Today was nicknamed “Fair Friday” at work, so I’ll be nice and not make horrible puns this week…. maybe. Welcome to TWN, I will be your guide.
Trailers:
THIIIIIIIIIS. This is amazing. The trailer is great, teasing lots of classic scenes. This trailer also shows what good CGI actually is. The only thing in this trailer that’s real is the boy.
The first full trailer for Creed has been released and I’m still down for it. I’m interested to see what Michael B. Jordan can do in a more central role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvKneCIlIVs
I covered the first trailer on TWN when it was released. I defenitely enjoy the development in this trailer from the previous one. A little bit more of the extreme sports stunts, but more importantly we have some of the character motivation.
Bits and Bobs from the Web:
We have our first picture of Chloe Bennett’s “Quake” in the upcoming Season 3 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I have to say that I really like it. It’s really true to the source material and now that they have finally started developing the Inhuman side of Skye/Daisy, I am excited to see where this will go. Personally, I hope that they use the show to generate more of the backstory that will tie in to the Inhumans movie scheduled for 2018.
In one of the first episodes of TWN, I reported that Paramount was bringing together a team of writers to help sculpt the future of the Transformers franchise. We now have a small glimmer of what that future will hold. In the next couple of years we will see two more movies made. One will be live action, continuing the current storyline with Mark Wahlberg and continuing on with Michael Bay to direct. Following up after that, we will see an animated feature that will serve as the origin story for the movie canon. Apparently, there are treatments and plans for another two features following the animated movie. Bay is likely to be done his stint directing the franchise after #5.
I’m going to end today on a small rant. Recently, Diane Nelson of DC entertainment finally answered the question fans have been asking: why are your TV and movie universes separate?
“[The focus on a single universe of characters with connected storylines] could end up handcuffing our creators into trying to work with the same storyline, or force them to hold back characters or introduce certain characters. Ultimately it hinders the ability for someone like (showrunner) Bruno Heller to come in and create Gotham.” (Source)
Essentially stating that while the single-universe approach works for Marvel, it won’t work for DC. They believe that by keeping the worlds distinct, it allows more creativity, and cite some of the differences in tone between current shows like Gotham and The Flash, and the upcoming show Supergirl.
I will be the first to admit that I enjoy The Flash and Arrow, and I am likely to enjoy the two new shows launching this year (Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), but I utterly despise Gotham. That being said, this is why I don’t really understand the logic behind this statement. If you are licensing a character and their story to be developed into a series, then you are giving the show creator permission to use it. All of these heroes already coexist in a timeline that is intertwined, and saying that you are keeping the shows like The Flash and Arrow away from a movie universe because it will stifle creativity seems like a superb amount of hogwash and tomfoolery.
My logic works like this: Your movie-going and TV-watching public are likely to be at least 50% shared for this content. If you include these pre-established characters in a movie franchise like, say…. the Justice League, you’ll do three things:
- Bring your TV-watching public to a movie they may not watch
- Bring your movie-watching public over to your TV series
- And save money on making movies.
If you use the TV series to develop these characters, you can bring them in and out of your movie franchises without having to develop $100-million-dollar movies around only them. This both saves and makes the company money in the long run. They are generating extra revenue from both the television series rights and having (probably) more people attend a movie they would skip, while not spending obscene amounts of money making a now-unnecessary movie. You are also able to use the small-screen development of these characters to hook people into more movies.
As for tonal differences, that also ties back into the nature of this genre. The TV series do not need to match the tone of your movies and they most definitely do not need to match the tone of the other TV series. Just like in the comics, these characters exist in different places and live different lives. Each hero does not, will not, and cannot deal with things in the same way.
What do you think? Do you think DC is doing it right, keeping Batfleck off of the small screen?
David Alberto is a Contributing Editor for aybonline.com. You can often find him making people cry in Counter-Strike. Roll percentile dice to see if his opinions change, your chances are slim.
