DC/WB Films/Worlds (No Spoilers)

[Pinsir]

There has been an SJW hate campaign (Yes, SJW is a proper term for describing this group of people) for this film in a past few months, screaming that this film is going to be an Alt-Right manifesto and validates white male fragility. Of course, now that reviews of the film have come out we know that it frames the antagonists in the film primarily in terms of class. That instead of Muslims, African Americans, Latinxs and Jews being the enemy, which they are in the Trumpian world view, the bad guys are the economic elite.

It is a film that appears to be fundamentally at odds with anything that animates current Trump populism, yet a lot of reviewers are still conflating this film with the Alt-Right none the less.

[Holt]

BvS was panned right from the get go though.

Yeah. There were reports of it getting a massive standing ovation from an early screening, but it turned out it was for WB execs (I.E., the people who greenlit the film and already thought it was a great idea) and other people who worked on it. The actual reviews were harsh from the get go.

Yeah, you'd have a more accurate accusation that WB isn't at all consistent with their Superhero movies .

Honestly, in theory though, I like that. Something like Birds of Prey should be allowed to exist (provided it's good) alongside the likes of Wonder Woman and Aquaman if the director has a specific vision. I know the early movies made a lot of unpopular creative decisions (and were rightly panned and mocked), but I dislike the idea that just because Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad were bad, this somehow means no director should be allowed to experiment and do something different with a comic book movie ever again.

[Frontier]

Honestly, in theory though, I like that. Something like Birds of Prey should be allowed to exist (provided it's good) alongside the likes of Wonder Woman and Aquaman if the director has a specific vision. I know the early movies made a lot of unpopular creative decisions (and were rightly panned and mocked), but I dislike the idea that just because Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad were bad, this somehow means no director should be allowed to experiment and do something different with a comic book movie ever again.

My problem isn't necessarily that something like BoP shouldn't exist, but if that it's going to use the BoP name, it should feel more like a BoP movie.

Like, this seems to be leaning R, but I feel like characters like Cassandra Cain and Black Canary should be in the more regular Superhero stuff then in Harley Quinn's quirky, gritty, and indie Gotham. At least then they'd get proper costumes or get to be Superheroes, to where little girls can get to see and look up to them.

To be honest I think this movie would've made more sense with Ivy and Catwoman along with Harley. It's not like Harley's movies are going to matter to whatever Reeve' does. The aesthetic and style feels more Gotham City Sirens then Birds of Prey and we wouldn't get issues like leaving Barbara Gordon out of a Birds of Prey movie.

[Holt]

My problem isn't necessarily that something like BoP shouldn't exist, but if that it's going to use the BoP name, it should feel more like a BoP movie.

Like, this seems to be leaning R, but I feel like characters like Cassandra Cain and Black Canary should be in the more regular Superhero stuff then in Harley Quinn's quirky, gritty, and indie Gotham. At least then they'd get proper costumes or get to be Superheroes, to where little girls can get to see and look up to them.

To be honest I think this movie would've made more sense with Ivy and Catwoman along with Harley. It's not like Harley's movies are going to matter to whatever Reeve' does. The aesthetic and style feels more Gotham City Sirens then Birds of Prey and we wouldn't get issues like leaving Barbara Gordon out of a Birds of Prey movie.

Honestly, if the end product is good, I don't mind deviations. And I feel the same way about potential crossovers. Focus on what's in front of you now, if it does well, then maybe go from there. But we saw what happened before when they went all out and put the cart before the horse, so I'm not sweating it right now.

[Frontier]

Honestly, if the end product is good, I don't mind deviations. And I feel the same way about potential crossovers. Focus on what's in front of you now, if it does well, then maybe go from there. But we saw what happened before when they went all out and put the cart before the horse, so I'm not sweating it right now.

I guess for me it depends on the context of the deviations. As a standalone thing I'm not sure I'd mind it but maybe not if I'm to expect these interpretation to become the de-facto or "definitive" movie takes on these characters when they're being so liberal with the depictions aside from (I guess) Harley.

Like, this is going to be such a major appearance for Cass and from what I've seen or read she sounds almost nothing like who she is in the comics, which just sucks to me. Especially putting Harley of all people in place of Barbara Gordon in Cass's life.

[Holt]

Like I said, I'm fine as long as the end result is good. I don't think making changes to the characters is an automatic death sentence.

[Frontier]

Like I said, I'm fine as long as the end result is good. I don't think making changes to the characters is an automatic death sentence.

In the grand scheme of things it definitely isn't. I mean - look at James Gunn's Guardians which barely resembled any version of the group beyond the names of the characters involved and how successful it was.

Although ironically it looks like he's going for a truer to the comics take on the Suicide Squad.

[Colossus1980]

This is what concerns me. Either JOKER is going to rise above all that noise--in which case it could make a billion dollars--or it's going to be overwhelmed by the noise--and maybe make 300 million dollars. It isn't going to lose money--because its budget is 55 million--but I have no idea how it's going be received at the box office.

I think the Joker will end up surpassing Shazam's box office both domestic and WW. Taking a wild guess and say it's going to pass 500M WW. Not sure how the foreign markets will react but I think it's going to do great in North America.

[Jim Kelly]

My expecation that a live action adaptation would be comic book accurate was cut out of me at a young age with the Cathy Lee Crosby WONDER WOMAN TV movie in 1974. A movie I liked even though it wasn't anything like the comic and I learned to live with that. Of course, the next year there was the Lynda Carter NEW ORIGINAL WONDER WOMAN TV movie, which was the most perfect adaptation of a comic book that I ever saw.

The catch-22 with comic book adaptations--especially for super-hero franchises--is they cost a lot of money to do them accurate to the comics. But then spending that much money on a movie, the studio needs to play it safe. So you get the formulaic super-hero beats up super-villain in the third act CGI spectacular. If they spend less money, they can take more chances, because they have less to lose, but then you can't expect movies that are comic book accurate--but they just might be original and interesting.

[Nite-Wing]

I like the grounded take they are going for
Obvious practical sets and nothing in front of green screens(looking at you JL)
I haven't seen too much of the movie aside from set photos and these two teasers have given no hints about what the plot

Still Harley is front and center and the movie looks very violent and bloody so that's different from a CBM from DC even watchmen didn't have rough decapitations

[Holt]

Joker is definitely gonna outgross Shazam. Even with the R-rating limiting the audience pool somewhat, he's still the most popular supervillain in all of comics. The name alone is gonna make for a big opening weekend, especially with all this positive buzz now. It also has the fortune of not being scheduled between two guaranteed Marvel blockbusters.

[Lightning Rider]

[Frontier]

...Yeah, this should've been a Gotham City Sirens movie.

[The Darknight Detective]

Joker is definitely gonna outgross Shazam. Even with the R-rating limiting the audience pool somewhat, he's still the most popular supervillain in all of comics. The name alone is gonna make for a big opening weekend, especially with all this positive buzz now. It also has the fortune of not being scheduled between two guaranteed Marvel blockbusters.

I agree with you on all counts, Holt.

[stargazer01]

I kind of wanted that Superman Red Son movie to be a live action mini series on HBO or Netflix.

It just feels so different.