Justice League

It's like these people sit in an office all day thinking up new, creative ways to chuck millions of dollars into a furnace.

Edited by Soble on Jul 10th 2018 at 6:10:09 AM

It's Joker and they're only spending something like 55 million on it. It doesn't need to make much to turn a profit.

I wish I were in the business where spending 55 million on something that only needs to be mildly profitable isn't thrown in the "horrible idea" pile.

I thought the Batgirl solo was a dumb idea, but at least that was about a character we haven't seen on the big screen or in any decent animated film in the past 10-20 years.

The Joker doesn't even have that many solo stories or origins, does he? There's The Killing Joke, there's that edgy Nolan-esque Joker graphic novel, there's Mad Love. There's stuff where he's the central antagonist: The Last Laugh, Endgame, Death of the Family, but I'd take back the rest of this rant if they had the stones to adapt those.

I can't see The Joker carrying/heading a film. I can't see The Joker having or even needing an "origin" film with the current state of the DCEU. And now there's the possibility of two separate Joker films with Leto or Phoenix.

I am Joker'd out.

I just... I just don't get who sits down and ignores characters like Booster Gold or Spawn or Blade or Lobo, but thinks there definitely needs to be a Joker film.

It's too late to make jokes about there needing to be an Alfred Pennyworth film because they're already making a TV series about Alfred apparently. So now the only parts of the Bat-mythos that haven't been given spotlight I think are the bat that gave Bruce inspiration for his alter-ego in the first place, Ace the Bat-hound, and Lucius Fox.

So I declare there should be a Disney/Pixar film about Ace the Bathound's origin, a film that co-stars Terror, the bat that flew through Bruce Wayne's belfry. When Ace was but a wee pup his parents were killed in a horrible accident, and Ace was soon adopted by the Wayne family. Ace and Bruce are best friends, but when Master Bruce is kidnapped Ace is forced to team up with Terror, who saw the whole thing, to track the young master down and bring him back home, meeting colorful, animal companions along the way!

Followed by Fox, a movie about the rising tech mogul who would later become Batman's private technician/weapons dealer and how he came from nothing and turned himself into a suit-less version of Tony Stark before getting approached by Bruce Wayne at the end of the film. The film will actually end with Fox about to quit the private sector before he gets a call from a "Mr. Wayne," asking for help deciding on a "car" and setting up Lucius's proper entry into Justice League Part 2.

Edited by Soble on Jul 11th 2018 at 2:58:15 AM

And to put a point on all of this rant-worthy anger, they couldn't make a character from the Gotham TV series who was quite pointedly meant to become The Joker actually look like The Joker because DC didn't want them to - like they couldn't give him green hair or a purple suit - likely due to the same ridiculous "Bat-embargo" that prevented Harley Quinn from appearing in Arrow because she was going to appear in Suicide Squad, and Bat-villains from appearing in Justice League TAS.

Well, looky here, two films about the Joker in development. What a coincidence.

The people who presumably realize Joker is a far more profitable character than Booster Gold, Ambush Bug or any of the other people you just mentioned, I assume.

I don't mean that in a sarcastic manner either. Pretty much any question of why a Joker movie exists begins and ends with "Because he's a really popular character that people will likely pay money to go see."

I hate this timeline! I hate this timeline with every fiber of my being!

I mean, he was the biggest draw of Suicide Squad and that movie did make bank despite being a dumpster fire of a movie.

I saw a guy wearing a Jared Leto Joker t-shirt on Sunday.

Really? Could have been sworn it was Deadshot and Harley people liked more.

In the final movie? Definitely. But marketing was ridiculously Joker-centric, especially given his screen-time.

... and how much he sucks.

Studios have trouble with correlation and causation. "We marketed this as Joker-centric and it made bank despite not even having much of him. Therefore, something with more of him will make ALL THE BANK" is a thought process I could see them get behind.

Edited by Larkmarn on Jul 11th 2018 at 10:15:01 AM

I dunno how this movie will turn out, but if you want a good Spiritual Adaptation Joker origin movie then I recommend Nightcrawler.

Yeah Joker got an absolutely disproportionate amount of focus in all the marketing for Suicide Squad. Once you saw the trailers you basically saw his entire role in the movie.

Official Shazam image released.

I get the reasons for being cynical about the film, but at the same time the budget is something to be applauded. Hollywood in general is bleeding money, with both Justice League and Solo there needs to be a resurgence of low-budget, director driven, actor focused franchise films.

"Great", it looks like they've included the one thing I hated about the New 52 Shazam!, his really terrible shoes... in fact I think they might have made them look worse.

Those shoes look a little... overdesigned, but I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't brought it up.

I'm confused, though. Is that Billy Batson on the left? How does the transformation work in this movie? Or is it Billy's friend? At first, I thought, "Oh, so Billy is using his Captain Marvel form to buy beer for his underage friends," but no, that's just soda.

Not that I look or care about the box office, but I wouldn't have guessed Hollywood was bleeding money in a year with a successful Avengers film, another Fifty Shades, two Dwayne Johnson popcorn flick, A Wrinkle In Time, a sequel to The Incredibles , and another Jurassic World.

Unless all of those films just did terribly. And, granted, I don't imagine Avengers or Jurassic World were exactly low budget.

Edited by Soble on Jul 11th 2018 at 4:10:15 AM

It's Freddy, his friend and foster brother. He later becomes Captain Marvel Jr. after getting powers of his own.

^^ It's been a progressive issue in Hollywood, films are costing more and making comparatively less. Marvel movies are outliers there, but the same principle applies. Hollywood logic is partially that if you throw enough money at a movie it will be guaranteed a success. Studios make films that cost 150 million or more and films that cost 30 million or less, but very little in between.

Most films you listed were made for over 100 million, certainly not low budget. Considering all the money put into the big movies, it's the small movies with unexpected success that make more of a profit (international box office is deceptive, it includes more work for dubbing and marketing while giving less of a percentage back to the studio). The current horror film splurge (Conjuring, Get Out, A Quiet Place, The Purge, etc) are doing a lot to change that mindset, Deadpool too.

A Joker film is something they very could justify spending 100 million on, but the more money put into a film the more the studio will try to push it into something bigger and more mainstream because they have a lot of money riding on it. A genuinely dark, psychotic, R-rated Joker story in the vein of The Killing Joke or the Laughing Fish could be revolutionary. Certainly, after Suicide Squad audiences may be burned out on the character.

Edited by KJMackley on Jul 12th 2018 at 12:37:05 PM

Djimon Hounsou will be playing the Fisherman King◊ in Aquaman.

... That actually looks pretty cool.

Overuse of bloom aside, that costuming looks pretty good.

"Those shoes look a little... overdesigned, but I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't brought it up."

'Insert line from Shawshank Redemption'

(5)

Now I'm curious to see a breakdown of how these films use these million-dollar budgets, or what the bulk of it goes to.

I don't see the point of hiring big name actors like Djimon Hounsou if they're just going to bury them under that much makeup. That looks like a role for a small-time character actor. It would A) save on production costs; and B) help further the career of someone who really needs the push.

Hounsou played one of the main villains in Furious 7, another of James Wan's films. So it was likely a case of Wan wanting to work with him again after a previous good experience. Production Posse and all that.

Edited by comicwriter on Jul 14th 2018 at 6:46:47 AM