Why The Blockbuster Movie Bubble Will Burst In 2018

Cracked ^ | August 5, 2016 | Luis Prada

[EdnaMode]

In 2013, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predicted the film industry as we know it would "implode" if/when, in the near future, too many wildly expensive blockbuster movies flopped. And if ever there were a year for an implosion on that scale to occur it would be 2018, the year when there are nearly as many major studio tentpole releases as there are weeks in the year. Well, here's the thing ...

Do you like big blockbuster movies? The kind that will make a billion dollars but will never be financially profitable, thanks to Hollywood's shady accounting practices? If so, here's the insane slate of blockbusters 2018 has to offer:

Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One, Pacific Rim 2, Aquaman, Toy Story 4, Deadpool 2, Black Panther, The Flash, How To Train Your Dragon 3, Ant-Man And The Wasp, Jurassic World 2, The Predator, Fifty Shades Freed, Jungle Book: Origins, Marry Poppins Returns, Tomb Raider, Alita: Battle Angel, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 2, The Secret Life Of Pets 2, an animated Spider-Man movie, Hotel Transylvania 3, The Wolf Man, Wreck-It Ralph 2, the Star Wars Han Solo spinoff, the Transformers Bumblebee spinoff, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Gigantic (Disney's next hand-drawn animated musical).

[Zathras]

“Mary Poppins Returns”
And I missed it....dang

[Dr. Sivana]

Actually that is not true at all.. but WB won’t remotely rely on source material effectively.. the Aquaman in Justice League is not Aquaman

My comic book time was Silver age through early Bronze Age, and as a DC fan in the 70s, read plenty of Golden Age reprints, including of the old Fawcett characters (hence my nom).

I know they did some reboot of Aquaman where he is more of a Poseidon-type character, which I guess would make him akin to Thor, but what you call the "Justice League" version was pretty much the same guy who had his own book in the sixties (as the JLA was presented in the 60s and 70s). Take him out of water, and the plot opportunities thin. Keep him in water, and the ability of us landlubbers to relate thins even more.

You are right about using the personalities of Superman and Batman as a motivation for conflict. I remember a World's Finest comic in the mid-70s where Supes and Batman come up a previously unknown tribe, living a primitive, but idealist life on the surface. Batman took a Calvinist approach and assumed they were depraved under the surface, while Superman took more of Rousseauian/Quaker assumption about their nature (I guess based on most of his experiences on Krypton and in Smallville growing up). I forgot how it was resolved, or if it was.

I find it interesting that Marvel hasn't (to my knowledge) thought of doing a Submariner movie. That character was WAY ahead of his time, being very much an anti-hero (WWII time doesn't count) even more than the early "vigilante" versions of Superman and Batman.

I really hope they don't try to pull off Captain Marvel (especially if they insist on calling him Shazam!). If they must, they better not pretend that Dr. Sivana is an evil businessman. He is an archetypal mad scientist. They might be better off with Mr. Mind. Most don't know who he is, and those who do will get a good chuckle out of him.

[Magnum44]

Avengers: Infinity War - nope

Ready Player One - eh, maybe

Pacific Rim 2 - Definitely no

Aquaman - slimy gill man, no thanks, feel sorry for the actor cast in that role

Toy Story 4 - no, been downhill since the first one

Deadpool 2 - Yes, probably the winner for 2018

Black Panther - no, and I am not a racist

The Flash - no

How To Train Your Dragon 3 - if you didn't learn how by 2, you will never learn

Ant-Man And The Wasp - Just silly, I'll wait for red box

Jurassic World 2 - Red box

The Predator - is this a remake?

Fifty Shades Freed - My wife dragged me to the first and second installment of this trash, I will probably have to sit through this one as well. Ugg.

Jungle Book: Origins - again???

Marry Poppins Returns - again, again???

Tomb Raider - again, again, again???

Alita: Battle Angel - no thanks

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 2 - I might see this one

The Secret Life Of Pets 2 - please Gawd, no

animated Spider-Man movie - no, no, and no

Hotel Transylvania 3 - this is a trck question, right? NO

The Wolf Man - hmmm, have to see wha this one is about before making a call

Wreck-It Ralph 2 - nope

Star Wars Han Solo spinoff - please, Disney, don't screw this one up. I am actually hoping it is good.

Transformers Bumblebee spinoff - Hell no

Maze Runner: The Death Cure - Red box

How The Grinch Stole Christmas - prefer the original cartoon, and this has already been made into a movie with Jim Carrey, so why again?

Gigantic (Disney's next hand-drawn animated musical) - not interested.

Yep, looks like a pretty dismal year at the box office.

[jmacusa]

Oh there's a plot to what you're describing. It's all leftist, social justice warrior crap, men suck and women are the big heroes who save planets and universes , etc. Boring.

[Signalman]

“Blockbuster” = LOUD"

I was in a theatre about 6 mos ago (first time in a few years) and I couldn't believe the decible level. My eardrums were becoming painful. What's the purpose of playing these things so loudly?

[Zathras]

Zathras agrees but Zathras not live to see it.

[HamiltonJay]

Given that Justice League didn’t do that well, WB’s entire plans are in disarray...

Aquaman Film was already finished by the time JL was released, so it will come to the big screen no matter what... however the plans to do single films for other characters, like Flash etc are now up in the air. A Captain Marvel movie was planned, but with poor performance of JL everything as I understand it is up in the air.

What I just don’t get is why WB can’t seem to stop trying to turn every hero into a brooding anti-hero?

Part of WHY wonder woman was a success, was her character was ALWAYS optimistic.... NEVER ONCE did she lose her hope or her belief.

Batman is the brooding one.. Aquaman, at least the Aquaman of my time (90s mostly was reading DC regularly, returned to it after Rebirth and giving them another shot, because new 52 was unreadable garbage) does have a dark aspect to him, but he’s not the 2 dimensional twit that was on the screen during JL.

Flash from the 90s was an interesting character, the flash in current Rebirth is drivel and probably will be dropping it soon.

Detective is so full of bats now, and PC Pooferness (like flash) that as soon as Detective 1000 is out, will likely stop that one too..... Action Comics I don’t know what’s going on there, with Rebirth they seem to have just gone a bit crazy from what I can tell on that book as well.. even bringing back Krypto???? Really?? Krypto??? Again I suspect once Action Comics 1000 is out will probably stop that one again as well.

Will be down to Green Lantern Corps Hal Jordan.... The new Green Latern sucks too... If they both died tommorrow I would be fine with it... the two PC characters added a while back being given their own book, its tired rehash of old story lines from previous lanterns... I will give that book some credit in some of the ancillary characters that have been introduced have potential... but the two actual lanterns? Just kill them off... My guess is unless something changes will be down to Just reading Hal Jordan and Aquaman with a year.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

All...here is a film recommendation for you — “ A Very Long Engagement.” Wkik — “it is a 2004 French romantic war film, co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. It is a fictional tale about a young woman’s desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed during World War I. It was based on the novel of the same name, written by Sebastien Japrisot, first published in 1991.”

It is actually a lot more than that. It masterfully weaves together the extreme folly of war, a fantastic mystery and investigation, the ways men sought to escape the sheer insanity of WW I, murder, government corruption and coverup, and the incredible determination of the young female protagonist to find the truth. Magnificently acted, a superb original musical score that perfectly fits the somber theme, and tremendous cinematography. It also has some of the best WW I war scenes I’ve ever seen.

It’s in French, so you must be comfortable reading subtitles.

I’m not sure it’s available on streaming; I got the Netflix BluRay disc.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’ve seen two movies in theaters the past year: Dunkirk and Only the Brave.

The decibel level, especially for the interminable previews, does indeed cross the pain threshold for me. I actually plug my ears with my fingers during the previews to get the sound down to merely loud. Also, the extremely fast cuts (1/10 second?) black to white to black during the previews makes me nauseous. I keep my eyes shut during previews to prevent epileptic fits.

I only went to these two because my son invited me (and because he is training to be a firefighter).

“Only the Brave” was quite good.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I get REALLY tired of “men suck” and the on-going theme that women are stronger, tougher, better fighters, smarter and sassier than men, too. Massive turn-off to this old-timer.

[JimRed]

Because the word “blockbuster” has come to mean “clickbait”.

[Morpheus2009]

Pretty much beat me to it. I am sick of them making up one Green Lantern after another just for the sake of diversity. There’s so many Green Lanterns that nothing feels at stake. Heck, it’s the problem I have with so many characters in comics that I don’t care that much for them anymore, because there’s however many spinoff characters in each franchise now that don’t feel as good as the main character.

All I can say is that when I look at all the comic book reboots and events, the industry feels like it’s dying off in comic books and trying to survive on a second life at the movies. Although when the movies fail, that’s going to be a blow that I don’t see the current franchises recovering from due to the amount of money that will go into the drain.

[Future Snake Eater]

Are we to infer from this article that “Fifty Shades Freed” costs the same to make as “Avengers: Infinity War”?

A bunch of these are some real apples vs. oranges comparisons.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“Blockbusters are international. Explosions and chase scenes translate well. Heavy dialog and complex plots don’t.”

That’s a very good point. Also, if you want heavy dialog and complex plots, check out long-form series on Netflix, HBO, or even Amazon Prime. Today’s big-screen, high-def, HDR, TV’s are fine for dramas & the extra time allows for more character development and deeper plots than movies. The immersive effects of a movie theatre are still needed for action films. Plot and character development are less of an issue in action films, than things that go “Boom!”.

[x]

Many of those aren't expected to be real "blockbusters."

Ant-Man and the Wasp sounds like a comedy.

Tomb Raider sounds like another cheap rip-off of a video game.

Fifty Shades Freed isn't going to attract the kids who go to comic book movies.

Disney movies attract massive audiences, but they aren't competing for the dollars from the teen/young adult audience.

Heck, I'd say most of them aren't expected to be real "blockbusters" if that measn Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark or Titanic sensations.

Comic book superhero movies may be dying, but if you can tweak the formula a bit, you can still make money.

Those teen hero sagas will attract big audiences at least until the current series end, and if you can get something that appeals to adults and children as well as teens, you could find an audience.

[tumblindice]

Guy with one arm, one leg climbs wall, leaves women behind
https://youtu.be/JY8fYWUcF5Q

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, amazing. What drive.

[Oztrich Boy]

Will? I tried to rent a movie from them last month, but it had closed.

[freepertoo]

Your mom sounds like mine. At 94 I took her to see The Force Awakens. She said that except for Harrison Ford, it was awful...and she had a hard time recognizing Harrison Ford...but then, didn’t we all?

My dad was a few decades older than my mom. When Empire Strikes Back came out in theatres, he fell asleep. In his eighties, I forgave him, but gave him a nudge. He woke long enough to say, Space ships,” then he fell asleep again. Yoda was not amused.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Lately I have been binge watching “Marvel’s Agents of Shield”. Not a bad show and I really like Clark Gregg and his Phil Coulson character.