DC cinematic universe general stuff

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121108388#Comment_121108388

Oh don't get me started on Spider-verse......Just breathtaking.

Thanks for the headsup on The Flash.

Agent Coulson

Batgirl might get released if the strike goes on longer and WB don't have any movies to release.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121109571#Comment_121109571

Isn't that impossible now, due to how WB basically Memory Hole'd the project? That as it was a tax-based decision they can't go back on it now?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121109603#Comment_121109603

Yeah that's what I would have thought too.

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121109609#Comment_121109609

Yeah, that cynical tax dodge doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it?

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121107863#Comment_121107863

I think it was just right place, right time. Mamoa was extremely popular at the time, it was a character and setting not really done before in the genre, and Warner aped the Marvel formula just before it was exhausted.

I still find it perplexing over how well it did, but there's enough there to produce a surprise hit.

There's no way the sequel comes close to matching it.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121108388#Comment_121108388

Honestly, it had the potential to be a much better film if it wasn't The Flash. Eg I liked Supergirl and Batman although it became a complete failure in terms of what they did with the characters by the end.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121110533#Comment_121110533

It was a mad move rarely done before, but from what I've seen and read of the plot, they might have done themselves a favour longterm.

I could see Gunn taking a character like Batgirl and really making gold of it, and there won't be any baggage over what came before hampering it.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121114777#Comment_121114777

It was a mess of a film that didn't know what it wanted to be, and whatever it rationalised it wasn't "a Flash movie". And annoyingly, this chaos probably ensured there won't be another attempt for years. Flashpoint shouldn't have been the first solo plot, and certainly not this variation of it.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121115166#Comment_121115166

And that Supergirl plot would have been more suited to either a Superman/Supergirl movie with the option of involving Batman. Instead it just became a pretty bad rejig of Man of Steel in the third act.

TheIrishGrover

OK.... I struggled through the rest of The Flash. And, as Pixelburp said, it wasn't worth it. Tonally it was everywhere: The annoying alternate Flash (Not a spoiler, you see that in the trailer) to the attempts at humour (WHAT was the point in that whole scene in Alternate Barry's apartment???!!!). Then shifting to poorly executed pathos. The editing (How long did it take to get to Gotham? To that other place to get Supergirl - seemed like it took mins. The very obvious deep-fakery of a certain bad guy and his people. (Oh God, the effects in general. The scene multiverse scene towards the end was like a cut scene from a Mortal Kombat game).

Were you supposed to be laughing at the hospital scene at the start? At the big-headedness as he eats? Truly awful. About the only people who came out of that with any dignity was Ben Afleck (And even then only after his scene at the end of the initial action sequence - His later scene with Barry). And Keaton to a degree.

I mean, I get why it was released - After all the money invested, surely worth getting SOMETHING back but it really is shocking HOW bad this was. This was a freaking film with TWO BATMEN for God's sake at a time when everyone was jumping on the cash-in potential of a multiverse.

I mean, the CW did this better on TV years ago (Kevin Conroy in one scene as Kingdom Come Batman???!!! Awesome)

GeneHunt

 

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121124788#Comment_121124788

Really, did Ben Affleck come out of it with his dignity? I think he looked stupid as he babbled with the Lasso of Truth on him, in fact, in Zack Snyder’s Justice League when Aquaman was sitting on the Lasso of Truth, They didn’t have him look stupid or goofy, it was done way better.

The last few DC movies have been very poorly done, and I think the issue with them is the stupid lame jokes, there’s a forced comedy in these movies now and it seems they have all the main characters playing a much more foolish version of themselves. Is that what the audience wants from these characters nowadays, I don't think so.

I think they got the character of Wonder Woman right in the first movie (Wonder Woman 2017) and ever since they have basically made her look more foolish. The cameo scenes of her in Shazam! Fury of the gods and The Flash are just terrible, having Shazam, the Flash or Batman all drooling over her and she's lapping it up just looks pathetic in this day and age. Personally I think they got the Shazam character right in the first movie too, as he was learning how to use his power etc, in the second movie he should have being a little more mature as he gets older and behaving a little more like a superhero, but no, the studios went with: let's make him look more of an idiot in a costume for the second movie and that’s why I think Shazam! Fury of the Gods didn’t do well.

Barry Allen / the Flash character in Zack Snyder’s Justice League or even the 2017 Justice League had a good few funny scenes, but it was well. The Flash movie on the other hand had way too much lame jokes, the hospital scene and the lead up to it (Barry interacting with Alfred) at the start was just sooo bad and way too long. I’ll try to not spoil it, but the fight scenes of the Keaton Batman and the Kryptonians, I think that was just wrong, I wonder did James Gunn have a say in that storyline, especially after a few old tweets that surfaced recently from Gunn. The Aquaman scene at the end of the Flash was just terrible.

After seeing the trailer of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, I wonder will it do better than Black Adam in the box office, I know it won't do as well as the first movie but it will be interesting to see how well it does. However, from what I can see in the trailer, they have him looking goofy too, i.e. drying his costume on the clothes line and him looking for a high five from his half-brother!!! 

The White Wolf

I'm not sure if the original iteration of Aquaman 2 would have been any good, but what I do know is that its production represents everything wrong with where the genre and surrounding genres are headed; absolutely diced to pieces and repeatedly reassembled at the whim of numerous test screenings.

This might be crazy to utter but the general audience does not know what it wants with these films, and the more you cater to them, the more you get bullshit like what Marvel and DC has been producing over the last 4 years at a minimum.

pixelburp

Has test screenings ever saved notable movies? I'm sure they have but can't immediately think of a significant example. They always seem to be a kiss of death on films being turned into total messes, and box office bombs more often than not.

Agent Coulson

Wait for the first reviews calling it the greatest superhero movie of all time.

DC have done it again it’s a masterpiece

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121139970#Comment_121139970

Be hard to find a worse case than New Mutants. That was at least 3 completely separate movies with 3 completely different styles and tone mashed together randomly.

Brief_Lives

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121140093#Comment_121140093

"another triumph"

https://twitter.com/dailysimpsons/status/1249542161411997699

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121140093#Comment_121140093

'The best DC movie since the Dark Knight' incoming 🤣

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121139970#Comment_121139970

The only example i can think for is it TV where in Justified they didnt kill off the main antagonist in the show in the first episode (as was originally filmed) because the test screening audience like him so much.

Mal-Adjusted

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121139970#Comment_121139970

Starship troopers had to tone down Carmen (Denise Richards) because test audiences hated her so much and wanted her to get killed off. IIRC in the original cut when she dumps Rico, she immediately gets off with that pilot fellah, then when he dies near the end, she basically jumps right back into Rico's arms. They basically had to cut out her romantic relationship with the pilot.

CastorTroy

Old film but spoilers for Deep Blue sea in regards to test screening

Spoiler Warning

Saffron Burrows' character originally survived but test audiences weren't happy about it

Not saying it saved it but it is one of the first ones I heard of where the test audience caused the ending to change. heard of others since then.

ThePott

This sounds like a total clusterf&*k

Mal-Adjusted

Nothing is canon but we might retroactively include projects from the previous continuity, I don't know, we'll see... maybe just the stuff my wife is in.

It sounds like as much of a c1u$terfukc as the launch of the new 52.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121166854#Comment_121166854

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121165838#Comment_121165838

Just keeping the auld DC reliable flinging shìt at a wall and if it sticks it counts, if not it never happened.

pixelburp

Was there ever a more annoying word that became a stranglehold on pop culture than "canon"? I like things to be consistent and important events not ignored, but making sure everything's "canon" kinda got a bit out of control...

Penn

https://www.ign.com/articles/james-gunn-says-peacemaker-season-2-will-be-part-of-new-dcu?utm_source=facebook,twitter

Peacemaker Season 2 will be part of the new DCU, but Season 1 won't be canon, even though it's the basis by which we know all the characters, but it'll be addressed in Season 2....

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121167452#Comment_121167452

I think the individual stories/characters are always more important than maintaining canon, and if something needs to be retconned or reworked, it's usually fair enough. But when the whole selling point of a connected universe is that intertwining of stories/characters/logic, it becomes jarring when it's just casually disregarded. Plus it's like I said above, Peacemaker Season 1 isn't going to be deemed to be canon, but the progression and relationships of those characters that we know are all based on the events that happened in Season 1. So either Season 1 didn't happen and the characters are mostly just similar to what we currently know of them, or Season 1 mostly happened but any references they made to Superman, Batman etc (and the guest appearances in the finale) are just negated.

And either way is just messy for the sake of Gunn wanting to keep his show alive due to his personal connection to it and the characters/actors.

CastorTroy

DC Rebirth was probably one of the more confusing reboots. They said it was a reboot but all major events in a character's life still occurred.

So even though Batman was supposed to be only active for 5 years when the first issue started, he had managed to go through multiple Robins with one dying and growing to be Night wing, plus Batgirl was still paralyzed but got an implant so she could walk.

And the latest big event decided to give everyone back their memories of their previous existences.

So yeah, retcons and canon can be interesting when also trying to maintain some connection to previous continuity.

CastorTroy

Anyone surprised?

https://comicbookmovie.com/blue-beetle/blue-beetle-will-end-its-theatrical-run-as-the-lowest-grossing-dceu-movie-of-all-time-a206072#gs.661fx5

Blue Beetle ends its theatrical run as the lowest grossing DCEU movie.

pixelburp

Oof, even worse than Shazam 2? That's kinda embarrassing. I'd seen a lot of attempted juice & hype over Stateside, but obviously nobody was buying it.

I know the term makes some people get itchy, but I have wondered, just a little, if there isn't some Superhero Fati... uhm. If the Superhero genre has experienced its Hello Dolly moment somewhere along the line recently?

Spider-Verse 2 did well though not sure if was good as Sony wanted; while Guardians 3 did very well as a send-off MCU'side ... but DC seems to be in real trouble - and we haven't even got to Aquaman 2, a film DC seemingly want to pretend they don't wanna release? It's on its third set of reshoots, isn't it?

Agent Coulson

According Gunn the Blue Beetle is still part of his bastardized reboot of the DCU.

Warner Bros and DC have already really have made a total mess of some great characters and material to work from and Gunn seems to be doing his best to keep it a total mess by not going for a clean break and reboot.