Amazon has been busy attempting spin for The Rings of Power, whose positive market penetration has been underwhelming (see below). In the early days, the show's advertising heavily suggested adherence to the source material and Peter Jackson's approach (something that continued even after Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey's firing, as reflected in my original coverage). Once marketing began (February), however, we got the generic messaging that the story needs to be "updated" to address modern issues (Tolkien's tackling universal issues was, apparently, of lesser value). This updated message was consistent for months (all the way through SDCC). Amazon clearly thought this approach would work, as it has to some degree for Star Wars and the MCU (with Paramount's Star Trek and the WB's DCEU following suit without success)--in essence, Tolkien was just another brand they could use that approach with.
Tolkien fans aren't like everyone else, being more numerous than the other brands and existing longer--everyone, from book purists to Jackson fans, hated the generic commercial direction. Because of that, now the showrunners are sending the opposite message (contradicting things said earlier ala their Entertainment Weekly exclusive). They claim the show won't be impacted by modern issues. This sudden shift is so out of sync the actors have continued with their talking points (British actress Sophia Nomvete's unending rambling comments along these lines have turned her into a meme). Clearly someone at Amazon told the showrunners the usual approach was not working (when Stephen Colbert can accidentally expose you in a puff interview, you have problems), so asked them to change course. Thus far, none of the marketing has worked, as can be seen by the trends here and here and here and here). Given how close it is to release (September 2nd), it seems unlikely they can overcome the indifference of the normies, who are the only audience left for it (even commentators who go with the flow are starting to hesitate). Stores like this (whose substance is less salacious than the headline), are signs that the industry is cutting bait as they see which way the wind blows.
If the first season is catastrophic, I can't help but wonder if Amazon will cut bait, paying off what's owed to the lunatics now running the Tolkien Estate. While I think a second season is inevitable, we may be saved from five seasons of this nonsense. The plot established in the first season (yes it has leaked) is so poorly constructed and ruins so many iconic characters that there's no way to write their way out of trouble. It will be interesting to see what happens, as The Witcher is also a poorly written enterprise, but worked (for a time) with the normies (it's comeuppance is season three I believe).
As part of Discovery's reshuffling of WB, the Batgirl movie (nearly complete) has been permanently shelved. Rumour has it that it has been deleted because of how poorly it tested (the spin after that is that it's part of a re-branding plan, but I don't believe a 100-million film that's essentially finished would be shelved just for that reason). I wonder if part of why it's being cancelled is because DC is switching from Michael Keaton as Old Man Batman to Ben Affleck (a switch that seems confirmed by the latter's upcoming appearance in Aquaman 2, where he's replacing Keaton's scenes--undoubtedly Zaslav understands Keaton could only done the cowl so many more times). This, perhaps, lays the groundwork for shelving The Flash (where both Keaton and this version of Batgirl appear), but more about that below.
It's assumed the yet-to-be-produced Supergirl has also been cancelled, meaning there's a chance we could get a comic-accurate version of her and Barbara Gordon (unless DC erases yet another redhead). DC has a golden opportunity to do what the MCU has stopped doing--write good stories that are faithful to the source material. The old WB regime (headed by Ann Sarnoff) were playing the same identity politics game that Disney and others are, such that nothing differentiated the two brands (that's one plus for the Snyderverse: while Snyder's films are terrible, the tone & look are distinct). Could we could see DC flip the switch and turn themselves into Phase One Marvel and find success? It seems unlikely, but it is at least a possibility.
It's worth pointing out--and I haven't seen anyone tackle the why of this yet--that Zaslav has hired former Disney chairman Alan Horn to help with DC. This is the same Horn who infamously fired James Gunn from Disney--Gunn, who was scooped up by the prior DC regime, cannot be pleased to see him back. The Horn-Gunn dynamic is unlikely to impact Peacemaker, but it suggests to me that Gunn may not feel as comfortable as he once did at WB (I can't imagine Zaslav is happy that The Suicide Squad bombed, so I don't think he'll get carte blanch ever again on a film again).
Let's briefly look at the relative success of the DCEU regimes to this point (box office noted in millions):
SnyderverseMan of Steel (2013) - 668Batman v Superman (2016) - 873Suicide Squad (2016) - 746Snyder Cut (2021) - HBO MaxCyborg (cancelled)Harley Quinn vs the Joker (cancelled)The Batman (cancelled)Hybrid (Snyder/Johns+Berg )Wonder Woman (2017) - 822Justice League (2017) - 657Johns+Berg (May/16)Aquaman (2018) - 1.148Shazam! (2019) - 366Joker (cancelled)Deathstroke (cancelled)Hamada (Jan/18; Johns was there until June, but had been moved out of film)Joker (2019) - 1.074Birds of Prey (2020) - 205New Gods (cancelled)Black Manta film (cancelled)Sarnoff (June/19; Hamada there, but with less control)Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - 169The Suicide Squad (2021) - 168The Batman (2022) - 770Black Adam (2022)Shazam 2 (2022)Blue Beetle (2023)Batgirl (cancelled)The Wonder Twins (cancelled)Supergirl (believed to be cancelled, eg)Hybrid (Sarnoff/Zaslav)Aquaman 2 (2023)The Flash (2023)ZaslavJoker 2 (TBD)The Batman 2 (TBD)
Zaslav is not a creative person, so outside of big 'yes/no' decisions won't be in charge of trying to right the ship (which is why he hired Horn). I don't think the movies set to be released (Black Adam etc) are going to wow anyone (other than The Flash they apparently tested even poorer than Batgirl), nor do I think Matt Reeves is going to fix Pattinson's Batman, but maybe we can get a good film in 2024 or 2025.
You can't speak about DC without discussing Ezra Miller, so let's quickly go over that (see Business Insider for a fairly comprehensive look at the actor and Vulture's timeline). The primary news, outside of Miller's arrest (on a minor burglary charge) was Zaslav saying he was committed to The Flash. As many have pointed out, he did not say he was committed to Ezra Miller and it's difficult to see how the film can be released with Ezra in it. What may happen are extensive reshoots to remove Ezra from the film (which, at least according to the trades, tested well before his Hawaii incidents and other news came out). The other possibility would be Ezra hitting rehab, vaguely admitting to poor judgement, and then going on an apology tour--is their an appetite for that? It's not clear to me.
It's shocking to me that Thor 4 has actually bombed, just squeaking past 700. This amount is more than The Eternals, Shang-Chi, or Black Widow, but an IP like this should easily make a billion (especially given how well Ragnarok was received). While Doctor Strange 2 had its own issues (and whose impact likely hurt Thor 4), it came close enough to a billion for Marvel to ignore its problems. What should be clear to Feige is that DS2 (and Spider-Man 3) were propped up by memberberries (and, in the latter case, a safe, hero-friendly story). Thor 4 rested only on the popularity of the hero and a trendy director, but the story is pure Phase Four and fans have heartily rejected that. This mass repulsion of the Phase seems to have triggered Feige into summarily ending it with Wakanda Forever and announcing the next two Phases--Avengers anchoring its end (but who the cares about Kang or wants to see the Phase Four heroes as the Avengers?). I suspect Feige is going to pay the original Avengers a fortune to appear in those films to get memberberry returns. There's nothing inherently interesting on the slate for Phase Five and for Phase Six there's simply hope for The Fantastic Four--thankfully the X-Men are off the slate, providing time for sanity to return to the company.
The MCU's battered reputation is hurting all their IPs. Marvel used to rely on the fans seeing all the films to understand what's happening, but now people are skipping many films/shows, making interconnections fail. Ms. Marvel was the worst ratings disaster on Disney+ thus far, as the endlessly terrible shows encourage fewer and fewer people to try them. I see no hope for Marvel to pull its head out of its ass and fix things without external pressure. The brand needs a complete reset, but far too much is already invested and on track for that to happen soon. No one is excited about an X-Men film called The Mutants, nor do they want to see Victoria Alonso's iteration of The Fantastic Four. There aren't a lot of IP bullets left in the Marvel gun and if Phase Five is as bad as Four, the executives responsible for this mess will have to go.
Back in September, 2021, the CW (ergo WB) announced a Babylon 5 reboot. The original series (1993-98) is, in my opinion, the best science fiction show ever, even if creator J. Michael Stracyznski devalued the brand with middling B5-related productions like Crusade afterwards. The CW gave the keys of the IP back to JMS and, despite the purchase of WB by Discovery, the reboot is apparently still on-track (with important caveats--the series has not yet been given a production order).
I think rebooting the franchise is the correct decision, as the various sequels JMS attempted (including the unexpected fifth season of the original show) simply were not as good. What will a new version be like? I haven't the faintest idea. All the themes Babylon 5 dealt with are still worth exploring and I have no idea how he'll handle or change what he did previously. What little we know has the same basic premise (John Sheridan takes command of Babylon 5), but absent Jeffrey Sinclair (whose departure was unplanned) and presumably keeping the proper five-season arc rather than the compressed fourth season. I'm sure feedback over the last few decades has had an impact on JMS, but how much the insane political climate has impacted him I can't guess. Seeing progressives embrace authoritarianism likely surprised him (give up freedoms and privacy for safety), but whether that impacts how he depicts Night Watch and other fascistic elements in the show I can't guess.
In a rare moment of clarity and honesty (or just a desperate attempt to revive his career), Tim Miller admitted Terminator: Dark Fate was a mistake. The director, who happily fought with fans about the film prior to and during release (claiming those not going/enjoying were misogynists), is now admitting what everyone thought about that film--it's a poorly written mess. His comments are not a sop to the fans, but rather a plea to the industry to give him another chance. The Terminator film was put out by Paramount and he had a fairly public falling out with Ryan Reynolds (now Disney, then Fox), so presumably it will be elsewhere he'll have to look.
This is just online drama (and very 'inside baseball'), but with my prior association I thought it worth mentioning. Former (?) Mikey Sutton acolyte Matt Jarbo apparently turned against him (saying he's less interested in truth than appealing to fans). In fairness to Mikey, I think Jarbo is batting 1.000 in fighting people he's been friends with. In looking into this I was told by someone who knows both that they've since patched things up, so why mention it at all? Because this kind of story isn't new for either personality (the substance or the incident). Broadly I think one of the issues with Mikey is he has a unique meaning when he talks about bringing back the Snyderverse--he doesn't mean a return to Snyder running the DCEU, but instead a limited continuance of (some) of his characters and completing his Justice League trilogy. As for me, the contention that made Mikey upset with me was my feeling that some of his scoops were influenced by wish fulfillment--that what he wanted to happen coloured his interpretation of what he was told (just look at how the end of this article is framed; Sutton told me that the Victoria Alonso regime wanted a faithful adaptation of Wolverine and the X-Men--it's hard to credit that). Sutton went nuclear at my suggestion and fair enough, as Mikey suffers from a great deal of online criticism and undoubtedly has a persecution complex. Do I think he has genuine sources and scoops? Absolutely. That fact was never a reason for my (and presumably Jarbo's) reservations.
This article was written by Peter Levi
No comments:
Post a Comment