MeatHookGekko
Super Freak
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2007
- Messages
- 2,377
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Will not be cancelled.
From what I'm hearing, the reshoots were a combination of issues. First, all MCU release timelines had to be pushed back. No one knew if there would be another wave of COVID19 lockdowns. Also no one knew if there would be rioting/looting/destruction in most of the major cities in late 2024 into 2025. In effect, no one knew if the dying local movie theater would survive or not. ( Another set of lockdowns would effectively kill the movie theater system in place) Second, storylines needed to be changed because some current events changed, what's seen as acceptable even just a few years ago is not seen as marketable today. I'll leave that mostly there. I don't think it's too hard to figure out. Third, the entire MCU schedule had to be revamped to phase out Jonathan Majors and include changes to support the new Avengers films. He really screwed this up for everyone. You can't really blame Feige here for having to jettison him, not like he had a choice at some point. Fourth, the film will shift to an ensemble. No one privately believes in Anthony Mackie. Not at this scale. And I don't think Marcus Spellman is going to find a ton of work or people banging on his door to get him onto projects after this.
IMHO, Feige is making the best out of this situation. CA4 is going to be a "transition film". Like Age Of Ultron, it's not really a film within itself on it's own, it's more of a collection of pieces to support the rest of the "universe" moving forward. So this is a salvage job considering the circumstances. I don't feel bad for Mackie, he hitched his wagon to Spellman and so locked their fates together. The one leverage point that Mackie had is no one else could play Captain America at this point, well he used it, and now he has to accept what comes next.
Let's see what happens. Other productions in distress have found a way to come through on the back end. It's not hopeless. But the math behind this is bad news for everyone. When the MCU is very successful, it can take chances on more fringe characters and storylines. We would never have gotten Guardians Of The Galaxy without the big success of other MCU films around it in it's timeline. For example, I think the MCU could churn out a pretty good tween show, appealing to Gen Z, using Jacob Batalon and Angourie Rice as Ned and Betty from the Spiderman universe. There's a clear market share out there for something in the tone of Nick And Norah's Infinite Playlist. Maybe it's not the cup of tea of most here, but the MCU can appeal to more than just one type of demographic. Both are far more talented than the scope of their limited MCU roles and have a nice easy relatable chemistry together. When the MCU is in full stride, you can take risks like that. When it's not, you lose those kind of opportunities.
What's the lesson here? You can't build a film concept about the "current tides" It's too volatile. While films traditionally tend to encapsulate the tone and reflect certain eras and the culture given the time and place, it's only really functional if it's subtle. Take Alex Garland's Civil War. How it was seen a month ago is not how it's going to be seen as of today.
This is like Olympic basketball. The US is still the leader, but the rest of the world is catching up. In the film industry, the South Korean system is almost there. They have made generational leaps in their development with movies and television in the past decade. The rate of growth is actually quite staggering. But the SK film industry absolutely would not tolerate the kind of petty senseless crap common in the US film industry. Spellman would get dragged to the tallest building in South Korea and tossed off of it there, if he tried his routine there like here.
There is nothing wrong with making "content" in so much as it stays in it's lane to please fans and give them a good time and make gobs of money as the priority. While I won't pan CA4 before it's release, I will say it's a troubling sign when someone like Spellman has no idea what it even means to make content at all. It's one thing when you do something that pisses people off. It's another when you do things that no one around you actually understands. If you want to lecture people, make a documentary. Nothing wrong with that. But if you work for the MCU, you are agreeing to make "content" It's not toxic to tell someone to stay in a lane they chose themselves. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
