the Disney-Fox merger and film/TV production/exhibition hegemony in general

the Cult of Eastwood continues to perplex me tbh

Like, yeah, I hate monopolies too, but I don’t see how Netflix/Apple/Spotify funneling everything through three tech companies is GOOD, but Disney breaking up that model is BAD

Isn’t this thread about how both are bad

well, yeah

ppl can feel free to defend either development if they feel like it!

If Disney is gonna keep it real and post like all 57 Walt Disney Animation Studios (minus Song of the South, obv) and the 20 Pixar joints, and the Simpsons run in the correct aspect ratio and not do selective releases from the "vault" ... I ... wouldn't be mad at any of that?

they can re-up Song of the South but only if they replace the audio with Bob Iger saying "you are a bad person" over and over

I can't find any pieces yet on what this merger will mean for the accessibility of the 20th Century Fox film roster down the line

maybe because you don't need to look down the line? Disney already cancelled nearly all bookings of 20th films last week. basically if somewhere already has a print they're allowed to pay to show it, but you can't screen anything from the catalogue otherwise

There seems to be some dispute over whether that's a permanent issue or a temporary legal hiccup.

Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake
Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake
Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake
Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake

Steven Spielberg’s BFG remake
Steven Spielberg’s Tintin remake
Steven Spielberg’s War Horse remake
Steven Spielberg’s War Of The Worlds remake
Steven Spielberg’s Peter Pan remake

Hook is a sequel not a remake

it’s a remake of the sequel to Peter Pan, except with the plot of Peter Pan

i don't consider adapted screenplays to be remakes but i get your point.

the first West Side Story was an adapted screenplay too! I only named ones that had also previously been adapted into films, most of his shit is based on books, whether fiction or non-fiction

also previously been adapted into films, other media

(Peter Pan was adapted into a book and several films, War Horse was a remake of the stage adaptation AIUI, all the Tintins in the Spielberg movie had been TV cartoons twice and one had been a feature, War Of The Worlds has been eleventy-billion movies and plays and radio shows and shadow puppet performances, BFG had been a comic strip and a play and the 1989 Cosgrove Hall joint with David Jason)

it's what happened. people prized the convenience of streaming over quality/choices of DVD and here we are.

― ebro the letter (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, April 26, 2019 4:40 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is otm. When I tell friends I still get Netflix DVDs through the mail they react with astonishment, as if I told them I've decided to give up electricity. This weekend somebody saw a red envelope on my coffee table, pointed to it and literally said "Oh my god, have you been saving that all this time as a memento?!" All of these same friends complain about there not being enough things on streaming that they like, and say things like "I watched 3 seasons of (show x) this week, it was just meh." Reminds me of the Onion op-ed from years ago along the lines of "Can you believe the shit they force me to watch on television?"

kind of off-topic, but sometimes I'll start on a Netflix series and realize quickly that it's diverting but not actually good; I find at this point the most time-effective approach is to look up what happens on Wikipedia or a set of recaps, then move onto something else.

"Oh my god, have you been saving that all this time as a memento?!"

lol

One of the absolute best things about moving to the Los Angeles area is there's still independent video stores out here

Toronto still has a couple, shockingly.

hosted the crew of ghost-hunting show the other day while they exploited local culture for the entertainment of people whose crippling brain damage has left them with nothing better to watch and me and the sound guy in the dead ringers shirt reminisced about portland's MOVIE MADNESS-- still there!

Gotta say, for a time when streaming media is in the ascendant, boutique physical media companies are totally killing it. Like if you're inclined to blame Netflix et al for snuffing out the home video market, you're neither paying attention nor supporting the current embarrassment of blu-ray riches with your dollar votes.

xpost -- wait hold on, that's quite a setup.

i didn't know which to envy more: their remote video monitor (wireless splitscreen from multiple cameras!) or their veil-piercing communications apparatus. anyway, turns out my theater has night marchers

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5-n8e3XsAEIVpd.jpg

bully

Untitled boot stamping on a human face forever

wow, so every disney is getting a live action remake huh
Major headline for me is that Nimona is gonna be a big big deal and that Noelle Stevenson is hella rich

Maybe it's just me but feels like they weren't really trying when they settled on these movie titles.

Man all four people who give any fucks about Avatar have gotta be STOKED.

lmao that Cameron is apparently shooting the 4 Avatar sequels (5 is penned in for 2027) concurrently, meaning even if the first one underperforms they'll still have 3 left to promote

I'm a little surprised that Disney hasn't pulled back on the reins with that impending disaster.

TBF, both titanic and avatar were hailed as an impending disaster and then become the biggest things in the history of movies so it's tough to bet against him until he loses
i also think he will lose this time btw

I reeeeeeeeally need to be convinced that Avatar 2-4 will be a disaster beyond Very Online people saying variations of "no one remembers this"

Disney World built a whole themed area for it, it's the second biggest-selling Blu Ray of all time after FROZEN and I haven't seen any evidence that America won't gladly slurp down every PG-13 fan service sequel save, like, "Wow, Solo only made 393 million dollars"

Also, it's been so long, I can see them re-releasing Avatar 1 in theaters

There's a whole Cirque du Soliel touring act about Avatar

as others have pointed out, the one upside to this schedule: no Deadpool shit since Disney is only interested in PG-13 flicks

following "the rider", i will be down for the choe zhao Eternals movie but boy am i having a hard time imagining how that will pan out

I'm kind of impressed they're still going to go for more movies based on rides that have no real story

can't wait for JUNGLE CRUISE

I love Disney so much and it bums me out that all the attention is going towards stuff I don't care about: Marvel movies/Star Wars/live action remakes.

Get me an immersive Arendelle with Ilsa's ice castle!

Ilsa's ice castle

sounds pretty dark

as others have pointed out, the one upside to this schedule: no Deadpool shit since Disney is only interested in PG-13 flicks

― Simon H., Tuesday, May 7, 2019 12:57 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not so. Feige has already telegraphed their intention to continue milking that particular cash cow.

I'm kind of impressed they're still going to go for more movies based on rides that have no real story

can't wait for JUNGLE CRUISE

― mh, Tuesday, May 7, 2019 2:00 PM (forty-three seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean the Pirates of the Carribbean franchise made $4.5 billion, so that can write off a few of these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnlMvollAkY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U32Law7K-b8

IIRC Disney approached Cameron about building an Avatar attraction because they had lost out on Harry Potter several years prior, and at the time Avatar was only two years old. Had they waited another year, the Lucasfilm acquisition would have taken place and they might have gone straight for a Star Wars attraction.

I don't think Avatar 2-4 (or 5?) will have the same kind of success as the first one, but I doubt they are going to lose money.

I mean, nobody seems to like those Transformers movies either and they made a ton of money. Online discourse is really only a tiny fraction of public opinion.

"I remember how excited I was the first time my dad took me to see an Avatar movie, I'm so happy to be able to share that special moment with my own children!"

Also, like, outside of a theme park attraction and Blu-Ray sales, what's its place in popular culture? Do people still talk about Avatar a lot, or learn Navi or whatever? It may have made money but it seems to have left no cultural footprint whatsoever otherwise.

My son's introduction to avatar was the avatar ride in Disney World. I could totally see him wanting to see these movies just because of that.

is that simpsons thing real? holy fuck.

https://i.imgur.com/PuqtXQV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PuqtXQV.jpg

fucking hell, the joke is that there's no joke i suppose

the whole business of dressing up characters from one chunk of intellectual property as characters from another chunk of intellectual property is so painfully hollow and meaningless. like even as fanservice - okay, ralph's the Hulk and Milhouse is Hawkeye and Lisa's teacher is Gamora. would it really make any difference if Comic Book Guy was the Hulk and Hans Moleman was Hawkeye and Lisa was Gamora? it's like a Colorforms Dress-Up Set; anything can be combined with anything, but what statement results? what's the commentary, what's the "joke"?

bet you’re fun at halloween

tbf, moleman is moleman so they got that right i guess.

the whole business of dressing up characters from one chunk of intellectual property as characters from another chunk of intellectual property is so painfully hollow and meaningless

Would you say it's a New Jersey?

peter-griffin-dressed-as-darth-vader-saying-do-not-want.gif

ok i'll give you Moleman/Moleman

but as for Halloween, what do the two things have to do with each other? these aren't people coming up with costumes, and nobody in the image even looks like they're having fun being in the costumes.

they surely could've thought a bit about connecting the archetypes rather than going Black character=Black character. Explain another reason beyond melanin why Doc Hibbard is Falcon.

Explain why any of this is happening at all. You can't. No one can.

I mean yes, $$$, but otherwise why

Yep. At the risk of being booted off of WB's A-List (emails promoting the corporation'$ late$t product)...a week or so ago I got an email inviting suggestions for WB's 2023 centennial. (My idea was lavish restoration of one or more of their surviving 1923 films, and if that does happen...I might as well have requested a 4K Director's Cut of The Devils.)

One idea the survey floated was crossovers of Animaniacs with assorted other WB properties (Friends was the only IP that stuck in my mind). And the forthcoming Space Jam sequel is already crossover city--I saw King Kong in one ad, and paying just a little more attention would probably have revealed other familiar figures.

twas synergy killed the beast

DC could have cut that post after the first sentence. If you’re doing a Simpsons Halloween episode set piece you can have some sort of meaningful joke (The Shining parody was a total lay-up, really) but there’s… nothing here

I didn’t hate the pre-canceled Family Guy (what was it, two seasons?) necessarily, but the premise to me was “The Simpsons is coasting and we’re going to show how parody is broken now by making it lazy and spiteful” and then they revived it without changing the format and making it an even lazier take on the same crap.

So much of this crap I just sit here wondering who it’s for, and then wonder if my sad take that people just want to feel happy they recognize a cultural reference that every single person watching will get is a sales point for the producers, audience, someone

The crossover stuff is def money-driven and "synergistic" but I do think many fans genuinely love it. Probably why it gets done so much. I loved the Simpsons/Critic crossover as a kid even though Matt Groening spoke out against it

that seems so lazy and low-stakes in retrospect! it also seemed like a weird tonal crossover at the time, but today it’d be just.. this week’s episode

I don't think my brain, or the brains of many fans now, are doing much beyond "I like A, I like B, A + B = !!!". it's primal

the Simpsons already had its own comic book universe in radioactive man and fallout boy etc. this just seems like that but without the trademark avoidance dance

In fairness, the Loki thing is 4:30 minutes long, and the 'plot' finishes after 2:30 - the credits has a bunch more colorforms - Comic Book Guy is Thanos! The other Simpsons are Guardians of the Galaxy! It would be fine on Tumblr.

“The Cinemateca Brasileira houses and protects the entire memory of Brazilian Cinema in its archives, from the first documentaries shot in the early 20th century to the Cinema Novo masterpieces. In its 45,000 titles, the Cinemateca holds a register of our national identity in construction, of our culture being redefined through time.”

https://core-cms.bfi.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/responsive/public/1440/0/0/2020-08/cinemateca-brasileira-masters-vault-2020.jpg

“Until recently, the Cinemateca Brasileira was considered a center of excellence for film restoration, thanks to its personnel and technical capabilities.”

Brazil’s film archive is facing wipeout, 4 August 2020

Cinemateca Brasileira, the largest audiovisual institution in South America, under threat by Bolsonaro government
The government has fired all 41 technical staff, who safeguard an important collection of more than 250,000 works

Gabriella Angeleti, 27th August 2020 23:34 BST

The imminent tragedy that so many have been trying to prevent by speaking out on the dangerous precariousness of the Brazilian Cinematheque is now a reality — BRAZILIAN CINEMATHEQUE IS ON FIRE as reported by the local media #SOScinematecabrasileira #cinematecaisburning pic.twitter.com/IMhnH1IlaZ

— Ela Bittencourt (@Ela_Bittencourt) July 29, 2021

Just this past Sat (7/24) the fired workers of #SOSCinematecaBrasileira were protesting on Avenida Paulista, São Paulo’s main avenue, to alert everyone about the dangers facing Cinemateca — another call that went unheeded pic.twitter.com/YVcQy1YMUN

— Ela Bittencourt (@Ela_Bittencourt) July 30, 2021

Firemen told @GloboNews that one of the Cinemateca Brasileira warehouse rooms that caught fire was storing films from the 1920s pic.twitter.com/LVBEwoCuOE

— Ela Bittencourt (@Ela_Bittencourt) July 30, 2021

Remember the time when the gov. sent federal police to FORCE THE WORKERS OUT of the Cinemateca and to take over and lock it up https://t.co/BZI9b4hbI4 pic.twitter.com/XpG0AvKQfJ

— Ela Bittencourt (@Ela_Bittencourt) July 30, 2021

They were there for months without receiving pay, taking care of the archives https://t.co/uGBFN0oRuU pic.twitter.com/Q2L5LOA1uP

— Ela Bittencourt (@Ela_Bittencourt) July 30, 2021

good lord

fuck

Statement from the workers regarding last night's fire at the Cinemateca Brasileira (pdf)

SF Museum Of Modern Art has axed their film program, 86 years after beginning and five years after renovating their theatre, due to decreased attendance in the last year.

Damn.

Huh! I wonder why people stopped going to movies last year? There must be a reason. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Torrenting as pure responsibility

How it started How it’s going pic.twitter.com/G7LD8DshPM

— elevator to the giallos (@mxy_mabuse) July 7, 2021

Great news for Disney but tough night for Disney and Disney https://t.co/WmBLF3RBwe

— Ben Joseph (@jenboseph) December 18, 2021

lol
actually feel sorry for Nightmare Alley

The irony is that Del Toro's Blade 2 was one of the first-wave Marvel adaptations to get critical acclaim as well as box office. Same year as Raimi's first Spider-man, iirc. So in a round about way, Disney owes Del Toro.

True shit. Just got an email from my theater asking if I wanted to cancel my tickets for NIGHTMARE ALLEY because they cancelled every other show to free up the screen for more Spider-Man showings. pic.twitter.com/tpdfD7VjqG

— Reyna Cervantes (@Jfcdoomblade) December 19, 2021

sad lol

what's truly demoralizing here is that even being the second film adaptation of preexisting literary source material isn't unoriginal enough to go up against the second multiple-spider-men movie of the past three years

1 2 MCU

i got an email last week alerting me that A NEW DEVICE HAS BEEN USED TO LOGIN TO YOUR DISNEY ACCOUNT, which i completely assumed was a phishing email because i have never created a "disney account" and my old espn account was (is?) tied to a different email address. then i looked at it and realized it was sent because i logged in to the national geographic website to read an article on my phone, so due to a magazine subscription i've had since the '90s, i guess i now have a disney account. i mean, i slightly prefer natl geo content being controlled by the mouse rather than rupert murdoch, but it would be nice if neither did.