DC Extended Universe

You keep missing my point Royle. He made an off the cuff comment. It is representative that a great deal of non-comic-based pop-culture tend to make off the cuff criticisms that are often irrelevant to the story and character, especially if they are existent in the character. It was a minor nitpick on a minor nitpick that you jumped on and ran with then tried to call me out as being contradictory. When my criticisms are not necessarily the same, nor am I saying a person who is not a comic fan cannot critique a comic film. What I am saying, for the final time and I hope to be clear is that it annoys me when they make uninformed ideas of the story and/or character their criticism.

Here's an example. Someone watches Spiderman homecoming and they say, "I didn't like his costume because it's too red, since when has Spiderman's custome been that red, wasn't it blue in the last movie?" What would you say? You'd look at them like "What, you do realize this is Spiderman we're talking about and his custome has always been blue and red, right?"

That's in the same vein as my comment about the guy's comment about Bats joking.

 

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/justice-league-box-office-opening-preview-1202615406/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41983452

 

Cons:

• ...
• Narratively, the movie is a bit messy (probably due to them cutting the running time down to 2-ish hours).
• ...

[/QUOTE]

This is the only thing I've been really worried about. WB forced them to cut out big chunks of very pertinent/relevant story. If it's really good and pulls in the $1.1 to $1.4 billion I think it will, then that will give them more than enough clear profit to do an extended re-release sometime around summer 2018.

That's my HOPE anyway.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 16, 2017, Original Post Date: Nov 16, 2017 ---

Exactly! These are just a few, there are many others.

From The Dark Knight Series:
[Alfred] "I suppose they'll want to lock me up as an accomplice."
[Batman] "Accomplice? I'm going to tell them it was all your idea"

[Alfred] "What do you call that?!?"
[Batman] "Damn good television!"

From Original Batman movie series:
[Batman] "How much do you weigh
[Vikki Vale] "108, I think"
.....
{Batman] "You weigh more than 108 pounds."
{Vale] "Oh Really!?"

[Robin] <Something about having a car of his own>
[Batman] "This is why Superman works alone."

 

Justice League looking at a sub-100 million opening. If the projections carry out, this would be catastrophic for WB unless it has serious legs. Nothing major coming out for a bit so it has a chance but it's cost is reportedly 300 million and I don't think that includes marketing....

 

I guess. I haven't been into this interpretation of Superman so I'm not terribly mad it's still not working. I'm mad they haven't been able to make something that can please the masses and die hard fans.

This should cause a major shake up in the hierarchy on the DC films within WB.
It has to. Something isn't working. They need a Feige. And I don't mean Geoff Johns. I mean a guy with movie experience like Feige had. Feige did 14 movies before the MCU started. So when he stepped in as the guiding voice he had been a part of enough good/bad films to know what to do.
Johns is great with comics but this is a different animal. They need a veteran producer who knows how to work this stuff.

 

On a side note, it's hilarious WB is gonna merge with AT&T and no one blinks an eye, but Disney might buy the film/TV division of 20th Century Fox and the world is ending and it's the worst monopoly ever haha

 

Steppenwolf did not look any better than that horrible Doomsday CG. The thing is, with THAT lineup of heroes, it is BAD that we are even talking about what the break-even point is. That stable of heroes should be absolutely crushing all Marvel squads. Marvel has just found a fantastic balance of creating films for hardcore fans and general audiences alike. It blows my mind how WB manages to be so average with such an amazing cast of characters.

 

http://comicbook.com/dc/2017/11/19/justice-league-box-office/

The numbers are in and Justice League will win the box off in its opening weekend despite falling short of projections in a big way.

According to numbers released by Warner Bros., Justice League will earn $96 million in its opening weekend.

If these numbers hold, Justice League will be the smallest opening weekend yet for a DC Films release. By comparison, Man of Steel opened to $116.6 million, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned $166 million in its first weekend, Suicide Squad earned $133.7 million in its opening weekend, and Wonder Woman has a record-breaking $103.2 million opening weekend.

Justice League cost an estimated $300 million to make. Considering the budget, the hype, and how much the DC Extended Universe was riding on the film’s success, this opening weekend – which would be considered a success for most other films – is likely a disappointment for Warner Bros.

Justice League was recently projected to earn up to $120 million in its opening weekend. One has to wonder how negative critical reactions contributed to Justice League’s underperformance.​

WB needs and deserves this kind of kick in the pants. There is no way on any level that THOR should be outperforming the characters of the Justice League.

 

It all goes back to them deciding to hitch their ponies to the Zack Snyder driven universe. I don't know if it was laziness or what, but why on earth would you push forward on a universe based on a movie that was not a terribly well received film?
You already put yourself behind the eight ball with that. It makes no sense other than not wanting to have to re-introduce Superman.

Then you bring back Snyder, who is fully capable of making some BEAUTIFUL films but has always struggled with telling a complete full story with compelling characters. His best effort to date was almost a literal translation of Watchmen from page to screen.
And you ask him to tell an incredibly in depth deep story that should rely on characters to drive it. Oil and water there.


Imagine this take on the DCEU (lol its not even actually called that but here we are)

1. Start with a new Batman. No Superman, just Batman. Skip the backstory. We don't need it. We've seen it a bazillion times. Go right into Batman kicking ass and being a great detective against someone like Riddler. From there we set the tone of the franchise. Batman is older and smarter. He's not impulsive. It turns out Riddler is a former Wayne Enterprises employee who was disgraced but found work at the less scrupulous LexCorp. Batman taking down Riddler puts quite a damper on the attitudes of one Lex Luthor.

2. Go into Wonder Woman now. Pretty much keep the general theme of her first movie the same here. Really no reason to do more. Lay in some ground work for Aquaman via some witty dialogue from the Amazons. Throw in some Luthor easter eggs for poops and giggles.

3. Now we have fun. Batman 2 introduces Barry Allen. We've established an older Batman without a Robin so he will need someone to tutor. Lex Luthor decides to draw Batman out and after noticing some trends (hey, we need him to be a worthy adversary) he sees parallels between The Batman and Bruce Wayne. He hires a Gotham ganglord to set off some bombs in Gotham...enter Black Mask. While reviewing the attacks, Wayne notices the death toll felt low and keeps seeing glitches in the film. He is finally able to decipher it and notices Barry Allen, a young man in town on vacation, saving people. Batman recruits Allen with his abilities and helps him harness it and together take down Black Mask.

4. Aquaman - Solo Aquaman movie. I honestly can't get too deep into this because I don't really care for him. But treat it like Wonder Woman. Completely stand alone with just hints and easter eggs at Luthor.

5. Wonder Woman 2. Set present day. In Metropolis. Diana doing her thing. Being awesome. This sets ground work for the next film. Establishes all our heroes in the right timeline and right places.

6. Justice League - Start off with a bang. Batman and Flash travel to Metropolis to handle Luthor. Simultaneously, Wonder Woman is there with an old friend of the Amazons, Aquaman. They are all after Luthor so it makes sense to work together. Well Luthor being as smart as he is, knows they are on to him and sets up a trap. It paints the heroes as rogue criminals in Metropolis. This reaches the ears of Clark Kent. Who jumps into action and confronts these hooligans. This leads to the first big action scene as Superman fights the other members of the Justice League. Eventually as it goes on and Superman is whooping some arse, Luthor seizes this moment to try and take them all out at once. Greedy prick, that he is and all. Superman saves the others upon realizing what is going on. Insert big action sequence with disposable baddies as the heroes make their way to LexCorp. Lex escapes but his business is in ruins and the good guys find out what he's really been up to. End with awesome shot of the Hall of Doom.

Not the best but threw it together pretty quickly.

 

Hey there fellow DC fans. I just came home from a screening and here's my short review for JL:

Before I start, I have to emphasize, that I loathed BvS, and (especially after the reviews) I went into the theatre with strong prejudice. Maybe thanks to the extreme low expectations, but frankly, I liked the movie. It wasn't great by any means, but I don't really think it was worse than most Marvel flicks. Very definitely a progress compared to BvS. And before you ask I didn't dislike BvS because of the tone. I disliked it because it was a disjointed, incoherent mess with nonexistent or nonsensical character motivations (in a movie which was suppoed to be about motivations and a battle between world views), and an atrocious (to say the least) script.

The swap between the directors (and their vision) was pretty well done if you ask me, or at least not as apparent as in SS. Sometimes it was definitely easy to point out Whedon's touch, but it didn't ruin the movie or anything like that. The tone was indeed more lighthearted (sometimes even quirky), which takes away some of the gravitas and makes it a bit more irrelevant, yet the dark DC stamp is still there.

So, what I liked:

Characters and acting - With the exception of Affleck (who's as wooden as ever) I found the acting pretty good. There was real chemistry between the cast and you can easely tell the actors enjoyed the production. Gal Gadot was the highpoint to me, she's amazing. She prefectly conveyed sexiness, motherly wisdom, confidence and optimism. I also liked both this version of cyborg and Ray Fisher's aproach to the character. More mysterious and distant, but not boring. Flash's antics and one-liners were sometimes a bit too much for me, yet I can see the potential in this version of the character.
I liked Aquaman the least to be honest, he was very undeveloped. They emphasized too much on him being a badass instead of a proper character introduction.
Superman. He was simply fantastic. This is by far easely my favourite depiction of the character so far. He nailed every single scene he was in imo.
Yet sadly, despite the work of the cast, the short screen time killed a lot of potential. Two hours is simply not enough for this many characters (including three completely new one).

What I disliked:

The villain - Needless to say, he was much more of a joke than a character. An empty shell. He had the charisma and developement of Doomsday...
The score - Elevator music at it's best, it's probably the worst comicbook movie- score so far. Aside from a couple nostalgic recaps, it was basically nonexistent. I went back listening to some of the BvS soundtrack (which is one of the few redeeming qualities of the movie) and the difference is immeasurable.
The side characters - Complette waste of JK Simmons (he has like a minute of screen time) and Jeremy Irons (who serves absolutely no purpose).

The pacing - In the end what killed the movie wasn't the director swap, but studio meddling. Some idiot in a suit thought that it was length that ruined BvS. Sometimes I wonder if such people even know anything about movies in general... Have they seen any of the classics? Lawrence of Arabia? Ben Hur? Cleopatra? The Lotr trilogy? Or even Nolan's trilogy (TDKR is 164 min)? A supposed grandiose assemble flick with 3 (!) brand new characters plus a villain to introduce and a major conflict for a team of massively overpowered heroes simply won't work in a mere two hours. The pacing is atrocious. Rushing from character to character and plotpoint to plotpoint. No time for any of the character or the story to breathe... What a shame.

Too bad hearing about the abysmal OW bo though. If the budget is indeed 300m (pre P&A), this movie might actually end up being a flop.

 

https://io9.gizmodo.com/ben-affleck-stole-some-batarangs-from-the-justice-leagu-1820576327

 

Justice League Actual Weekend Result Lower at $94 Million

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/ne...l-weekend-result-lower-at-94-million#/slide/1

That aside, the villain is indeed horrible. He was rushed and it made the film seem rushed. The CGI made the film seem cheap except for Cyborg, which I liked quite a bit. After some deeper consideration, I do like Miller as the Flash, but am still not sold on this incarnation of Aquaman. Overall, the film is still mediocre because it misses on too many things. These characters deserve better.

 

https://www.cbr.com/lego-launches-dceu-justice-league-themed-brickheadz/

 

Alllllriiiight, so my buddy got passes to go see JL again and he took me with him. So this time instead of being super-critical I decided that I was going to go in and just enjoy the fun of it. There are still a lot about this film and the DCEU that I do not like, but this franchise has great potential. Batman is awesome, it was great to see Superman at a level of power that we expect to see him at. He IS the alpha dog. Flash and Cyborg were fairly well done. The end-credits scene with Superman and Flash really sets a tone that I really enjoy and I want to see more of that. I still cannot jive with Aquaman.

I really, really hope that WB grows from this.

 

Wow. I know the CG had problems but this is unacceptable

 

Ha funny