As expected, neither Black Adam or Wakanda Forever will be released in China. This is by-rote for the MCU at this stage and becoming so for the DCEU--if you aren't going to make your films specifically for the PRC, you aren't getting access to its markets. I don't think Wakanda Forever would have performed particularly well in China regardless, but it could have boosted Black Adam towards breaking even. This, along with losing the much smaller Russian market (due to the war in Ukraine), and some Middle Eastern markets unless LGBTQ content is edited out, means films like this must hit their box office targets elsewhere.
Speaking of the box office for both projects, Black Adam is going to lose money for WB--this is not a big surprise, since its test screenings scored even worse than the cancelled Batgirl. Predictions that Wakanda Forever would bomb also seem true, although it could break even financially (it's only hit 552 through its first two weekends).
It's difficult to fully express the hilarity of Bob Iger returning to Disney to fix Bob Chapek's mess. As most of you know, all the current projects were made under Bob Iger's watch. Whether Chapek was ever going to fix it is an open question, but there was no possibility of him making it worse. Chapek's efforts have never been felt by Marvel, so all Iger can do is reverse his changes to Star Wars and permanently kill the brand (maybe we will get a film from Harvey Weinstein's complicit assistant--yay?). What will Iger do? I have no idea, but it does mean we have to question Kamran Pasha's long contention that Chapek was playing 4D chess and is a Machiavellian mastermind. I have a feeling that, in time (if not already), Pasha will claim it was Susan Arnold who was the master and Chapek just a puppet.
Feige acolyte Nate Moore stated the obvious that the MCU deliberately seeks out creatives who are not familiar with the source material (thus the hilarious behind-the-scenes special for She-Hulk where one of the producers had no idea Daredevil was blind). Moore's cluelessness is not new, but having him admit it publicly is a delightful self-own. These efforts would have occurred after Ike Perlmutter and the Marvel story group was pushed out part way through Phase Three (after Doctor Strange). The wretched state of MCU projects from non-fans has made no impact on Moore, Victoria Alonso, or Feige, whose egos are too large to accept failure. With Iger back in the saddle they are likely safe for a few more years--enough time to completely run the brand into the ground.
The audience the MCU has been chasing hardest with Phase Four is Gen-Z (1995-2015). A huge part of their female-centric/diversity focused brand is targeted at them, but at least through 2021 we know this has completely failed. Halfway through Phase Four only 9% of the audience is into Marvel, a brand that leans heavily on Millennials (which fits my anecdotal experience).
I thought Blood Origin was DOA when it was announced--anything coming from the creative mind of Lauren Hissrich had no chance of succeeding (ahem, Jessica Jones season two). The show's trailer came out about a week ago and understandably got ratioed, looking like a bad Rings of Power ripoff. God love Michelle Yeoh, but she's 60-years old and the market for geriatric sword swingers is non-existent (nor does she have pull as an actor when you look at her films). Naturally nothing from the show resembles the source material (Polish/Slavic culture is irrelevant to the entertainment industry). My hope is it bombs horrendously to speed up the removal of the IP from Netflix's incompetent clutches, although I expect it to review well and Netflix to find a way to trumpet its initial numbers.
One of the reasons I have to look at alternative news sources is because official channels are unreliable (they owe their access to the corporations making these products). A good example of this comes from Indiana Jones 5, a film that has had a long and troubled production history, anchored by the laughable Indiana Jones 4. I like the first two films from the IP, but I'm not a hardcore fan, so I have only passively paid attention to news about it. What brings it to mind is director James Mangold humiliating himself by going full She-Hulk in attacking someone he hates online (oddly, the same one targeted by Jessica Gao, namely YTer Doomcock). In this case Mangold wound up with egg all over his face because he got caught in a lie. The point of this isn't Mangold or a Youtuber, but simply that fan channels do get scoops sometimes and those are often uncomfortable truths about an upcoming project (The Last of Us Part 2 is one of the many examples, where playtesters leaked how awful it was). As for the film itself, I never expected it to do well--the fourth film occurred in a different era and is terrible and the third film, even older, has plenty of issues. Much like The Terminator or Alien, some projects don't need more than one sequel (if that).
Shortly after Twitter fired close to 4,000 people (prompting legal inquiries), Facebook let go 12,000, Disney is planning its own layoffs (Iger may prevent that--we shall see), and Amazon is cutting 10,000 jobs. All of this comes during the current recession, but other than Amazon the reason for these layoffs is quite different (FB's bungling of the Metaverse is at the core of its struggles; Disney because of Iger's unending stupidity; Musk simply cut anyone who either opposed him or didn't serve a direct functional purpose--close to 90% of employees apparently, with no noticeable effect on the platform).
I'd be remise if I didn't mention Twitter's apparent death...or not. It's not long ago I had people telling me it was doomed--everyone was leaving--and instead usage is up and CBS embarrassed itself by leaving and returning in record time. Whatever you think of the platform or its current boss, it's still the only central place for news. Places like Instagram and Tiktok aren't set-up to fulfill that function, FB failed at it years ago, Mastodon doesn't want peasants polluting its safe space (RIP Will Wheaton, cf), and so on. This is a lesson Trump learned when he was booted and created his own version of the platform--it's just another Mastodon with a different political leaning.
I have a bunch of video game news I want to get into (Witcher 4, Dragon Age 4, Mass Effect 4--if it has a 4 in the title we're good apparently), but I'll save that until next time.
This article was written by Peter Levi
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