RIP Morbius

[payn]

Nope. Read what I wrote. To explain further, John Carter looked great, to me, because the pre-release visuals were awesome, the director's done some of the best movies of our lifetimes, plus he co-wrote the movie, Taylor Kitsch was excellent in Friday Night Lights, etc. Plus it was an interesting concept, not just another attempt to cash in on adjacent IP.

I gave specific reasons for why Morbius has the opposite sort of filmmaking pedigree, plus pre-release visuals that are boring. I didn't mention that it was drafting off the MCU, but there you go. Morbius hits all the reasons that a movie could be unappealing, none of which are based on the industry gossip nonsense that snowballed and ultimately killed John Carter. Morbius looks bad because there's nothing about it that looks good.

You got all that before even seeing John Carter? I guess its true there is no accounting for taste. John Carter was an entirely forgettable experience for me. I didnt know that until I actually saw it though.

 

[Morrus]

I would say that the #1 thing that might kill this movie is whatever forces led this to being literally the second nerd-focused media site I've been to (first one being a youtube movie reviewer) that mentioned the thing, approximately as it is being released, and otherwise I would have no idea that it was coming out. I mean, can you imagine not knowing about a Marvel comic book character movie coming out at the height of the X-Men, initial 2 Spider-Man runs, or MCU? I mean, I get it -- Covid has knocked seeing the latest movie (or even reading up on and deciding not to see it) far down my list of priorities. Still, I would have hoped to have had to scroll past a dozen reddit articles or Gizmodo reviews or something (anything)

Huh. I’m not even following it or particularly interested in seeing it but I’ve seen news about it everywhere.

 

[billd91]

Also Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas was excellent!

He and the squealing Thark hatchlings were the best parts of the movie.

 

[GreyLord]

Disney dropping the ball completely on the John Carter marketing made me very sad. That should have become a franchise. Dejah Thoris should be a Disney Princess now.

I think the profits John Carter made were fine. The problem was in the production. If they had stuck to the original budget or maybe a little lower, and not gone off the rails, I think it probably would have been fine. There were so many problems in production though...that it needed to turn a profit it couldn't generate simply to be seen as a success.

 

[James Gasik]

He and the squealing Thark hatchlings were the best parts of the movie.

I rather liked the "learning to walk on Mars" scene, and the ending, where John shows that, unlike many action heroes, he's as cunning as Odysseus.

 

[Umbran]

They needed to keep the ": Warlord of Mars" part.

I think just having it be "John Carter of Mars" would have been sufficient. The film isn't really about him being a warlord, imho.

 

[James Gasik]

Well yeah, that's two books ahead.

 

[Undrave]

I hope Sonic beats the crap of the Fantastic Beasts threequel nobody asked for.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

I think the profits John Carter made were fine. The problem was in the production. If they had stuck to the original budget or maybe a little lower, and not gone off the rails, I think it probably would have been fine. There were so many problems in production though...that it needed to turn a profit it couldn't generate simply to be seen as a success.

That sounds a lot like what happened with the failed Paul Feig-directed reboot of Ghostbusters (aside from the other failings). They reportedly ended up having to do expensive reshoots because Feig wouldn't listen to objective feedback on what was missing from the planned principal photography.

 

[Rabulias]

I hope Sonic beats the crap of the Fantastic Beasts threequel nobody asked for.

It's not so much a threequel as Part III; the Fantastic Beasts series has been planned to be a 5-movie story since the first one. I loved the first one, but I found Part II to be a bit boring, as well as having character turns come way out of left field and what look like timeline discrepancies. I will likely see Part III in the theaters next week or so, unless it gets horrible reviews.