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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

BYO ComiCon

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43 Responses to “BYO ComiCon”

  1. Amblinman says:

    Age of Ultron? Oh god. Marvel is getting worse and worse (don’t bother showing me box office, I mean creatively).

    I was interested in another Superman until this. Over Batman for a while. God forbid they leave it alone but I get it, Batman sells. And restarting the franchise means a new Joker-centric movie at some point. I wonder if shoehorning Batman into the proceedings means MoS didn’t make as much as they thought it would.

  2. LexG says:

    Jonah Hex 2, please.

  3. Big G says:

    For years I’ve wished they had made that Andrew Kevin Walker Batman Vs. Superman script that Warner greenlighted (greenlit?)and Wolfgang Petersen was going to direct. The story goes Christopher Reeve talked them out of it for some reason.

  4. Anthony says:

    Why can’t Paul Dini/Bruce Timm have a go at a live action DC property already? Brad Bird did excellent work for MI4, and Andrew Stanton had an admirable effort in John Carter. You would think the story-boarding experience would translate to some well visualized action sequences.

  5. nick says:

    i think the problem w all warner’s dc content is that leadership fail to settle on an overall theme. that’s what marvel sells the best. that’s why they are able to sell gurdians. if snyder/goyer are at the helm of all dc content, then i actually would be interested in that, and i also hope they can finally deliver a compelling and exciting ending.

    as for batman vs superman…
    i think it’s insincere to use the dkr quote to promote because in that quote superman is a bad guy and tool for the us govt and batman is the ultimate freedom fighter. not the direction they seemed to be going at the end of MOS as superman destroyed a drone.

  6. anghus says:

    Warners ruled the weekend with that announcement. Sucked all the air out of Hall H. Marvel was just everywhere. And for the first time, it almost feels like overkill. Theres just so many Marvel movies and they are pumping the marketplace full of their brand. They have all the movies, and yet their announcements did little to inspire.

    They revealed the name of their Avengers sequel. Great. You could call it “The Avengers battle Turd Furguson” and it would still make a billion dollars.

    It’s just sooooooo much. I almost respect Warner Brothers for their restraint if i wasn’t painfully aware they’d be pumping out Green Lantern 2 and 3 and Aquaman 7 if they thought the money was there. Look at those cast photos for Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America 2. I think 80% of the actors that showed up to SDCC were promoting a Marvel related film. You got that overwhelming sense of brand from Marvel, but i think some people are getting that feeling that two or three more years of this is going to burn people out and the box office will start to reflect that indifference.

    A Wolverine trailer played in the lobby of a local theater and someone said “Another one? Jesus.” They’re pulling this particular tit a little too hard.

  7. brack says:

    I doubt a large number of those movies are even going to be made if the movies coming out in the next year or two don’t do as well as expected. If Thor 2 and Captain America 2 have an Avengers bump, these other Marvel entities may benefit. Or not.

    WB doesn’t know what it is doing with DC. A Superman/Batman movie? Yikes, that could be really bad. It is going to have to have an amazing script, or otherwise it will come off as a cartoon movie team up. Not saying that’s bad, but movie audiences won’t bite.

    If Bale was on board, and we know he’s not, I’d say this was a no-brainer.

    WB needs a Wonder Woman movie if they’re serious about a Justice League movie. Plus we need a strong female superhero. I’m so sick of the sausage fest.

  8. Amblinman says:

    I agree with Anghus, but I’m interested in Singer’s X-Men. Probably the only Marvel movie releasing over the next couple of years that might actully be a good/great movie. Bryan Singer has had one of the most frustrating careers. I hope this is his rebound.

  9. anghus says:

    Thor 2 is the real test. Avengers + Downey Jr. = Big Avengers Bump. What’s it going to do for Thor? If Thor does as much as Man of Steel worldwide, it will be gigantic. Captain America feels like GI Joe to me, i.e. a 400 millon WW cap.

    I could be totally wrong, but with Fox stepping up plans for spin offs and Marvel ramping up so many films, it feels like youre going to have 4 Marvel related films a year. They start to lose that event status.

    I saw this on reddit and it made me chuckle.

    2015: Man of Steel 2, Avengers 2, Star Wars 7, Avatar 2, Pirates 5, Terminator 5, Die Hard 6, Jurassic Park 4, Independence Day 2, Finding Nemo 2, Mission: Impossible 5, Hunger Games 4, Ant-Man, Fantastic Four, Tintin 2, Bond 24, Bourne 5, Snow White 2…

    I believe Demolition Man referred to them as ‘the franchise wars’.

  10. Etguild2 says:

    @anghus, but my issue is…the Marvel panel was really well received based on product. The DC panel only was well received on the announcement of future product.

    As much as I personally think Marvel is in overkill mode (and they might have a turd on their hand with THOR 2), the CAP footage and even the Guardians footage went over gangbusters.

    And hey, lay off X:Men-DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. If we ever are going to be nostalgic for a new Superhero movie…it’s this one! 🙂

  11. Joe Straatmann says:

    The Batman/Superman logo looked better when it was in I Am Legend. That’s all I can really say about any of this.

  12. Jack1137 says:

    Yestereday someone posted a list of all the Comic Movies coming out in the next few years.Could you do it again here?

  13. anghus says:

    “Yestereday someone posted a list of all the Comic Movies coming out in the next few years.Could you do it again here?”

    Says the guy ive never heard of…

    when its relative to the conversation, yes

  14. panopticon says:

    Batman of Steel

  15. Bulldog68 says:

    @Anghus: Does 2015 have any movie being released that does not have a number on the tail end? Aye Karumba.

  16. cadavra says:

    Bulldog:

    No.

    This has been another edition of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.

  17. arisp says:

    The Batman/Superman could work if it’s based on Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. That’s it. But that was a Batman title…

  18. cadavra says:

    Well, they could just dig out an old copy of “World’s Finest Comics” and shoot one of those…

  19. Martin S says:

    Incredibly saddened by the loss of Dennis Farina. One of the greatest character actors we had for the last thirty years.

  20. Dr Wally Rises says:

    RIP Dennis Fatima. His performance in Midnight Run is just classic. Even DeNiro seems to shrink in his presence.

  21. hcat says:

    Terribly sad about Farina, I am going to relax and have a tuna fish sandwich in his memory.

  22. The Big Perm says:

    Marvel can’t get worse with an Avengers movie…there’s literally no way for Marvel to make worse movies than Iron Man 2 or Thor. I’m not huge into the Marvel movies, but The Avengers and Iron Man were the only ones I really liked. Captain America was okay. Joss Whedon will bring it again, and they’ll put Downey more up front for that one and sort of make that Iron Man 4.

    With some of these new Marvel movies though, it seems like they’re not just doing the same thing…that Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t even seem like a super hero movie, more like maybe a 1908s Flash Gordon styled comedy sci-fi? I could go for that.

  23. Martin S says:

    Farina was always my first choice for either Batman’s Gordon or J Jonah Jameson. One of the truly great missed casting opportunities.

  24. jspartisan says:

    Dc are never going to get over the hump without Nolan. They are putting their franchises in the wrong hands, and this will keep costing them market share. I’m just glad the rest of the movie going public loves the MCU, compared to the posters in this thread.

  25. anghus says:

    comic properties arent contingent on one person, no matter how well respected. Superman made them money in the 70’s & 80’s. Batman made them money in the 90’s. What Marvel has gotten right is realizing that their properties arent based on a person. Tying everything to Nolan is not a bad idea in the short term but Warners needs to start thinking long term plan and get past the idea that you cant launch two of the most iconic heroes of all time in a movie without having Nolan on board. These characters are bigger than a filmmaker.

  26. amblinman says:

    I don’t think they tied everything to Nolan, it just so happened he was making an iconic trilogy (yeah yeah, the last one wasn’t that good, what else is new.) Nolan didn’t set out to create a universe, and I don’t think DC was looking for that from him. His movies weren’t part of a bigger plan cause he wasn’t playing in the same sandbox as anyone else.

    I’ll tell you what I appreciate from DC more than Marvel so far: they seem in service to making great MOVIES first, creating franchises second. I’d rather take chances with guys like Nolan, Snyder, and Campbell (yes, GL sucked. No argument) than just hack out one crappy movie after another. Real filmmakers making real movies. Yes, MCU makes money, so what? The movies are blown up TV episodes. Generic, generic, generic. Not one iconic villain or moment has been created with maybe a couple of exceptions (Stark’s first Iron Man mission, Hulk bashing Loki into the floor is all that comes to mind). Iron Man 3 made the most money this summer (right?), yet I honestly can’t remember a single moment from the movie.

    The more Marvel dives into the shallow end of their comic pool, the more cynical this becomes. Guardians of the Galaxy? Really? Who the fuck cares? Yeah, yeah – Rocket Raccoon. Can’t wait.

    Sorry for the rant…actually, I”m not. I am someone that LOVES big budget filmmaking, and it sucks right now. IT’s dominated by shitty directors and the same awful superhero origin story. There aren’t even any genre specialists anymore. Where are our John Mctiernans and Renny Harlins?

    At least we have Elysium.

  27. amblinman says:

    On another note: If Abrams leaves Star Wars, boy oh boy does that portend terrible things for this series. Not because I”m a huge Abrams fan, but way too many high profile guys have run in the other direction. I wonder if Disney is squeezing too tight.

  28. anghus says:

    “At least we have Elysium.”

    Last night my wife saw an Elysium commercial and declared “Man, all these movies look exactly the same”

    And i think its probably more about the marketing than the film, but its hard to argue that there is not a ridiculous amount of sameness in summer movie marketing which is still wrapped around the Inception model of

    BRAM!!!!!
    Iconic Shot.

    BRAM!!!!!!!
    Iconic shot

    BRAM!!!!!!!
    Voice Over

    Re: Abrams leaving Star Wars.

    That would be huge. Story of the year, hands down, and the kind of franchise taint that wont hurt the films but will certainly generate a lot of coverage. But seriously, how reliable is Faraci? The guy has a track record up there with El Mayimbe from Latino Review, i.e. lots of smoke very little fire.

  29. Paul Doro says:

    I read as much Comic Con coverage as I can, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not all that much. I’m sure this isn’t limited to this year alone, but I find it kind of amusing to read about cast and filmmakers pledging that such-and-such huge blockbuster is “character-driven” or “an art house take on the material.” Granted there are a lot of attendees, but is that really what this particular crowd wants to hear? That the Godzilla remake is like an art house movie?

    Even though I really want to see Elysium, that’s true anghus. Didn’t it cost like $130 million or something? Better to sell explosions and gunfire I suppose.

  30. Martin S says:

    These characters are bigger than a filmmaker.

    Then why did Marvel break out the big check for RDJ?

    I should have pulled this line – What Marvel has gotten right is realizing that their properties arent based on a person.

    Because they’re beholden to him and Favreau for assembling (keep the pun) a model that worked.

    Before IM, look at everything outside Raimi-Spidey and Singer’s X films. It’s junk. They were lost at sea.

    But they knew Iron Man was an easy-sell title and one of the last chances. So Arad screwed Murphy, got the rights back and swiped about 75% of Batman Begins. The other 25% was Favreau deciding Vince Vaughn-as-Stark. Throw in a last minute teaser and boom, Marvel has a model.

    Now, Thor 2 and Cap 2 seem heavier, but Guardians is shaping up as a full swipe of Avengers except with the humor equal to the action. The smart-ass heroic lead, the assassin female, the warrior, the monster. Combine that with a golden title and voila: Easy Bake Marvel.

    ………………………………………………….

    World’s Finest felt last second. I believe Team Nolan has a map, but the new WB haven’t signed off yet. Everything comes down to whose financing and who gets final say on casting Batman.

    Someone in the DC camp was swirling Flash 2016, JLA 2017 rumors which didn’t come about. I think the proposal is World’ Finest, Brave & Bold, JLA. Wonder Woman can be introed in either and then made the focal of JLA. I’d be surprised if Team Nolan doesn’t want Antje Traue for WW. She’s the real breakout of MOS.

  31. Sam says:

    Martin, I don’t think the point was that there aren’t specific people who made THIS incarnation of The Avengers work as well as it has, or that just anybody else could have done better.

    It’s just that someone else COULD have done as well, if not in quite the same way. Tim Burton made Batman, previously best known from the campy low-budget TV series with Adam West, into a smash hit of such epic proportions it got everyone rethinking the potential of summer blockbusters. Then Nolan did the same thing with The Dark Knight, building on his previous Batman Begins. It is demonstrably true, therefore, that you didn’t need Burton to make Batman successful, nor did you need Nolan. You “just” needed a visionary with a take on the material that resonates.

    By no means is that easy. For every Burton or Nolan that could be successful, there would be dozens of people whose attempts would have flopped. Nonetheless, the Batman character doesn’t depend on Burton or Nolan to survive into the future, just as James Bond continues to thrive without Sean Connery, Ian Fleming, Cubby Broccoli, and Terence Young.

    It’s entirely likely that Iron Man never would have ascended into immortality without RDJ and Jon Favreau, but now that he has, I suspect he will outlive both.

  32. hcat says:

    ‘a smash hit of such epic proportions it got everyone rethinking the potential of summer blockbusters’

    So you think in the summer of 89 everyone had given up on the thought of a summer blockbuster? Indy and Ghostbusters werent seen as tentpoles with the potential to make tons of money?

  33. christian says:

    “Before IM, look at everything outside Raimi-Spidey and Singer’s X films. It’s junk.”

    What Marvel films were out in 2001 besides these two?

  34. The Big Perm says:

    anghus, have you seen the longer trailer for Elysium? I loved District 9 but this movie looked a little so-so, but the long trailer sold me. There was a 30 second but if Damon being smart-assed to a robot, and that was really good, selling the characters. And it showed off the designs more, which also sold me…the robots are great.

  35. tbunny says:

    Elysium is the most important English-language movie since Anchorman.

  36. Foamy Squirrel says:

    Christian:

    Punisher (Multiple Attempts)
    Captain America (Multiple Attempts)
    Fantastic Four (Multiple Attempts)
    Blade
    Daredevil
    Ghost Rider
    Elektra
    Man-Thing
    Swamp-Thing
    Hulk

    All done between Burton’s Batman and RDJ/Favreau’s Iron Man, with a loooot of whiffs.

  37. christian says:

    BLADE made money and had sequels. THE HULK, THE FANTASTIC FOUR and GHOST RIDER came AFTER Spider-Man. All made money. SWAMP THING is DC.

  38. Martin S says:

    Sorry, I should have been more specific. The only properties that worked were Raimi’s first two Spidey’s and Singer’s first two X films. Everything else has been middling at best.

    As Foamy points out, it’s natural disaster bad once you go before the first X-Men. Now, granted Blade was a smash, but it was only a Marvel film to a very, very small few. It was a Snipes movie first, a vampire film, second. I would bet the majority of nu-Marvel lemmings don’t even associate it with Marvel Films.

    The Hulk was a belly flop. Both times. Ghost Rider didn’t perform, especially the sequel. The first FF gave birth to a sequel, that went nowhere. If it did, they wouldn’t be in reboot mode.

    It’s all about context. If you look at what Sony wanted to do before Raimi, Spidey would have been a colossal bomb. If you haven’t read the real history of Cameron’s involvement, it’s a freakin eye-opener. Raimi saved that entire property because he got what to do. Just as Singer, Favreau and Nolan did. And I would include Whedon after A2, since Favreau set the table for the first Avengers and was involved through production.

  39. Amblinman says:

    It may not have resembled a traditional Spidey but Cameron’s Spider-Man would most likely not have been a bomb.

  40. Pete B. says:

    It tanked at the the box office, but Punisher: War Zone was a blast. Ray Stevenson was perfect.

  41. Martin S says:

    Cameron’s was at Carolco/MGM. Sony was Emmerich and a cast of pretty boys like Ledger.

  42. The Big Perm says:

    Punisher Was Zone is one of those movies that got a lot of geek love…I guess because of Stevenson (who was great) and because it was very violent. But I didn’t like that one, it tried hard but didn’t come together. I did like the violence, but then there’d be scenes where the villain’s making a speech and the music’s playing and there’s an American flag in the background and I guess they’re trying to be satirical in some way, but who knows what about. Like idiots trying to act smart.

  43. I just can’t imagine this working at all. It’s either going to end up being a very dark and depressing film or strange by being optimistic.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

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