WB/Amazon Consider Lord of the Rings Show

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As the decade dwindles, it’s becoming increasingly clear that WB is finding themselves more and more left by the wayside in the age of global franchising.  The hard truth of the matter is that times change and more in more having a popular series of films matters less than having a film series that can stick around as part of the pop culture atmosphere.  The peculiar alchemy of turning online interest into hype into engagement has become the order of the day and that is a game WB really doesn’t seem to know how to play.  That’s why, despite the twin success of The Conjuring film series and the Kaiju-verse, WB is still chasing a return of their older franchise stalwarts- Batman, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings. 

We already saw their attempts at branding a Batman for the new decade in last year’s disastrous Batman v. Superman while their attempts at a Harry Potter prequel in Fantastic Beasts were met with a resounding “meh,” which was at least a better response than the loud cry of “BOO!” the Hobbit films engendered.  Now, WB looks to the world of streaming to reverse its fortunes as they’re reportedly inching towards a deal with Amazon for a Lord of the Rings streaming series. 

Dark Tower Trailer Analysis

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The fantasy genre is one of the most unrewarding parts of blockbuster cinema in the 2010s.  Fantasy has always been a persnickety genre, with a lot of bizarre or subpar elements populating its history, but the 2000s were a better time for it.  Between Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and Pirates of the Caribbean the 2000s were flush with cool, epic fantasy blockbusters.  

However, since 2011 the genre has undergone a bit of a stumbling block.  The kings of the genre have only managed disappointing prequels like The Hobbit and Fantastic Beasts, while the most continuously successful films on the block are all up-jumped Disney fairy tales. 

There’s something about that which just doesn’t feel right, even if Maleficent, Cinderella, and Jungle Book have all placed in the highest grossing films of the year they just haven’t stuck in the mind or the culture the way 2000s fantasy blockbusters did.  Even in the realms of TV, the influence of Game of Thrones has begun to wobble with nothing really to replace it.  

This has left a prolonged hole in the fantasy genre for new films to set the attitude, stuff like Dr. Strange and Warcraft.  Now, it looks like we’ll have a brand new blockbuster to try and put its stamp on the fantasy genre, the long-awaited adaptation of the classic Steven King dark fantasy series Dark Tower.

Justice League Trailer Breakdown

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I don’t think there’s a more inexplicable upcoming blockbuster than Justice League.  Built atop the critically charred bones of the Batman v. Superman, the superhero team-up film looks to be the latest in a long line of brand new starts for the DC entertainment universe, except it’s not even that because that’s Wonder Woman’s job.  The movie seriously seems to have no actual reason to exist.  Maybe a few years ago right Avengers proved that superhero team movies with ensemble casts could be a huge hit, but now it just seems like a late visitor from a bygone age. 

We’ve already seen so many failed attempts to launch the DCEU the entire shared universe concept is tanked, Wonder Woman looks like an infinitely more interesting and thoughtful attempt to course correct the franchise, Zack Snyder’s vision for this property has been consistently underwhelming, and we’ve already seen a slew of garbage superhero team-up movies.  Justice League only seems to be in production because the studio owns some superhero properties and they’ve run out of Lord of the Rings movies to fill the void.  By all accounts, this film should be a rolling dumpster fire…so why does it look kind of fun? 

Comic Rainbow - X-Men Villains

So, the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse is here.  I already gave my thoughts on it but in case you missed that I was less than thrilled.  I’ve never really been on board with the X-Men films and, truth be told, the X-Men comics have always been kind of hit or miss for me as well.  There are runs I like but by and large a lot of it is really mixed, especially when it comes to villains.  

Sure there are great villains but even the good ones can often fall prey to insane and convoluted continuity.  That’s what brings us here today, a look at the various villains of the X-Men, the bad guys often sited as the best Marvel has ever made.  So, let’s get the full spectrum on the foes of the X-Men in all their shades, shames, and successes. 

The Legend of Tarzan Trailer

I’m honestly not sure what to make of the trailer for Legend of Tarzan.  The fact that we’re getting a big budget Tarzan movie isn’t, in and of itself, surprising as it actually conforms to a lot of trends that are dominating the modern blockbuster scene.  What is shocking is that we’re getting this big budget Tarzan movie, produced in the strangest manner by some of the strangest people.  I’ll get more in depth on this as the article goes on but as it stands I have no idea why this movie is happening or what series of events might’ve conspired to force it into existence, it’s like this movie was conceived specifically to vex me. 

Warcraft Movie Trailer

If ever there was a studio that embodied the difference between winning and leading it’d be Universal.  They basically struck gold with the Fast & Furious movies and have been letting that box office money pit accumulate while floundering about in search of fellow hit makers and it’s served them well with equally successful hits like Pitch Perfect, Despicable Me, 50 Shades of Grey, and this year’s mega box office smash Jurassic World.  The thing is that “experimentation” really is the Universal approach as none of their efforts have been in order to define trends or lead the pop cultural scene, simply attempts to get money making films. 

That’s why, even though Jurassic World made unfathomable amounts of cash and Fast & Furious is on its 8^th film I’d never call Universal trend riders or taste makers.  So their latest venture, a collaboration with Blizzard Studios to bring the massively successful Warcraft franchise to life on the big screen is throwing me for a bit of a loop as it actually seems like the most financially successful yet culturally irrelevant studio in Hollywood has finally decided to step up to the plate and lead the way for a change. 

Dungeons & Dragons Reboot is Happening

Edited by Robert Beach

WB has announced that they are planning a remake/reboot (/whatever your preferred nomenclature is) of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. While not a total sideways move, this does indicate a few major red flags as far as studio thinking goes. My biggest take away form this is that somebody at Warner Brothers thinks that either the Warcraft movie or that Magic: The Gathering movie Fox is making have the potential to be major hits and take a chunk out of the fantasy market. 

Movie Monthly - King Kong (2005)

Peter Jackson’s King Kong is a film that’s always sort of haunted me.  In case you don’t remember this movie was huge when it came out, dominating a lot of the film conversation that year as well as landing #5 at the year-end box office round up.  It was Jackson’s first post-Lord of the Rings effort and clearly cost unfathomable amounts of money to produce with a lot of CGI work that was top notch, cutting edge for the time.  And despite all these factors, any impact it might’ve had was wiped away within just a couple of years.  Nowadays people don’t even bring up King Kong ’05 as an example of talent gone awry like that same year’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or as an example of major film with no impact like we regard Avatar.  What is it about this movie that makes it so completely forgotten by popular culture?  Let’s find out.