What an exciting week it has been, in the world of movies. “Justice League” is doing poorly at the US box office but doing pretty well at the global box office. Should Warner Bros pull the plug and start over? Disney finally announced the lead actress who will be playing Mulan in the live-action remake and what about that AMAZING “Avengers: Infinity War” trailer? Loads of great things to talk about, so without further ado, here are the 5 Questions of the Week.
1. Could “Avengers: Infinity War” do better than Star Wars at the Box Office?
Okay, first of all, can we all agree that the Avengers: Infinity War trailer is completely BATSHIT CRAZY. Right from the opening shot, accompanied by Sam Jackson’s voiceover, “there was an idea,” you know, that shit just got real, son. After more than eight years of movies — some great, some average, some balls — fantastic character arcs, nerd boners and man tears, it all culminates here. What a journey it has been.
Avengers: Infinity War is arguably the most looked forward to movie of the past two decades…. well, aside from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” that is. Which begs the question, could “Avengers: Infinity War” do better than “The Force Awakens” at the box office?
“The Force Awakens” is the highest grossing movie of all time in the US, raking in over $US 936.6 million dollars. In the global box office, this movie grossed more than $US 2 billion, and is comfortably sitting at third spot, behind James Cameron’s “Avatar” and “Titanic”.
“Infinity War” will make a lot of money, but I highly doubt it will outdo the record set by “The Force Awakens”. “Marvel’s The Avengers” grossed over $US 1.5 billion at the global box office. While its much-anticipated sequel, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” made a crap ton of money — $US 1.4 billion — too, it made LESS than its predecessor.
“Infinity War” is also coming out in a year that has seven other comic book movies — “Aquaman”, “New Mutants”, “Deadpool 2”, “Venom”, “Black Panther”, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “X-Men: Dark Pheonix”. While most of us are no doubt going to watch all these movies repeatedly, a lot of casual fans will no doubt suffer from ‘superhero fatigue’.
On the flip side, “The Force Awakens” was the first Star Wars movie in TEN YEARS. It promised to bridge the gap between fans of the original and those who love the prequels. And it brought back classic, universally adored pop cultural icons in Han Solo and Princess Leia.
Of course, to “Infinity War’s” point, it does bring together 275 now-very-popular characters in it, including “Spider-Man” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”.
2. Should Warner Bros reboot the DCEU?
After the critical failure and box office disappointment of “Justice League” (I enjoyed the heck out of it), many were wondering if Warner Bros should reboot the DCEU after “Aquaman”, which is set to be released next year. One now-suspended Twitter account parodying The Hollywood Reporter even rickrolled fans by Tweeting that the DCEU will be scrapped after the release of James Wan’s “Aquaman”.
The DCEU has had many missteps, so far. “Man of Steel” is above average, the theatrical edition of “Batman V Superman” is a mess and “Suicide Squad” shouldn’t even be called a movie — A decomposing rat carcass is a more accurate term. While I liked “Justice League” a lot, most critics didn’t. But there is one gem in the franchise and that is “Wonder Woman”. Rebooting the franchise now would mean that we wouldn’t see Gal Gadot as the amazing Amazonian anymore and that would be a damn shame. Not to mention the rest of the stellar cast, be it Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher and J.K. Simmons.
Plus, the franchise is still in its early days, with only four movies released so far. What Warner Bros needs is a proper plan. Over at Disney, everything Star Wars related goes through Kathleen Kennedy and everything Marvel related goes through Kevin Feige. Both Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven to be successful franchises overall, both critically and at the box office.
However, over at Warner Bros, we don’t know who’s in charge. Every day new instructions are given out by various studio executives. This has been the DCEU’s problem since day one. Without a person in charge, the franchise will lack vision and purpose.
3. Are we going to see more Disney movies with Asian talents, moving forward?
When Disney first announced the remake of “Mulan”, many were worried about a possible whitewashing situation. A few hours ago, Disney announced that Chinese actress Liu Yifei has been cast as the titular character.
This is great news, especially for Asians in America and around the world who grew up not knowing if there’ll ever come a day where we would see Asians playing Asian characters, especially in the leading role. Over the past couple of years, Disney has been taking large strides towards a more diverse and progressive filmmaking.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2016, Disney released “Moana”, an animated film centered around a Polynesian girl. This year, Pixar (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) released “Coco”, an animated feature bursting with Mexican culture. In 2019, “Mulan” will hit the big screens, and not only does it have an Asian lead, it also has a female at the helm.
Safe to say, we will most likely be getting more movies with Asians (and other POC) talents in the coming years to come.
4. Where will Star Wars go after Daisy Ridley’s departure?
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey in the new Star Wars trilogy expressed that she will not be returning to the franchise after the currently untitled “Episode IX”, set to be directed by JJ Abrams.
I am really, really excited to do the third thing and round it out, because ultimately, what I was signing on to was three films. So in my head, it’s three films. I think it will feel like the right time to round it out.
While this isn’t great news, it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise either, considering the plans Kathleen Kennedy and co have for the franchise, moving forward. About a week ago, Kathleen Kennedy had this to say:
We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi. He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.
Some might find the whole ‘blank canvas’ part baffling, wondering how on earth can Star Wars function without the name Skywalker attached to it. Here’s the thing, while the main feature films have always been Skywalker family dramas, the Star Wars universe itself is vast, with plenty of interesting characters that have little to no connection to Darth Vader or Luke or Leia, such as Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Ahsoka Tano.
Rian Johnson is a fantastic director (check out “Looper” and “Brick”) and it’ll be exciting to see where he takes this franchise when given a blank canvas.
5. What is the best comic book movie of 2017?
I am definitely going to write a separate piece on this, where I rank and discuss all five comic book movies that hit the big screens this year. I haven’t quite made up my mind on which is the best comic book movie of the year, but it’s definitely a toss-up between “Wonder Woman” and “Logan”.
Both “Wonder Woman” and “Logan” are wonderfully executed films that impacted me in very different ways. It’s going to be difficult to decide who gets the top spot on my coveted list (which is more important than winning the Oscars).
Hey you! Yes you, hot stuff. Like this article? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Also, don’t forget to share it with your buds.
Do you have any movie questions you desperately need answers to? Like why isn’t David Fincher currently attached to a movie? Or will the DCEU ever be as good as the MCU? Heck, would you like to know what’s the most masturbate-worthy nude scene of all time? Whatever questions you have, you can tweet directly to me or to the website.
Hype Twitter: @HypeMY
My twitter: @dedpewlsays
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
