Democratic and Republican nominees for President, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, went head to head Monday night in the first of three Presidential debates. This particular debate was extremely high-risk as polls showed Clinton and Trump in a statistical dead heat entering it. The stakes were high and, quite frankly, the actual debate didn’t live up to […]
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Warner Bros. Pictures is announcing a global celebration and fan event for the Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them along
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Burbank, Calif. (September 27, 2016) –Marvel Studios announces Marvel Studios’ Expand Your Mind: An IMAX® 3D Exclusive First Look, featuring approximately 15 minutes of exclusive footage from the highly anticipated, action-packed “Doctor Strange.” The sneak peek will be showcased in over 115 theater locations across North America on October 10, 2016, at 7p.m. Select IMAX 3D theaters […]
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Here are some new Character Posters for Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Really looking forward to this movie. I love that the trailer and posters give a really trippy, Inception feel.
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The first and only Vice Presidential debate took place Tuesday night when Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine went head to head with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. It was the only face to face encounter for two individuals that are largely considered uninspiring Vice Presidential picks for their respective parties. The debate largely was uneventful, but it […]
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Dalek. For Doctor Who fans, that one word inspires terror, hate, and…let’s be honest, a bit of excitement. For the Doctor, it inspires fury, regret, and a tinge of hope. Every incarnation of the Doctor has had an encounter with the Daleks. Every time our hero encounters them, we are treated to episodes that are […]
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Never has the tale of two studios been more clear than what we’ve seen from Marvel Studios and Fox the last couple of days with their teasers for movies based off of comic book characters coming out next year. James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 seems to pick up right where we left […]
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Battleground states are states that, due to changing demographics, fluctuations in party affiliation, and a large number of undecided voters, have become incredibly important “toss ups” in a presidential election. This usually happens over a long period of time. As political parties change their policies and platforms and social issues become more prevalent and divisive, […]
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I can’t state enough how important this film is. Sure, a solo movie for a female comic book character is huge. That it’s taken so long for Wonder Woman to get her own solo film is a travesty. But the historical reasons aren’t why this film is so important. It’s literally going to […]
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Donald Trump was elected President of the United States on November 8th, 2016. The shock of that fact set in almost immediately. How could a man that has openly sided with, and amplified the talking points of white supremacists end up president? During this time many plans for resistance were formed, among them was the […]
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In 2014 we here at the MTR Network started the Comic Book Book Club. The idea was simple. Pick a series and read a few issues, then get a group of fans together to discuss it over Skype. The first few episodes were on the non-premium MTR feed and were limited to 5-6 issues of […]
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It’s becoming an annual thing. In 2015, it was Secret Wars and last summer it was Civil War. Now this May, Marvel is bringing us Secret Empire. If you’ve been following Nick Spencer’s run of Captain America, then you know Steve Rogers is secretly an agent of Hydra. He’s been deep undercover for years manipulating everyone for Hydra’s gain. […]
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Yeah so Disney really is coming for everyone's pockets. I know folks will scream "originality is dead" but...looking at how well Disney (and others) have done with some of these reimagined and expanded properties well...looks like the audiences love them. In the trailer they even point out "From the studio that brought you Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book", two films that made around a billion dollars each (The Jungle Book actually fell just short of a billion).
It's also not lost on me that in this short teaser we see more black faces than I can ever remember in the original Nutcracker story. Also, did you catch glimpses of Misty Copeland as the lead ballerina? I forgot she was cast in this until I saw her in the teaser.
Say what you want but if this film follows in the footsteps of Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book, Disney is looking at yet another billion dollar, well reviewed movie on their hands.
The post Get a Glimpse of Misty Copeland in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Teaser Trailer appeared first on MTR Network.
Now that Christmas has come and gone and you now have some Christmas cash (or gift cards) burning a hole in your pocket. Maybe you went through the other lists by Shanna, The Doctor and Dpalm and gave out gifts to others. Well now it’s time to treat yourself and I have just the list of must read comics for the new year for you.
Creating this list was harder than I thought. The first problem I had was that I went last. I wanted to avoid duplicates and thanks to Shanna and Dpalm at least 80% of my list was already picked. I knew I wouldn't be able to sneak Ms Marvel in there but they even took Secret Six (COME ON MAN) off the table. The second problem? Even with most of my first choices taken, there were still too many good books to pick from. My Honorable Mentions list is just as long as the Top 10 I put together. Dpalm and I will be discussing our Honorable Mentions list on the next Mailbag episode so make sure you subscribe to the Super Tuesday Recap podcast to hear that.
As for my list…I used rules similar to Dpalm’s list and only broke the rules once (We make rules just to break them here at the MTR Network):
So without further ado…my list! If you're interested in picking up any of these books, click the book title and it will take you to Amazon using our affiliate links.
10. Next Wave Agents of H.A.T.E – Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis never shies away from the crazy and the agents of the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort (H.A.T.E.) certainly live up to that. The team lead by Monica Rambeau and consisting of Elsa Bloodstone, Tabitha Smith and Aaron Stack assemble to take down Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction (U.W.M.D.s) and the Beyond Corporation. The book is definitely not for those that are tired of “too much humor” in comic books as Ellis uses extreme violence on top of comedy to satirize the rest of Marvel’s superhero comic line.
9. Fables - Bill Willingham
What if the villain of some of your favorite children stories turned out to be a hero? How about if the hero was a villain? What if the fairy tale princess turned out to be the world’s greatest spy and assassin? That’s what Bill Willingham’s Fables series delved into. Fables was our longest running Comic Book Book Club so that should tell you something. It’s 150 issues and for the most part all of it is great. Also, if you want more greatness, check out the two Cinderella spin-off books (From Fabletown With Love and Fables Are Forever) that spotlight Fabletown’s deadliest spy. They're not written by Willingham but still great reads.
8. Teen Titans - Geoff Johns
“I just think you need to see your friends” That’s what Batman says to Robin (Tim Drake) as to why he wants Tim to join the newly reformed Teen Titans. There’s plenty of friendship, heartache and tragedy.All the staples of a good Teen Titans run. And when you find out how long Johns has been plotting on Superboy’s origins it will make you scream out loud.
7. Uncanny X-Force - Rick Remender
Wolverine leads a X-men hit squad consisting of Archangel, Psylocke, Deadpool and Fantomex. That’s just the warmup. This series involves Apocalypse being reborn, new Horsemen, Archangel being lured to the dark side once again, Age of Apocalypse tie-ins (HELL YEAH) and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
6. Superior Spider-Man - Dan Slott
What happens when Doctor Otto Octavius puts his mind into Peter Parker’s body and takes over Parker’s life? You find out why Peter Parker as Spider-Man matters. This series starts off with it looking like Otto is in fact the superior Spider-Man. He’s able to do things that Parker never seemed to be able to do. But we find out that Otto’s arrogance causes him to miss all the signs that Norman Osborn is growing a Goblin army that is going to strike hard. This series is a perfect example of why the initial fan outcry was premature and caused a lot of people to miss out on one hell of a series. Instead of making Peter Parker look like a loser, the series does the opposite and shows how much Peter sacrifices to make sure the bad guys don’t really win.
5. Batgirl Year One – Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon
If you want the definitive origin story for Barbara Gordon as Batgirl, this is it. Beatty and Dixon give Barbara her own motivations and path that aren’t tied to her wanting to be like Batman. Barbara Gordon is a feminist icon for a reason and this series finally gives her an origin that’s deserving of that.
4. Darth Vader – Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron
All of Marvel’s Star Wars books are amazing but if I had to pick one, the 2015 Darth Vader series would be it. Set between the end of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, this series shows Vader solidify his place and prove himself to Emperor Palpatine. This series finally does more than tell you that Vader is terrifying, it shows you why. If you thought the final moments of Rogue One were a horror show, just read this series to really understand. Need more convincing? Check out my video on my favorite moments from this run.
3. Vision – Tom King
General rule of thumb: If Tom King writes it then you should be reading it. I mean who else can write a solo book about Vision and it not only be excellent, but get you all up in your feelings?
2. Captain America: Sam Wilson – Nick Spencer
Nick Spencer made Sam Wilson matter. Period. You’ll be hard pressed to find Sam Wilson written better than Spencer’s run where Sam picked up the shield. Three issues into the new Falcon series and all I can think is how much I miss Spencer writing Sam. Spencer doesn’t shy away from the racial animosity that a Black Captain America would face and does an excellent job of showing Sam’s struggles with filling Steve Rogers’ shoes and forging his own path.
1. Uber – Kieron Gillen
Okay, my one cheat entry. I’m sorry but I just couldn’t choose between Gillen’s Darth Vader run and this amazing series called Uber. The premise is simple: What if the course of World War 2 was changed if the Nazis discovered the ability to create ubermensch (supermen)? What if that technology and ability was then stolen by the allies creating a new arms race? Gillen writes the book in an almost academic way, as if he’s retelling already established and known history. There’s plenty of twists and turns and doesn’t shy away from the true costs of war.
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What were the movie winners of 2017? As the year is coming to a close, it’s a time to look back and reflect on the year. When it comes to films, there are some big winners and some equally big losers. 2017 has been kind of a roller coaster year for films. Franchises that seemed like guaranteed money makers flopped while others over performed.
So here’s my list of movie winners for 2017. These are the films that performed not only well at the box office but connected with audiences in lasting ways.
Black people go to the movies. Who knew? I was eagerly awaiting Jordan Peele’s film the first time I heard about it. I was expecting it to be a horror comedy but instead Peele gave us a very serious racial horror film unlike anything we’ve seen before. Beyond just sparking conversations, the film also had a great box office return. Making over $250 million on a $4.5 million budget should send enough signals to Hollywood that yes, films made by and starring black people can in fact bring in huge returns.
Keeping with the trend of black people going to the movies…black women DEFINITELY go to the movies. Hidden Figures should have been proof of that. Besides giving Tiffany Haddish some much deserved recognition, Girls Trip also showed that marketing to black women can lead to big wins. And it looks like Hollywood might finally be getting the message (albeit a little late). January’s Proud Mary is getting a nice little marketing push right now. I don’t think there’s been a single piece of Black Panther promotion that hasn’t featured one of its many black women. And Disney has been making sure to put director Ava DuVernay and the black women (and other women of color) starring in March’s A Wrinkle in Time out front and center. Times are changing and the success of a film like Girls Trip can take some of the credit.
While it might not look like it at first glance, 2017 might go down as Marvel Studios’ best year. First off, the fact that “Will it hit a billion?” is a legit question for any film they put out shows that Marvel Studios has been winning for a long time now. And while none of the films they released or produced this year hit a billion, 2017 felt like they were showing off. First off, three years ago before Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 released, there were questions of whether it would be Marvel’s first flop. Three years later the sequel made over $860 million.
Then in a deal with Sony, Marvel produced Spider-Man: Homecoming and while it’s still technically a Sony film, Marvel Studios made sure to let us all know who was running the show. At $880 million, Spider-Man: Homecoming is the highest grossing comic book movie of 2017 and the second highest grossing Spider-Man movie of all time. It comes in second only to Spider-Man 3 which had a budget that was $80 million higher. I guess the third time’s the charm for rebooting Spider-Man.
While we’re on the topic of “third time’s the charm”, Thor: Ragnarok ended Marvel Studios year giving them a clean sweep of not only financially successful films but critically acclaimed ones. Taika Waititi took the weakest of Marvel’s solo films and gave it a shot in the arm that has led it to a thunderous $840 million (and still technically growing) box office.
So yes, none of these films hit that magically billion dollar number but that’s three films in one year that all topped $800 million. That has to give Marvel Studios confidence as they move forward with their plans to continue to put out three MCU films a year. Considering the first two for them next year are Black Panther and Infinity War, I think the confidence is warranted.
With all the focus on Marvel films and Stars Wars pushing Disney to its second year in a row of hitting $6 billion at the box office, it’s easy to forget Disney has their own properties that do pretty well. Right now, Beauty and the Beast is the #1 film of the year. Not only did it gross $1.2 billion but it made over $500 million domestically. Now sure, The Last Jedi is probably going to eat that up but the numbers are still pretty impressive. It's also a nice push back against the idea that the problems with the box office is that Hollywood doesn't make enough original movies. It seems like non-original films are the ones making the most money and bringing in the most audiences.
Another sneaky member of the Billion Dollar Box Office Club. Honestly, the Despicable Me franchise is a massive winner. The Minions spin-off film made over a billion and Despicable Me 2 fell just short. I don’t think this franchise gets enough credit for hitting the perfect blend of being pure joy and entertainment for child while also being relatable and enjoyable to adults. The bad guy in the third film is a disgruntled former 80’s child star who at the beginning of the film commits a heist to the sounds of Michael Jackson’s Bad. Once the film opened that way I knew it was going to be making all of the coins.
My general rule of thumb is that trying to remake a film from 20 years ago is probably not wise. The odds of success are low and IMDB is littered with the corpses of failed attempts. Thankfully, It wasn’t one of them. The success of It can be attributed to two things. First, following in the foot steps of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the kids cast were perfect. Heck, they even grabbed one of the kids (Finn Wolfhard)from Stranger Things. Second, the film doesn’t try to remake the TV movie. Instead it follows more in line with the book while making a few changes here and there. Both of these really helped turn It into a massive win. Actually, let me add a third thing: Bill Skarsgard. Skarsgard had big shoes to fill (literally) as Pennywise . He managed to make the role his own much like Ledger did with Joker.
When I do my losers list, no doubt Justice League is going to be on it. But the failure of Justice League shouldn’t take away from the success of Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is not only the best DCEU film to date but it’s one of the best reviewed movies this year. Yes, it has a weak CG villain and the end of the film is a bit of a mess. But the film nails the character of Diana and honestly, that’s what matters the most. Also, as a the first major female comic book character to helm her own solo film, it’s a long overdue win. It should be noted that out of all the comic book movies this year, only Justice League was critically panned and not embraced by audiences. So much for "Superhero Movie Fatigue".
Personally, I don’t think the last two Fast & Furious films have come close to being as good as Fast & Furious 6. That said, The Fate of the Furious brought in $1.2 billion dollars, was directed by a black man (F Gary Gray) and one of the most diverse film casts to make a billion dollars. This is a win. Matter of fact, the last two films in the franchise have done a billion dollars EACH overseas. Keep that in mind if anyone tries to say that films with diverse casts or women can’t sell overseas.
In a year that saw Universal’s ill-advised Dark Universe crash & burn with The Mummy and Warner Brothers getting drastically mixed results with the DCEU, Warner Brothers & Legendary Pictures Monsterverse is alive and well. Look man, I enjoyed Kong: Skull Island more than I did the 2014 Godzilla film. We got plenty of monsters fighting monsters and the camera STAYED on the action. The film was fun, enjoyable and gave us Sam Jackson acting like Captain Ahab. What’s not to love? And it grossed more than the 2014 Godzilla film so…bring on Godzilla vs King Kong. I’m here for it.
I wasn’t as engrossed with Split as everyone else but it would be Fake News if I didn’t say that Split was a much needed win for M. Night Shyamalan. With a budget of $9 million and grossing over $270 million, my feelings aside, that’s a massive win. And let me not make it seem like this movie was garbage, it wasn’t. I wish it came out later in the year and got a bigger Oscar push for McAvoy. The performance he puts in for this film is worth the price of admission alone and I wish he was getting more recognition.
I mean…what needs to be said? It hasn’t even been out for three weeks yet and it’s already closing in on being the highest grossing film of 2017. Despite all the article about how “divisive” the film is, the boxoffice numbers are telling a different story. If it really was that divisive, we would have seen a huge drop off over the weeks. Instead it’s still performing strong. As the third film from LucasFilms since the Disney acquisition to hit a billion, The Last Jedi has solidified the new Star Wars universe. With the rumblings that the Han Solo film might not turn out that great, the truly ridiculous numbers from the last three films means that it doesn’t matter. LucasFilms is sure to hit a speed bump here or there but that’s all they are, bumps in the road.
There you have it. My list of the winners of 2017. I know I missed some so leave a comment with your winners of 2017. My list of the losers of 2017 will be coming soon.
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It's that time again! Our 2018 Movie Preview is here. Kriss is joined by Phenom, Tim and Joi to discuss the list of movies coming out in 2018. We discuss the movies we're all waiting for like Black Panther, A Wrinkle in Time, Infinity Wars and Incredibles 2. We also ask why some films were greenlit and if some films are even going to be released. It's a great episode you won't want to miss.
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So we've already covered the winners of 2017 and now it's time to cover the losers. So what made a film a loser? Well, the first obvious way is a poorly performing box office. But not every disappointment means the film flopped at the box office. Some films did well financially but also let down audiences and could spell trouble for continuing their franchises. So what movies were the losers of 2017 that were disappointments? Let's find out.
For some reason when I posted this a few days ago, I posted the version that was missing The Mummy. That’s how bad this movie was, I didn’t even notice it was missing from my losers list. Make no mistake, this film was a disaster of an idea from the beginning. With all the shit that Warner Brothers and DC get for their DCEU stumbles, at least they got it off the ground. Universal’s Dark Universe can’t even get a decent movie out. First there was Dracula Untold which was supposed to kick off the universe and it went as terribly as you’d expect. Then there was this brilliant idea to reboot The Mummy but make it nothing like the cult classic. It wasn’t all bad. They went with a female mummy and then roped in Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe. But audiences weren’t dumb enough to be blinded by any of that and saw how stupid this whole thing was from the jump. The film only made $80 million domestically and pulled in 80% of its total gross from overseas. The movie did so poorly Universal seems to have finally pulled the plug on this ill-fated idea. The planning for this universe made what Warner Brothers is doing with its DC Films look genius.
So there you have it. My list of losers for 2017. What movies disappointed you in 2017? Leave a comment and let me know.
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For the second year in a row Disney brought in a staggering amount at the global box-office. Not only have they crossed $6 billion two years in a row but in 2017, they hit over $7 billion. While an amazing feat, what’s even more amazing is that 2018 could see them not only three-peat but go even higher. The list of movies coming out under the Disney brand in 2018 is pretty staggering. So let’s go through each film and try to predict what Disney’s end-of-year box office could be.
Black Panther
Marvel Studios has the brand recognition that is rivaled only by LucasFilms at this point. In my list of 2017 winners, I pointed out that while no film in the MCU topped $1 billion last year, every film came in over $800 million. So when it comes to Black Panther there’s a lot of people that immediately jump to “It’s going to make a billion”. And I get the sentiment but I also don’t think a lot of people realize just how difficult hitting the Billion Dollar Box-Office Club is.
First, only 2 solo films in the MCU have hit a Billion Dollars. One was Iron Man 3 which was coming fresh off the heels of Avengers and so that got it a huge push. The second was Captain America: Civil War which was the 3rd Captain America film and more importantly, was basically a mini-Avengers movie itself. When it comes to the first film for a solo character, Doctor Strange holds the top honor with $677 million.
Now all that said, there’s a lot of things that work in Black Panther’s favor for a huge box office. First, Black Panther is probably the most anticipated solo film Marvel Studios has ever done. It’s actually hard to compare this film to anything anticipation wise that Marvel has done because of the cultural significance. I think the best comparison is to head over to Marvel’s competitor DC and look at what Wonder Woman accomplished. Wonder Woman topped out at $821 million last year. That’s with DC sleeping at the wheel when it came to promotion, something Marvel isn’t doing. Already we’ve seen promotions and interviews targeting black women, international promotion and merchandise. This is the first black super hero getting his first solo movie and Marvel isn’t pulling any punches. The trailers have all trended instantly and add to the fact that this movie should tie directly into Infinity War and that billion dollar number seems pretty reachable. The hype and anticipation for this movie can’t be understated. Representation matters and Disney & Marvel are banking on that for a huge return.
Prediction: $850 Million - $1 Billion. I really wanted to go conservative here but this is one of the few times when people say “It's gonna do a billion?” and it could actually be true. At the very least I see this being the top grossing of all of initial solo films for any character. The only way it could fall short is overseas but so far it doesn’t look like it. Months before Marvel goes hard with promotion early tracking already has the film opening at $95 million and that’s just going to keep growing. I see this opening domestically at $120-$140 and the weeks after its release are wide open for it having a long run at #1.
A Wrinkle in Time
I came across an article from 2014 that predicted that A Wrinkle In Time would fail. Four years later, I’m pretty sure the author of that piece would like a do-over. To be fair, in 2014, Ava DuVernay wasn’t on a lot of people’s radar and she definitely hadn’t been tapped to direct this movie. Since Selma, DuVernay has not only been outspoken about diversity and inclusion in Hollywood but she’s “lived her raps” with Queen Sugar, 13th and #BlackGirlMagic moments like directing an Apple Music commercial and more recently, Jay-Z & Beyonce music video. And Disney has definitely noticed. They wanted her for Black Panther and when that didn’t work out, they offered A Wrinkle In Time. And you can’t tell me that Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson aren’t chopping at the bit to offer her a Star Wars movie at some point.
With Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time, Disney is doing something that most studios don’t do: They listened. After watching films like Hidden Figures and Girls Trip “over perform”, Disney asked “Maybe they’re not over performing, maybe we just need to make films that target black women”. So Storm Reid gets to be the lead in A Wrinkle in Time and give older black women and young black girls someone that looks like them on screen. And I think it’s a bet that’s going to pay off extremely well for Disney at the beginning of 2018. And at only $103 million for a budget, DuVernay definitely seems to be getting them their money’s worth because the trailers have looked amazing.
Prediction: $750 - $850 Million. The only thing really holding A Wrinkle In Time back is that it’s in a super packed March that will cut into its long term returns. But it wouldn’t surprise me if DuVernay ends up passing Jenkins’ record of highest grossing film for a female director.
Avengers: Infinity War
The question isn’t “Is Infinity War going to hit a billion?”, it’s is it going to hit $2 billion? Better yet, will it reach the elusive $200 million opening weekend? Most films that enter the Billion Dollar Club do so because they’re event movies. Meaning they’re so culturally big, just going to see it turns into an event. We’ve seen the Avengers before but this movie is about bringing the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe together in one movie. This is the event to end all events. It’s supposed to turn everything on its head so much that Feige won’t even tell us what the name of Avengers 4 is because he says it will spoil Infinity War. Throw in Thanos who seems to arrive announcing that he’s here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and he’s all out of bubblegum, we might see Marvel break their own worldwide gross record.
Prediction: $1.8 - $2 Billion. Easy.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
LucasFilms has been riding a high of three straight films of $1+ billion dollars at the box-office. In just 3 weeks, The Last Jedi became the highest grossing film of 2017. That’s with a silly troll campaign that tried to make it seem like fans weren’t happy with it. So it would seem crazy to think that their 4th film would lead to this streak being broken but that might be exactly what’s going to happen. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of confidence behind Solo: A Star Wars Story. Ron Howard having to come in last minute to finish the film and do reshoots plus Alden Ehrenreich not exactly giving folks the confidence of being Han Solo leaves a lot of questions. There’s been very little promotion, zero teasers and just doesn’t seem to be following the typical winning formula for LucasFilms.
Also sticking it in the Memorial Day slot also doesn’t scream winner either. That said, much like Dead Men Tell No Tales, even if it got bad reviews and a low domestic box office, it could see an overall gross saved by the overseas market. The problem is, its second weekend runs into Deadpool 2. Hot Take Alert: Solo is going to lose to the Merc with a Mouth.
Prediction: $750 million. I’m basing this off the idea that there are actual troubles with this film. Funny story though is…Rogue One was also said to have troubles and still got great reviews. It also hit a billion. So, if Solo turns out to be good…all bets are off.
While Black Panther and Infinity War might top the “Most Anticipated” list, The Incredibles 2 is right up there. Grown ass adults have been begging for The Incredibles 2 for the last 14 years. And one thing we know about the box office is: If your movie can get adults AND children into seats, you’re going to do super well. Animated movies always get overlooked in the Billion Dollar Box-Office club. Despicable Me 3 brought in just over a billion last year and The Incredibles 2 should cross that mark easily.
Prediction: $1 - $1.2 Billion. 14 years ago the original did over $600 million. I don’t see how this sequel doesn’t come close to doubling that.
Ant-Man and The Wasp
I still can’t get over the fact that Marvel Studios did an Ant-Man movie…and was successful. Sure, Ant-Man barely grossed over $500 million worldwide but…that’s huge (no pun intended) for an Ant-Man movie. Plus it also had the smallest budget to date for any of their films. In a way, it was kinda like a heat check for Feige and Marvel Studios. Marvel’s made sure to put Scott Lang in Civil War (with some Giant Man upgrades) and is also putting Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp not only in costume for the sequel, but in the title. More exposure for Scott + Giving audiences what they want (Janet in costume) = This movie is going to do great.
Prediction: $750 Million. No one expects this film to hit a billion but just about every Marvel sequel does significantly better at the box office the next time out. If Marvel is riding two huge successes in Black Panther and Infinity War, expect this movie to see a great boost.
I haven’t seen much about this film yet and I’m not even sure if it’s still coming out this year. All I know is that it has Hayley Atwell and Ewan McGregor in it. There are official photos for it and so maybe it does come out. But unlike everything else on this list, it’s just not getting a lot of buzz. This could end up being this year’s Pete’s Dragon where it could get good reviews but no one cared to go see it in theaters.
Prediction: $150 - $200 Million
I’m going to go super conservative with Wreck It Ralph. It’s coming later in the year, has stiff competition from not only other Disney properties but other studios as well. The first film did just under $500 million and I don’t think there’s a huge market for Wreck It Ralph 2. I think this film earns under what the original did. Hey, Disney can’t win them all.
Prediction: $400 Million
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
For these last two movies, it’s a toss-up. On the surface you might be wondering why Disney would make thes films. I would then point to the fact that before The Last Jedi, the #1 movie of 2017 was Beauty and the Beast. These Disney remakes/reimagines make bank. The first Alice in Wonderland made over a billion. Maleficent made around $750 million.The Jungle Book did just under a billion. Beauty and the Beast? $1.2 billion. Disney sees the writing on the wall and it’s in solid gold. Sure, some times these things will flop like Alice Through the Looking Glass. But Disney’s record is still pretty solid so far. And with The Nutcracker, I think they’re pretty confident they have a hit.
They’ve already released a pretty gorgeous teaser trailer for it and the film is 11 months away. Also in keeping with their theme this year of “If you build it they will come”, the teaser is full of black people making me think that Disney knows exactly what they’re doing. Misty Copeland is only in this movie for the big dance number but Disney was smart enough to make sure she was visible in the trailer.
Prediction: $700 Million. This film comes out opposite of X-Men: Dark Phoenix and unless this X-Men film does something with its trailers no other X-Men film has done, I don’t see how it doesn’t get steam rolled by The Nutcracker.
On our 2018 movie preview I initially laughed at this movie until I realized it was Disney. Then I realized it was going to do numbers. Just look at the cast: Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Oh and it comes out over Christmas. It’s only competition are the Bumblebee and Aquaman movies coming out the Friday before. I’m not sure either one really stands a chance.
Prediction: $700 Million. I went conservative with both this film and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. I don’t see either of these movies falling flat and think that at the very least they’ll do marginally well. But part of me believes that at least one of them will break out big. I just don’t know which one.
So, will Disney hit 7 or 8 billion at the box office this year? Using just the low end predictions puts Disney just short of $8 billion in 2018. I think it’s a safe bet that Disney could not only threepeat but break all kinds of records in 2018.
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I'm going to keep being petty about how the promotion for Black Panther is the exact opposite of the nearly non-existent promotion for Wonder Woman. Last year, the defense of Warner Brother’s dropping the ball was that they put out trailers and TV spots. It always skipped over that there wasn’t any real push for Wonder Woman merchandise and the only product promotion we saw for the longest time was weight loss bars. Compare that to what we’re seeing now for Black Panther. This commercial from Hasbro nearly brings tears to my eyes. They’re not just making Black Panther toys for kids but actually marketing them.
I’m going to give Warner Brothers the benefit of the doubt and say they just didn’t understand the cultural significance of the character of Wonder Woman. Most heroes in comic books and film today are straight white males. When marginalized groups finally get to see characters that represent themselves on the big screen, it matters a lot. Market your characters to these groups and the payoff is always huge. Years before Black Panther ever made an appearance in the MCU, there was serious skepticism among black nerds as to whether the character would get the same attention and respect as white male characters. Many worried it would have a lower budget, be white washed and wouldn't get proper marketing push. So far, Marvel seems to be quieting those fears. Spotlighting black women, foreign press promotion & interviews, a Lexus deal, new comic books and now toys. Honestly, Black Panther is getting the Iron Man or Spider-Man treatment and it feels great.
I have no doubt that Warner Brothers will learn this lesson come Wonder Woman 2. But I’m very pleased that Marvel isn’t following their footsteps and going with a full court blitz for Black Panther.
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First the Black Panther world premiere (with glowing reviews) and now Marvel Studios is keeping up the pressure with the first trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp. You can’t tell me anyone has a better PR machine when it comes to movies than Marvel Studios. And by putting the spotlight on Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp, Marvel is making sure to make this sequel much bigger (no pun intended) than the first film. Lilly’s Hope van Dyne was a standout in the first movie and many wondered why she didn’t have a larger role (or her own suit). Now, not only is she in the suit but she’s clearly has more upgrades than Scott which is made very clear in this trailer.
Marvel is trying to ride not only the wave of positivity that is sure to come from Black Panther but also the desire to see more female characters getting a spotlight. With Captain Marvel still a year away, Marvel is still behind in having a solo female character film but Ant-Man and The Wasp gives them their first film with a film character as co-lead. With black female characters getting focus on Black Panther, Captain Marvel filming and the rumors of a Black Widow film in development, Marvel Studios is finally filling some of their weaknesses. And in the words of Hope van Dyne from the first Ant-Man film, it’s about damn time.
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At first glance, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales seems like an odd choice for a losers list. I mean the film made almost $800 million. But looking beyond the surface tells a different story. First, this is a billion dollar franchise. One, the two previous pirates films crossed a billion world side. Disney has been chasing that high. The problem is, they haven’t been able to get a casting trio that works as well as Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightley and a pre-outted domestic abuser Johnny Depp. When details of Depp’s abuse of Amber Heard came out before promotion for Dead Men Tell No Tales started, Disney was forced to try to promote this movie without their single best promotion tool. The Pirates of the Caribbean series survives solely off of Johnny Depp’s Captain jack Sparrow. And don’t get me wrong, Disney had no choice but to distance themselves as much as they could from Depp. It also might be time to realize this franchise has reached its end. It only goes downhill from here.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was 2017's Jupiter Ascending. A visually stunning flop. With a production budget over $170 million and only bringing in $41 million domestically and $225 million world wide, Valerin should be yet another warning that pouring a bunch of money into visuals while having weak leads and a weak story is just a recipe for disaster. And I’m a Dane DeHaan fan. I think he’s pretty good. But he’s not going to be someone you can sell a movie like this on. And Cara Delevingne….can’t act. I’m sorry but I’ve yet to see her pull off anything other than just existing on screen.
Sometimes I hate being right. For over a year I’ve been saying that there was no way for Justice League to not be a mess and well, that was true. Look, I definitely think there were more fun and enjoyable moments in this film than in Batman v Superman. I actually think its a better film, even with the hacked together pieces of two drastically different directors. But what I wasn’t expecting was for this film to gross as low as it did. Right now it’s looking at finishing either just under or just above Man of Steel. That means the first live action Justice League film made less money than both Guardians of the Galaxy films (In 2014 no one knew who Groot or Rocket Raccoon were), Thor Ragnaork and DOCTOR STRANGE. A Justice League film is going to make less than Doctor Strange. Excuse me as I go drown myself in bourbon. 
I’m all for more diversity and inclusion in films and I’m always going to root for films with black leads. But that also means sometimes I’m going to be disappointed when the films don’t live up to my expectations. The promotion for Sleight did it no favors. The comparisons to Chronicle and Iron Man set unfair expectations on this film. But beyond that, the screenplay was just empty and the film didn’t get interesting until the final 5 minutes. It felt more like it would have been a good short film versus a 90 minute full length feature. All that said, I almost didn’t include it on this list since it only had a budget of 250k and made almost 4 million. But I have a hard time believing that it wasn’t a massive disappointment to anyone who saw it
Out of all the films on this list this is the one that hurts me. Not only is War for the Planet of the Apes the best movie on this list, its hands down one of the best films of 2017. Now let me be clear, this movie wasn’t a flop. But after Dawn of the Planet of the Apes made over $700 million in 2014, I find it hard to believe that Fox wasn’t expecting a similar if not better return for this film. Instead, not only did its world wide total come in over $200 less than the previous film but it has the lowest domestic box-office of the trilogy. I believe the problem here was poor planning on a release date. This film was up against Spider-Man Homecoming’s second weekend and while it won, that’s still stiff competition. Wonder Woman was also still in theaters and taking some audiences. In hindsight, War for the Planet of the Apes should have been released later in the year. Maybe August or even better, mid-October. Either way, this film deserved way more recognition.
The first word that comes to mind when I think of Blade Runner 2049 flopping is ‘hubris’. It’s the only way to explain what was going through the mind of whoever greenlit this. The original Blade Runner film was 30 years ago and unlike properties like Star Trek or Star Wars, it did not maintain a constant presence in pop culture. And quite honestly, the fandom of Blade Runner is much smaller than people want to admit. Like War for the Planet of the Apes, I think that this is actually a really great film. But there were also a lot of factors that lead to it being a dud. Obviously they overestimated interest in a follow up to Blade Runner three decades later. But making the film damn near 3 hours was also a death sentence. The majority of audiences aren’t going to sit in a theater for 3 hours for this kind of film. Had they cut it to under 2 1/2 hours then there would have been a different tune.
Having Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in a movie together based off a Stephen King novel and still flopping has to be the film equivalent of blowing a 3-1 lead in the finals or a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl. The initial excitement for this movie wore off when we all realized they were showing the same trailer over and over again. Then word of the script troubles and short run-time hit and well we all decided it was better to just pretend this movie never happened.
The minute Scarlet Johansson was cast this movie was doomed. Whitewashing is such an interesting phenomenon now because it rarely works out. If Hollywood execs are so worried about their bottom-lines, then white washing makes no sense. With Ghost in the Shell they really tried several different tactics. First it was that they needed to cast Johansson because she was a big name actress and it would sell the movie. Well, that didn’t work out. Then they told us that the role wasn’t actually whitewashed. And to be fair, maybe in the most literal definition of the term, they were right. They reimagined the Major to be a white woman. It was just that the consciousness of the Asian character was put into a white body. What could possibly go wrong?
Warner Brothers spent $175 million on a King Arthur themed, Guy Ritchie directed music video (And it couldn't even make its budget back). That's basically what King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was. A bad metal music video. Everything about this project was a bad idea. First, while I like Guy Ritchie’s work, his style is not one that I would think would work for King Arthur. Second, Charlie Hunham has the charisma of a wet blanket. Add in a weak script, effects that looked both too expensive and too cheap at the same time and the only significant female character in the movie being called The Mage and well…this was doomed from the start. Ritchie is doing Aladdin next and well, I don't have much hope for that either. Someone lock him in a room and force him to finish Sherlock Holmes 3 which is what he should be working on. 
It took five films but it seems like audiences have finally figured out that Michael Bay’s Transformer movies are pretty bad. Despite some hot takes that claim this is proof that audiences are “Tired of cinematic universes”, its really just proof audiences are tired of bad movies. It also didn’t help that the promotion for the movie just felt deflated. Optimus Prime was a bad guy, the world was suddenly dystopian and absolutely nothing made sense. For the first time in the franchise, the trailers weren't even good enough to get people's hopes up. The result? The lowest opening weekend of any of Bay's Transformers movies (only $45 million), lowest domestic gross ($130 million) and lowest world wide gross (an abysmal $605 million). 
Oh Ridley Scott...It seems like Ridley Scott is determined to run the Alien franchise in the ground. For some reason he thinks people go to the Alien movies for the A.I. storyline and not the xenomorphs. When it comes to the Alien franchise Ridley Scott is one of those dudes that hears his date say she doesn't like something but he orders it for her anyway while saying "no no, you just haven't had it made right." Scott thinks the thing audiences are interested in is the origins of the androids from Alien and not the creature that goes from face-hugging rape crab to chest bursting murder machine. When Scott's Prometheus 2 got canceled we should have all known he was going to force it into Alien: Convenant which is exactly what he did. The trailers and promotions of this film lied like a Tinder date who lists himself at 6'2 when he's really 5'4. And while the movie made its money back, it's very clear that fans weren't exactly happy. Fox has canceled the rest of the series leaving Scott to wonder why his Alien franchise isn't as big as Star Wars. Look in the mirror Scott. Look in the mirror.
