#what happened to xma's box office gross is exactly what could have happened to bvs

[kennysamathedeviant]

Thank you so much for that DCEU post, it pins down a lot of my own thoughts about this whole "WB meddling with the DCEU directors' visions" thing. I'm also one of those people who had been increasingly frustrated every time there are news regarding the DCEU directors, and wishing that the studio had backed up and stood by them more. (1/2)

But the more I think about it, I wonder if it's not just because of my own kneejerk reaction to the relentless public and media bias against the DCEU and the need to put the blame somewhere else (i.e. the studios), instead of it being an actual problem caused by the studios. (2/2)

Sorry I didn't answer this earlier, it was late then and I was already asleep in bed

I'm so glad you liked the post, it's been sitting in my draft for days and i was nervous about putting it out there but i've gotten low key tired of subtly pointing it out in reblogs that WB has actually so far, by all evidence, done right by their directors. I really don't blame anyone for being frustrated at the possibility of there being problems at the studio, especially with the way the rumours always make it seem that a majority of the fandom's problems would be solved if they listened to their directors. I know I've read my fair share of heartbreaking fan confessions that they can't believe history repeated itself when people hated BvS, like they did MoS, and how it was tearing at their souls and they really, really wouldn't want to go through it again. I've had days where it was too much to come online because I knew what i'd be seeing, it's all so physically/mentally exhausting and deeply humiliating. So, I don't blame anyone for wanting better, but the never ending hatred is beginning to push us in a direction where we'd ignore all warning signs, and give anything, possibly even our support of the studio, for that one chance for people to just say along with us; "hey, that was a great movie!" even though it's improbable. We're being gaslighted. Forced to believe that things could be different and it's somehow an internal issue that it puts a target on your back for identifying as a DCEU fan and not an external issue. But I refuse to look at it that way, because at the end of the day, something that's still plain as day is that the movies we love, are held to a different, impossible standard than lesser movies in the same category, or any category for that matter.

I remember that one of the first reviews for BvS I read was that it was "a meat headed movie" meaning it was all about brawn and no brains, dude bro rubbish, then another said it was not filled with action but is like a work of art but that was bad. Two completely contradicting opinions on one movie and they both claim it's bad and are both wrong as attested by the movie's own quality. Just like with Man of Steel, initial reactions from people who saw the movie first, was 100% positive, with so many saying it surpassed the TDK trilogy, then the reviews came out and it was 100% opposite. Like Man of Steel, initial reactions were like "best movie ever", then suddenly it was "worst movie ever". Till then, all initial indications was that everyone had gotten with the program, the marketing to prepare people for the tone, story, length finally worked, we got built up with hope, then they crushed it, spat on it, pissed all over it, for months, then turned around and said it's the studio's fault they were such tools about it. All the critical slamming of Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill and Amy Adams and even Hans Zimmer's incredible score, is still fresh in my memory. Ben Affleck got slammed too but he initially got off easier, he was the best Batman ever and I couldn't help but think that Batman, being allowed to be a character and allowed to be re-interpreted in different ways, helped. Then WB said "hey, how about a Batman movie?" and then suddenly it's "I can't support a batman who kills!". The so called "feminist" sites that keep slamming the dceu actresses for not having "punch a dude" as some kind of default personality trait, when all we've ever heard is that punching dudes =/= strong female character, it's complexity. The idea that it's the studios fault somehow that they're biased, is equivalent to all those soulless people who said they can't empathise with Superman in the dceu because he didn't have a "moment" with a kid, because who cares about his own suffering? Or they can't accept him killing Zod because they never had him state he doesn't kill, despite Zod killing over 5,000 people and wanting to go for 6billion, like that enhances anything in anyway, or who state Superman is depressing to watch and that he was sad he saved people (i've literally heard this multiple times) or who use mental gymnastics to justify any number of reasons why they hated x, y and z. The problem with blaming the studio, is the predicament in which it exists doesn't support that statement. DCEU directors and actors are always putting their reputation on the line by being involved with it, signing into the DCEU is like signing a waiver, surrendering your reputation to the possibility of ruin. You'll get scrutinised immediately until you get a movie script, and it'll continue until you directed or acted in a movie and then it'll really get bad after the movie is released. If the studio truly has a hand in all that, the directors would walk, it's bad enough you get shit for aligning with WB, but then WB enabling that nonsense? Why the hell are you sticking around? Marvel in 8 years have rotated almost all of their directors except Favreau, Whedon, Gunn and the Russos. But their director problems are well known, even with at least three of the above directors. But that has never hampered the predictability of the public to suck up to them but somehow the DCEU; about to go four years strong, who has retained every director to release a movie, probably will retain Patty Jenkins and will most likely retain Ben Affleck, is the one with the reputation of interfering in director's visions? It's all so paradoxical.

Then you look how they treated Man of Steel like dirt despite its time length, you recall how their complaints conflict with what did happen in the movie, and then you see they did the same thing to BvS, and you suddenly wonder why you should believe that these people even give a shit about what version of movie they're watching. Those who say "Lois Lane sucks" for being competent and ahead of the curve, are not believable for saying they needed more of Lois. Those who don't care about Clark are not believable for saying they needed to see 30mins more of him, those who have been sitting at the edge of their seats for hints of negativity, slandering the movie for it's tone, story, writing and canvassing for the movie's failure, are not believable when they say they would have liked a longer cut with more of those things they hated, it's all just one big farce. And the really annoying thing, is that they're trying, and even being successful, to convince fans that they would care if the stars were aligned. That we shouldn't focus on how they screw us and the studio over repeatedly, we should focus on how the studio isn't putting all it's eggs in one basket, walking off into a market where everyone's anticipating their arrival with sledgehammers. We should focus on the fact the studio had the foresight to sell some of those eggs early, and to people who are likely to buy it, and the ones they ruined for them, weren't everything. Those ones they held back? They were better and they totally wouldn't go at it with a sledgehammer, if they had brought those along too. Logic; hater style. That's the logic they've been feeding us for months, while still bashing the movie with no distinction in the next breath, passing it over for awards, and choosing Deadpool of all movies for awards it's not merited. Trying to convince people 2016 was bad for WB, when the first quarter alone saw a huge improvement in profits beyond the studio's own estimations, courtesy in no small part, to BvS. But no, they would have liked them to put all their money and resources on the line, like they're gambling at a blackjack table, on a flimsy excuse they'll consider not being biased tools, so they can completely screw them over and remove the competition that was never allowed. I wish I lived in a reality where the billion dollars potential that each movie obviously had (considering how much money they make on negativity), came true but I don't live there. And it's very frustrating that we know every movie is still going to get hit with it, Wonder Woman will get it, JL will get it, and they'll still try to convince us that it's the studio's fault. But fair and unbiased treatment makes merit possible and merit is worth it's weight in gold but we've so far been denied it. So whatever knee jerk reaction that the fandom has, is because they deliberately put it there, through all the relentless public as well as media bias, slander from all angles, gaslighting and an elevated form of concern trolling. There's obviously more than one way to tank a franchise, if you can't tank it's fans, tank the fans faith in the product studio. We'll just have to be wary of these people and their latest reasons for wanting the opposite of what they said they did, five minutes ago.