Marvel Cinematic Universe general stuff

The White Wolf

In defence of Marvel Studios, it looks like Wonka will struggle in the box office even after very good reviews.

I don't think there's any easy solution for what's happening. The cinema going audience is at a level of unheard of unpredictability.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511430#Comment_121511430

Pure casuals have never had that issue and still don't, as can be seen by the box office performance of the tentpole movies before and after Endgame.

The format of using Disney+ is a disaster for the group who used to go to all the movies but now are experiencing not being in the know for the first time and are bailing (lets call them former fanboys). That is the floor that has totally fallen out there and we see the results in the last two movies when there weren't Tier 1 characters.

We'll likely see a huge bounce back for Deadpool again next year, where the casuals and former fanboys come out of the woodwork for Tier 1 character and won't care what they do or don't 'get'.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511477#Comment_121511477

Wonka was always a hard sell though IMO: it's a generational IP whose appeal I'd not have said was so strong it could support a big prequel film.

Conversely, 5 Nights At Freddie's, despite a critical planning, has earned Megabucks - made all the more mega by the slim budget it had. The new Godzilla was made for 15 million. There are no easy solutions but a good start would be Disney fixing those out of control budgets.

Foxtrol

Sounds like Majors found not guilty of the more serious charges and guilty of the lesser ones.

Seems like his lawyer's approach of trying for a homerun has backfired.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511677#Comment_121511677

Word of mouth/social media is more powerful than critics.

Five Nights was always gunna be a smash as it has a massive cult following. Whereas the MCU's current reputation is circling the drain after too many duds.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511677#Comment_121511677

Absolutely agreed that they have to reduce the budgets, but they're at a point where their last few smoking guns do require a big budget. I mean they're talking about Galactus and his Heralds being in the first FF Film, they can't cheap out there.

I think they shouldn't release more than 2 films in the MCU in a year from now on, and only one of them should be a massive production. For example Blade will be done on a tight budget, while FF will be more lofty.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511750#Comment_121511750

They can cut the cost significantly by just having a plan and story in advance and minimising the reshoots and changes after the effects are done

flazio

I've just been alerted by RTE he's found guilty. He's got to go surely

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511842#Comment_121511842

Yeah, he has totally lost the media narrative now and will be gone. His lawyer seems to have made a big swing to turn the narrative his way and against the victim if he was found not guilty, rather than focusing on him being found not guilty.

He was found not guilty of the accusation that he intentionally assaulted her - which is was what the victim and prosecution claimed. What they found him guilty of was being reckless when trying to get his phone back from her and injuring her. Similarly, he was found not guilty of aggravated harassment, which is what they built their case on, but instead guilty of putting her back in the car, which is deemed harassment.

All the nuance in it is lost and the headlines are and will be that he is guilty of assault and harassment and that is him sunk. Doesn't sound like a great guy so not the worst person for it to happen to but it really shows the power of the media.

McFly85

Considering it’s already canon for a multiverse variant to look different this is the easiest recast ever.

Recast(even with multiple actors) and move on.

Actually, considering the end of Loki, they could even move on from Kang pretty swiftly if they wanted. Only think that might be an issue is currently filmed projects with him in mind.

CastorTroy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511750#Comment_121511750

Sure just make Galactus a cloud. They did it before.

Foxtrol

And he's gone...

https://twitter.com/pbmelendez/status/1736864408247341353

kerplun k

Meh. Probably for the best. Get out of jail for Disney, Ant-Man highlighted how underwhelming he was as a villain. Great opportunity for them now to head in another direction.

Based on the incident, I do think the firing is harsh, but if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

the bum note here, outside of the MCU, he is actually a decent actor, he has buckets of charisma and had a bright future ahead of him, but he’s thrown it all away.

Zero-Cool

Marvel cleaning up.

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1736872552943788297?t=1chxJTgVkNEgiSzeJ3QbVg&s=19

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511995#Comment_121511995

Yeah, narratively I was kind of annoyed that they looked to be undoing the end of Loki, which I had really liked. It felt like that whole story was wrapped up. So I hope they just tweak/turn to go another direction and leave that as it is.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121512241#Comment_121512241

I don't think it'll be the end of his career. He'll have to step out of the limelight for a year or two, and make some sort of show of having turned things around - and actually genuinely calm the fück down - but then you'd imagine he could return in the sorts of smaller character-rich films he made his name in. Get some positive responses there, and the industry will open back up for him. He's a talented guy, so if he gets his attitude together, there's still the potential of a big career there for him i think.

Agent Coulson

A nasty piece of work who gets what he deserves.

pjohnson

That might be a huge boost to the MCU to dump the Kang plot lines. They were lukewarm at best.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121512678#Comment_121512678

As someone who hasn't seen the Disney+ stuff, he wasn't much of a presence at all. A very poor follow-up to Thanos IMO.

pixelburp

So now that he has been legally declared a scumbag, can we NOW say that Majors deserves his career to be scuttled? /joking-not-joking

Man, the wheels truly have come off the MCU machine, it's unreal how quickly it all untangled - even if items like the Majors controversy is out of their control. The problem remains though: how do you follow-up Thanos - one of the all time great cinematic superhero villains - especially now that it's clear you can't continue as-is?

Seems like the the two options are:

1. recast Kang with someone else; a character already struggling to make an impact
2. Change villain altogether, but presumably that'll require whatever vague multiverse-tinged plot to go in the bin.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121513470#Comment_121513470

Absolutely. I wonder why Ezra Miller is still in the DCEU but that's literally on its last legs anyway. Wouldn't mind seeing no more of him either.

As for Kang, I don't think it matters. Most people don't know who he is but there's of course plenty who'll flock to see any MCU offering but it's well past its peak now. Since Kang seems to have some backstory, recasting the role would seem to be the best option given the time and money already invested in the character.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121513470#Comment_121513470

I think the rumours were that Kang Dynasty would feature the Avengers against all the Kangs, and then Secret Wars would be an enemy called The Beyonder who would be another (but more powerful) version of Kang as the ultimate villian. The main villian from the Secret Wars arc of the comics was The Beyonder (though wasn't a version of Kang).

So the likely path forward, given the reports that the next Avengers is no longer being referred to as Avengers: Kang Dynasty, is that the Council of Kangs will be replaced with some different multiversal threat (maybe to do with the Multiverse Incursions as featured in Dr.Strange 2's end credits scene with Charlize Theron), and then still follow up with The Beyonder in Secret Wars but it's just not a version of Kang and is instead a new character.

They can use the ending of Loki Season 2 as justification for why Kang is gone, but explaining that to the movie audience who haven't seen Loki Season 2 would be tough.

I think just recasting Kang is probably off the table. You can kind of use Multiverse reasons to explain it, but even then they clearly showed Majors as three of the main Kangs in the Council of Kangs at the end of Quantumania. But at this stage, is it even worth doing anything with the Council of Kangs?

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121513514#Comment_121513514

My favourite thing this morning was some people are trying to get momentum behind a motion to recast Terence Howard as Kang.

Another theory would be to pivot towards Wanda being an antagonist again, trying to attone for her mistakes in Multiverse of Madness but being corrupted by the Darkhold. That could easily happen to marry into your multiverse threat idea featuring Theron.

Loki eliminates Kang for the most part easily, while Wanda could absolutely wreck the Council of Kangs thus burying the character utterly.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121513690#Comment_121513690

I was thinking since that maybe Doctor Strange, the one from What If who was utterly corrupted, might be a runner. Super powerful, already has multiverse experience, and the Illuminati of the 838 universe in MoM already determined that in general, Stephen Strange was a greater threat to the multiverse than Wanda.

Brief_Lives

Whats the deal with Dr Strange and Charlize Theron?

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121513964#Comment_121513964

Eye have no idea.

one armed dwarf

Could do a bait and switch and have Kang dispatched by a new big bad, and a highly anticipated one like Doom. I don't know anything about Marvel of the intricacies of setting up that storyline, but the thing is the 'Kang' name just seems like box office kryptonite at this point. People really don't care.

Reminded of that scene in Twin peaks season 2 where when Lynch came back he gave a character that he did not like a fairly gruesome end.

EltonJohn69

Would love to see BillyCrystal get a chance at the Kange role. For a few years Billy was Box Office gold and marvel badly need a safe pair of hands.

Ridley

Dr. Doom electing himself hero of the multiverse and just up and removing Kang from it would be entirely doable but, personally, the MCU is struggling at the moment to have worthwhile individual films let alone pretend they're pieces leading to Secret Wars.

I'm still hoping to get a good Fantastic Four movie not just a meh preamble to a post-credits scene of Chris Evans high-fiving Michael B Jordan or whatever.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121512644#Comment_121512644

You're entitled to your opinion of the guy but be wasn't found guilty of any of the 'nasty' parts of what were claimed against him, though no one would be able to tell from the media coverage.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121514624#Comment_121514624

Physical manhandling without consent is not an opinion, it's a fact. And there is no logical reason that the condemnation of said actions should be challenged.