^ How, exactly, does pointing out that there's a double standard in how the DCEU and MCU are being judged constitute " whining"?
WB's Justice League 2017 movie pre-discussion thread
- Thread starter Samurai8472
- Start date
There’s no double standard. One works and the other doesn’t. You can make two soups using the same ingredients, but if one tastes terrible you don’t blame the person eating it.
I agree. Some of the DC movies (Man of Steel, the Ultimate Cut of Batman v Superman) are excellent, while the vast majority of the Marvel Studios movies are the exact same movie with different window dressings.
To each their own.
Some new projections have JL opening below $100 Million (low as $95 Million), which would be the lowest DCEU opening to date. If the movie has the same poor legs as MoS or BvS then JL is going to make less than SS or Wonder Woman globally, which would be disastrous for a film estimated to have cost anywhere between $250-$300 million minus marketing.
I hope the audience score, which seems vastly ahead of critical reception can help.
I hope the audience score, which seems vastly ahead of critical reception can help.
DC really don't appear to have things in order. Trying to catch up with the MCU they have abandoned any efforts to build and jumped in with the main characters already up and running.
Throw in a movie about a group of villains before you've introduced the heroes, talk of out of continuity movies featuring different versions of the same characters, unconnected TV versions of the characters, top acting talent wanting to quit, poor and muddled filmmaking and replacement of creatives and you really do have a hell of a mess.
DC are truly fortunate that Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are so fantastically high profile and burned into the public consciousness - it's made them bullet proof to some extent. If Marvel had been this inept with what was, after all, their second and third string characters they'd never have reached The Avengers movie.
I should add that I don't mind Cavill as Superman at all, think Gadot is fantastic as Wonder Woman and absolutely LOVED Affleck (an actor I didn't really care for) as Batman. They REALLY need to keep him.
I thought BvS was a pretty crappy piece of film making overall, but despite that, still really enjoyed it. I'm hoping for the same from Justice League.
I thought BvS was a pretty crappy piece of film making overall, but despite that, still really enjoyed it. I'm hoping for the same from Justice League.
It's not like all Marvel comic films were successful from the gate. I know the history telling usually starts with "Iron Man" but there were other films before that that were less than successful.
The fact that we are at a place were comic book films are taken more seriously, at all, is amazing feat in of itself, much less cinematic universes.
I agree that DC is playing catch up, but Marvel was doing that for years before they found success, unlike DC's Batman and Superman films.
Personally, I prefer the Marvel films, generally, because I like it when superheroes can be fun and enjoyable. The sad part is, I didn't even know there was a Justice League film coming out until I was in the toy section at Wal Mart with my kids.
Marvel as an entity got production credits on IP produced by other studios, but Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were the first movies made by Marvel Studios.
And, I get that, and I understand MCU is a new push by that studio to really advance its product and comic book films as a whole.
I would rather look at the whole picture, since DC films started well before the DCU films. It tells the story rather than just which studio did what film.
It looks like DC may not be quite as bullet proof as I thought - it's under performing and unlikely to top $100 million opening. If so, it will be the lowest opener in the DC Extended Universe with BvS ($166.0M), Suicide Squad ($133.6M), Man of Steel ($116.6M), and Wonder Woman ($103.2M).
It'll still do the kind of business most movies would kill for, but factoring in how much it cost and it's promotional budget...
It'll still do the kind of business most movies would kill for, but factoring in how much it cost and it's promotional budget...
It’s surprising and disappointing (for WB, anyway) especially considering obviously not just the line-up of characters but the fact that it’s the first DCEU film since the positively received Wonder Woman.
Perhaps superhero fatigue has finally set in.
This year we've had
3 MCU films Spider-Man 6, GOTG 2 and Thor 3
1 XCU film: Logan
2 DC films: Wonder Woman and Justice League
A recurring criticism of JL is that it's more of the same and it didn't innovate enough to be different.
Guess it pays to be first. Like how after 1977 with Star Wars, Star Trek (TMP 1979) has been trying to play catch-up ever since. This past year with Rogue One and Beyond, we see that Trek still can't perform on the same level as Wars.
This year we've had
3 MCU films Spider-Man 6, GOTG 2 and Thor 3
1 XCU film: Logan
2 DC films: Wonder Woman and Justice League
A recurring criticism of JL is that it's more of the same and it didn't innovate enough to be different.
Guess it pays to be first. Like how after 1977 with Star Wars, Star Trek (TMP 1979) has been trying to play catch-up ever since. This past year with Rogue One and Beyond, we see that Trek still can't perform on the same level as Wars.
Last edited:
Probably doesn't help the Trek fandom has withered in the interim.
For one thing, I think audiences are savvy enough to see that this is far more of a BvS follow-up than a WW one. For another, Downey is the only actor/hero to headline a billion-dollar solo superhero movie apart from Bale's Batman (with IM3), and even Marvel Studios hasn't tried giving us two major Iron Man appearances only half a year apart. So, given the lukewarm audience reaction to BvS and the fact that we just got a colorful, funny, well-received superhero team-up movie two weeks ago, these B.O. returns don't surprise me at all. WB should have pushed this movie to March (and not gone all-in with Snyder after MoS in the first place, of course).
I'm saving this for a chuckle next year when the next Avengers movie comes out.
If you take every single film into account, then it makes DC look even stupider. All those decades of experience (and several of their films were and are fantastic) and they still fumbled the DCEU?
No, people just go to see movies they're interested in. You don't think some westerns did poorly back in the day even though the genre as a whole was thriving? "More of the same" is an easy line to throw out, but it actually speaks to the quality of the film, not the number of releases. People don't get excited about a film that is, "Okay, I guess." Ragnarok seems to be doing just fine for itself. Unless the fatigue set in within the last few weeks?
