Who Greenlighted 2017 - We Survived 2016 For This????

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Dark_Tzitzimine: Oct 9, 2012; by R. Guyovich

quote:

Inside �The Mummy�s� Troubles: Tom Cruise Had Excessive Control

Universal, according to sources familiar with the matter, contractually guaranteed Cruise control of most aspects of the project, from script approval to post-production decisions. He also had a great deal of input on the film�s marketing and release strategy, these sources said, advocating for a June debut in a prime summer period.

There were other ways that �The Mummy� was transformed from a scary summer popcorn movie into a standard-issue Tom Cruise vehicle. The actor personally commissioned two other writers along with McQuarrie to crank out a new script. Two of the film�s three credited screenwriters, McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman, an actor-writer who played small roles in �The Mummy� and �Jack Reacher,� were close allies of Cruise�s. The script envisioned Nick Morton as an earnest Tom Cruise archetype, who is laughably described as a �young man� at one point.

His writers beefed up his part. In the original script, Morton and the Mummy (played by Sofia Boutella) had nearly equal screen time. The writers also added a twist that saw Cruise�s character become possessed, to give him more of a dramatic arc. Even though Universal executives weren�t thrilled about the story � which feels disjointed and includes Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll � they went along with Cruise�s vision.

Once the film was done, Cruise brought in his longtime editor Andrew Mondshein to piece together the final picture. (The film�s credits also list Gina and Paul Hirsch as editors.) He spent time in the editing suite overseeing the cutting, which everybody agreed wasn�t working. On the lot, there were differences of opinions about whether Cruise�s directions were improving a picture that had been troubled from its inception or whether they were turning a horror film into a Cruise infomercial. Some believed that Cruise had no choice but to assert himself. Given Kurtzman�s inexperience directing tentpoles, Cruise, who has carried heavily choreographed action movies all his life, had to try to rally the troops or risk having the production fall behind schedule.

Universal knew that if it wanted �The Mummy� to compete against the likes of �Wonder Woman� and �Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2� it needed every ounce of Cruise�s waning star power. As the studio scrambled to deal with weak tracking, it released a portrait in late May of Cruise with other actors from the Dark Universe franchise, including Depp and Javier Bardem (who will play Frankenstein). Yet the studio couldn�t even assemble all the actors in the room at the same time, and the image had to be Photoshopped. The Internet reaction to the last-ditch marketing effort was tepid at best. It was another reminder that the big names that once ruled Hollywood are inspiring a lot less love from audiences.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/the-mummy-meltdown-tom-cruise-1202465742/

Welp.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 05:30

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# ? May 27, 2024 23:50

The MSJ: May 17, 2010

Cruise should probably have made McQuarrie take over the director's chair too.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 05:37

Neo Rasa: Mar 8, 2007; Everyone should play DUKE games.

Casimir Radon posted:

Wesley Snipes defeats the aliens by refusing to pay his taxes.

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/781228661101895680

# ? Jun 19, 2017 05:37

WeedlordGoku69: Feb 12, 2015; by Cyrano4747

Neo Rasa posted:

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/781228661101895680

Wesley Snipes is one hundred percent unironically a national treasure.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 05:51

davidspackage: May 16, 2007; Nap Ghost

He calls himself the Daywalker.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 05:59

Casimir Radon: Aug 2, 2008

I'm hoping The Mummy doesn't tank the Dark Universe franchise. A dumbfun action-horror movie to look forward to on a regular basis could be fun. Or at least interesting.

Neo Rasa posted:

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/781228661101895680

Wesley seems to forget, or thinks everone else did, that he intentionally cheated on his taxes and tried to use Sovcit bullshit when he got caught.

He was signing notes to the director of Blade III as Blade. Why notes? Because he was refusing to talk to him or even leave his trailer. He probably should have played things a bit nicer. At that point he was already in a lot of DTV poo poo and Blade was the only thing he had going for him.

Casimir Radon fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Jun 19, 2017

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:03

DC Murderverse: Nov 10, 2016; "Tell that to Zod's snapped neck!"

Dark_Tzitzimine posted:

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/the-mummy-meltdown-tom-cruise-1202465742/

Welp.

they might as well give this article the headline "Universal Throws Tom Cruise Under Bus Because Everyone Is One Bad Movie Away From Hating Him Anyways"

edit: Tom Cruise did not hire Kurtzman to direct, nor did he decide to turn a standard-issue Universal Horror Reboot into the loving Dark Universe. Tom Cruise is a big loving movie star who does this sort of thing with basically every movie he is in, and that is known right when you hire him, and Universal is pissed that unlike with something like Edge of Tomorrow or Jack Reacher it backfired on them. gently caress Universal.

DC Murderverse fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Jun 19, 2017

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:10

syscall girl: Nov 7, 2009; by FactsAreUseless; Fun Shoe

DC Murderverse posted:

they might as well give this article the headline "Universal Throws Tom Cruise Under Bus Because Everyone Is One Bad Movie Away From Hating Him Anyways"

edit: Tom Cruise did not hire Kurtzman to direct, nor did he decide to turn a standard-issue Universal Horror Reboot into the loving Dark Universe. Tom Cruise is a big loving movie star who does this sort of thing with basically every movie he is in, and that is known right when you hire him, and Universal is pissed that unlike with something like Edge of Tomorrow or Jack Reacher it backfired on them. gently caress Universal.

I'm pretty sure everyone can figure out who screwed the pooch here for themselves

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:19

DC Murderverse: Nov 10, 2016; "Tell that to Zod's snapped neck!"

Everyone in the general public is going to forget about how lame The Mummy was in a few months when that movie starring Cruise as a drug smuggler in the 80's comes out and everyone remembers that Tom Cruise is a stellar loving actor in addition to being a world-class movie star.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:23

Leave: Feb 7, 2012; Taking the term "Koopaling" to a whole new level since 2016.

I'd like to nominate Blade to join the Dark Universe.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:23

Snowglobe of Doom: Mar 30, 2012; sucks to be right

Leavemywife posted:

I'd like to nominate Blade to join the Dark Universe.

Well the MCU doesn't seem to want him so I guess he's free. :sigh:

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:28

DC Murderverse: Nov 10, 2016; "Tell that to Zod's snapped neck!"

Leavemywife posted:

I'd like to nominate Blade to join the Dark Universe.

just cast wesley snipes as van helsing, retcon him into being half-vampire, give him a leather jacket and sunglasses and dare Marvel to stop them.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:28

LesterGroans: Jun 9, 2009; It's funny...

You were so scary at night.

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that Cruise decided to become a dictator on The Mummy when he's always been really collaborative. That story's definitely some kind of spin.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:40

Snowman_McK: Jan 31, 2010

The weird part is, it's already at just shy of 300 million worldwide. It's not going to be super profitable, but it's not going to lose money either.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 06:58

FilthyImp: Sep 30, 2002; Anime Deviant

They probably should have realized something was wrong when they had to rework their Mummy design after X-Men Apocalypse.

The idea of the Mummy being a betrayed princess or whatever could have been good, but whenever I think of this film I just feel like watching FraserMummy instead.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 07:20

Snowglobe of Doom: Mar 30, 2012; sucks to be right

Snowman_McK posted:

The weird part is, it's already at just shy of 300 million worldwide. It's not going to be super profitable, but it's not going to lose money either.

It's doing really badly on the domestic front and markets like Australia, Germany, Mexico and the UK where big budgets action films usually do really well so it looks like it'll be making most of its money in China. It'll probably limp home to a profit after the bean counters finish tallying everything up.

But it might be the reviews that hurt it the most, Universal must have been pretty embarrassed by all that and that article blaming Cruise for all their problems sounds like some early damage control. They'd already announced a release date for Bride of Frankenstein (Valentine's Day 2019, LOL) so it'll be interesting to see if they start quietly moving that around or even giving it the dreaded TBA release date or whether they stick to their guns and push ahead.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 07:27

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

plus like even if u take it as 100% true the article's excuse for Universal is that, "Universal knew that if it wanted �The Mummy� to compete against the likes of �Wonder Woman� and �Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2� it needed every ounce of Cruise�s waning star power" .
Which is like...they could also make a movie that doesn't require Punished Tom Cruise 2 be given all the power to be successful, they could release it on...a different day mayhaps???

# ? Jun 19, 2017 07:30

DC Murderverse: Nov 10, 2016; "Tell that to Zod's snapped neck!"

Hat Thoughts posted:

plus like even if u take it as 100% true the article's excuse for Universal is that, "Universal knew that if it wanted �The Mummy� to compete against the likes of �Wonder Woman� and �Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2� it needed every ounce of Cruise�s waning star power" .
Which is like...they could also make a movie that doesn't require Punished Tom Cruise 2 be given all the power to be successful, they could release it on...a different day mayhaps???

Releasing it then was a bad attempt at a power play working off of the assumption that Wonder Woman wasn't going to perform very well. If this movie had come out in, say, April (in that dead period between Fast 8 and Guardians 2, it might have made the same amount opening weekend, and probably wouldn't have been quite so disappointing. Instead it's just another June blockbuster in a month with Wonder Woman, a new Transformers, Cars 3 and at the very end, Despicable Me 3 which is going to make more money than god.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 07:45

Hat Thoughts: Jul 27, 2012

I think the main thing that gets me is the idea that Universal's hands were tied & they had to cast Tom Cruise to make the movie successful when we see, clearly, the movie wasn't successful

# ? Jun 19, 2017 08:02

fatherboxx: Mar 25, 2013

DC Murderverse posted:

they might as well give this article the headline "Universal Throws Tom Cruise Under Bus Because Everyone Is One Bad Movie Away From Hating Him Anyways"

edit: Tom Cruise did not hire Kurtzman to direct, nor did he decide to turn a standard-issue Universal Horror Reboot into the loving Dark Universe. Tom Cruise is a big loving movie star who does this sort of thing with basically every movie he is in, and that is known right when you hire him, and Universal is pissed that unlike with something like Edge of Tomorrow or Jack Reacher it backfired on them. gently caress Universal.

Yeah, the whole Dark Universe poo poo is a Kurtzman/Orci project and universe-building was by far the worst part of the movie.
Mission: Impossible is in iron grasp of Cruise and those movies are incredibly entertaining, Jack Reacher is his big-series project, they are competently made as well.

The only thing I would believe as a result of Cruise messing things is the intentional pushing-off of the female villain in many ways. Aging dudes do feel threatened by someone overshadowing them on the screen, as evidenced by Johnny Depp refusing to have a female antagonist in the last Pirates movie

# ? Jun 19, 2017 08:49

Ammanas: Jul 17, 2005; Voltes V: "Laser swooooooooord!"

DC Murderverse posted:

Despicable Me 3 which is going to make more money than god.

Brother you are right about that. Those little fuckin minions are an historical treasure.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 09:01

Lobok: Jul 13, 2006; Say Watt?

fatherboxx posted:

Yeah, the whole Dark Universe poo poo is a Kurtzman/Orci project and universe-building was by far the worst part of the movie.
Mission: Impossible is in iron grasp of Cruise and those movies are incredibly entertaining

The only reason I had hopes for The Mummy was because I thought "oh, Cruise is going to Mission: Impossible this mofo". Too bad.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 21:10

Iron Crowned: May 6, 2003; by Hand Knit

FilthyImp posted:

They probably should have realized something was wrong when they had to rework their Mummy design after X-Men Apocalypse.

The idea of the Mummy being a betrayed princess or whatever could have been good, but whenever I think of this film I just feel like watching FraserMummy instead.

FraserMummy is like the perfect summer popcorn flick thankfully.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 21:16

Macdeo Lurjtux: Jul 5, 2011; BRRREADSTOOORRM!

I'd prefer FrasierMummy.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 22:28

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD: Sep 14, 2007; everything is yours

davidspackage posted:

He calls himself the Daywalker.

I love it.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 22:30

Neo Rasa: Mar 8, 2007; Everyone should play DUKE games.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

I love it.

If you use Twitter at all Snipes is legit funny as hell, super positive and definitely worth following.

I'm so fascinated by this Mummy movie now, from what people are saying maybe they should have released it without audio after all.

# ? Jun 19, 2017 22:44

Megaman's Jockstrap: Jul 16, 2000; What a horrible thread to have a post.

Wesley Snipes also lays some pretty brutal burns on people who try to mess with him.

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/826554911215144960

# ? Jun 19, 2017 23:26

Neo Rasa: Mar 8, 2007; Everyone should play DUKE games.

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/826538689144582144

(Wesley Snipes was in three comic book movies and Marvel owns Blade again so all of these posts are important and on topic).

# ? Jun 19, 2017 23:50

kalel: Jun 19, 2012

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/876864082329993218

https://twitter.com/wesleysnipes/status/876865156894138368

What a card

# ? Jun 20, 2017 00:34

Neo Rasa: Mar 8, 2007; Everyone should play DUKE games.

Wesley Snipes' game is so good he has to politely inform half the population that he is not available due to sexual preference.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 00:39

Casimir Radon: Aug 2, 2008

Snipes was replaced by a rapper who goes by the name Sticky Fingaz.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 00:50

Megaman's Jockstrap: Jul 16, 2000; What a horrible thread to have a post.

Casimir Radon posted:

Snipes was replaced by a rapper who goes by the name Sticky Fingaz.

He actually did ok. He's like...the MorningWalker. A thankless job, having to cover for an extremely charismatic actor in an iconic role.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 17:11

Skip My Posts: Aug 15, 2005; by FactsAreUseless

Tom cruise is a stellar loving actor hahaha

# ? Jun 20, 2017 17:37

FlamingLiberal: Jan 18, 2009; Would you like to play a game?

I just want to know who thought it was a good idea (if it wasn't Cruise himself) to cast him as a character that is clearly written to be 30ish. It's distracting at this point.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 17:39

Maxwell Lord: Dec 12, 2008; I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.; Grimey Drawer

In some ways the 1999 Mummy gave Universal the wrong idea. In that instance the filmmakers were able to draw on the parallels to Indiana Jones and the like to make a big dumb action adventure blockbuster thing, and they had a great cast and the right attitude and it worked. I think because of that Universal thought "Well, okay, we can get big tentpole movies out of ALL the classic monsters!", hence various attempts at turning Frankenstein and Dracula into action movies.

And there's something weird about the aesthetic of the recent attempts too- they all look cheaper than they probably were, because they're not quite gothic and not quite flashy action, so they just look muddy.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 19:01

Feldegast42: Oct 29, 2011; COMMENCE THE RITE OF SHITPOSTING

Maxwell Lord posted:

And there's something weird about the aesthetic of the recent attempts too- they all look cheaper than they probably were, because they're not quite gothic and not quite flashy action, so they just look muddy.

I think its a (continuing) side effect of a bunch of these movies wanting to be the Dark Knight without knowing how that movie worked.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 19:16

Tars Tarkas: Apr 13, 2003; Rock the Mok

A nasty woman, I think you should try is, Jess.

Yes they skipped 4 -

# ? Jun 20, 2017 19:21

John Wick of Dogs: Mar 4, 2017; A real hellraiser

The twist is the shark has six heads

# ? Jun 20, 2017 19:26

Dark_Tzitzimine: Oct 9, 2012; by R. Guyovich

Godzilla 2 began filming yesterday and we have the official synopsis

quote:

WARNER BROS. PICTURES' AND LEGENDARY PICTURES' MONSTERVERSE KICKS INTO GEAR AS THE NEXT GODZILLA FEATURE GETS UNDERWAY
(June 19, 2017 � Burbank, CA) � Following the global success of 2014�s �Godzilla� and this year�s �Kong: Skull Island,� comes the next chapter in Warner Bros. Pictures� and Legendary Pictures� cinematic MonsterVerse: an epic action adventure that pits Godzilla against some of the most popular monsters in pop culture history.
The film, which begins principal photography today, is being directed by Michael Dougherty (�Krampus�), and stars Oscar nominees Vera Farmiga (�Up in the Air,� �The Conjuring� films), and Ken Watanabe (�The Last Samurai�) and Sally Hawkins (�Blue Jasmine�), both reprising their �Godzilla� roles; Kyle Chandler (�The Wolf of Wall Street,� �Manchester by the Sea�); Millie Bobby Brown (�Stranger Things�) in her feature film debut; Bradley Whitford (�Get Out�); Thomas Middleditch (HBO�s �Silicon Valley�); Charles Dance (HBO�s �Game of Thrones�); O�Shea Jackson Jr. (�Straight Outta Compton�); Aisha Hinds (�Star Trek Into Darkness�); and Golden Globe nominee Zhang Ziyi (�Memoirs of a Geisha,� �Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon�).

The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species�thought to be mere myths�rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity�s very existence hanging in the balance.

Dougherty directs from a script he wrote with Zach Shields. The film is being produced by Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Brian Rogers and Thomas Tull, with Barry H. Waldman, Zach Shields, Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira serving as executive producers and Alexandra Mendes co-producing for Legendary.

Behind the scenes, Dougherty�s creative team includes director of photography Lawrence Sher, whose past credits include �War Dogs� and �Godzilla,� for which he handled additional photography; production designer Scott Chambliss (�Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,� �Star Trek Into Darkness�); editor Roger Barton (�Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,� the �Transformers� films); costume designer Louise Migenbach (the �X-Men� and �Hangover� films); and Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Guillaume Rocheron (�Godzilla,� �Ghost in the Shell,� and part of the Oscar-winning team behind �Life of Pi �).

Filming is taking place mainly in Atlanta, Georgia. A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, the film is currently scheduled for release in March 2019, and will be distributed in 3D and 2D and in select IMAX theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd.

https://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/warner-bros-pictures-and-legendary-pictures-monsterverse-kicks-gear-next-godzilla

# ? Jun 20, 2017 19:38

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# ? May 27, 2024 23:50

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Maxwell Lord posted:

In some ways the 1999 Mummy gave Universal the wrong idea. In that instance the filmmakers were able to draw on the parallels to Indiana Jones and the like to make a big dumb action adventure blockbuster thing, and they had a great cast and the right attitude and it worked. I think because of that Universal thought "Well, okay, we can get big tentpole movies out of ALL the classic monsters!", hence various attempts at turning Frankenstein and Dracula into action movies.

Van Helsing utterly sucked but it made $300,000,000.

# ? Jun 20, 2017 19:52

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Who Greenlighted 2017 - We Survived 2016 For This????

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