LET THEM FIGHT?
Okay, so remember Skull Island? The King Kong sorta prequel thing with the neat cast? Well Skull Island is produced by Legendary Pictures and was set to be distributed by Universal, just as the last King Kong movie was distributed by Universal and just as Universal is opening a Skull Island ride next summer at Universal Orlando. However, distribution has shifted from them to Warner Bros. instead, as reported by Deadline. Which might not seem very interesting…but if you like the possibility of giant apes fighting giant lizards, read on!
You see, also produced by Legendary Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. is none other than last year’s Godzilla and the purpose of switching distributors for Skull Island is reportedly to make it easier to bring the worlds of Kong and Godzilla together for one of those shared universes the kids and studio executives are so crazy about these days. King Kong vs. Godzilla was the most financially successful of Toho’s Godzilla movies and I mean, if you’ve got both of them in the same studio, what are you going to do, not make another King Kong vs Godzilla? There’s money left on the table for a rematch and Godzilla’s got to get his win back brother!
ZACK SNYDER HAS AN ANT IN HIS BONNET
Far be it from me to suggest that the guy who had Superman insist that the ‘S’ on his chest didn’t stand for Superman has issues with how comic book characters (or comic book readers, or comic book readers who grow up to be bigwig directors) are perceived, but Visionary Director Zack Snyder made a point this week of distancing Batman and Superman from those lesser, sillier superheroes. You know, the kind of superheroes you might see in movies by DC and Warner Bros. direct competition?
Responding to comments by Steven Spielberg that ubiquitous superhero movies will one day go the way of the Western, Snyder said, ““I feel like he’s right. But I feel like Batman and Superman are transcendent of superhero movies in a way, because they’re Batman and Superman,” the genre movie director equivalent of saying ‘I’m not like those other girls’. ““They’re not just, like, the flavor of the week Ant-Man — not to be mean, but whatever it is. What is the next Blank-Man?” Ant-Man obviously being a movie that Visionary Director Zack Snyder cannot respect, because people in it smile and are heroic and all that lame stuff. Look, nobody is suggesting that Ant-Man is a big crossover star that people are going to love to see for years to come, and Batman and Superman certainly became bigger than just comic book characters decades ago, but it really comes across as a case of the Visionary Director Doth Protest Too Much and an unnecessary potshot at the competition.
Blank-Man v Blank-Man: Dawn of Even More Blank-Men hits theaters on March 25, 2016, so we still have to hear all this tiresome hype for another six months.