There was a Ninja, some woman with green hair named Gertrude, probably my sister Vengeance, and Lord Skywalker. You know. The one that likes to snorkle.) colabed on a story! Misleading Click-baity Title: How Marvel is Killing the Movie Industry. Patreon Reward for Somber Star · 3:35am Nov 28th, 2018
Heya readers and, in all likelihood, moviegoers!
For his reward, Somber Star asked/allowed me to get some thoughts out of my brain concerning the current state of movies, of which I have many, but specifically we’re going to talk about “franchising” and how it’s literally destroying everything ever.
Okay, I’m being hyperbolic of course. Though, if you’ve been watching a lot of movies lately, you might have noticed there’s been a lot of attempts to turn most every film to be an unstoppable juggernaut made of cash that also prints licenses to print money.
That metaphor got away from me, utterly unlike the Juggernaut getting away with cash here.
Or maybe you haven’t because a lot of these movies have tripped and fallen right on their face. I’m sure lots of other blogs have stated this, but if you want a culprit, look no further then Marvel Studios!
Boo! How dare you be successful and make money!
No, actually let’s look further. Let’s look a lot further.
Unless you’re like… I don’t know… a time traveler coming from a ruined future (ironically, a plot in a couple Marvel movies, but not Marvel Studios movies) and this blog is somehow the first thing you’ve come into contact with, you know what the MCU is and that pretty much every movie released for it makes just gobs of money. Because of this, every studio wants their own franchise that they can churn out multiple movies a year for and just rake in unlimited amounts of money because of course moviegoers have bags of money set aside from just seeing blockbuster after blockbuster in the theaters!
Okay, I’ll save the possibility of the movie-blockbuster bubble bursting for another post maybe, but the point is Marvel found a “magic formula” and now everyone is trying to copy it.
The problem is that it only really works for Marvel movies, or maybe comic book movies.
So, the makeup of seemingly any MCU movie is a balance of dramatic, action-packed story with usually a bare minimum of one betrayal, often time said betrayal being the key plot of the movie, with a healthy mix of comedic relief to make sure everyone is having a good time all the time!
Except when they really want you back for the sequel and prequel to explain the sequel.
This style was seemingly codified by Joss Whedon in the first Avengers movie… not to be confused with Captain America: The First Avenger, though the direction was much the same. It works well in these movies possibly because they’re setting where seemingly anything can and does happen and the characters often have to step back and reflect on just how absurd their lives are.
Now, that’s not the only type of jokes told here, but the general feeling in many of these scenes is the characters are used to goofing off as they’re often the biggest kids on the block until closer to the end of the film where it turns out they’re not. Again, it works well for these super-hero movies. Heck, I even liked this approach in the live-action Justice League movie, but I seem to be a rare person who seemingly enjoyed that movie unironically.
So, we have a set of movies who have seemingly created a real life-unlimited money cheat code. Now everyone can just use that on their movie and it’ll be an instant hit with everyone, right?!
Decades from now, scholars will reflect on this logo and unilaterally declare it the most ironic thing to have ever been created.
Yeeeaaaah… no… Not so much, no. While a great balance of drama/action/and comedy can make for a great movie, a big mistake movie makers seem to keep making is they somehow think it’s some sort of ‘one size fits all’ or maybe they can just adjust it a little and it’ll work fine.
Look, it works for Tony Stark because Tony Stark is actually rarely in danger even when a bunch of stuff is trying to kill him. It feels a bit more out of place say… between a fighter pilot communicating with an enemy general when we are to assume both are professionals gearing up for a potential battle where people dying is pretty much a guarantee.
If I somehow was too cryptic with that last one, I’ll cut to the point and talk about Star Wars… again. Now, I’m not saying the this is the only problem I had with the TLJ, mostly because I’ve listed other problems in other blogs, but the style of humor is a weird fit when it’s generally assumed we’re watching professionals instead of people who’ve answered the call either by having powers or technology fall into their lap…or you know… they invented an exo-suit lap and also the rest of the body to go with it. We might be watching something fantastical (yes, that’s a word. I know. I was surprised, too, when I found out!), but we’re watching characters who should understand that their giant ships can explode with them still on it if they’re not careful.
Another point is that some of these franchises that studios are trying to turn into mega franchises have existed before the idea came along that you can possibly churn out multiple-movies out a year around the same idea and make a mint. Keeping with Star Wars, this is why I think the humor in Rogue One and Solo (yes, another thing I appear to be in the minority for liking) work a bit better as it's typically in line with the banter and dry-wit of the original trilogy as opposed to crazy antics, as one might find in…
Well…
Need I say more?
Still, that’s not as egregious as, say, trying to foist this type of humor and good-vibes into a movie franchise that’s almost entirely rated R films.
You guys understand that rated R films don’t sell a lot of toys, right?
Alright, I think I called out most the guilty parties here. I dunno… I liked the new Mummy movie, so there are three things that make me a weirdo.
Thanks again to Somber Star for the topic! Let’s see if I can shovel out a few more topics this month before another several get piled on.
That is the longest tag I have ever seen.
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though it is the best tag though
You guys understand that rated R films don’t sell a lot of toys, right?
Wasn't there a bunch of R rated movies with toylines in the 90's? I mean, I get Robocop, but there were Alien action figures too, weren't there?
(Follow up: How was there not a Jurrasic Park cartoon? It came out in the 90's, was directed by Steven Spielberg, and it was already intended for kids?)
I, too, enjoyed the Justice League movie unironically! Unpopular opinion: I liked it more than Thor: Ragnarok!
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As someone who still owns a bunch of the Alien Vs. Predator toys, I can answer this. For whatever reason, they went hard on this franchise without a great movie tie-in except for the movies that were already out there. Novels, comics, commercials, comics that came with the action figures where I think more people lived in Aliens and some were made up to sell toys.
The Predator toys they mostly just made up, though, but there was a two-pack with one Predator and one Xenomorph. I suppose if the movie had actually proved popular they could have attempted something similar, though I find it interesting that there seems to be little attempt to sell Deadpool movie figures to children despite its popularity.
Eh, I liked Green Lanturn, Superman Returns and the prequel trilogies (really unpopular opinion - have not even bothered to watch new films past Force Awakens) well enough, so...
I hold out hope that if I get Justice League on DVD at some point and thus watching it, we (that is me and Mum, who go to watch the movies (Dad is never bothered)) might enjoy it well enough - though my expectation are suitable prepared.
Bu really, it's no different to anything else these days - we have entered an age where it is no longer enoguh to make money, it is required to make All Of The Money, and if you don't make All Of The Money you are a failure. That little period about twenty-odd years ago where business culture was pushing being customer-face died out pretty fast.
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I rather disliked Ragnarok. It felt like half a funny movie and half a movie about planetary destruction crudely stapled together.
I mean, it had good bits, but it was good bits from two very different movies.
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THANK YOU!
There were like, two scenes that were played straight, and everything else had to have some comedy bit thrown in somewhere. It was trying to be Guardians, but even they know when to be serious.