They are going ahead with a Justice League movie

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Flying Spaghetti Monster, Jun 6, 2012.

  1. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Guys, guys, guys... I've got it! The perfect JLA movie. I call it Justice League: Adaptation.



    ... JLA:A stars Richard Schiff as a washed-out Hollywood screenwriter. Years ago, he had a critical and commercial hit with an LA Confidential-like script, but he's just about called in all his favors, ran out all his fumes, and none of his increasingly morose or complex works are selling.


    [​IMG]


    Then, right when he's about to lose all hope, he's hired to do a rewrite of the latest JLA script! He may not know anything about "the funny pages" strips, but hey, the previous drafts serve (he thinks) as a good-enough guide. (But since Aquaman wasn't in those drafts, we get a running gag in which, in response to people's ribbings, he gently corrects them that Aquaman's a Marvel thing, and therefore not his business.)


    However, try as he might, he just can't seem to do the job, and the studio becomes increasingly fed up with his "it'll be like Watchmen, except dark and cerebral" vision. He's threatened with removal from the project. His on-again, off-again hookup decides to be permanently on-again... with somebody else. Fed up with life, and the way things are going, he decides to hang himself from his house's topmost rafter, but he slips from the stool, falls, and hits his head... hard.


    But, suprise! When he comes to, he's accompanied by hallucinations of the Justice League heroes! Now that he's able to brainstorm with them face-to-face, he cranks out a killer script in no time. The studio is so delighted with it that they offer him the director's chair. Everything improves overnight; even some of his languishing/forgotten mopey scripts start selling, and he begins dating his daughter's pot supplier (Emma Watson). Everything's great... except there are persistent and increasing police reports of a man dressed as the Blue Beetle setting fire to local pet stores, and he's starting to wake up with thundering hangovers and smudged blue eye shadow.


    [​IMG]


    Production on the movie continues apace, but he starts to unravel, and soon has difficulty telling apart his Justice League actors from his Justice League hallucinations. And, though his new squeeze denies it, he finds what can only be described as a reptilian molting of her skin.


    At this point, he's hospitalized for exhaustion and Evan Almighty director Tom Shadyac, playing himself, is brought in. From here, we segue pretty quickly into the action-packed finale of the JLA in-movie movie itself.


    [​IMG]


    (... Most of the trailer material will probably be drawn from that last part, though it could also be neat to see "finished" versions of scenes the movie shows the Schiff character working on.)


    After a half-hour-long, ear-decimating battle, the Earth is saved. The White House, NASA Mission Control team and Schiff's daughter's second-grade students all hug, clap and cheer. A single tear glides down the president's cheek, and her husband squeezes her hand tightly. As the JLA exchange handshakes and meaningful nods, Batman gets annoyed at the invasiveness of the cameraman and punches the lens, taking us to the credits.




    ... Halfway through the CG Detailer listings, Aquaman puts on a yellow ring.



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    [RIGHT].[/RIGHT]
     
  2. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    ^You forgot the after credits scene with Amanda Waller.
     
  3. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Correct. Amanda Waller (Aloma Roberts) is revealed to be the driver of the human-like avatar played by Watson.

    Good catch! :)
     
  4. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    ^Okay, Gaith, I want to see your movie more than I do any JLA movie!
     
  5. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I remembered something that has come up in some of these JLA discussions before that I like, a two part movie. That way we can spend more time introducing and developing the characters, and bringing the team together, but still get plenty of story and action.
     
  6. Turtletrekker

    Turtletrekker Admiral Admiral

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    ^ The problem with a two-part movie is that if the first one floperoos, we don't get the second-- See Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings.
     
  7. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    ^Unless they're made back to back. See Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
     
  8. CorporalClegg

    CorporalClegg Admiral Admiral

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    Except Jackson's films didn't flop despite his best intentions.
     
  9. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    And, of course, everybody knew beforehand that that would work out. :rolleyes:
     
  10. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ... Then my work here is done.


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    [LEFT]:bolian:[/LEFT]
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Beside the point. If they made them back to back and released them 6 months apart, like the halves of the final Harry Potter and Twilight movies or Back to the Future Part II and Part III, then the second one would still be scheduled and released no matter how poorly the first one did.

    Of course, it's thus unlikely that a studio would commit to a 2-part film like that unless it were part of an already-successful franchise. It would be too great a risk to undertake it as the launch of a franchise. (Then again, LotR was quite a risk, wasn't it? I seem to recall there was a lot of trouble finding a studio willing to take the gamble.)
     
  12. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    ^Yes, quite a lot of movie studios wanted to do it as one film and Jackson and Co wwre hoping to do it as a two-parter. They met with New Line, who said 'We don't want to make two movies.'

    'We want to make three!'

    Cue rejoicing!

    The Weinsteins have a production credit due to Miramax getting involved at one stage, even though they also refused to contemplate more than one movie.
     
  13. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Well, there's a slight exception, since Silver and even Golden Age easter eggs/references were "here and there" in the Marvel movies. For example, we were treated to the original Human Torch in CA, and in IM, we heard the theme music to the 1966 Marvel Super Heroes' cartoon version of Iron Man (in a lounge arrangement). That's stuff only audiences older than 35 would even begin to understand and/or remember, as the last time both were more of a pop culture memory was decades ago (when Marvel Super Heroes' was routinely syndicated, and the Torch was a lead in The Invaders comic).

    Producers only stick that stuff in there because they know older comic fans are the only members of the audience who would get it, but its no harm if said references go over the heads of fans who were weaned on Marvel of the 1990s - present.
     
  14. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Well, yeah. But my point still stands. The movies aren't written for fans of the comics. The movies are written with a general audience in mind.
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Actually they're written for both. The goal in a comics-based movie is both to make the movie accessible and engaging to a general audience and to make it satisfying to the comics' fans. It can be a difficult balance to strike, but it's always the goal. On the one hand, bad word of mouth among the fans can hurt a film, but on the other hand, a movie that isn't accessible to a general audience can't make enough money to succeed.

    Heck, just in general, it's better to write for a wide range of different tastes rather than narrowing in on just one. Where's the sense in deliberately excluding portions of your potential audience rather than trying to draw in as many people as possible?
     
  16. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It's a foregone conclusion that Star Trek (2009) was not written for those Star Trek fans who can't tolerate the TOS roles being recast or who can't tolerate adventures in a new continuity.

    A certain subset of fans who call themselves purists are adamantly resistant to new interpretations of their pet franchise. Catering to such intractable fans, who want things to stay exactly the way they've always been, would only drag the franchise down. When trying to make a successful motion picture, pleasing them is not the goal, and they are de facto generally excluded.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^I didn't say movies were written to be appealing to every possible audience simultaneously, because obviously that can never happen. I was saying that adaptations are written for both general audiences and the fans -- and the purists are a much tinier percentage of the fans than they believe they are. So it's certainly possible to please the majority of fans, even knowing that you'll alienate the closed-minded purists.
     
  18. AvBaur

    AvBaur Captain Captain

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  19. Shazam!

    Shazam! Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    *sigh*

    Just make a Superman movie, then a Batman movie, then a Wonder Woman movie and then tie them all together in the Justice League movie bringing back Green Lantern and introducing The Flash.

    It's not even difficult.
     
  20. FPAlpha

    FPAlpha Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Why should they copy Marvel? Nearly everybody knows Superman and Batman foregoing the need for introductory movies.

    Wonder Woman i'll give you that, Green Lantern had his already (as mediocre as it was) so i'd go a different way if only to separate myself from Marvel.

    About the only thing i'd imagine that would work is building up the villain through several, hero centric, movies culminating in the big JL movie.

    Let's wait and see what Nolan does with it.