ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝

A geologist and archaeologist by training, a nerd by inclination - books, films, fossils, comics, rocks, games, folklore, and, generally, the rum and uncanny… Let’s have it!

Elsewhere:

<li><a href="https://yrtree.me/@Emperor"; rel="nofollow">Yrtree.me</a> - it’s still early days for me in the Fediverse, so bear with me</li>

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Last Notes

2025-04-23 02:56:11 GMT

> An unusual startup announced the world's first sperm race -- a race involving actual sperm -- will be held April 25 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.
>
> Sperm Racing, a startup founded by a team of young millionaires, announced representatives from two competing schools -- the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles -- will provide the microscopic swimmers for the inaugural Sperm Race.
>
>The race will take place under a microscopic camera that will track the progress of the sperms as they attempt to cross to the finish line.
>
>The startup said there will be three races held to determine the overall winner, and play-by-play commentary will be provided during each heat. There will also be instant replays, leaderboards and betting through approved partners.

2025-04-06 22:33:54 GMT

> In the wake of the film’s release, cinemagoers have been sharing footage of crowds watching the film, with certain moments prompting loud, vocal responses from the people in attendance.
>
>One moment, which features prominently in the film’s trailer, sees Black and Momoa confronted in a boxing ring by a cuboid Minecraft chicken, who is ridden around the ring by another character. “Chicken jockey,” exclaims Black’s character, a reference to the video game that seems to be sending audiences wild.
>
> Several videos captured by cinemagoers show audiences chanting the line along with Black, before whooping and clapping loudly. On social media, many people attested that they had witnessed, or participated in, similar outbursts.
>
>“My theater clapped every time Jack Black name dropped a Minecraft item that was in the trailers, and when he said Chicken Jockey I s*** you not the entire row in front of me gave a standing ovation,” one person shared.
>
> “Just got back from watching the movie myself, can confirm everyone in the theater collectively yelled ‘CHICKEN JOCKEY’ during that moment and it was glorious ngl,” wrote another.
>
> “This is what made me love my experience more, bc even though the movie wasn’t as bad as i thought it was going to be, the packed cinema with everyone shouting, clapping and cheering whenever jack black name dropped something genuinely gave me so much joy,” commented someone else.
>
> However, the phenomenon has drawn staunch criticism from others, with some claiming that audience participation had “ruined” the theatrical experience for them.

2025-02-27 13:12:21 GMT

> For some, the adverts that precede the start of a film are the bane of a trip to the cinema; for others, they are a useful buffer as you stand in the popcorn queue.
>
>But for one man in India, the lengthy marathon of cinema advertising was so infuriating that he took the matter to the courts – and won.
>
> Abhishek MR, a 30-year-old man from the southern city of Bangalore, had booked a trip to the cinema with friends in December last year to watch wartime drama Sam Bahadur.
>
>But while the scheduled time he had booked the ticket for was 4.05pm, he had to sit through 25 minutes of adverts for upcoming features and commercial items such as homewares, mobile phones and cars before the film actually began.
>
>Having planned to return to work straight after the film, Abhishek MR was angered by what he felt was a costly disruption to his life. He filed a lawsuit against PVR Inox, India’s largest cinema multiplex chain, stating that: “The complainant could not attend other arrangements and appointments which were scheduled for the day and has faced losses that cannot be calculated in terms of money as compensation.”
>
> The lawsuit also accused multiplex cinemas of prioritising advertising revenue over their customers, and forcing them to sit through adverts against their will.
>
>In a ruling in February, the consumer court proved highly sympathetic to Abhishek MR’s case and ordered for the cinema to grant him 50,000 INR (£450) for wasting his time and 5,000 INR (£45) for mental agony, as well as cover his legal expenses.

2025-02-23 03:20:36 GMT

- reply

That's clever, does it work with Lemmy and/or Friendica?

2025-02-19 21:48:44 GMT

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24443359
> > Abstract
> >
> > The portrayal of comic book characters is often oversexualized, which is intended to boost sales in a market traditionally dominated by male readers. However, the comic book market today has a diverse readership, and women in particular consume more comics than in the past. Against this background, the present study uses a sample of 648 comic book covers to empirically test whether the underlying sex sells logic actually works. In this context, the results of the regression analysis show no evidence that sexualized images are associated with comic book sales. The article provides theoretical explanations for this result and discusses scientific and managerial implications of this finding.
>
> Valentowitsch, Johann (2024) Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol 36, Issue 3, p188

2025-02-19 02:38:10 GMT

Conventional on the outside, [blood rave](https://youtu.be/UUbwTT5Too4) on the inside.

2025-02-09 04:38:47 GMT

> A Florida attorney Mark Roher, 52, is accused of assaulting a man with a dinner plate at a wedding reception, following a dispute over line-cutting at the Boca Lago Country Club in Boca Raton.
>
> According to Palm Beach County Jail records, the altercation escalated from a verbal confrontation to a violent incident, resulting in Roher's arrest. The clash unfolded on January 18, with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detailing the events that transpired at the prime rib carving station during the wedding reception.
>
>Roher allegedly became incensed when two young girls purportedly cut in front of him at the buffet line. Enraged by this breach of etiquette, Roher confronted the father of one of the girls, setting off a chain of events that culminated in a physical altercation.
>
>Eye-witnesses and the victim provided their accounts of the altercation, painting a picture of escalating tensions and sudden violence. The victim recounted how Roher approached him, engaged in a heated argument, and then struck him on the head with a dinner plate without warning. The situation quickly spiraled into chaos as other wedding guests became involved in the melee.

2025-02-08 09:07:56 GMT

>Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld has cut ties with Marvel after expressing disappointment with his alleged treatment at the premiere of the latest film.
>
>The artist and writer is the brains behind the foul-mouthed anti-hero, and has a working relationship with the comic book publishers lasting more than 30 years.
>
>But he felt sidelined at the New York premiere of Deadpool & Wolverine, the first Deadpool film to be released since Disney acquired Fox, and has opened up about his perceived experience.
>
>According to Liefeld, he felt ignored by Disney bosses, including Marvel Studios head Kevin Fiege, at the July 2024 event and was upset to discover he and his family had not been invited to the premiere afterparty.
>
> ...
>
> Liefeld, who receives large revenue streams for the character he created in 1991, revealed that, one month before the film’s release, he requested more involvement with the marketing and promotion.
>
> He also wanted a special credit different to the standard one given to comic book creators at the end of the film – noting that his request stemmed from Marvel’s decision to give Roy Thomas a Wolverine co-creator status alongside Len Wein and John Romita, Sr.
>
>He wrote in the email: “Marvel’s treatment of creators has never been their strength. Without the worlds, the characters and the concepts that we create – and in this specific case, the world of Deadpool – there are no films to shoot. No blockbusters to distribute. … I am not the easy button at Staples. I am the human imagination behind it all.”
>
> Liefeld claimed that his response did not get received in the way he was after, tweeting: “My reps were screamed at today ‘We are NOT Fox!’ Tell me about it. Also hung up on.”

2025-01-30 01:30:26 GMT

> It was the year 2000 when Ridley Scott surprised the cinemas with this film set in ancient Rome. It soon became one of the biggest hits of a century that had just begun, but not everything has been a bed of roses for this film. The project began with David Franzoni, who based his first draft on the essay Those About to Die by Daniel P. Mannix, but everything changed with the arrival of Ridley Scott. From there, the collaboration of several screenwriters was necessary to give the story its final form.
>
>But if there was one thing that was not lacking in this process, it was tension in the team, especially due to Russell Crowe’s critical attitude towards the dialogues… The actor had no qualms about commenting years later that his lines were “garbage”, going so far as to say: “I am the best actor in the world and I can even make garbage sound good.”
>
> Crowe was aware at the time that one of the most important things for any actor is to convey his messages emotionally, but the actor rejected several lines from his script and continually wanted to remove them or rewrite them. What’s more, even one of his character’s most iconic lines, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius (…) And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next”, was initially rejected by the actor.

2025-01-28 00:55:55 GMT

> It’s looking like a pretty tame Sundance Film Festival in terms of buzzy titles this year. We’re currently on Day 4, and the consensus seems to be that Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” produced by A24, is the best buzzed title (81 on Metacritic). There’s still another day left for world premieres so, hopefully, they saved the best for last.
>
>‘If I Had Legs,’ which is also supposed to screen, in competition, at the Berlin Film Festival next month, is said to feature a career-best turn from Rose Byrne, an incredibly underrated actress who finally gets her due here.
>
>In the film, Byrne plays Linda, a woman who attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist. In a nutshell her life, and mental psyche, are crumbling before her very eyes. No surprise, the film is being compared to another film with similar themes, John Cassavetes’ “Woman Under the Influence.”

2025-01-26 12:21:25 GMT

> Also known as the Razzies, the trophies are handed out annually by the Golden Raspberry Foundation for what are deemed the worst films, filmmakers, and film performers of the year.
>
> Ahead of the March 1 ceremony, look inside to see who is leading the charge of nominees for 2024’s films.
>
> Worst Picture
>
>* Borderlands
>* Joker: Folie à Deux
>* Madame Web
>* Megalopolis
>* Reagan

2025-01-17 18:06:56 GMT

- reply

Thanks for that. As a front end I'm not sure it meets my criteria but it is interesting. The look wasn't necessarily a big deal but I wonder if you could bolt that onto Friendica...

2025-01-16 17:35:26 GMT

Tumblr always suited me better than micro-blogging as there is no word count restriction (I can find brevity a problem) and you could have any number of blogs/channels for whatever topic was tickling your fancy at the time.
So I've been keeping an eye out for Fediverse alternatives, jotting down notes and now I'd like throw this open to the Hivemind. And yes, Tumblr is now on ActivityPub, but I am not putting my time into corporate platforms again.
Added bonuses: markdown (or something similar), adding links to posts, quoting other posts and perhaps being able to login from another Fediverse service.
Here's a few I found:
* [Goblin](https://github.com/johnHackworth/goblin) - It's a FireFish fork from a former Tumblr employee. Allows multiple accounts but they have to have a different email address, some markdown but not links. I've heard it suggested that most *key forks could be set-up as a Tumblr alternative
* [Loforo](https://darnell.day/tumblr-alternative-loforo-most-active-fediverse-blog-option-after-wordpress): "Another surprise is that Loforo is the second most active ActivityPub blog platform in the Fediverse, behind only WordPress." Easy multiple blog creation, formatting in HTML. Unfortunately you can't create your own instance, last time I checked.
* [micro.blog](https://leminal.space/post/3240692) - not free, not open source
* [Wafrn](https://lemmy.world/post/15977256)
Not listed as Tumblr equivalents but some of the general services are flexible enough to do this:
* [Hubzilla](https://zotlabs.org/help/en-gb/member/member_guide) - has channels but seems more a CMS. Nomadic identities is a great feature.
* [Friendica](https://friendi.ca/about/features/) - the BlueSky integration seems increasingly important and, with Meta's enshittification, it feels like a general social media service is a good idea. The way you can have the equivalent of Google+'s circles seems a good feature (while I am no fan of Facebook, Google+ worked well for me while it lasted). The main issue I see is you can only replicate channels with different accounts.
Any suggestions? Have I missed any key features from the above?

2025-01-01 02:22:52 GMT

> On June 2, 2023, Blake Lively began a text exchange with her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni that blamed her assistant for not getting her an updated batch of script pages. “She didn’t realize they were new,” Lively wrote. “New pages can always be sent to me as well please.” The actress signed the missive with an “X” — the universal symbol for a kiss. Lively followed up with another text shortly thereafter. “I’m just pumping in my trailer if you wanna work out our lines.” Baldoni responded: “Copy. Eating with crew and will head that way.” Eighteen months later, that interaction was depicted in a New York Times bombshell report in a far more sinister light. The Times wrote: “[Baldoni] repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding.”
>
> That discrepancy is one of many highlighted in a scathing $250 million lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon by Baldoni against the Times in Los Angeles Superior Court. Baldoni is among a group of 10 plaintiffs that also includes publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel who are suing the newspaper for libel and false light invasion of privacy over the Dec. 21 article titled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.” The parties, which also include “It Ends With Us” producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz, claim that the Times relied on “‘cherry-picked’ and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead.”
>
> ...
>
> The 87-page complaint, which also accuses the Times of promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract, offers a rebuttal of the narrative set forth in the 4,000-word article that has rocked Hollywood and led to WME dropping Baldoni as a client hours after publication. Written by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire and Julie Tate, the piece painted Lively as an actress who allegedly endured months of sexual harassment from Baldoni and Heath and supposedly faced retaliation in the form of a smear campaign because she voiced her concerns. But according to the lawsuit, it was Lively who embarked on a “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign of her own and used false “sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production.” And according to the suit, Lively’s husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, allegedly berated Baldoni in an aggressive manner during a heated meeting at their Tribeca penthouse in New York, “accusing him of ‘fat shaming’” his wife. The suit claims that the A-list actor also pressured Baldoni’s agency, WME, to drop the director during the “Deadpool and Wolverine” premiere in July, well before Baldoni enlisted crisis PR.

2024-12-30 19:24:50 GMT

> Talk of homicide is on the rise in films, researchers have found, in a trend they say could pose a health concern for adults and children.
>
>A study found that over the past 50 years there had been a small but significant increase in movie characters talking about murdering or killing.
>
>“The surprising thing is the increase occurs not just for crime genres, which you would expect because they’re violent, but also for non-crime genres,” said Brad Bushman, a professor of communication at Ohio State University, who co-authored the study.
>
> The team suggested the rise may indicate an increase in violent behaviour in movies, and called for a promotion of “mindful consumption and media literacy” to protect vulnerable groups, especially children.
>
>Bushman said: “Adults can make their own choices, but I’m especially concerned about children being exposed to violence in the media.”
>
>The question of whether on-screen violence has an impact on viewers has been a topic of much debate. Some studies back the idea young people can become more aggressive after watching violent media, such as TV and video games, with children exposed to such media being more antisocial and emotionally distressed.
>
>However, an analysis published in 2020 suggested any positive relationship between violent behaviour and violent video games is minuscule, while scientists have also suggested that whether violent movies contribute to real-life aggression depends on if the viewer is already predisposed to violence.

2024-12-23 09:01:36 GMT

> While Sony gave the film a promotional push in recent weeks, it seems the film’s dreadful reviews – including a one-star pan from The Independent, who called it “abysmal” – affected cinemagoers’ desire to watch it: Kraven the Hunter had the worst opening weekend of any Sony-produced Marvel film.
>
> The film pulled in just $11m (£8.7m) in the US and $15m (£11.8m) globally, earning it overall takings of $26m (£20.5m) – an even more meagre amount when considering it cost between $110-$150m (£86.9m-£118.5m). As of 22 December, the film had made just $30.2m (£24m).
>
> These global takings sit behind the equally-as-maligned Morbius, starring Jared Leto, which took $39m. Madame Web was another Spider-Man spin-off released by Sony and, while despised by the critics, it amassed half of its budget back in the opening weekend alone, with takings of $49.1m.
>
> Sony did enjoy big success with the Venom franchise, which became a sleeper hit when it launched in 2018.
>
>The first Venom made $856.1m (£676.2m) with 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage amassing $506.8m (£400.3m).
>
> Meanwhile, the third and final entry in the series, Venom: The Last Dance, has made $475.5m (£375.6m) since being released earlier this year. At the time of writing, this makes it the ninth highest-grossing film of the year.

2024-12-11 04:00:45 GMT

- reply

> Which means that they had no obligation to make these movies, but still chose to do so anyway.
That's what gets me, there was no need for these films other than Sony rooting around in the drawer to see if they had the rights to enough superheroes to create their own movie franchise. They didn't just a bunch of third tier Spider-Man adjacent characters and a load of supervillains. However, they thought they that'd be good enough despite the supervillains (and most of the superheroes) needing Spider-Man as he's the main draw.
I'd be interested in a breakdown of the box office for these films. I assume they didn't loose money, partly because Morbius became a bit of a meme, buy I also doubt they made much either.

2024-11-26 21:12:59 GMT

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We'll end up with 3 hours of a CGI IMAX sized RDJ head exploding and like it.

2024-11-26 18:10:28 GMT

> It’s only a few months away, but Marvel isn’t done with their endless tinkering on “Captain America: Brave New World.”
>
>Yes, scooper Daniel Richtman (via CBM) is reporting that a third round of test screenings for the film recently took place, and once again the reaction wasn’t what Marvel had hoped for. More changes are being done on the film.
>
>It’s not clear how extensive this new additional photography is, and whether “director” Julius Onah is present, but there’s gotta be an end to all of this, right? The film gets released a little over two months from now.
>
>Recently, a rep close to the ‘Brave New World’ production wrote to me, and described the additional photography as “standard in the business, and specially on large films requiring pick up.”
>
>This is the third round of reshoots on ‘Brave New World.’ Earlier in the year, Marvel got to see a rough cut of the film, but felt the action scenes “were not big or satisfying enough.” A poorly rated test-screening didn’t help. Word was that three major action sequences were being reshot from scratch.

2024-11-12 17:29:34 GMT

> “Black Panther will return,” Marvel promised at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. When the superhero does eventually return to the big screen, they’ll be joined onscreen by Denzel Washington, according to the actor himself.
>
>While Marvel Studios hasn’t officially announced a Black Panther 3 for its upcoming slate, Washington says that one is in the works, and that writer-director Ryan Coogler is writing a role for him. Speaking on Australia’s Today show during press rounds for Gladiator II, Washington outlined his upcoming list of projects, saying that he’s slated to appear in a third Black Panther movie.
>
>“At this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best,” Washington said. “I don’t know how many more films I’m gonna make, probably not that many. I want to do things I haven’t done.
>
>“I played Othello at 22. I’m about to play Othello at 70. After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that I’m gonna do the film Othello. After that I’m gonna do King Lear. After that I’m gonna retire.”

2024-11-01 21:07:11 GMT

- reply

It's all about him taking a date to a wedding and the disaster that ensues: Godzilla +1.

2024-11-01 18:58:42 GMT

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19420843
> > There is no word yet on whether this will be a direct sequel to the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, or a brand new standalone film that’s only technically a “sequel” like superhero franchises that reboot or retcon. Recent releases from Toho have been unique re-imaginings of the monster and series, but Yamazaki-san’s film ends in a way that certain sets up a sequel. And of course, audiences and fans of the franchise have been vocal about wanting a follow-up.
> >
> >This weekend’s re-release is significant not merely for Godzilla Day and the anniversary itself, but also because it could help the film change box office history once again.
> >
> >As I explained ahead of the re-release, Godzilla Minus One is a mere $828,600 to pass Life Is Beautiful as the second-highest grossing foreign language movie in U.S. history. The film is already TOHO’s biggest Godzilla film worldwide and the most successful Japanese live-action North American release of all time.

2024-10-23 14:35:39 GMT

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> sailed the seas and just watched the latest alien offering, and thought it wasn’t good, seems like i’m in the minority here,
Because lots of people think it's worse than that?

2024-10-23 13:23:11 GMT

> As Marvel fans get some bad news, Predator fans get some great news. Disney has dated the next installment in the long-running sci-fi franchise.
>
>Per Deadline, the officially titled Predator: Badlands will hit theaters on Nov. 7, 2025, taking the release date of Marvel Studios' Blade reboot, which has been delayed indefinitely. Badlands, which was first announced in February 2024, will be the first Predator movie to receive a theatrical release since 2018's The Predator. The previous entry, 2022's Prey, was released straight to Hulu, much to the chagrin of the Predator franchise. Badlands reunites the creative team of Prey, with Dan Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison back as director and screenwriter, respectively.
>
> While plot details remain under wraps for Badlands, which reportedly began filming in August in New Zealand, the movie is said to be set "sometime in the future," focusing on two sisters who are put to the ultimate test as they pursue divergent paths and missions. No cast members have been officially announced for Badlands, although The Great star Elle Fanning was previously reported to be in negotiations for a lead role back in June.

2024-10-17 01:07:40 GMT

> To quote Heath Ledger’s version of the clown prince of crime, maybe some wag should be scrawling “Why so serious?” on glass-fronted offices at Warner Bros Discovery this week, as executives there contemplate the box-office implosion of Joker: Folie à Deux. A catastrophic $37.7m opening weekend, the largest second-weekend drop for a DC film (81%), a worldwide take currently standing at a piddling $165m … how has the studio gone from the 2019 original, a billion-grosser that was then the highest earning R-rated film, to this?
>
> ...
>
> With bubonic word of mouth, Joker: Folie à Deux is now projected to lose $125m-200m, depending on whose budget estimate you believe. If it’s the $300m figure being generally touted for production and marketing, then this is clearly what has hobbled the film; it would leave it needing as much as $475m to break even. Risky reinventions of hallowed pop-cultural icons are a lot more feasible on the first film’s sensible $60m budget.
>
> $300m is a shocking amount. The money is up on the screen in the sense that director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix were both paid $20m and supporting actor Lady Gaga $12m; over a quarter of the $200m production budget. But other than beautiful lighting and cinematography, and the climactic sequence, the film doesn’t look outrageously lavish. A cloistered affair set largely in Arkham State Hospital and the courtroom, there’s virtually nothing in the way of extended CGI pyrotechnics to explain the spend. The likeliest explanation is that it was a big bet born out of pandemic desperation for a surefire hit when cinemas reopened.
>
> ...
>
> Phillips evidently wanted to course-correct after accusations that he had indulged toxic fandom in the first film. Having Arthur Fleck definitively dismiss the Joker as a pathetic psychological crutch certainly gets his point across.
>
> But chastising the fanbase so openly is tantamount to box office self-harm (probably why the director refused to test-screen Joker: Folie à Deux). The impunity of a $300m budget seems to have led Phillips to mistake this for an auteur film, and shooting during a period of regime change at both Warner and DC reportedly allowed him to operate with weak oversight. According to Variety, he refused to liaise with new DC heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, saying: “With all due respect to them, this is kind of a Warner Bros movie.” But he also pushed back on new Warner president David Zaslav’s suggestions for lowering the budget, including moving the shoot to London rather than Los Angeles.
>
> ...
>
> The film’s nosedive will have repercussions for the still-floundering DC and beyond. This kind of overly conceptual punt will surely become verboten in blockbusters for some time, and you wonder if it will force more conservative reimaginings of other returning icons, particularly Bond. It’s another question whether this almighty flop will give pause for thought in Hollywood about squeezing beloved IP until it has no more juice to give. Could Phillips’ sluggishness in converting realism into expressionism be something to do with the fact that this is the fifth major outing for the Joker in just over 15 years?

2024-10-08 15:52:49 GMT

- reply

Me too.
I'm hoping that The Sentry is the main threat and that the Black-ops Avengers realise they are massively outclassed (as really on Hulk or Thor could go toe-to-to with him) and they have to get sneaky to bring him down. Now that would require some kind of mastermind and I wonder where they could find one...?

2024-10-08 14:41:05 GMT

- reply

> I liked the series, but mostly because of Bucky and more backstory for Zemos.
More Zemo, please - he was the best thing in it and it's criminal t here's a Thunderbolts film without him in it.

2024-10-08 11:24:04 GMT

- reply

I failed to see what the point of this (and the TV series that set it up) was and it seems like their isn't one.
With the development hell and such bad word of mouth this far out, it is lining up to be their biggest box office bomb so far.

2024-10-08 11:20:28 GMT

> It’s been six years since Steve Rodgers handed over Captain America reigns to Sam Wilson, Aka The Falcon, in “Avengers: Endgame.” Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will be the lead of Julius Onah’s “Captain America: Brave New World.” A trailer was released in the summer.
>
>Two different cuts of the film test screened last week, and plot details for one of the cuts have leaked online. The person who attended didn’t seem to like the movie all that much.
>
>Based on the folks I’ve spoken to, those who attended were either given a red or green bracelet and were split up into two different theaters. The reactions I’ve heard have not been very kind to this movie, which is being described as “inessential” and “flat.”
>
> ...
>
> Reshoots on ‘Brave New World’ happened in August. This could explain why two different cuts were shown. Last year, after receiving negative test scores in another screening, and Marvel themselves underwhelmed by an early cut they saw of the film, ‘Brave New World’ was delayed to February 2025. Extensive reshoots were called, with “three major action sequences” having been filmed, between May and August 2024 in Atlanta.
>
>‘Brave New World’ had originally wrapped filming in June 2023, and was set for a July 2024 release date, but it’s now turned into this monstrous mess for Marvel. You just don’t push a movie this big out of your calendar, and then decide to dump it in February, unless major trouble is brewing.
>
>Last December, Matthew Orton was hired by Marvel to pen “additional scenes and material”. Orton’s work was shot during this summer’s reshoots. They’ve also added new characters to the story. Will audiences even show up to a Captain America movie that doesn’t star Chris Evans?

2024-10-04 02:11:07 GMT

> Disney made an estimated $296.4 million loss at the box office on just two of its Marvel superhero movies in 2023 according to analysis of recently-released financial statements.
>
>They reveal that the cost of making The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came to a staggering $762.4 million (£609.3 million) before Disney banked $124.9 million (£99.4 million) in government incentives bringing its net spending on the movies down to $637.5 million. They both bombed at the box office.
>
>According to industry analyst Box Office Mojo, the movies grossed a combined $682.2 million with theaters typically retaining 50% of the takings and the remainder going to the studio. This reflects the findings of film industry consultant Stephen Follows who interviewed 1,235 film professionals in 2014 and concluded that, according to studios, theaters keep 49% of the takings on average. It would give Disney just $341.1 million from The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. No expense was spared on them.
>
> ...
>
> Disney does not publicly discuss how much it spends on specific productions and did not respond to a request for comment. Budgets are usually a closely-guarded secret. This is because studios combine the costs of individual pictures in their overall expenses and their filings don't itemize how much was spent on each one. Films made in the UK are exceptions and both The Marvels and Quantumania fall into this category.
>
> Studios shoot in the UK to benefit from its Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) which gives them a cash reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money they spend in the country.
>
>To qualify for the reimbursement, at least 10% of the production costs need to relate to activities in the UK. In order to demonstrate this to the UK government, studios tend to set up a separate production company in the country for each movie they make there.
>
>The companies have to file financial statements which shine a spotlight on their budgets. They reveal everything from the headcount and salaries to the level of reimbursement and the total costs. Studios directly receive the revenue from theater tickets, streaming and Blu-ray sales and carry the costs of marketing as the function of the UK companies is purely making the movies.

2024-10-02 08:14:07 GMT

> The Mandalorian star Giancarlo Esposito has revealed that he thinks The Mandalorian & Grogu movie could just be the beginning of a new Star Wars trilogy.
>
> "As in the MCU… Disney will figure out how to join all of these characters into one really great movie or TV show. That’s my sense of where it will go," Esposito said during an appearance at Dragon Con (via Culture Slate). "Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau have a new vision, continuing on with a Mandalorian movie… My sense is that it’s all going to converge at one point or another and we’re going to have another set of… [a] trilogy, or more, of films."
>
>Esposito plays Moff Gideon in the Disney Plus series, but he hasn't been confirmed to return in the upcoming movie yet, since he died in season 3 (though, a surprise return can never be ruled out). Pedro Pascal is returning as titular bounty hunter Din Djarin on the big screen, though, with Sigourney Weaver joining him in an undisclosed role, while showrunner Favreau is in the director's chair.

2024-09-30 03:38:54 GMT

> Despite all the doom and gloom in Hollywood, there's optimism coming from a surprising place: indie films.
>
>A strong box office this year has buoyed films like Neon's "Longlegs" and "Cuckoo" in the horror genre, which is particularly popular with young people (and best watched in a communal setting). There's also A24's thriller "Civil War," and Magnolia Pictures' action-comedy "Thelma."
>
>Sure, they're not financial blockbusters when measured against this year's big franchise films like "Despicable Me 4," "Deadpool & Wolverine," and "Inside Out 2."
>
>They also didn't seem destined to be obvious commercial hits, and yet, they're successes by specialized film standards. "Longlegs" barely promoted its biggest star, Nicolas Cage, and is the year's biggest indie film, grossing over $100 million worldwide. "Thelma," about an 83-year-old tracking down her phone scammer, became Magnolia's highest-grossing narrative feature.
>
> ...
>
> "Coming out of COVID and post-peak streaming, it's become evident again indie film can succeed in a big way in theaters," said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory, a movie industry analysis firm. "There have always been studios making these kinds of films, but distribution strategies, marketing, largely through social media, have changed the game."
>
> The summer box office rebound from a soft spring, with releases that targeted a wide range of moviegoers, has lifted all film boats. Anecdotally, more indie projects have been moving forward since the spring, said Seth Needle, a cofounder of Blue Harbor Entertainment, a film marketer and distributor.
>
>"There's been really strong box office from independents; it certainly shows the ceiling that exists for an independent film that's well made and well marketed. In the past, you'd see all that at the expense of independents," Needle said, referring to franchises' success.
>
> ...
>
> Yet not all indie filmmakers are convinced the economics have fundamentally changed. Netflix and the other big streamers are still not buying the same number of films they used to, and ones made at the mid-budget level are on the wane. Film sales from the Toronto Film Festival, a closely watched barometer of the indie industry's health, have been muted.
>
> Buying behaviors are still making it tough for indie filmmakers, said Ken Kao, cofounder and president of Waypoint Entertainment.
>
>"They're still dictating movies be made for a certain price, and it's challenging," he said. "If it's an auteur film, it pretty much has to be made for sub $15 [million] if you're lucky. Almost every single movie I'm making right now, I'm figuring out how to compress the budget. We're rerouting to Eastern Europe to make them. It's all a function of these studios not wanting to pay for midsize independent films. I don't feel like that was the case 10 to 15 years ago."

2024-09-15 22:35:58 GMT

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17484663
> > The 2020s have already been great for folk horror, but the current folk horror revival really got its start in the previous decade. The niche subgenre, which had been around since the 1960s and 1970s, didn't get a name until actor Mark Gatiss of Sherlock fame used the term "folk horror" in 2010 to describe a trio of influential films in his BBC documentary series, A History of Horror. Suddenly, a generation of writers and filmmakers who had grown up on the old British films and television programs were inspired to revisit the rural terrors of their youth.
> >
> > Folk horror, which was initially recognized as a British phenomenon, became closely associated with imagery from the British Isles, such as stone circles, druids, and the green man. However, the modern folk horror revival has been more inclusive, as filmmakers from around the world draw inspiration from their countries' history and folklore. From Indonesia to Austria, these are the best folk horror movies of the 2010s.
>
> 1. Midsommar (2019)
> 2. Kill List (2011)
> 3. The Witch (2015)
> 4. The Borderlands (2013)
> 5. The Wailing (2016)
> 6. The Ritual (2017)
> 7. Impetigore (2019)
> 8. La Llorona (2019)
> 9. Hagazussa: A Heathen's Curse (2017)
> 10. A Dark Song (2016)
>
> Warning: the image used dod The Ritual is a massive spoiler - go watch it first, it's worth going in blind.

2024-09-12 16:49:20 GMT

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17338767
> > There's a common consensus that horror movies aren't scary anymore, but that's not necessarily true. A lot of the time, many horror movies are either missed, fly under the radar or (thankfully) do end up getting the recognition they deserve. Whether they're acknowledged or not, there do happen to be many horror movies of the modern era that are incredibly scary and leave those who believe that modern horror movies aren't scary eating their words.
> >
> > Horror comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes a film has an abundance of horrific gore, is psychologically bending or just downright disturbing in its visuals and ideas. Regardless of how, a horror film has many ways to be terrifying and all styles and forms of doing so are still utilized today. The last five years of horror have been quite good, and it needs to be acknowledged.
>
> 1. When Evil Lurks (2023)
> 2. Talk to Me (2023)
> 3. Incantation (2022)
> 4. Roh'/'Soul (2019)
> 5. New Religion (2022)
> 6. Smile (2022)
> 7. The Sadness (2021)
> 8. V/H/S/99 (2022)
> 9. The Dark and the Wicked (2020)
> 10. Good Boy (2022)
edit: since posting they've expanded the list, presumably when someone pointed out some serious omissions:
11. Late Night With the Devil (2024)
12. Longlegs (2024)
13. Relic (2020)

2024-09-11 12:47:20 GMT

> In A Minecraft Movie, a group of humans are sucked into the Overworld, the dimension where Minecraft is real. A nonplussed Momoa is fresh back from getting his highlights and bangs done at the hairdresser, having accidentally picked up the wrong pink coat. Danielle Brooks from Orange Is the New Black is there with some “kids” (including 22-year-old Emma Myers from Wednesday). Here they meet Steve, one of the default characters from Minecraft, who comes in a light blue T-shirt and jeans and played by Jack Black, who after last year’s performance as Bowser in the Super Mario movie is surely regarded by Warner Bros as something of a success talisman. “This guy is such a toolbag,” moans Myers.
>
>“Anything you can dream about, here you can make,” explains Black to our bewildered heroes, as cuboid pigs fly past and pink blocky sheep go “baa”. To get back home “they’ll have to master this world (and protect it from evil things such as piglins and zombies, too) while embarking on a magical quest.” Told you.
>
> The reactions to the trailer have gone from “horrifying”, “devastating” and “expensively naff” to “painful for the parents who are going to be dragged along to see it” and “worst thing to happen in cinema in 2024”. But, like many video game spin-off movies, it isn’t aimed at adult film critics. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, who knows his cinematic onions, was so critical in his two-star review of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie (as was The Observer’s Wendy Ide in her one-star review) that Guardian games editor Keza MacDonald felt moved to defend it as a decent translation of the games, even if it’s not that good a movie.
>
> ...
>
> So what does a real connoisseur think? “I think it looks pants,” says 10-year-old Arlo, whom I rudely interrupt playing some post-school Roblox on the iPad.

2024-08-28 23:27:36 GMT

> Earlier this month, Borderlands arrived in theaters to horrendous reviews and bad box office numbers. At the time, many assumed it might be the biggest cinematic dud of 2024. But, that title is now held by the newly released Crow reboot.
>
> The idea of rebooting The Crow was already a strange and controversial one. Sure, the original 1994 film was a small but profitable hit, but it is more widely known for the tragedy surrounding the death of Brandon Lee during its production. The following sequels to the OG Crow failed to find success. Most people believed it was wrong to even reboot the series. Yet, Hollywood went ahead and made a reboot anyway. And what do you know, it’s flopping hard!
>
> The Crow reboot released on August 23 to negative reviews from critics and moviegoers. After its opening weekend, it only earned $4.6 million domestically at the box office. Yikes! In comparison, Borderlands made over $8.5 million during its first weekend.
>
> After about five days in theaters, The Crow has made less than $10 million. Meanwhile, Borderlands—which is reportedly already getting a home release in late August—is sitting at a cool $25 million worldwide at the box office.

2024-08-27 11:24:34 GMT

> Francis Ford Coppola isn’t shying away from controversy when it comes to his latest feature “Megalopolis.”
>
>While “Megalopolis” has been critically divisive, the film was also plagued by allegations that Coppola was inappropriate to female extras on set, including kissing and hugging actresses against their will. Coppola has deemed the accusations “untrue.”
>
>And that’s not even getting to the eclectic ensemble cast. While Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Nathalie Emmanuel lead the film, supporting stars Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Dustin Hoffman have made for some albeit interesting choices. Voight and co-star LaBeouf have infamously butted heads, but that’s not all: LaBeouf has been publicly accused of assaulting former partners, while Voight has drawn criticisms for his devout support of former President Donald Trump. Hoffman has allegedly assaulted co-stars as well.
>
> Writer/director Coppola told Rolling Stone, however, that his casting choices were intentionally controversial.
>
> “What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers,” Coppola said. “The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought.”

2024-08-24 01:59:25 GMT

> Anyway, Alien: Romulus is the seventh film about these particular monsters. According to the producers, the film takes the franchise ‘back to its roots’. So we get a group of grimy crew-mates piloting a big rust-bucket of a spaceship who pick up an extraterrestrial stowaway and end up having to use their wits and courage to survive as it gobbles them up, one by one.
>
>And it’s not a bad film. It’s nicely creepy, the special effects are good, the acting is perfectly serviceable. In fact, I could give you a normal review of Alien: Romulus, but just writing this is making me feel a little crazy. It’s not a bad film, but it’s also a direct copy of a much better film that already exists. That film is called Alien, and it came out in 1979. It had Sigourney Weaver in it. It hasn’t vanished. If you have a Disney+ subscription or a torrent client, you can watch it tonight. Why have we made it again? What’s the point? Why have we spent the past 45 years – which is longer than I’ve been alive – making seven different versions of the same film? What on Earth is going on?

2024-08-16 01:29:16 GMT

> Deadpool & Wolverine as a film has allowed both titular heroes to reach the third and fourth spot in the total box office gross for each Marvel character, replacing Iron Man. Notably, for Deadpool, this was done with only three movies, resulting in an average of $865 million gross per film for the hero. This is higher than Thor's $676 million per film and is an especially incredible achievement for an R-rated franchise. While Spider-Man has still made more money overall as one of Marvel's most popular characters, future films may allow Deadpool to overtake this spot.
The table:
| Titular Marvel Character | Total Box Office |
|--------------------------|--------------------|
| Spider-Man | $3,920,121,775 |
| Thor | $2,705,339,993 |
| **Deadpool** | **$2,597,841,443** |
| Wolverine | $2,435,016,309 |
| Iron Man | $2,421,720,208 |
| Captain America | $2,236,871,251 |
| Black Panther | $2,188,142,628 |
| Doctor Strange | $1,628,568,160 |
| Ant-Man | $1,605,638,412 |
| Captain Marvel | $1,329,282,344 |
| The Wasp | $1,086,779,963 |
| Hulk | $510,605,538 |

2024-08-14 15:50:38 GMT

> Joaquin Phoenix’s abrupt departure from a gay romance film has reportedly sparked “huge outrage” in Hollywood and could lead to legal action.
>
>The Joker star was set to lead the untitled detective love story – that he had taken to director Todd Haynes in the first place – but five days before production was scheduled to begin, he made the last-minute decision to drop out of the film after getting “cold feet”, a source told Variety.
>
> Entire sets had been built in Guadalajara, Mexico, where shooting had been due to take place. Phoenix abandoned the project in early July just days before the scheduled shoot, leaving cast and crew in the lurch.
>
>Now, reports are emerging that legal action could ensue, after the decision sparked backlash from industry veterans.
>
> “There’s been a huge amount of outrage,” one studio executive told The Hollywood Reporter. The publication cited sources suggesting the decision could lead to legal action.
>
> ...
>
> Produced by Killer Films and backed by sales agent MK2 Film, Phoenix’s movie had already been sold to international distributors. Variety further reports that the actor’s role cannot be recast, leaving the crew out of work and investors unpaid, and meaning that losses could surpass seven figures.

2024-08-11 15:02:13 GMT

> Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon saga began in December 2023 with the release of Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. Just weeks after its release, however, Snyder confirmed that Rebel Moon would receive a director’s cut. Its sequel, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, was released four months after the first installment, and director’s cuts of both movies were made available on Netflix in early August 2024. The director’s cut is quickly becoming Snyder’s bread and butter, following Zack Snyder’s Justice League after the troubled production of the 2017 DC epic (including a change of director partway through filming).
>
> Curiously, though, Snyder and Netflix had been keen to emphasize the fact that the director had creative control over the Rebel Moon films from the start, making director’s cuts seemingly redundant – perhaps he had double creative control over the new versions. Despite this, Snyder insists that the new edition director's cuts of Rebel Moon are the definitive versions of the movies – and different films altogether, rather than merely re-edits of the original releases. This means that there are some substantial changes between the different versions of the films as well as minor differences, which are bound to excite fans of Snyder’s newest cinematic saga.

2024-08-09 14:58:55 GMT

> Glance at the lineup of films at your local cinema and you might briefly believe you have passed through a time portal. Stirring athletics biopic Chariots of Fire sits cheek by jowl with schmaltzy Tom Hanks fable Forrest Gump; magical Japanese animation My Neighbour Totoro finds houseroom next to melancholic Hungarian art film Werckmeister Harmonies; 1990s action yarn The Mummy galumphs alongside Francis Ford Coppola’s paranoid 70s classic The Conversation. The surge of reissues and restorations appears unstoppable. This week sees the release of a new edit of the notoriously sleazy Caligula, first released in 1979, with the Tex-Mex crime story Lone Star (1996) and Coraline (2009) to follow shortly.
>
> Previously they were largely the preserve of organisations such as the BFI making archive treasures available on the big screen, or to publicise home entertainment releases on DVD and Blu-ray, the surge is in part down to simple issues of supply and demand. According to Jack Reid Bell, sales and marketing director of reissue specialist distributors Park Circus, the drying-up of the industry pipeline due to the pandemic and then the writers’ and actors’ strikes, left cinemas casting about to fill their screens. “It gave cinemas, who may not have had much of a tradition of playing reissues, really strong results when they did that. And it’s just continued from then. I suspect the appetite has always been there, but that the market hasn’t been geared to it.”
>
> Box office statistics suggest there is money to be made – not to the same extent, perhaps, as a heavily marketed blockbuster, but lucrative enough. My Neighbour Totoro landed in the Top 10 in the UK last weekend, with nearly £70,000 in receipts, while the reissue of the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man took more than £250,000. The Mummy, featuring Brendan Fraser in his action-movie heyday, made more than £100,000 at the box office on the first weekend of its rerelease in July. Reid Bell cites research from data analysts Gower Street and Comscore that shows box office returns in the UK for classic films in 2023 has grown by 133% compared to the pre-pandemic average between 2017-2019.

2024-08-09 10:22:08 GMT

> The reception to the Borderlands movie has me almost nostalgic, reminiscing about the days when videogame tie-ins were reliably terrible rather than half-decent. The short version is that people hate it: the longer version is that they really, really hate it. Words such as "lifeless", "obnoxious" and "baffling" hover around it, and the only good news is that a single positive review has lifted the film's Rotten Tomatoes score from 0% to 3%.
>
> So it's a bit of a mess. But things have now gone from bad to worse, as it turns out the film has even failed to credit key production staff behind one of Borderlands' main characters. Robbie Reid, who goes by the helpful handle "Robbie Reid the Rigger", says he worked on rigging the movie's Claptrap model for five months straight, the process which essentially gives a CG model a skeleton that animators can then manipulate. It is obviously a crucial job and, when it comes to Claptrap, we're talking about arguably Borderlands' most recognisable figure.
>
>"This time 3 years ago I was rigging the CG asset of Claptrap for the Borderlands movie," said Reid on X. "I worked on him for 5 consecutive months. Neither I, nor the artist who modelled him (Who I worked with the entire time), got a credit for the film."

2024-06-20 16:48:34 GMT

- reply

>
> Last point: as a non-native European, I never really paid attention to the English-speaking social media being very US-centric, hopefully that’s a bias we can correct here on Lemmy.
>
I’m working on it. And there are Canadian and Australian instances doing their bit too.

2024-06-20 11:49:31 GMT

- reply

>
> Having it spread over 7 communities kills activity rather than keeping 1 community alive.
>
Having three dad communities on lemmy.world is weird and needs sorting out but one of the advantages of subject-specific instances is that they can give a different spin to a topic.
On English-speaking social media, it all tends to become very US-centric - the UK (and, presumably, Canadian, and, hypothetically, an Australian one) allows for people to have more local discussion as the logistics (schools, benefits, the legal system, etc) can be very different.
By the same token, I wouldn’t want all the other dad communities merged into the feddit.uk one (which is the most active, despite the Mod being AWOL, which is easily fixed) as it isn’t just a general dad’s discussion, although all dad’s are welcome, of course.