Tagged: Disney

It’s official: Fox’s Marvel heroes go to Disney, along with everything else

Here we go, kids. The acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney is official today.

Ryan Reynolds is getting into the spirit of the thing:

And some happy soul has helpfully embedded Deadpool into Avengers: Endgame…

The Hollywood Reporter, umm, reports:

Reynolds’ Deadpool is expected to be the only iteration of the X-Men to make the jump to Disney, with Disney CEO Bob Iger having confirmed multiple times that popular, R-rated version of the character could exist at the studio. […] Marvel Studios has not publicly revealed any plans for integrating members of the X-Men and Fantastic Four into its cinematic universe, though Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is said to have met with several members of the X-Men old guard in recent months. Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley, who was hired to write a Doctor Doom movie in 2017, earlier this month confirmed he’s spoken to Feige about the script centering on the Fantastic Four villain, though Hawley downplayed how serious those discussions were.

Here’s hoping the, ah, crisis passes smoothly.

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Mike Gold: How Are You Getting Your Marvel Stories?

In this very space last week, I suggested there was a reason Marvel’s sales are off that is in addition to the negative reader reaction to such events as Civil War 2 and Secret Empire.

Let’s spread some numbers around. Buying into these mega-events is expensive. Each consists of dozens and dozens of comics — mini-series, tie-ins, one-shots, and so on. Each event takes about 50 or 60 hours to read in their entirety. The post-event comics come out after that, and you might be compelled to check out a few of the ongoing titles where the event changed the characters therein, although Marvel usually abandons those changes around the time the next relevant movie comes out. That’s more money and more time.

The whole thing takes the better part of a year to unfold; longer, as these days each Marvel event tends to segue into the next. You’ve got to work hard and spend a lot of money to complete a satisfying story, even if – as in the case for many with Civil War 2 and Secret Empire, you didn’t find the story all that satisfying.

However, for roughly the price of three individual comic books you can buy a ticket to the latest Marvel movie and get what is usually a satisfying experience — and your friends can join you in that experience. Of course, one should add the cost of an overpriced box of Snow Caps or some such to the tab.

You can watch as many Marvel teevee shows as you can absorb, and many of them are quite entertaining. Or if you want, you can wheel a cooler filled with snacks and drinks into your bathroom, bring in a tablet or a laptop computer, and stream an entire season of one of Marvel’s many, many Netflix series. As long as nobody else needs that toilet, you’re in superhero heaven with a story complete with a beginning, a middle and an end. I, for one, found the recent Marvel’s The Defenders to be very entertaining. Your opinion might differ, but it really shouldn’t.

If you’re already a Netflix subscriber, it’s free. If not, well one month of Netflix costs a hell of a lot less than one week’s worth of the current Mighty Marvel Event and you get enough other Netflix shows and movies to fill the Pacific Ocean. You will spend less time, energy and money following your favorite Marvel media madness than plowing your way through a pile of event comics that are mediocre at best.

So, I ask you this: even this particular competitive environment… who needs to buy all those comic books? And maybe that’s okay by Marvel’s owner, the Mickey Mouse corporation. They understand how to make and how to market movies and video. This comic book stuff goes against everything the bean-counters learned in MBA school – as far as those suits are concerned, everybody in the comics racket talks like Bizarro Number One.

Indeed, the profit of Marvel’s new comic book output for an entire year is dwarfed by the profit from the last Avengers-themed motion picture alone — even if those publishing profits had somehow mysteriously doubled.

I’m not suggesting Disney might not want to publish new comics, but as a return on investment, those resources might be more profitably allocated to the media side.

Shhhh! Don’t tell the Mouse! He can be a real rat, and rats don’t eat staples.

Many wags think someday Mr. and Ms. Consumer will shout enough is enough and demand superhero shows be replaced by… I dunno, maybe westerns or something equally trendy. I’m sure we won’t be seeing half-billion-dollar cape flicks in the theater with the near-monthly frequency we’re seeing now, but who knows? We’ve always had superhero movies and superhero stories, from the Scarlet Pimpernel to Sherlock Holmes to Zorro to Tarzan. The only question is quantity.

Does Disney care? Well, they’ll say they do, but they own all those Disney properties which, these days, includes the Marvel characters, the Star Wars empire, the Muppets, and Pixar. It’s not like they won’t have anything to whenever the superhero trend fades a bit.

Disney did not do much in the way of original Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons for several decades, and they don’t do all that much with them today. Yet they continue to sell a lot of Mouse and Duck product of all sorts. They do not need to publish Marvel comic books in order to keep Captain America and Groot in the public mind.

Tweeks Go to Disneyland: Season of the Force, Marvel HQ & Inside Club 33

This week Maddy & Anya take you to Disneyland. They review Season of the Force (the Star Wars take over of Tomorrowland) and Marvel’s HQ. And then then you take you inside the very exclusive Club 33 in New Orleans Square.

Located in New Orleans Square, the private club has a “secret” entrance and as our mom likes to point out, it’s the only place within the park that sells alcohol. Named for either it’s address (33 Royal Street) or the 33 initial corporate Disneyland sponsors in 1966, Club 33 was built by Walt as a place for special guests, but he didn’t live long enough to see it. Club 33 membership requires lots of money (something like a $27,000 buy in with $12,000 a year in dues) & lots of time (we’ve heard it’s a 15 year waiting list), so we’re not members, unfortunately. This is definitely a must-do before you die, Disney fans!

If you want to see more pictures from Club 33 check our Facebook Page

Tweeks: Top 13 (Not Scary) Halloween Movies Part 2

This week we close out our Top 13 (Not Scary) Halloween Movie List with the numbers 6 through 1.  We disagree about Hocus Pocus, but come together on all things Tim Burton and Winnie The Pooh.  You’ll also find out in this week’s episode what food Anya should dress up as for Halloween and learn about her famous Pants Dance.  There’s also some girl crushing on Wednesday Addams and a our favorite non-musical Disney Channel Movie series.

 

Tweeks Count Down Their Top 13 Halloweenie Movies (Part 1)

Halloween is our favorite holiday, so while we decorated the house this week, we decided to share our list of the 13 Best Not Scary Halloween Movies….because we don’t do scary. (This week’s Scream Queens had us sleeping in the same bed, which we think illustrates our level of scary show discomfort.)

We hope you don’t feel cheated, but we’re doling out our list the way mean moms dole out Halloween candy. We give you numbers 13 through 7 and a bonus mini-review of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which we just saw in the theater for it’s 40th Anniversary. And then next week we’ll be back with 6 through number 1 and probably some honorable mentions — because really, Halloween movies are the best!

Tweeks: More D23 2015 Adventures

As promised, here is Part 2 of our adventures at D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center.  In this video we take a look at some of our favorite things (Harrison Ford, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Teen Beach Movie, etc) and ask some expo-goers what their favorite things have been over the weekend. There’s also plenty of cosplay, some Broadway stars, new Disney things to acquire, and a special “hi” from Markiplier!

Tweeks: D23 2015 Part 1

It’s no secret that we are huge Disney fans.  It was, after all our first fandom.  We love the movies, the TV shows, the Parks, the Broadway musicals – omg, just everything.  And then you go throwing Star Wars and Marvel into the mix.  (Plus, the Anaheim Convention Center has really amazing food choices, so we might just go to any con they decide to throw there.)

Last weekend, the super Disney fandom organization, D-23, held it’s 4th Expo (if someone is keeping score – this our third one we’ve attended) and lots of great announcements were made and tons of stars were there, and unlike Comic Cons, we could easily point out the origins of even the most obscure cosplay. There were also exhibits, concerts, signings, and panels.

There was so much going on that we had to break our coverage into two videos..  This one talks about some of the major announcements like Johnny Depp being inducted into the Hall of Fame, the new Star Wars lands in both Disney World and Disneyland,  a preview of Disney Shanghai, and Disney Animation & Pixar’s newest movies.

Until next time….May the force of Tinkerbell’s pixie dust come with great responsibility.

Tweeks: Disney Song Challenge D23 Edition

You may have seen the Disney song challenges by Tyler Oakley & Zoella, or Markiplier & Matthias, or Jon Cozart & Sound Proof Liz.  Those are cool and all, but since we are headed to D-23 Expo in Anaheim for a weekend of intense Disney/ABC/Marvel/Star Wars fandom, we need to know which Tweek is the biggest Disney Dork. Hence, the ultimate Disney song challenge where we hit shuffle on a giant playlist of Disney songs from movies, TV shows, rides, musicals…and even Marvel movies competing to name the song in 10 seconds.  First twin to 20 points gets bragging rights.  Who will it be?

Tweeks: Review Inside Out and Lava and More!

On Father’s Day we took our dad to see Disney Pixar’s Inside Out because it’s a Pixar movie and everyone loves a Pixar movie!  Plus, we really wanted to see it.  So here is our review of that, but we really wanted to also talk about Parks & Rec too since we both have been binge watching it for the past month.  We also wanted to talk about Toy Story 4, which is related.  Want to know how it is related, and also hear about which emotion Anya identifies with, learn about Maddy’s Thinking Panda, and see us fangirl over volcanos? Watch our video.

Martha Thomases: Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow

Tomorrowland didn’t do as well as expected this weekend in theaters.  Some people celebrated this fact, apparently believing that the movie was the brainchild of George Clooney and that it was a propaganda film about climate change.

They must have seen a different movie than I did.

I’ll admit that, like the Big Hollywood website, I went to the theater with my own set of assumptions and biases.  Tomorrowland is my favorite area in the Disney parks, the first place I wanted to go the first time I went (in 1979).  I love the work of director Brad Bird, and have since The Family Dogperro-de-familia

And, yeah, I have the hots for George Clooney and I think climate change is an issue deserving action.  Only the first of those affects my ticket-buying decisions.

So, the Disney nerd in me loved the movie.  But, more important to this column, so did the comics fan.

Because I love the future.  I remember when everybody did.

You see, one of the themes of Tomorrowland is that we, as a society, have become too enthralled with pessimistic stories and fleeting fads.  Instead of wallowing in disaster movies (like this) or dystopian dramas (like this), we should work together to make the future better.

Look, it’s really normal for adolescents to be drawn to the “grim’n’gritty” dystopias.  And, by “normal,” I mean that I did it.  For me, devastated that I was not only the center of the universe but my parents weren’t all-powerful and my body was doing strange things that involved icky fluids, it seemed that pessimism was the more sophisticated viewpoint.  I wasn’t a little kid anymore, with bright colors and flowers and candy.  No, I wore black and I was sullen.  If the cool kids (the jocks and the cheerleaders) wouldn’t have me as one of their own, I was going to act as if I rejected them first.

And then I grew up.

Look, I still like a lot of things that can seem pessimistic.  Blade Runner remains one of my favorite movies, based on the work of Philip K. Dick, a rather depressing writer whom like a lot.  I like punk rock and Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen.  I like Transmetropolitan and The Dark Knight Returns.

The older I get, however, the more I want hope.  And that hope lies in the future.alanna-and-adam-strange

Comics helped me with this.  Adam Strange not only engaged with an alien world, but fell in love and married an alien.  The Legion of Super-Heroes posited a time when the whole universe would band together to make life better.

A lot of today’s best comics come from a hopeful place.  I’d include Saga  and Sex Criminals and even Bitch Planet as works that rouse the spirit.

Another science fiction writer I enjoy, William Gibson, is sometimes credited as one of the founders of the cyberpunk movement, which often painted a bleak future.  His most recent book, The Peripheral, has it’s share of dystopian prophecy, but ends up (SPOILER, maybe?) making the case that we can change the future.  We can make the world better.

A better world is worth the effort.  Especially if it includes George Clooney.aa19ac627923e9f171a6e379af4c6c36