#last decade it was about disney live action remakes but the 2020s so far have literally been unending biopics its so funny

[ifuckinglovedinosaurssomuchjesus]

On the subject of Dinosaur Documentaries...

So Life On Our Planet dropped a few days ago, another installment of this seeming boom of these kind of shows since Prehistoric Planet last year, and it got me thinking about this whole little niche genre.

The very first "Paleodoc" was released in 1922, made by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to educate museum goers on how the fossils they saw were collected and prepared. This began the format I like to call the "Talking Heads" Paleodoc which is mainly in the form of interviews or narration over actual footage of Paleontologists at work with the occasional "Live" Dinosaur for visual aid. These are by far the most common form of dinosaur documentary you'll find, even today, mainly because they're cheap to produce and fit in the general style of most science documentaries.

For many decades throughout the 20th century, Paleodocs were pretty rare. They would pop up time to time, and with the sudden influx of attention they got after Jurassic Park, we got some really good ones. Yet they were all the same Talking Head types. What really changed the game was the good ol Magnum Opus of the field: Walking With Dinosaurs.

WWD pioneered the second type of Paleodoc I believe to exist, which are the "In Their World" Paleodocs. These are different in the fact they focus almost entirely on the live visual aids, with the human presence being limited to narration or brief pauses for context. They're meant to simulate the modern nature documentary, like Planet Earth, that focus more on showcasing animal behavior with state of the art filming techniques than being a source of in-depth science.

The success of WWD cannot be overstated, and I have to say I do find the In Their World format a lot more engaging and easier to connect with. They portray the wonder of prehistory spectacularly, letting audiences get emotionally connected in the animal characters the story creates, even if this has lead to criticisms of anthropomorphism. These programs also almost always use real footage of modern day earth for their prehistoric creatures to roam on, which I'm sure is very sad for the people who want to see their favorite dead plants on screen.

The Walking With... series would expand into sequels and spin-offs and Nigel Marven, and other companies like Discovery would jump on the bandwagon and release their own takes on the concept, but by the mid 2010s the format had basically died out. We'd get one or In Their World style doc every few years until we just didn't get anything. Outside of the occasional TV special that reused When Dinosaurs Roamed America footage, it was empty.

It took until Disney's Live Action remake of The Lion King of all things for that pendulum to start swinging again. Seeing those expressionless CGI cats got Jon Favreau thinking about how he could use this technology and the talented people behind it to make something really cool, and we got Prehistoric Planet.

And, in a repeat of Walking With Dinosaurs, we're seeing more of these In Their World type shows. The original guys behind WWD are even making a comeback with their own series, Surviving Earth. Plus even more little hints and rumors of massive incoming projects from overexcited paleontologists trying not to break their embargo.

It looks like the 2020s will be another resurgence in these types of spectacle Paleodocs, and while a good ol Talking Head will always be there, I can't help but get excited for these animated spectacles and all the weird and wonderful ways they flash those visual aids across our TV screens.

[sgt-celestial]

the only thing im looking forward to in the bob dylan timothee chalamet biopic is that its supposedly being produced by bob dylan himself (implying that it will be the most historically inaccurate biopic of all time and full of misinformation)

[crowdvscritic]

round up // JANUARY 21

New year, not-so-new Crowd vs. Critic! It’s another batch of films, TV, music, and reads that were new to me this month and think you would enjoy, too. As we cozy up inside for the winter, nothing warms you up like a good piece of pop culture.

January Crowd-Pleasers

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Does this sequel reach the heights of 2017’s Wonder Woman? No, but I wish more superhero movies were like this one. I explain why at ZekeFilm. Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

21 Bridges (2019)

A solid action crime thriller with a solid Chadwick Boseman at the center. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

The Lethal Weapon Series (1987-98)

I watched the first Lethal Weapon in 2017 for ZekeFilm, but now I’ve a decade’s pleasure of progressively over-the-top action sequences and progressively more absurd ways to destroy Roger Murtaugh’s (Danny Glover) house. The Murtaugh/Riggs bromance holds this progressively sillier series together, and an supporting cast of charismatic actors (Jet Li, Darlene Love, Chris Rock, Rene Russo) are game for whatever comes their way. Joe Pesci is the true MVP. Series Crowd: 9/10 // Series Critic: 7/10

The High Note (2020)

Tracee Ellis Ross’s Grace Davis is a diva in every sense of the word. A high-strung and highly successful singer, she’s also highly demanding of her assistant Maggie (Dakota Johnson), who wants to step out of her shadow and become a music producer. This rom-com-adjacent flick is one of the most fun escapes I’ve had from a 2020 movie, and it’s perfect for a girls’ night in. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

Double Feature—Rom-Coms With a Magical Twist: Just My Luck (2006) + When In Rome (2010)

Disclaimer: These movies are not good. In fact, they’re junk, but they’re my kind of junk. In Just My Luck (Crowd: 7.5/10 // Critic: 6/10), Lindsay Lohan loses her life-long lucky streak when she kisses schlimazel Chris Pine. And When in Rome (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 6/10), Kristen Bell attracts unwanted admirers (Will Arnett, Danny DeVito, Josh Duhamel, Jon Heder, and real-life future husband Dax Shepard) after she steals their coins from a wishing fountain. To their credit, both of these movies know they’re silly, which means you have permission to just sit back and laugh along with (or, honestly, at) them.

WandaVision (2021)

I sometimes fear for the world of entertainment when I think of how much intellectual property Disney has gobbled up, but WandaVision is evidence the company is a benevolent dictator at least for now. This odd delight is a send up and a tribute to sitcoms like I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Brady Bunch, and Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen are so charming and weird I don’t need whatever mysterious sub-plot they’re building.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

If you want to make the most of watching Robin Hood: Men in Tights, first watch Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), an action flick I saw last February and didn’t include in my monthly Round Up. This Mel Brooks spoof is a direct response that self-serious Kevin Costner adventure, even down to copying its costumes. While I wish I could find a Mel Brooks comedy with any substantial female character (in every movie I’ve seen so far, the joke is either, “She’s got a great rack!” or “Wow, she’s an uggo!”), I still couldn’t stop laughing at this 104-minute version of the Robin Hood scene in Shrek. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10

Aliens (1986)

Peak ‘80s action. Peak alien grossness. Peak girl boss Sigourney Weaver. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/.510

Big (1988)

After talking about Laverne & Shirley with Kyla on SO IT’S A SHOW?, I had to check out Penny Marshall’s classic. While a few moments haven’t aged so well, its heart is sweet and the script is hilarious. And that Tom Hanks? I think he’s going places. Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

Unstoppable (2010)

I’ve laughed at SNL’s spoof of this movie for a decade, so it’s about time I got around to enjoying this action thriller very loosely based on the true story of a train that got away from its conductor. Denzel Washington (“You’re too old!”) and Chris Pine (“You’re too young!”) are our heroes in this over-the-top ridiculousness, and their chemistry is so extra it makes me hope they team up for another movie again. Crowd:  9/10 // Critic: 7/10

January Critic Picks

Double Feature—‘90s Space Adventures: Apollo 13 (1995) + Contact (1997)

I have no desire to join Tom Cruise as he films in space, but I know I’ll be pumped to watch whatever he makes because I love sci-fi and space  adventures. Apollo 13 (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9/10) tells the story of an almost-disastrous NASA mission in the ‘60s, and it taps into our hope for the human spirit to overcome obstacles. Contact (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10) surmises what might happen if we received communication from extraterrestrial life, and it taps into our struggle to reconcile faith and science.

McCartney III by Paul McCartney (2020)

I spent January catching up on the albums on Best of 2020 lists, and the one I listened to for hours and hours was Paul McCartney’s latest solo album. Catchy, thoughtful, and musically surprising, it ranges from pop to rock to folk in 45 minutes and still feels like it’s over too soon. Like Tom Hanks, this Paul McCartney guy is going places!

The Thin Man Series (1934-47)

Like Lethal Weapon, I watched the first installment of The Thin Man awhile back, and Kyla and I even covered the series on our podcast. But thanks to a full series marathon on TCM earlier this month, I’ve now laughed through all five. When you talk about great chemistry, you’ve got to talk about William Powell and Myrna Loy, who make Nick and Nora’s marriage feel lived in and romantic as they solve crimes together. Witty, suspenseful, and jaunty, this series is still sexy cool over 80 years later. (Also, Asta? Still one of the cutest dogs in cinema.) Series Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

The King and I (1956)

Here’s your regularly scheduled reminder Hollywood works differently now, and many casting decisions of the ‘50s wouldn’t fly today. What has aged well in this film: The Rodgers and Hammerstein music and the sumptuous costumes and set design. I love extravagant musicals of yesteryear—perhaps it’s time for Hollywood to revisit and remake The King and I for modern audiences?

Inauguration Day

In a year with no major televised events with celebrities in a room together, Inauguration Day felt like the most exciting cultural event in ages. We’ve been missing major fashion, but then we got Lady Gaga! We’ve been missing live performances, but then we got Amanda Gorman! And I got a lot of tears during that poem—not just me, right?

Good Reads

Writing that made me think and smile this month:

Steven Soderbergh’s list of everything he read, watched, and listened to this year, Extension765.com (2020) – An indirect inspiration for these monthly Round Ups!

“My Year of Making Lists,” NewYorker.com (2020) – I made a lot of lists in 2020, so I feel this author’s #mood

“Betty White Says She Will Spend Her 99th Birthday Feeding Two Ducks Who Visit Her ‘Every Day,’“ CBSNews.com (2021) - “Betty is a treasure,” I say as I watch The Proposal for the 99th time

“A Sculpture’s Unusual Journey to SLAM [St. Louis Art Museum],” SLAM.org (2020) – With a casual mention of an attraction I never knew about in St. Louis

“The Culture Is Ailing. It’s Time for a Dr. Fauci for the Arts.” WashingtonPost.com (2020) – An idea that occurred to me a few months ago: Why don’t we have an Arts Cabinet?

“The Arts Are in Crisis. Here’s How Biden Can Help.” NYTimes.com (2021) – Partly in response to that Washington Post piece, a historical look at how artists have made it through difficult times in the past and how we can revive artists’ livelihoods mid- and post-pandemic

“The Right’s Message to Silicon Valley: 'Free Speech for Me, But Not for Thee,'” TIME.com (2021) – A more thoughtful and less reactionary take on a volatile moment in the history of modern technology

“'It Makes Me Sick With Grief': Trump's Presidency Divided Families. What Happens to Them Now?” TIME.com (2021) – A study on how politics has done damage to family dynamics in America

“Help, the Only Cinema I Can Handle Is Zac Efron Prancing Angrily in High School Musical 2,” Vulture.com (2021) - In a lot of ways, same

“50 Easy Things To Do When You are Anxious,” ShopTwentySeven.com (2021) – I especially endorse coloring, puzzling, and watching happy movies!

Double Feature—Miss Marple Mysteries: Murder at the Gallop (1963) + Murder Ahoy (1964)

Remember when I was all like, “Watch these Agatha Christie movies so you’re not sad Death on the Nile is delayed”? Remember when I said I was just a few movies away from becoming an Agatha Christie junkie? Well, I think I’m there because I can’t stop with the murder mysteries! Margaret Rutherford is a treasure whether she’s solving a murder at a horse ranch or on a boat, and a cast of colorful supporting characters (including Rutherford’s husband) makes these breezy instead of heavy. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8/10

8½ (1963)

File this with 2001: A Space Odyssey—I don’t know if I really understood this film, but I think I liked it? Federico Fellini’s surrealist, male gaze-y drama blurs the lines between reality and imagination, love and dysfunction, and the past and maybe some future that involves clowns? What resonated with me was the story of a director with creative block, wondering if he’s already peaked and if he’ll create anything worthwhile again. Crowd: 6/10 // Critic: 9/10

Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay and Diaries by Emma Thompson (1995)

Sense and Sensibility is not just one of my favorite Jane Austen adaptations—it’s one of my all-time favorite films. One of the co-hosts of one of my favorite podcasts has raved many-a-time about Emma Thompson’s journals from the making of film, so it was only a matter of time before I read them myself. Witty, informative, and all-around lovely, Thompson’s journals are an excellent insight into the filmmaking process and how novels are adapted.

Also in January…

I reviewed the new-ish documentary Flannery for ZekeFilm, which is all about the writer Flannery O’Connor and feels a little like going back to high school English class.

In addition to the Lethal Weapon and Thin Man series, I rewatched all of the X-Men series this month. You can see everything I am watching on Letterboxd, including favorites I love returning to (i.e. X-Men: Days of Future Past) and the movies I try that don’t make my monthly recommendations (i.e. The Wolverine).

Photo credits: Paul McCartney, Zac Efron, Sense & Sensibility. All others IMDb.com.

[tennesseeprelawland]

Disney Remakes Strike Up Conversation About Copyright

By Abigail Morici, Rhodes College Class of 2021

July 15, 2020

Like many movies set to premiere this summer, Disney’s Mulan has been postponed a third time to a later date of August 21. [1]The film, initially slated to premiere on March 27, marks history as the most expensive live-action film directed by a female filmmaker with a budget of at least $200 million. [2]The film is also a part of Disney’s decade long trend of remaking and reimagining its older animated films.

Since 2010, Disney has released nearly around a dozen remakes, beginning with the release of Alice in Wonderland(2010), starring Johnny Depp, and at least a dozen more are allegedly in the making. [3, 4, 5]With all these remakes, a conspiracy theory has arisen—that Disney is remaking the movies to extend the copyrights of these original movies. Such a conspiracy theory is false since a new work cannot extend the copyright of another.“If it did,” Jonathan Bailey, author of Plagiarism Today, writes, “Disney and other rightsholders would be constantly modifying and re-releasing new works based upon old ones to extend the clock.” [6]

Bailey suggests that even though the company cannot extend its copyrights, copyright may still motivate some of their decisions in their remakes. Firstly, the remakes create more opportunity for Disney to claim exclusivity on the property—for instance, if they were to create sequels or incorporate it in a larger universe. Secondly, Disney may hope that the newer versions of the films, whose copyrights will expire much later, might become the definitive version, which would allow for control of the characters’ futures even after the copyrights expire. [6]

Even so, suspicion surrounding a copyright-driven motive is not completely unfounded. In 1998, Disney discreetly pushed for the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Protection Act [7, 8]. This act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, extended copyright retroactively to life of the author plus 70 years or in instances of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever came first. This act amended the Copyright Act of 1976, which allowed for copyright to last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or in the case of corporate authorship, to last for 75 years. [7]This meant that no works would fall in the public domain between 1999 and 2019. [14]

This act was pertinent for Disney because the copyright for Mickey Mouse, who first appeared in 1928, was set to expire in a few years in 2003 under the Copyright Act of 1976. Had the CTEA not passed, this would have meant that Mickey would have passed into the public domain by now, and he would have been shortly followed by Pluto, Goofy, Bambi, Dumbo, Donald Duck, Snow White, and so on. [8] Instead, the CTEA secured creative and financial exclusivity of these characters for Disney for another twenty years. [8, 9]Without this act, Disney would not have been able to collect fees past 2003 for showing its movies that feature its classic characters, and other companies would have been able to freely use characters in its movies and videos. [8]

As such, Disney—and other supporters like Time Warner and Universal—benefited financially from this act. The Senate Report even cited these financial benefits as justification for the copyright extension. It reads, “[B]y stimulating the creation of new works and providing enhanced economic incentives to preserve existing works, such an extension will enhance the long-term volume, vitality, and accessibility of the public domain.” Further, because the bill now followed the European Union’s directive of copyright protection being equal to the life of the author plus 70 years, the majority opinion believed that the bill would encourage a global trade of works by “ensur[ing]adequate copyright protection for American works in foreign nations and the continued economic benefits of a healthy surplus balance of trade in the exploitation of copyrighted works.”[11]

On the other hand, in the minority opinion cited in the Senate Report, Senator Hank Brown wrote, “Denying open public access to copyrighted works for another 20 years will harm academicians, historians, students, musicians, writers, and other creators who are inspired by the great creative works of the past.” Similarly, Senator Herb Kohl wrote, “The practical consequences of extending any monopoly—whether oil, telephones, or copyrights—are increased prices for consumers … We forget all too often that consumers are injured as a result of the monopoly granted by copyrights.” [11]

These senators were not alone in their opposition to the act. In 2003, Eric Eldred, a literacy advocate and proprietor of the unincorporated Eldritch Press, became the lead plaintiff in Eldred v. Ashcroft, which challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Term Extension Act. [12, 13]Eldred and his fellow petitioners were in the business of using and republishing works that had fallen into the public domain. They argued that the CTEA violated the First Amendment and the Copyright Clause that permitted Congress “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries” (Article I, Section 8, Clause 8).To them, Congress had overextended its powers and offered copyright beyond a “limited time.” [14]

However, the Supreme Court decided that Congress had done no such thing. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority opinion (7-2) that “limited” did not mean “inalterable,” as the petitioners argued, but rather “confined within certain bounds.” [14] The court also found that the CTEA did not violate the First Amendment. Ginsburg wrote:

[The CTEA] protects authors’ original expression from unrestricted exploitation. The First Amendment securely protects the freedom to make—or decline to make—one's own speech; it bears less heavily when speakers assert the right to make other people's speeches. When, as in this case, Congress has not altered the traditional contours of copyright protection, further First Amendment scrutiny is unnecessary. [15]

Despite the court’s decision, the CTEA still has its critics, who claim that the bill acts against public interest. “There’s no evidence suggesting that a longer term is going to produce any more art, literature,”Chris Sprigman, a legal scholar at the New York University, said the Washington Post. “The only reason to extend the term is to give private benefits to companies like Disney or Time Warner that have valuable properties like Mickey Mouse or famous films.” Further, the act has created another problem of “orphan works,” which occurs when the copyright holder is dead and there are no records to show who has holds the copyright now—meaning. that the public could struggle to access these lesser known works. [9]

As of 2019, works from the 1920s have started to enter the public domain. The copyright for Mickey Mouse will expire in 2024, and other characters are soon to follow. [10, 16] It seems that Disney won’t push for another copyright extension—likely because there would be more public push-back this time—but some argue that Disney could utilize trademark law to protect its rights over Mickey Mouse. Still, even if Disney secures exclusivity of Mickey Mouse through trademark law, the company is unlikely to secure the rights to other characters, such as Tarzan, Winnie-the-Pooh, or any character featured in the recent remakes, whose characters and storylines originated outside of Disney. “Mickey is a different story,” Stephen Carlisle writes. “Mickey is Disney, and vice versa.” [17]

Ultimately, there’s no doubt that Disney is concerned with its older copyrights, but the conspiracy that its recent remakes are to push for copyright extension (again) is inaccurate. What it comes down to is money, just as it did in Disney’s push for copyright extension in 1998. Disney’s remakes have been vastly successful—some even grossing $1 billion at the box office—so it’s no wonder that the company is continuing this remake-trend, even without the possibility of legally extending its older copyrights.

________________________________________________________________

[1] Rubin, Rebecca. “‘Mulan’ Release Date Postponed Again.” Variety, 26 June 2020, https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/mulan-release-postponed-coronavirus-disney-1234576142/.

[2] Lattanzio, Ryan. “Disney Postpones ‘Mulan’ Release Date Because of Coronavirus.” Indie Wire, 12 March 2020,https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/mulan-postponed-disney-coronavirus-1202217192/.

[3] Acuna, Kirsten. “Why Disney Keeps Remaking So Many of Its Animated Movies.” Insider, 16 May 2020,

https://www.insider.com/why-disney-keeps-remaking-animated-movies-2020-5.

[4] Disney released three other remakes/reimaginings prior to the 2010 Alice in Wonderland—The Jungle Book (1994), 101 Dalmatians (1996), and 102 Dalmatians (2002). However, these three movies were not nearly as successful as Alice in Wonderland, whose success kick-started the current onslaught of remakes and reimaginings. See “Why Disney Keeps Remaking So Many of Its Animated Movies.”

[5] The remakes so far include: Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Pete’s Dragon (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Christopher Robin (2018), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (2019), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Lady and the Tramp (2019). See also “22 Disney Classics Making Live-Action Magic on Screen.”

[6] Bailey, Jonathan. “Why Disney’s Remakes Don’t Extend Its Copyright.” Plagiarism Today, 9 April 2019, https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2019/04/09/why-disneys-remakes-dont-rest-its-copyright/#:~:text=However%2C%20the%20ones%20published%20after%201923%20are%20still%20protected%20by%20copyright.&text=In%20short%2C%20new%20works%2C%20whether,anything%20with%20the%20original%20movie.

[7] “Copyright Term Extension Act.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act.

[8] Ota, Alan K. “Disney In Washington: The Mouse That Roars.” All Politics: CNN with Time and CQ, 10 August 1998, http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/10/cq/disney.html.

[9] Lee, Timothy B. “15 Years ago, Congress Kept Mickey Mouse Out of the Public Domain. Will They Do It Again?” The Washington Post, 25 October 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/10/25/15-years-ago-congress-kept-mickey-mouse-out-of-the-public-domain-will-they-do-it-again/.

[10] Porter, Jon. “After a 20 Year Delay, Works from 1923 Will Finally Enter the Public Domain Tomorrow.” The Verge, 31 December 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/31/18162933/public-domain-day-2019-the-pilgrim-jacobs-room-charleston-copyright-expiration.

[11] Calendar No. 491: 104TH CONGRESS: Report: SENATE, https://www.copyright.gov/legislation/s-rep104-315.html

[12] “Eric Eldrid.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Eldred.

[13] “Eldred v. Ashcroft - 537 U.S. 186, 123 S. Ct. 769 (2003).” Lexis Nexis, https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-eldred-v-ashcroft.

[14] Hull, Geoffrey P. “Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003).” The First Amendment Encyclopedia, https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/252/eldred-v-ashcroft.

[15] “ELDRED et al. v. ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL (2003).” Find Law For Legal Professionals, https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/537/186.html.

[16] Lee, Timothy B. “Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again.” ArsTechnica, 8 January 2018, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/hollywood-says-its-not-planning-another-copyright-extension-push/.

[17] Carlisle, Stephen. “Mickey’s Headed to the Public Domain! But Will He Go Quietly? NOVA Southeastern University, 17 October 2014, http://copyright.nova.edu/mickey-public-domain/

[aion-rsa]

Mulan and Tenet Show Competing Visions for Future of Movies

https://ift.tt/3hPMuLD

Historically, Labor Day is seen as one of the slowest weekends on the moviegoing calendar. Often considered the endpoint of summer in American culture, the three-day holiday before kids go back to school is usually reserved for abandoned films that never quite worked as intended for Hollywood studios. It’s the time of cinematic dregs. At least that was the conventional wisdom before 2020, and before Tenet and Mulan.

Indeed, history has changed and changed again with Warner Brothers’ Tenet and Disney’s Mulan now set to open during the same Labor Day timeframe, but in markedly different rollouts. While WB announced Christopher Nolan’s Tenet would open in select U.S. theaters on Sept. 3, one day before the holiday and a week after its international rollout on Aug. 26, Disney revealed Tuesday evening that Mulan is skipping theaters altogether, at least in the U.S. Instead the highly anticipated live-action remake is now set to premiere as premium content on Disney+ on Friday, Sept. 4. And as a $29.99 purchase, at that.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek attempted to downplay concerns that moving Mulan to its streaming service, and at a hefty premium, was any kind of new business model being rolled out.

“We’re looking at Mulan as a one-off as opposed to say there’s some new business windowing model that we’re looking at,” Chapek told Disney investors during an earnings call (via Deadline). He even added that it was just a way for Disney to “recapture some of our original investment” on a blockbuster estimated to cost more than $200 million.

Still, one would have to be fairly naïve to not see the implications in the biggest movie studio in the world moving one of its major 2020 releases straight to digital in the U.S. and at least some European markets, and on a personalized PVOD model via their own streaming service, no less. It would also be naïve to ignore the seismic precedent this sets for movie exhibition.

For as much as the industry has breathlessly followed Tenet’s sliding release dates in wonder and apprehension, Mulan has proven just as crucial a film for desperate movie theater owners. Originally slated to open at the end of March before the coronavirus pandemic effectively shut moviegoing down around the world, the film eventually moved to July 24, one week after Tenet’s original July 17 release date, and then stayed there until Tenet moved twice, first to July 31 and then Aug. 12. All the while, exhibitors were betting on both movies coming out in 2020 in order to stave off what’s been described as an existential threat to moviegoing.

When the largest movie theater chain in North America, AMC Theatres, announced just two weeks ago they were delaying their reopenings from the end of July to the end of August, the company said in a statement, “This new timing reflects currently expected release dates for much anticipated blockbusters like Warner Bros.’ Tenet and Disney’s Mulan, as well as release dates for several other new movies coming to AMC’s big screens.” While those other movies might include the Disney-distributed The New Mutants, which is still slated to be out on Aug. 28, obviously Mulan was part of a one-two punch exhibitors were placing their hopes on for the remainder of the year.

But rather than offering salvation, Mulan is now opening in direct competition to Tenet, which will have been out in European cinemas for only a week, and in U.S. theaters for about a day, when Mulan drops. Considering Tenet’s theatrical release was reportedly pushed by Nolan expressly to aid movie theaters during a time of economic upheaval, another major blockbuster (and one based on a familiar intellectual property) being made available to people in the safety of their own homes amounts to nothing less than a competing vision about the future of blockbuster cinema.

As a lifelong cinephile and advocate for analogue cinema, Nolan attempting to protect the theatrical experience is hardly surprising. After all, he is the filmmaker who pioneered using IMAX cameras on a blockbuster movie with The Dark Knight (2008), creating a big screen premium far more enduring and lucrative in the long-term than the 3D phenomenon spawned by Avatar a year later. However, Nolan’s enthusiasm for framing moviegoing as “a vital part of our social life” is leading the filmmaker and his preferred studio to take a bullish stance about the risk of releasing a major blockbuster in the midst of a pandemic. Obviously, Nolan and WB are hoping a successful rollout for Tenet will encourage other studios to do the same. It’s also worth noting that WB still hasn’t moved Wonder Woman 1984 or Dune off their fall 2020 release dates either.

But now with the release of Mulan to Disney+, and on a hybrid PVOD model at that, the Mouse House seems to be presenting an alternative future for moviegoing, in spite of whatever protestations they may have to the contrary about this being a “one-off.” Since Disney+ was first announced, there has been much speculation about what a direct-to-consumer platform could mean for the studio responsible for most of the big movie franchises in the marketplace. Last year ahead of CinemaCon, John Fithian, CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, told THR that some of his members were already dreading scenarios like the one just announced for Mulan, but at that time NATO was not worried about Disney abandoning the theatrical window.

Read more

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Tenet Screening Draws Rave Reviews from IMAX Employees

By Don Kaye

“Disney is about to launch a gigantic streaming service,” Fithian said in April 2019. “Its most senior execs have reassured us that Disney firmly believes in the theatrical model. Will they make content directly for the streaming service? Of course. They will make non-blockbuster, lower-budget content for Disney+. They used to make straight-to-video movies as well, and this is no different.”

However, the release of Mulan straight to Disney+ is obviously quite different, and the type of paradigm-shifting scenario theater owners have quietly worried about, even before there was a coronavirus pandemic. While Disney calls this situation unique—and it’s certainly prohibitively expensive for many at $30—keep in mind that even if fewer consumers are willing to pay the steep price for Mulan, the Mouse keeps a larger share of the profits. One of the reasons Universal Pictures first extolled the virtue in releasing Trolls World Tour to PVOD (much to AMC Theatres’ chagrin) was the studio kept 80 percent of the revenue on VOD, as opposed to 40 to 65 percent of the revenue from a theatrical release. On Disney+ though, Disney could conceivably keep 100 percent of the revenue generated by each of those costly rentals.

Hence Chapek also telling Disney investors yesterday, “Rather than simply rolling [the movie] into a free offering, we thought we can test anything when you have your own platform. We’re trying to establish a new premiere access window to capture the investment we got [in the film]. We’ll have a chance to learn from this.”

By enjoying their own popular and increasingly ubiquitous streaming service, Disney is the studio best equipped to leave the theatrical window behind and tinker with price points somewhere between a prohibitively costly $30 and a model closer to Netflix. The latter company releases almost all of its original content exclusively online, with only the obligatory nod to movie theaters on the occasion that streamer thinks they have an Oscar contender on their hands. Thus it might be more prudent to view Mulan as less a one-off and more a trial balloon. By releasing Mulan on a model many, including myself, speculated would be Disney+’s endgame in about a decade’s time, Mulan’s debut appears not nearly so isolated—especially when Disney picked the same weekend as Tenet with the full knowledge that U.S. exhibitors were counting on both films to survive the fall.

There is still much left unknown, including whether Disney talked to its exhibition partners about shifting Mulan toward Disney+ prior to it becoming public knowledge. NATO representatives declined to comment on these developments for this article. Still the recent rollout changes around both Mulan and Tenet in the past few weeks offer contrasting visions of what cinema can be in the future: a vital part of our social life, or a vital part of a content provider’s streaming service platform. And just as Tenet’s release could encourage more studios to take a similar gambit during the pandemic, so could Mulan’s platform shift pave the way for Black Widow, Soul, or a variety of other delayed Disney blockbusters to redefine what a “big screen event” looks like.

The post Mulan and Tenet Show Competing Visions for Future of Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[dweemeister]

Blog introduction for newer followers

Especially those who started following around the holiday season or after, I just wanted to say thank you for following this small blog of mine. Good day to you, and I hope that -- in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic -- you are all well, in addition to those elders and the immunosuppressed in your life. The name is Eric and, I suspect many of you have gotten the gist of what this blog is about, but if not, read on!

And -- oh boy -- I have some unpopular opinions to share with all of you under the cut!

What’s the point of this blog?

Well, you are following a blog that concentrates on classic movies, mostly made before 1980. I specialize in Old Hollywood (silent era-late 1960s), but you will see plenty of American and international animation (from the earliest works to our globalized present), Japanese cinema (post-WWII films in particular), and the staples of European cinema (the French masters, Ingmar Bergman, the Italian greats, etc). Musicals, American Westerns, and science fiction are my favorite genres. South Asian cinema, African cinema, and Latin American cinema make appearances on this blog, but I don’t know as much as I would like. I’m an omnivore, as I’ll watch mostly anything (very select subgenres of exploitation film - like slasher - are a hard pass). The closure of American theaters is definitely going to prevent me from seeing a lot of 2020 releases this year.

For followers who are in their twenties like me (or perhaps younger), these classic movies that dominate the blog are new movies to all of you. If you’ve never seen, say, City Lights (1931), it would be a newer movie to you personally than a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) or Frozen (2010).

Since this blog’s creation in August 2012, I have written and published 680+ movie reviews, tagged “My Movie Odyssey” (which refers to movies that I have just completed and had otherwise never seen before in their entirety). The most recent review was on The African Queen (1951). You can find an index for all movie reviews I’ve published here - films that I’ve written on are as recent as the most recent batch of Oscar-nominated short films and as far back as 1914 (for now). The Movie Odyssey write-ups have been drying up lately, but with this COVID-19 pandemic and other developments in my life, there’ll be more time for reviews. Keep your eyes peeled!

The queueing schedule of this blog is significantly - but not entirely - based on Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) daily North American schedule. When tumblr banned adult content in December 2018, it also knocked out a lot of blogs that I reblogged from from tags that I search in order to queue the blog. Since then, it has been more difficult to queue this blog - ESPECIALLY in terms of more obscure older films - but on this blog continues.

Is there any non-film content to be aware of?

Well other than the COVID-19 posts that’ll be around for a bit, I like to feature an occasional Peanuts comic around once to thrice a week if I remember to queue them. I’m also a huge soccer fan - Arsenal, LA Galaxy, and the US national teams - so those get featured, too on occasion (there’s no sports for the foreseeable future though). On Sunday mornings (recall I’m from Southern California), there’s a piece of nature photography posted around 7:30 AM Pacific Time.

And oh man, with Star Trek: Picard nearing the end of its first season... watch out. Yes, I’m a Trekkie. You’ll see the odd television posts too - mostly from the Star Trek franchise and M*A*S*H.

You’ll also notice, on occasion, I post/reblog a “nightcap” - a piece of music that strikes my fancy for whatever reason.

Do you post any objectionable content?

All posts with what I deem to portray graphic violence and nudity (I’m such a prude, I guess) is tagged “nsfw” for those of you using tumblr savior. Those posts, however, are very rare, and this is not a nsfw blog. If you consider socially liberal, economically left-center politics objectionable, you might want to know I didn’t vote for Bernie though Warren was my second choice #Byedon2020, don’t worry because this isn’t an overly political blog. However, my politics should be very obvious if you follow me for a while and read certain Movie Odyssey reviews closely (again, those reviews don’t get explicitly political but I could never deny that my political views do influence what I write sometimes).

Some news articles I post can be distressing, and I’m not afraid of writing (whether through personal posts or in my movie write-ups) on heavier issues and themes.

What else?

More info about me in the about section, I guess? Thank you for getting this far and I hope you are entertained and intrigued by this blog (and perhaps you’ll learn some new things, too)!

I hold some rather unpopular opinions about films old and new too that might sound scandalous (it’s all under the cut):

Emotional manipulation, taking the neutral sense of the word “manipulation”, is a necessity in film. I do watch films to have my emotions manipulated (in the neutral sense), but there is a line between emotional manipulation and exploitation. It’s the latter you should be wary of.

I think the Academy Awards/Oscars are meaningful. Principally, it is the Academy’s major fundraiser for the year. On a daily basis, the Academy maintains a vast film library (from all eras, nations, genres, lengths, you name it) and preserves films for posterity. They also have tons of initiatives in helping young filmmakers and fostering film education. The Oscar ceremony also shows us where the tastes of a select group of people (industry insiders) lied at a point in time. I could talk your ear off about this.

How Green Was My Valley is a fantastic film. If you transported me back to the 1940s, I might very well have voted for it over Citizen Kane at the time.

I can’t stand how modern film score composers are trying to make their scores sound as much like Hans Zimmer’s as possible. Most of the time, they are Zimmer’s ghostwriters and acolytes.

I’m a big fan of Disney Animation, but I am very suspicious about the artistic direction of the studio (live-action remakes, the Pixar brain drain, overreliance on meta humor to put down the earlier Disney classics) and the Walt Disney Company’s attempts to buy essentially all the IP they need.

I have a rather low opinion about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with the exceptions of the first Iron Man, first Captain America, and Black Panther. By the mid-2010s, I was watching MCU movies only because friends asked me if I was interested in going.

For superhero movies (in general), I’m a little scared about how much air and attention they have taken away from other, smaller films in the last decade and how they have shaped audience perceptions about what a movie should be. Most notably: low- and mid-budget dramas don’t need to be seen in a theater and you should stream them instead.

The conventional wisdom is that Marlon Brando and James Dean transformed acting in the 1950s. I vehemently disagree and contend the latter’s tragic death has created a legend that has overshadowed an incomplete film career.

I appreciate the French New Wave, but I don’t love it. I would grit my teeth to recommend anything other than The 400 Blows to anyone.

Isao Takahata has the most fascinating and accomplished filmography of any animation director I’ve seen the films of. Where Miyazaki is more influential because of his mostly fantastical films, Takahata pushed that envelope about what animated film could be.

I appreciate the films of two directors that are the favorite of a certain demographic: David Fincher and Christopher Nolan (hey, I’m actually in that specific demographic). But I’ve never particularly enjoyed their films.

The Shawshank Redemption is #1 on imdb’s Top 250 movies of all time. It wouldn’t come close to #250 if you asked me to make such a list. Please don’t ask me to make such a list.

[homedevises]

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Chris Knight makes some predictions about 2019 at the movies.

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It’s never accessible to adumbrate what the abutting year of movies will bring, but some things are carved in stone. Like Liam Neeson’s broken features. And the actuality that Neeson will bang base in the June absolution of Men in Black: International. And in February’s Cold Pursuit, a accommodate of a Norwegian becloud that was arrant out for Neeson to brilliant in it.

Here are a few added predictions we feel appealing assertive about.

Foreign-language films will get some respect

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Since 1938, alone 10 foreign-language films accept been nominated for best account – the aftermost one Michael Haneke’s Amour in 2012 – but none has won. Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma will about absolutely be nominated, and has a acceptable adventitious of actuality the aboriginal to win. And clashing accession abundant adopted becloud from 2018 – Lee Chang-dong’s Burning – no one’s alike activity to anticipate about an English-language accommodate of this acutely claimed story.

Animated pictures will get better

2018 was a appealing attenuate year for exciting, aboriginal activated movies – we had Isle of Dogs, the amazing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and a host of sequels, remakes and dreck. And while 2019 is abounding of sequels, they’ve got pedigree. Toy Adventure 4, How to Train Your Dragon 3, Frozen 2 – how could they disappoint? Especially back Angry Birds 2 about absolutely has the disappointment bazaar covered?

Animation will additionally get added confusing

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Disney’s The Lion King is evidently one of its live-action remakes. (Also advancing out this year, a live-action Aladdin.) But it’s absolutely aloof computer-generated animals with celebrity voices, so technically animation. Harder to allocate is Dumbo, which appearance a host of animal characters but stars a CG albatross in the appellation role. The curve abide to blur.

Old guys will adhere on

This division has apparent a new becloud starring Robert Redford (The Old Man & the Gun), one directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (The Mule) and one produced by, starring and adored by Peter Bogdanovich (The Added Side of the Wind). Average age of these guys; 83, yet nobody’s appear his retirement yet. Ivan Reitman has a new becloud in the works, admitting he’s alone 72. But you apperceive who is slowing down? Woody Allen. The 83-year-old filmmaker, ambiguous for a bearing of critics (guilty) who already admired him and now acquisition him a little creepy, did not absolution a cine in 2018 – his aboriginal dry year back 1976. But he has a new one, A Rainy Day in New York, aperture ancient in the new year.

Old movies will appear back

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The PG-13 rated Already Upon a Deadpool may accept alone grossed $5-million at the box appointment aftermost ages adjoin $318-million for the R-rated original, but it generated a lot of amicableness – and it let my Deadpool-obsessed 11-year-old see it at last. Then there was The Room, a 2003 so-bad-it’s-good band favourite, which got its better absolution anytime in January on the heels of James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, about the authoritative of the film. And contempo arranged screenings at Toronto’s Cinesphere of such sci-fi abstract as Alien and Blade Runner appearance there’s an appetence for bodies to revisit their favourites on the big screen. Expect more.

Disney will be unavoidable

In accession to activity (Toy Adventure 4, Frozen 2, The Lion King) and sort-of activity (Dumbo) there’s alive activity (Aladdin, Artemis Fowl), documentary (Penguins), superheroes (Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame) and, to annular out the year, Brilliant Wars: Episode IX. And that’s not alike factoring Disney’s acquirement of 20th Century Fox, accepted to abutting by June.

Superheroes will be unavoidable, but at atomic varied

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The advancing year sees two new DC movies (Shazam! and Joker) and two from Marvel (Spider-Man: Far From Home and Captain Marvel). But there will additionally be two new X-Men movies (Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants), a reboot of Hellboy, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass, a followup on 2000’s Unbreakable and 2016’s Split. No one anytime said these accurate universes came calm quickly.

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