be Ghost busters and so on. Variety and taking chances in a genre is important for the life of the movies and Nolan’s take on Batman is the best ever, and now we get to see another look at what another film maker can do. I am happy the people looking for light and bright can go and watch their tv shows each week and even more happy film makers can explore the dark side of the heroes and both can create some really fun work.

“you know, the guys doing Green Arrow and the Flash are pretty successful at this, maybe we should try a Superman their way…”

How quickly we forget Green Lantern and Berlanti’s very deep involvement in that. Sure, maybe a whole different approach from another set of creatives could work, but “been there, done that” for those particular gents.

I crave grimdark just as much as the next developmentally arrested comic fan but shoehorning Superman into that still seems like it’s fighting too much history with the source material and goes about it a little too gleefully for me. Variety and bravery is fine for the genre but missing the point of the characters doesn’t pass the smell test for me. Comics first, movies second. bewm.

Doesn’t even begin to approach the real problem anyway…*cough*Snyder.

“Wonder Woman and Justice League now have filming start dates”

“So, not really specific dates here actually, but more like time-frames”

—so, not really specific facts, just click bait headlines…I’m embarrassed for you—again…

Starting dates means very little as the process of making a film starts long before the actual filming starts and ends long after that initial round of filming happens, I agree with the first later that this post is pretty much useless. As are all similar posts are.

Gotta keep feeding the superhero hype machine, guys…

Are those release dates confirmed, or still tentative. (Box Office Mojo has those two films as “not scheduled”.)

TOUGH CROWD.

Every source is reporting the same two dates as confirmed based on WB’s shareholder calendar, whether that’s accurate or not…we’ll find out eventually, I guess.