Joss Whedon has been fired from Batgirl.
WB has no idea what it wants. WB has no idea how to get it. WB has no idea what it's doing.
But it does know that this time, heads have to roll. They stand to lose $50-100m on Justice League, and... haha no they're not firing the studio head who mandated it be 2 hours long. They're firing the schmuck brought in to clean up their mess.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Stop with the Martyrdom of Zack Snyder already
Guys.
This is a bad look.
"If not for Joss Whedon, the film wouldn't have sucked."
Oh? By "sucked" do you mean "it did poorly" or "it was bad?" Because those are two different things. And I'm just going to say it: Zack Snyder is not a critical darling, he's never going to get the praise he "deserves," and his films are never going to do as well as they "should."
"The studio interference-"
Stop it. I like Snyder, and even so I think he was laughably miscast as the director for some Superman movies. Yes, I get it, he likes making Big God Metaphors. But let's just compare the box office of some of Snyder's films against Marvel's Underpants Brigade, shall we? For funsies, I've added in the films of Christopher Nolan during that time period as well.
(There actually wasn't a Marvel Underpant movie in 2009, so I have to go with the closest release)
2008: The Incredible Hulk: $263m (Marvel)
2008: The Dark Knight: $1.005b (Nolan)
2009: Watchmen: $185m (Snyder)
2010: Inception: $826m (Nolan)
2011: Sucker Punch: $90m (Snyder)
2011: Thor 1: $499m (Marvel)
2012: The Dark Knight Rises: $1.085b (Nolan)
2013: Man of Steel: $668m (Snyder)
2013: Iron Man 3: $1.215b (Marvel)
2014: Interstellar: $675m (Nolan)
2016: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice: $873m
2016: Captain America: Civil War: $1.153b
Again, Watchmen, the adaptation of THE MOST FAMOUS GRAPHIC NOVEL OF ALL TIME, did worse at the box office than the Marvel Underpant movie that was so awful they had to recast the lead.
The fact of the matter is, when you're making a Big Dumb Expensive Movie, you need to get butts in seats.
Zack Snyder does not do that.
His films are great for weirdos like me and the film nerd class. But he is wildly out of step with what the average popcorn-munching imbecile wants.
This is a bad look.
"If not for Joss Whedon, the film wouldn't have sucked."
Oh? By "sucked" do you mean "it did poorly" or "it was bad?" Because those are two different things. And I'm just going to say it: Zack Snyder is not a critical darling, he's never going to get the praise he "deserves," and his films are never going to do as well as they "should."
"The studio interference-"
Stop it. I like Snyder, and even so I think he was laughably miscast as the director for some Superman movies. Yes, I get it, he likes making Big God Metaphors. But let's just compare the box office of some of Snyder's films against Marvel's Underpants Brigade, shall we? For funsies, I've added in the films of Christopher Nolan during that time period as well.
(There actually wasn't a Marvel Underpant movie in 2009, so I have to go with the closest release)
2008: The Incredible Hulk: $263m (Marvel)
2008: The Dark Knight: $1.005b (Nolan)
2009: Watchmen: $185m (Snyder)
2010: Inception: $826m (Nolan)
2011: Sucker Punch: $90m (Snyder)
2011: Thor 1: $499m (Marvel)
2012: The Dark Knight Rises: $1.085b (Nolan)
2013: Man of Steel: $668m (Snyder)
2013: Iron Man 3: $1.215b (Marvel)
2014: Interstellar: $675m (Nolan)
2016: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice: $873m
2016: Captain America: Civil War: $1.153b
Again, Watchmen, the adaptation of THE MOST FAMOUS GRAPHIC NOVEL OF ALL TIME, did worse at the box office than the Marvel Underpant movie that was so awful they had to recast the lead.
The fact of the matter is, when you're making a Big Dumb Expensive Movie, you need to get butts in seats.
Zack Snyder does not do that.
His films are great for weirdos like me and the film nerd class. But he is wildly out of step with what the average popcorn-munching imbecile wants.
Monday, November 20, 2017
"Justice League" review, part 1: How Infirm a Foundation
I'm not even going to touch the film in this post. I'm just going to explain why it was utterly doomed.
A while back, I wrote "undercutting Snyder with the BvS theatrical cut was the single dumbest thing in this entire attempt at a cinematic universe." Well... no, it wasn't. But at that point, it was the worst thing you could have done.
"That point" being: you've already committed to piggybacking your Big Shared Universe onto Zack Snyder's "The Only Way This Jesus Metaphor Could Be Less Subtle Is If I Released The Film On Easter Weekend," a title only slightly less cumbersome than what the studio ultimately went with. The Extended Cut only softens the blow as to what a train wreck Dawn of Justice is. There is no amount of excess footage that can get around the following problems:
A while back, I wrote "undercutting Snyder with the BvS theatrical cut was the single dumbest thing in this entire attempt at a cinematic universe." Well... no, it wasn't. But at that point, it was the worst thing you could have done.
"That point" being: you've already committed to piggybacking your Big Shared Universe onto Zack Snyder's "The Only Way This Jesus Metaphor Could Be Less Subtle Is If I Released The Film On Easter Weekend," a title only slightly less cumbersome than what the studio ultimately went with. The Extended Cut only softens the blow as to what a train wreck Dawn of Justice is. There is no amount of excess footage that can get around the following problems:
- Mark Zuckerberg cosplaying as Lex Luthor pulls a goddamn piss prank at a Senate hearing.
- Batman and Superman team up because their mothers have the same name.
- Wonder Woman teams up with them because Batman sent her an email.
So I'm just going to come out and say it: using Zack Snyder as the vehicle for your attempt to take on the Marvel juggernaut was a strategic mistake even Napoleon wouldn't have made.
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