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The Fans Have Inherited the Film Industry — and It's a Problem for the Rest of Us

We had Get Out this year.
Titanic was a juggernaut when it was released.
Ghost was the highest grossing movie the year it came out.
E.T. grossed more than the original Star Wars.

I don't see that level of success with original films today. Get Out was marvelous and profitable, but it by no means pierced through the hegemony like those three movies did. I forgot to add Jaws too :p.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Your point was broad and completely missed other aspects of the movie. It wasn't a complete point.

Ok, replace "Captain America 3" with "Marvel Superhero Sequel #15" and it hits the exact same point. If you walk into a sequel and get lost on a few story points because you didn't watch the lead-in movies that's on you
 

Afrodium

Banned
So?

These are negatives. If the audience has to fill in parts of the movie that should otherwise be explained then it has failed to create a good story.

If they skipped the previous film then gaps are inevitable. If the gaps could be easily filled in while watching Civil War then the film clearly provided enough details on the previous films to allow uninitiated audience members to follow the plot.
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
We had Get Out this year.



We do this with sequels and such though.

My point is don't walk into a sequel expecting every single minor plot point from a previous movie spoon fed to you.
If they skipped the previous film then gaps are inevitable. If the gaps could be easily filled in while watching Civil War then the film clearly provided enough details on the previous films to allow uninitiated audience members to follow the plot.


people responding to spatula about the mcu

in 2017?
 
ugh MCU is the first effort of its kinf and im really enjoying it

Arent there thousands of movies for everyone else?

I seriously dont get this article
 

LotusHD

Banned
But Captain America 3 has a crap load of people that weren't in Captain America 2 or 1. I'd say it's a little different.

I guess, but with the way the MCU works, it's like, okay, you invested in Captain America's character? Then you follow the movies the guy's in, and see how the character develops lol

Titanic was a juggernaut when it was released.
Ghost was the highest grossing movie the year it came out.
E.T. grossed more than the original Star Wars.

I don't see that level of success with original films today. Get Out was marvelous and profitable, but it by no means pierced through the hegemony like those three movies did. I forgot to add Jaws too :p.

I guess, you didn't say it had to be that profitable though lol

people responding to spatula about the mcu

in 2017?

You right
 
watch something else.. you would think these are the only movies that exist to these people

get out of your bubble
To be honest, I don't think this removes the fact that casual filmgoers don't go out of their way to research the most critically-acclaimed movies of the year well in advance. They watch movies because of the marketing machines that back them, that's how Disney movies are profitable and how franchises are so popular. The familiarity and money is there.

The only way for casual audiences to eat something original up nowadays is by virtue of word of mouth. And there has to be a lot of it tbh. So I understand why casual moviegoers are perceiving creative bankruptcy when the only things they see advertised to that level are franchise films.
 
Cinematic universes have the same problem that long-running television dramas have. They’re all just a never-ending series of micro-conflicts with no definitive ending or through line. I don’t mind franchises, but I’d like to know that it’s going somewhere instead of stringing me along. The MCU is far and away the worst offender in this regard. I lost interest years ago.

Infinity War is the ending

They have already stated this and the plan to change everything after
 
Titanic was a juggernaut when it was released.
Ghost was the highest grossing movie the year it came out.
E.T. grossed more than the original Star Wars.

I don't see that level of success with original films today.

Last year Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia both made a lot of money. Granted, they hit in the same year as a Star Wars movie and the sequel to a beloved Pixar movie, but that doesn't mean they weren't HUGE moneymakers for being original properties.

2015 you had Inside Out

2014 the #1 film of the year was American Sniper
 
yeah i agree for the most part.

the universe structure in films is way too saturated and relied on.

I can get on board with actual sequels all being linked, but not when they are supposed to be independent self contained movies.

movies that arent sequels though I just want a solid contained movie. everything wrapped up. sure its neat if theres an occasional couple subtle links, cameos, easter eggs done tastefully or for the super repeat watching fans to notice...but when everything is forced across every movie spanning a dozen plus, it starts to be too much for the average audience to be interested.
 
If you go into any sequel and haven't watched the previous movie(s) then anything you miss as an audience member is purely on you. That's how sequels generally work
But Ant-Man isn't a prequel or sequel to Civil War. Neither is Age of Ultron. They're chronologically in order.
 

Anth0ny

Member
Titanic was a juggernaut when it was released.
Ghost was the highest grossing movie the year it came out.
E.T. grossed more than the original Star Wars.

I don't see that level of success with original films today. Get Out was marvelous and profitable, but it by no means pierced through the hegemony like those three movies did. I forgot to add Jaws too :p.

i think there was this movie a couple years back with blue cat aliens that did ok


and that frozen movie seemed pretty popular


zootopia


despicable me
 

LotusHD

Banned
The DCEU has been quite self contained until now actually. Surprisingly so.

BvS still had the issue of reminding us, arguably (Not even arguably tbh, it had freaking dream sequences and Youtube clips lol) more than any Marvel film, that yes, this is clearly setting up Justice League.
 

Sephzilla

Member
But Ant-Man isn't a prequel or sequel to Civil War. Neither is Age of Ultron. They're chronologically in order.

It's movie 12 of the MCU. Look at it that way.

Also, I've completely lost track of what your original point is anyway. Ant-Man isn't even that important to the plot of Civil War
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
How dense do you have to be to walk into Civil War or Avengers (1 2 or soon to be 3) or whatever movie and straight up not have a good time because youre "lost"?

Like to fans and such it's an awesome added treat and benefits from the shared history and the growing character arcs and the changing norms that these heroes go through. If you don't give a shit about any of that you just show up to Avengers 3 and watch the new Big Bad whoop the shit out of everyone until they clever their way out of it ...

I know a ton of people who aren't invested in every single Marvel movie but they still show up to the Avengers movies and enjoy themselves. And then you go home and watch Civil War on netflix or whatever and go "oooOoOOooOOohhh... "

Get Out was also fantastic in the theater and deserved to make all the money.
 
Last year Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia both made a lot of money. Granted, they hit in the same year as a Star Wars movie and the sequel to a beloved Pixar movie, but that doesn't mean they weren't HUGE moneymakers for being original properties.

2015 you had Inside Out

2014 the #1 film of the year was American Sniper

i think there was this movie a couple years back with blue cat aliens that did ok


and that frozen movie seemed pretty popular


zootopia


despicable me
I didn't know American Sniper was that big domestically. The Hunger Games missed it by a few million, that's pretty wild!

I don't really count Disney movies here tbqh. The Disney animation brand at this point is ubiquitous enough that casual audiences would see those films regardless, barring a few noteworthy underperformers like Princess and the Frog.

I chose not to add Avatar because Cameron is still trying to get a franchise off of the ground with that. We'll see though.
 
I think the creation of MCU makes perfect sense for the comic movie medium.

Self contained films in this space are still being made
 

Boogs31

Member
Which still doesn't work. You know this.

It's very simple. The only movies in the MCU that you can theoretically watch without seeing previous films are the first movie for a character. Ant Man, GOTG, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man. There are still plenty of movies that are coming out in the MCU that a newbie could watch without being confused. If the newbie happens to like what they see, they can then go back and watch the older films.

No one should be going to see Captain America 3 as their first MCU film.
 
It's movie 12 of the MCU. Look at it that way.
Why would I look at it that way? Harry Potter has many movies but it's one continous stream. If they veered off and did solo movies that tie into the main story then it would be a mess as well. Like, imagine having to watch a Haggrid movie to understand who Beatrix was?
 

jwk94

Member
My point is don't walk into a sequel expecting every single minor plot point from a previous movie spoon fed to you.

When they're plot points from other movies then yeah it's important.You can't watch only watch Cap 1 & 2, then go into Cap 3 and feel like you know what's going on. Cap 3 is Avengers 2.5.
 

Ahasverus

Member
BvS still had the issue of reminding us, arguably (Not even arguably tbh, it had freaking dream sequences and Youtube clips lol) more than any Marvel film, that yes, this is clearly setting up Justice League.
Well, yes, but it's easier to understand future teases (which were, frankly, pretty disconnect from the real narrative, to detriment of the film) than a heavy backstory.
 
watch something else.. you would think these are the only movies that exist to these people

get out of your bubble

Thing is though, i have where to watch them, but does anyone else in other places? If you don't live in a big city with theaters that will show less known movies that don't need to make a lot of money, all they will have access to is these big budget movies

And the internet i guess, but where online do you find shit like Ama-San or stuff like that
 

Rktk

Member
How dense do you have to be to walk into Civil War or Avengers (1 2 or soon to be 3) or whatever movie and straight up not have a good time because youre "lost"?

There's probably an argument that the Avengers CGI ride is made for dense people. Granted you would have to be dense to expect something else.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
I watched Return of the King without seeing the other Lord of the Rings movies, why is this franchise so inaccessible?

Damn fantasy nerds running the asylum and ruining movies for the rest of us.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Civil War made a billion dollars and got fantastic reviews from critics and fans, so I guess I have a hard time believing that the storyline entry level for that movie ended up hurting it in any kind of way.
 
Probably should though.
I can, but it's not fair to use Disney considering they're largely the exception to the rule for everything.

Disney itself is its own franchise. Disney films by proxy get a lot of coverage because of this.

I don't see anyone going to a movie just because Warner Bros. is pushing it.
 

Chococat

Member
With a statement like that you are kind of proving the author's point.

Not really. There are enough film out in a year to cater to all taste. If you don't like serialize stuff, don't watch it.

The solution is add more diverse ways to tell stories in movies, not demand a certain type stop being made.
 

Jay Sosa

Member
eh, I've never read any marvel comics or have watched all of the marvel movies and still have enjoyed the ones I've seen so far. you will miss some references and inside jokes I presume but that's about it.
 

itwasTuesday

He wasn't alone.
Article seems all over the place. To boil down this idea, I think what she is trying to say is that a blockbuster that cost 100+ million to make has to fit the mold, and Inkoo Kang doesn't think it should have to.
No one is stopping lower budget movies from getting made because Super heroes take all of the space.

Twenty years ago, you might have missed Basic Instinct or There's Something About Mary during its temporary perch over the culture, but you weren't stuck hearing about it — with newer installments — for years after.
We were stuck hearing about. In everything. Those were smaller movies, which are still very much in the cycle of movies coming out today.

Also, no one saw Basic Instinct 2, so I can't confirm.
 
Civil War made a billion dollars and got fantastic reviews from critics and fans, so I guess I have a hard time believing that the storyline entry level for that movie ended up hurting it in any kind of way.
I never mentioned money. I said it's a negative story wise.
 
I guess I understand this sucks if you don't wanna watch a ton of movies to keep up.

I just personally don't get why you wouldn't want to if the movies are actually good. 9/10 if you don't wanna watch the movies that build up to the Avengers (and you really don't have to), the movies probably aren't your thing like that anyways.

If I discovered a new franchise with 8 movies I had to watch to catch up on, I'd be ecstatic if I actually liked the first one. 7 more just like that? I'm sold.

Idk. Just seems like complaining about too much content is a weird thing. Hell, there are a ton of video games releasing that I wanna play but just don't have the money for at the moment. But I know I'll get to em one day, and that's an exciting prospect.
 
I mean, if her argument was that lots of big blockbuster movies are following an almost identical story-writing structure/formula that is making things boring, I could get behind that. However, the write-up kind of gives me a whiff of actually being, "big releases didn't used to be so much of this nerd and geek shit that I feel intimidated by because of my lack of interest in it." I could be totally misreading that, though.
 
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