Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2018

No wonder the character’s never shown up before in a movie ... nobody cares since the 70s.

 

3/4 of Marvel characters were never in movies till the past 5-10 years.

 

I didn't know that either. I must have read my last comic in the 60's!

 

They did a 2K only 3-strip Technicolor restoration of Song of the South at Lowry Video around 2008, but I'm not aware of a 4K restoration. As far as I know, it has not yet been released in HD, but it has surfaced several times in standard-def in Asia. I had an interesting conversation with Walt Disney Home Video PR when they questioned a review we did on that film and Peter Pan on Laserdisc; they were apparently unaware that their Japan division had enough autonomy that they could choose their own releases without consulting the mother ship.

Let me know if you find the Lucasfilm (or George Lucas) statement. His current obsession is getting the $1 billion+ Lucas Museum of Narrative Art built and opened in LA in the next 2 years...

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

 

Well, anyone who read the X-Men comics in the early 80s, like me, cares, because Rouge stole Carol Danvers's powers, and that was a pretty major part of her backstory.

 

Where was George when it came time to save the collection of Forrest J Ackerman?

Forrest J Ackerman - Ackermansion tour



From Wikipedia...

"Forrest James Ackerman[1] (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films,[2] and acknowledged as the world's most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia.[3] He was based in Los Angeles, California.

During his career as a literary agent, Ackerman represented such science fiction authors as Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, A.E. Van Vogt, Curt Siodmak, and L. Ron Hubbard.[4] For more than seven decades, he was one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters.

Ackerman was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 21st century. He appears in several documentaries related to this period in popular culture, like Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman[5] (directed by Michael R. MacDonald[6] and written by Ian Johnston[7]), which premiered at the Egyptian Theatre in March 2009, during the Forrest J Ackerman tribute; The Ackermonster Chronicles![8] (a 2012 documentary about Ackerman[9] by writer and filmmaker Jason V Brock); and Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man,[10] about the late author Charles Beaumont, a former client of The Ackerman Agency.[11]

Also called "Forry",[12] "Uncle Forry", "The Ackermonster",[13] "Dr. Acula", "Forjak",[13] "4e"[13] and "4SJ",[12] Ackerman was central to the formation, organization and spread of science fiction fandom and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art, and film genre. Famous for his word play and neologisms, he coined the genre nickname "sci-fi".[14] In 1953, he was voted "#1 Fan Personality" by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, a unique Hugo Award never granted to anyone else.[15]

He was also among the first and most outspoken advocates of Esperanto in the science fiction community.[16][17]"

 

4E was very sad and lamented to me and others several times that he had had Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Lucas, Joe Dante, and many filmmakers at that level over to see his collection, but when push came to shove, none of them were willing to help him build his proposed "LA Science Fiction Museum." That's a long, sad story that deserves its own thread, since it has nothing to do with the movies of 2018.

 

I can imagine, so I will say this and go no further. I remember the photo that your posted with you (some time ago) with 4E. I only learned sometime after his passing that he gave tours of the Ackermansion. I was aware and in awe of 4E and his works. There was never anyone like him and there will never be again. I would never knock on his door, because it would not be like me to intrude on someone's private home. If I had only known that he gave tours to his fans/follower's, I would have flown out to LA to meet him and tour the mansion and see it's collection's.

He was already perhaps the greatest collection of monster and sci-fi memorabilia in the known world. What would it have taken to preserve the collection he already had built and by creating a museum for his collection?

Where indeed were these people? These of all people had the wherewithal to accomplish this. People from all over the world would have joined in to help. How could these people, being who they are and every one owing at least part of their career's, because of 4E's influences in their youth?

There are NO WORDS for this.

 

That little scoop came from Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits, who in turn got it first-hand from the head of restoration/archives at Disney...

Will do, I have read it online in the past... just need to track it down again, time permitting.

Have a groovy Christmas .

 

Is this the one you’re looking for?


After a massive load of angry letters reached Lucasfilm, publicist Lynn Hale issued a general statement which read in part:

"As you may know, an enormous amount of effort was put into digitally restoring the negatives for the Special Editions...The negatives of the movies were permanently altered for the creation of the Special Editions, and existing prints of the first versions are in poor condition. So many fans have requested the original movies, we wanted to find a way to bring them to you. But since these movies do not represent George's artistic vision, we could not put the extraordinary time and resources into this project as we did with the Special Editions. The 1993 Laserdisc masters represented the best source for providing the original versions as DVD bonus material."
Save Star Wars

 

‘Aquaman’ Swims Past Half Billion WW, Eyes $100M Stateside By End Of Christmas Day

 

And it looks like the new Will Farrell Holmes & Watson is bombing big-time:

Judging by the conspicuous lack of fanfare awaiting “Step Brothers” co-stars Will Ferrelland John C. Reilly’s third feature pairing, the fact that critics weren’t invited, and the faint odor of horse manure emanating from the theater on Christmas morning, one doesn’t need to be a master detective to deduce that “Holmes & Watson” is a dud...
Film Review: ‘Holmes & Watson’

But if there are any new jokes left to tell about Holmes, they’re nowhere to be found in the abysmal Holmes & Watson, which might be the worst feature-length film ever made about the “consulting detective” from Baker Street. The movie is 89 minutes of inertia and pure, undiluted flopsweat, with a couple of uncharacteristically unfunny and painfully awkward lead performances from Will Ferrell (as Holmes) and John C. Reilly (as Watson).
https://film.avclub.com/will-ferrell-and-john-c-reilly-hit-career-lows-in-the-1831309924

You can feel the flop sweat emanating from the third onscreen pairing of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Making their previous vehicles Step Brothers and Talladega Nightsseem the height of comic sophistication by comparison, Holmes & Watson features the duo parodying Arthur Conan Doyle's famous characters to devastatingly unfunny effect. Numerous talented British thespians are wasted in supporting roles in this Christmas turkey that, not surprisingly, wasn't screened in advance for critics. Although making them troop out to theaters Christmas morning is something of which even Ebenezer Scrooge wouldn't have approved.
'Holmes & Watson': Film Review

 

I saw "H&W" tonight and it was occasionally entertaining.

Ferrell and Reilly are just so good together - there's no way they could make a movie with zero entertainment value.

It's not as good as their other movies, but it's not as bad as the reviews indicate. It's a tight 89 minutes and it has enough laughs to make it watchable...

 

the man was an incredible in knowledge and wealth of movies & memorabilia!

 

That's the Lucasfilm statement I referred to concerning how supposedly the best source for the OT theatrical versions' 2006 DVD release was the above-mentioned 1993 Laserdisc masters, and what a complete load of cobblers it is as pristine IP's of those films exist in their vaults, could have been used for those DVD releases with relatively little time and money spent on them (a fresh 2K scan and a nice remastering), and indeed likely were used for the Empire of Dreams documentary two years prior.

But that isn't THE statement I'm referring to and can't seem to find online anymore... that was from an interview that Lucas gave wherein he essentially lamented the pressure they were getting from fans to reissue the theatrical versions, that to him the revised versions were the only versions of those films, and that fans can still watch the original versions on their old videotapes and Laserdiscs but reminded them that within 30 years those old formats will have deteriorated away and all that will be left will be his revised versions... Lucas was practically goading fans with that interview, same as when he told a fan to their face to "grow up" when they respectfully inquired about the theatrical versions during some convention. If I find that interview segment, I'll post it here, but I've had no luck tracking it down as yet...

 

And while Holmes & Watson is tanking, the bomb of the year appears to be producer Peter Jackson's Mortal Engines:

‘Mortal Engines’ Conks Out At The B.O. And Is Poised To Lose At Least $100M+: Here’s Why

Rival film finance sources project that should Mortal Engines chug its way to a global gross of $120M–and that’s a lofty projection–it would still lose around $105M. However, they believe it could be much greater, in the neighborhood of $150M, after all ancillaries are factored-in down the road.

I'm not convinced the interview statement exists. Lucas was (and is) a very careful man and was fairly cautious in what he said publicly, particularly about video releases. I think you're quoting fan sites that did a lot of speculation on Star Wars and why the DVD was done the way it was. The comments I quoted from George were made directly to me in the room in C Building at ILM, so I'm the witness -- but the statements weren't done on the record and they're paraphrased.

 

Why does he despise the original theatrical version?

 

How is Captian Marvel going to fair at the box 2019, eclipse Aquaman?

 

Except that wasn't Captain Marvel, but Ms. Marvel. Marvel Comics only changed Carol Danvers's superhero name to Captain Marvel in 2012, after Disney acquired the company. Or are you talking about the black woman that went by Captain Marvel in the 1980s, Monica Rambeau? She's an unrelated character to the upcoming movie.

It's funny how things work out. Marvel called Carol Ms. Marvel because it was a feminist thing in the 1970s. Then they started calling her Captain Marvel earlier this decade because giving her the Miss title was deemed too sexist for Hollywood adaptations.

 

This woman Captain Marvel outfit reminds of Supergirl.

 

There’s a reason for that

 

Jack Kirby more yahhh, than byrrah!

 

I don't think Lucas does. I think he just prefers the version of the film in his head, so to him, some of the Star Wars films were released unfinished.

The feature rights to both Hulk and The Sub-Mariner are currently tied up with Universal (after a long and torturous rights situation that goes back to the late 1980s/early 1990s). Disney/Marvel has limited rights to use The Hulk as part of a multi-character film but not a standalone project. Several directors have announced Sub-Mariner projects, but they never happened -- mostly due to budgetary issues. I think now that Aquaman (which was essentially a comic book copy of Sub-Mariner) is on its way to being a billion-dollar hit, Marvel will think long and hard as to whether they want to negotiate with Universal to get that last character under their control.

 

Very true - Aquaman is the DC copy of Sub-Mariner. Definitely unfortunate that the Aquaman movie has come out first, and gotten a great deal of attention -- most people would think that Subby is a copy of Aquaman at this point, and not the other way around. Especially since Sub-Mariner has been around since 1939.*

It's both odd and interesting that his filmic destiny is tangled up in legal troubles, much like the Fantastic Four, as his '60's comics revival is very much linked up with them (Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, found him wandering around as an amnesiac back in FF#4). At this point in the evolution of the filmic MCU, both Sub-Mariner and the FF seem to be unlikely to happen (in the full MCU), or if they do, their movies would be happening waaay too late for the average moviegoer to care.

*At the risk of admitting to have been a pre-teen comics geek, I recall reading a bit by Stan Lee on how Sub-Mariner's real name -- Namor -- came about. He mentioned how they had written a number of heroic words backwards to see what could stick. Yup, they tried 'roman' backwards, voila, they had made Namor. And it worked, the rest is comix history....

 

I think Disney/Marvel is planning to revive the Fantastic Four, since that was part of what they paid $71 billion dollars for when they bought Fox, but if they're smart, they won't do yet another FF origin story. If they work it into the Avengers and/or Spiderman, then I think people can accept it as part of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But casting will be critical, and the story better not suck.