Cinematic Slant

Movies I Don’t Believe Will Ever Come Out

In the last couple of weeks, director Terry Gilliam has been making the press rounds talking about his film Jabberwocky, which recently received a new edition from the Criterion Collection. As part of that he’s also updated everyone on the status of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a film he’s been working on to one extent or another for almost two decades.

For those not familiar with the project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was first developed by Gilliam and writer Toni Grisoni in the late 1990s with Jean Rochefort playing the titular hero and Johnny Depp a 21st-century marketing professional who’s sent back in time, finding himself teamed with Quixote. Almost immediate the production was beset by problems of various kinds that caused delays, budget overruns and more, ultimately leading to it being shut down. Much of this is chronicled in the documentary Lost in La Mancha, released around 2003 as a standalone film after originally being conceived as a “making of” feature for the film’s eventual DVD release.

With filming finally finished – including a whole new cast, of course – and test screenings happening now according to Gilliam, it seems the film could finally see the light of day after 20 years of false starts and well-intentioned promises. There are still legal issues that are plaguing that release, but we’re closer than we have been.

Gilliam’s comments about this long-gestating film put me in mind of other movies that have been promised by the talent involved for long periods of time but which never seem to get off the ground.

Gambit

Ever since the popular X-Men character first appeared on screen in X-Men: Origins – Wolverine (Writer’s Strike) as portrayed by Taylor Kitsch, fans have been clamoring for a solo film that would be a bit more authentic and true to the character’s comic book incarnation. In 2014 Channing Tatum, still riding a high after Magic Mike and a few other well-received roles, announced he was interested in starring in that film. He’s been attached to it ever since.

The movie has moved in and out of production more times than a family in witness protection changes houses. Doug Liman was initially attached to direct but left the project a couple years ago. Since then a few different directors have been approached or rumored but it wasn’t until earlier this year that Gore Verbinski finally took on the project. Fox recently set a February 2019 release date and cast Lizzy Caplan as an unidentified character. Reports have emerged recently that production has started but I remain skeptical.

Avatar 2, 3,4, 5 (…) 78, 79 or 80

You’d think that making a sequel to the biggest movie of all time would be a no-brainer. But if anyone was capable of overthinking such a project, it was director James Cameron.

Sequels to the 2009 3D blockbuster have been discussed since about a week after that first film hit theaters. If that initial schedule had held, the first sequel would have come out in 2014. As it is we’re still waiting for what’s now a 2020 release, with a third installment coming in 2021 since both films are being shot at the same time.

Those films are reportedly in preliminary production now but that doesn’t mean Cameron can’t shut the whole thing down at any time because the cameras are two ounces heavier than they need to be to get the shot he’s been planning for 14 years.

Die Hard: Year One

Announced in late 2015, this prequel is reportedly the combination of elements of stories from previously-scrapped film projects as well as a TV series that went nowhere telling the story of a young New York cop named John McClaine. Ever since news broke of it being planned people have wondered how it wouldn’t completely ruin the first Die Hard since that story was premised on McClaine being totally out of his element in a high-stakes terrorist situation. Any prequel story is going to have to make it seem as if he had the necessary skills all along, which takes the magic away from the original.

Len Wiseman has been attached to direct but that’s about it, with no other cast announced or story shared. That makes the 2018 release that has been planned unlikely. I’d be shocked if this one didn’t die of inertia and complete lack of interest.

Black Adam

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been signed to play Black Adam, a magical villain from the DC Comics universe, in a movie for years now. He’s been teasing it repeatedly on his social media accounts, offering the occasional update that seems as if he’s gearing up for it any minute now, including hints he would appear in other movies before one featuring Shazam, his arch-rival, could get off the ground. Just as that project picked up speed, it was announced by DC’s Geoff Johns that it would not star Johnson or feature Black Adam.

That makes it unclear who Shazam will square off against in the solo movie coming in 2019 and starring Zachary Levi as the hero. Black Adam was also given his own film, likely due to the actor’s stature and popularity, though a release date for that remains in limbo. There are rumors he could appear in Suicide Squad 2, though those are unconfirmed and would seem to have the same issues that spiked his appearance in Shazam. Until this is officially on a release calendar I’m not convinced it’s actually happening given the ups and downs to date.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

Darkest Hour – Marketing Recap

Winston Churchill is having his moment in the spotlight. His presence was felt, though not seen, in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk earlier this year and has appeared in a couple different TV shows recently, including Netflix’s “The Crown.” Now an integral part of Churchill’s life is coming to the big screen as he’s played by Gary Oldman in director Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour.

The movie follows Churchill in the time immediately before and after he becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain. That’s the same time Nazi Germany is rolling across Europe, a fate some in British government wish to avoid by signing a peace treaty. Having seen how Hitler has honored other treaties, Churchill insists on rejecting that approach and instead using the military to stand against encroaching fascism. To do so he’ll have to rally not only the government but the nation.

The Posters

“Never never never surrender” is the copy on the U.S. one-sheet, with that copy laid over a red-tinted photo of Oldman as Churchill. That’s a powerful message, especially in today’s political climate. The message at the top makes it clear that this comes from the director of Atonement, which should help draw in the fans of that movie.

Another handful of posters came later. One proclaimed Churchill as “A man with the heart of a nation” as it showed Oldman in character, his face largely obscured by a huge trail of smoke emanating from his cigar. Another showed only the bottom of his face and used the copy “Never give up. Never give in.” A third showed more of the man himself, with similar copy used. All make sure you know this comes from the director of Atonement.

The Trailers

As the trailer starts we hear how those in power don’t really care for Churchill or his policies or politics. Still, he’s been selected and he immediately inherits a calamitous situation in the war. While those around him are talking peace and negotiations, he pushes for continued resolve to avoid a fate worse than defeat.

It’s all very tense, a feeling that’s aided by the mounting music. These are moments anyone who’s paid attention in high school social studies class should recognize and Oldman brings them to life wonderfully. Wright’s usual cinematic flair is also on display here and that’s a substantial draw.

Another short trailer shows the obstacles, especially those internally, Churchill faced as he assumed power. It’s meant to be very tense, with the tick-tock beat and the constant cutting away from his political machinations and footage from the war he was trying to win.

Online and Social

The primary trailer opens the official website. Close that and you’re taken to a landing page featuring full-screen video clips in the background, promos to buy tickets or subscribe to the Focus Features newsletter as fellas links to the movie’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feed.

Scroll down the page and you see the standard Focus site template. Content starts with an “About” synopsis and cast list but then photos, social updates, videos, review quotes and other material is mixed together in the usual style. Many of the behind-the-scenes production photos are presented in black-and-white, giving them the appearance of being historical, or at least showing them in a way that evokes the history being told.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

There are a few online ads I’ve seen that have used variations on the key art as well as a handful of social ads that repurposed the trailers. No TV spots appear to have been run, or if they did they’re not being made available online.

Media and Publicity

The first look at the movie presented an almost-unrecognizable Oldman in character as Churchill. The movie was announced as one of those that would screen at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as at Telluride.

The movie’s appearance at Telluride resulted in generally positive reviews and praise for Oldman’s performance as Churchill, which was pegged as a potential awards contender. While at TIFF, Thomas spoke extensively about the research she did into who Clementine was and the relationship she and her husband had, as well as how the production reignited her desire to work in films again. Both Oldman and Thomas also talked about the intimidation they felt taking on two such powerful historical figures.

In conjunction with some efforts by Focus Features to actively involve them, descendants of the Churchills, as well as experts in the history of the period, endorsed the film as largely accurate, giving it their seal of approval.

Writer/author Anthony McCarten addressed the reality that there’s a wave of Churchill projects in popular culture right now, something he attributed to nostalgia for the days when leaders took decisive and defiant stances, not walking back statements when they turn out to be less popular than intended.

Oldman did some media appearances, as did Thomas, showing up on late night talk shows to promote the movie and engage in hijinks with the hosts. He also continued talking about how difficult the role was physically, both from a makeup point of view and just the effort to embody Churchill and his mannerisms.

There was also a profile of Lily James, who plays Churchill’s loyal secretary in the movie, where she talked about researching the real person, working with Oldman and more. Thomas talked about doing the same sort of research into Clementine Churchill as well as her insistence that the character in the story be just as fully fleshed-out and integral as the woman was in real life. Wright also spoke about the challenges of production, including sometimes showing Churchill to be less than perfect.

Overall

You can argue that the last thing the world needs is an overwrought period drama. Some people in our current surreal political world may even argue that there were fine people on both sides and that glorifying Churchill means discounting the viewpoints of those on the other side of…World War II. I’m struck, though, by the comments made by McCarten when he mentions that the world is lacking decisive leaders willing to take a stand for what they know to be right for everyone, not just themselves.

That message is there in the campaign, even if it’s not at the forefront. Watch the trailer and you hear Churchill’s critics deride him as being interested only in self-aggrandizement. He’s not afraid to take on the burden of making the hard calls and ruffling the feathers of anyone who would try to lead him down a more cautious path. If the audience isn’t too busy seeking fluffy entertainment that distracts them from the problems of the world this weekend, it might just find inspiration in this story.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

What Happened to Justice League?

When Even Aquaman Shouting “My man!” Can’t Save a Movie

Justice League should have been a slam-dunk. Just days before it was released projections had it earning somewhere around $110 million in its opening weekend. That would have been decent, more than Wonder Woman but less than both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. Not great, but clearing the $100 million mark domestically is always important from an optics point of view, particularly when the production budget was reportedly somewhere around $300 million. As it stands now it is, instead, the worst-performing entry in the DC Cinematic Universe, or whatever we’re calling it.

So what happened? How do you fail to capitalize on the promise of assembling some of the best-known superheroes in popular culture into a single film? We know this works because The Avengers did it just five years ago. Turns out there are a variety of factors that lead to Justice League underperforming, and that’s without even counting

Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?

Batman v Superman was supposed to begin the march toward a full-fledged team film by bringing Superman (Henry Cavill), who we already met in 2013’s Man of Steel, into contact with Batman (Ben Affleck), making his debut in the role. And both of them were going to meet Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), also in her first outing. Hence the “Dawn of Justice” subtitle. But if you saw BvS you know that Superman’s status is, like any given Chicago Bears quarterback, unavailable.

The hero was kept out of almost the entire marketing campaign save for, notably one trailer just weeks before release where he seems to be appearing only as a figment of Lois Lane’s (Amy Adams) imagination. But you can’t do Justice League without Superman and everyone knew it. He still showed up on consumer product packaging and in a couple early promotional images. So everyone knew he would show up, no matter what the campaign was trying to tell us. Not only does it seem like a misstep to keep your heaviest hitter benched, but until the final trailer his absence wasn’t even noted by the other characters or offered as a motivation.

Crisis On Infinite Earths

Marvel Studios has taken pains to make sure everyone knows its various TV and streaming shows do take place in the same world of The Avengers, even if references are only oblique and we’re reminded that no, Luke Cage will not be appearing in Infinity War because…reasons. Still, it’s a cohesive universe that became more so in the last year as Sony agreed to allow Spider-Man to appear in Captain America: Civil War, a cameo that paid off with this past summer’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, which co-starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Contrast that to the fragmented approach of DC Entertainment (Disclosure: For four years I worked with DC in my role at a PR agency), where the plethora of TV shows are not only disconnected from the movies but largely from each other. So Ezra Miller plays The Flash in Justice League but Grant Gustin has been playing him on TV for three years now. Until last year, “Supergirl” was almost wholly separate from other DC shows until it moved from CBS to The CW, home of “Arrow” and others. “Gotham” is still doing its own thing. And DC/Warner Bros. recently announced it would create a new label for movies based on DC characters that weren’t connected to the Justice League world of characters. Not only does having multiple actors play the same character in different media cause confusion, the difference in tone from to the other is a bit jarring.

A League of One

The success, both critical and popular, of Wonder Woman just a few months ago should have opened the door for Justice League even further. Everyone loved Gadot’s enthusiastic portrayal that showed how love and the desire to protect is just as, if not more, powerful than motivations rooted in revenge and pain.

It turns out that *is* what people wanted and they weren’t so interested in gritty, CGI-rendered battle sequences against hordes of winged invaders with vague motives. In fact if you look back at Wonder Woman reactions, the final battle against Horned Bad Dude V7.3 is often called out as the weakest part of the film. It was never going to be possible to pivot Justice League entirely to account for what the audience loved about Wonder Woman, but there also wasn’t much of a change in the marketing for the team film to put her in more of a prominent role.

New World Order

Back in the day, the period between mid-October and Christmas was largely one for “serious” films vying for awards nominations. All the blockbusters were finishing up their last runs to make way for character-driven dramas and biopics until a few family-friendly films were released in time for Christmas vacation to start. Now, though, the blockbuster season runs all year, or at least March through December.

That means Justice League was facing some pretty stiff box-office competition. Thor: Ragnarok is still going strong and came in third over the weekend, even though it’s dropped by 53% and 61% respectively in the weeks since it came out. The family drama Wonder came in second with a strong $27 million, showing that well-reviewed counter-programming against big-budget superhero action can still work when done well. The problem is, there was really no way for DC/WB to avoid Disney entirely. If it had pushed Justice League any further it would have opened against Disney/Pixar’s Coco this week or started to get too close to Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

[Retailers: Creator and Artwork In Solicitations May Change]

Early on in the Justice League production – and publicity – process, director Zack Snyder and others talked about how it was going to be shot as one massive production but split into two films, one released now and the other six months or so into 2018. That was eventually discarded.

Also early on, a poster showing Jason Momoa as Aquaman was released with the copy “Unite the Seven.” It was widely believed that was a reference to seven heroes coming together. The Justice League campaign only showed five heroes, not including Superman, and this was retconned to refer to the “seven seas” but that’s not how it was initially received.

Snyder, because of a family tragedy, had to bow out of post-production and reshoots and so Warner Bros. brought on Joss Whedon to both write new sequences and film additional footage.

Affleck’s future as Batman changes weekly. At one point he was both writing and directing a solo film that was supposed to come out before Justice League but was pushed to later. Now he’s doing neither and may not even play the character again.

In short, there’s been a lot of uncertainty around the movie that has been very public and which can’t help but have shaded the public’s pre-release opinion of it. Not even the withholding of the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score until the day before release (a hugely controversial tactic) could change that.

Hard-Traveled Tales

So where does DC/WB go from here? Here’s what’s already in the works:

Wonder Woman 2 (for which Gadot hasn’t yet even signed, though director Patty Jenkins has) doesn’t come out for another two years.
Momoa will reprise his role as Aquaman in a solo film scheduled for next year, though it may be reshot to just be him shouting “MY MAN!” to various characters (not really, but it should be).
The Batman, initially Affleck’s project, is now helmed by Matt Reeves and was essentially restarted by him.
Zachary Levi will play the title role in SHAZAM! next year as well, marking that character’s debut.
Whedon was hired months ago to write and direct a Batgirl movie.
There are rumors of a Superman: Red Son feature adaptation.
Director Todd Phillips could helm a Joker solo movie that does not star Jared Leto, who played the character in Suicide Squad, part of that “Elseworlds” cinematic strategy.
Miller is slated to play The Flash again in a solo movie tentatively titled Flashpoint and based on that 2011 story that reset the DC comics universe.
Ray Fisher is also scheduled to play Cyborg again in a 2020 solo film.

What we’re seeing are the issues that come up when a studio sets so many films so far in advance before seeing if that’s what the audience is actually interested in. We’re also seeing that play out at Universal, where a planned “Dark Universe” series of films was planned to follow The Mummy but that movie’s poor showing may have scuttled that series before it really began.

Not all of the projects above will come to fruition and some will change drastically before hitting theaters. As I mentioned, part of the problem with Justice League is that people reacted much differently to Wonder Woman’s tone than they did Batman v Superman or Suicide Squad. To date, Zack Snyder has played a large role in defining the tone and approach of the movies, but I’d be surprised if that didn’t change after Aquaman as it becomes clear that vision doesn’t translate to guaranteed box-office success and often leads to a critical drubbing.

Coco – Marketing Recap

Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez), feels the draw of music on his soul in the new Disney/Pixar release Coco. He idolizes his late ancestor, the famous singer and actor Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt) but has to keep his passion secret because his grandmother and others strictly forbid music in their house and lives on any level.

One day while visiting Cruz’s local memorial Miguel suddenly finds himself transported to the mysterious Land of the Dead, where he’s the only living soul around. He has to enlist the help of both his ancestors and a friendly skeleton named Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) to make his way out and back to the living world before he becomes a permanent resident of the afterlife.