Rings of Power Season 3: What We Know From The Trailer

First up the show is finally giving us Celeborn despite originally casting him aside in favour of a romance between Galadriel and Sauron. Looks like the bad boys can be changed, S&M, arc is over.

There is a heavy focus on the forging of the one ring which as we know happens quite late in the timeline, which means season 4 will likely be the War of the Last Alliance. It is unclear how far into the prologue of the Lord of the Rings they can go. No doubt the forging of the ring will happen over the course of multiple episodes or maybe even cut back to.

The timeline is continuing to be muddied as the Balrog is playing a larger role with Durin’s storyline, it will be interesting to see where this goes as we know that he is refusing Sauron’s envoys. It is questionable why the Balrog needs a voice actor as the role isn’t really a communicative one.

There is a shot of the Nazgnagôl, so we are getting the precursor to the Ring Wraiths, this could be good if we get the Witch King and he is maybe the villain of this season with Sauron as the big bad. Within the books and the films the Witch King is somewhat of a Bobba Fett character he is a cool presence but not that developed, the expanded works add in some details but to see the Rise of the Witch King over the season could be cool.

We don’t see that much of Galadriel in the trailer and I think that’s good, I think what needs to happen is for the established characters from the second age to take more of a prominent role and the characters the show has been developing need to take a step back. Galadriel and Sauron both have roles to play in the War of the Last Alliance obviously so where that is relevant the characters can’t take a step back.

Two things that are red flags is the amount of Gandalf we are seeing, he is another one of these characters that needs to step back. As well as this a lot of this stuff with the Blue Wizards in the east seems like it has no relevance to what is going on with the main plot with Sauron so it should be cut back. The second is the kissing/sexual scene that is shown with Galadriel, this isn’t a YA show, this is a show about increasing, the War of the Last Alliance, why can’t we stick to the point: bloat is why and the idea of luring in women even though they definitely aren’t watching.

The early ring wraiths, Witch King stuff and possibly some of the War of the Last Alliance stuff could be good, but the East stuff, Gandalf and Galadriel and her wandering eye are major red flags.

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Cinema Issues: The Death of Pixar

We have written before at length in these Cinema Issues posts about how Pixar has chosen ideology over entertainment time and again, and how they have literally had to come out and say they’ll stop. Moreover, we have also said how they have been a one hit wonder emotionally manipulative, sequel machine for a long time.

Today’s article is to talk about the Disney layoffs which are happening across the company but mainly at Pixar. Some people are not understanding how Pixar can be in trouble when Toy Story 5 has just come out and done so well, let us explain.

Pixar has a bad profit to loss ratio in their recent filmmaking. In their ten films since 2020 only three of them have made money with the rest losing the studio money, some of this is the fault of Pixar and the films themselves some of it is the fault of world events or Disney’s wider decisions. However a 3/10 ratio for profitability is not good.

Let’s examine.

First you have the COVID films that lost money due to COVID and the films being sent out to streaming rather than them being bad but still created a deficit at the studio and start to dent the idea of them as hitmakers.

Onward with a budget of 200 million dollars needing to make 500 million to break even yet making 141 (due to the pandemic) lost the studio 359 million dollars.

Soul cost 150 million meaning it needed 375 million to break even but it made 122 million, costing the studio 253 million even with re-releases.

Luca coat 120 meaning it needed 300 million to break even, it made 50 million needing it cost the studio around 250 million

Turning Red cost 175 million meaning it needed 437 million to break even, it made 21 million costing the studio around 417 million dollars

These films were largely written off as most of the films that flopped during COVID where. There was an idea that once cinemas fully reopened things would change. However, Pixar then started to pivot to social activism and sending a message, which would turn out to be a very costly mistake.

Lightyear cost 200 meaning it needed 500 million to break even, it made 226 meaning it cost the studio 274 million dollars

Elemental cost 200 meaning it needs 500 million to break even, despite a strong rally it made 496.4 million dollars meaning it cost the studio 3.6 million.

Inside Out 2 was a smash hit that started to reverse the damage, it cost 200 million to make and made 1.699 billion so it made around 1.199 billion dollars in profit for the studio. This amount of profit more than covers all the past debts of all the films listed above, and leaves the studio around 300 million dollars in the black, however, if this success had then been replicated going forward Disney would likely not have laid off so many people.

Elio cost around 200 to make meaning it needed 500 to break even, It made 154 million meaning it lost the studio around 346 million which in turn eats through the last of Inside Out 2s profit for the studio.

At this point in the entire 2020s the studio had made one profitable film and was back in a precarious financial position again. This led the studio head to stay that the studio was going to stay away from political messaging and try and get back to films for everyone.

The holdovers of the woke era then came with Hoppers costing 150 to make meaning it needed 375 million to break even, it made 389 meaning it made a small profit of 14 million dollars, which in the world of movie making isn’t enough.

Then you had Toy Story 5 which cost around 250 million to make meaning it needed 625 to break even, currently it has made around 960 million and seems posed to go over a billion which will make probably around 400+ million in profit for the studio.

At the time of writing Pixar as a studio is in the black after Toy Story 5 and the small scale success of Hoopers. However Disney doesn’t want a studio that is batting 3/10, Disney doesn’t want a studio that constantly veers between profitably and loss making, Disney doesn’t want a studio that isn’t a sure thing. As such you can see corrective behaviour being taken at Pixar, the original output beyond Gato is being slashed it’s mainly sequels coming in the future, and if they were smart the budgets would come down significantly. The lay offs represent the need to make the studio profitable on a more consistent basis again, the idea of cutting the overhead down so they can lower the budget on these films and have a more consistent hit rate, especially in a landscape with a shrinking theatrical audience.

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Cinema Issues: The Importance Of The Second Weekend For The Odyssey

As Sunday rolled into Monday many people were looking at the numbers of the Odyssey first weekend around 264 and going take that chuds.

However, the first weekend is not proof of anything and everything will be decided in the second and third weekend. Here’s how.

Firstly the film using Hollywood standard 2.5x the production budget needed to break even needs to make around 625 million dollars. Which is about 360-361 million dollars from where they are now.

Now normally Nolan films have a long stretch in cinemas without competition, not this time but we will get there.

Secondly, if you look at the breakdown of the reported 264 a lot of it came from premium formats, this is your IMAX and things like that. Now these tickets were sold way in advance and bring in much more money per ticket sale than a regular ticket. However, most of the people who cared deeply about the format will have seen it by now, meaning they went the first weekend potentially suggesting we could be seeing a front loaded movie. There will be some people who couldn’t get premium seats last weekend who may go in the week or even next weekend and there will be others who go again. The number of premium tickets however will be down in the second weekend both for the natural reason of less people going but also because the few who missed out on opening weekend and those who want to see it again will be a small group. This means the second weekend drop off will be reflective of a front loaded movie. A usual film that holds well will lose about 50% of its business but this has the added factor of being so dependent on premium formats as such it could see into the 60% or higher.

Going into the second weekend the film sits at 364 million dollars, as a lot of the stragglers after the first weekend went to see the film during the week, meaning they’ll likely be high drop off on the second weekend.

This would mean that the film would end its second weekend around 500 million when you account for the weekday ticket sales as well. This leaves the film with around a 125 deficit to break even. This would then become a central issue as it faces a lock out in the third weekend.

Basically if the Odyssey wants to break even it needs an incredibly strong second weekend.

In the film’s third weekend Spider-Man Brand New Day comes out. This means the premium IMAX screens will stop making any money for the Odyssey and will be handed to Sony for that film. This means that the male demographic is split as well. Both Spider-Man and The Odyssey lean towards men, older men say 25-40 will have an interest in both so there will be direct competition. Whilst the older crowd 60+ may still show up for the prestige epic and the cinephiles might go back for rewatches the core of the audience will be hollowed out.

As such the box office will likely see a significant downturn on the third weekend.

You are then left with two options, that the film sticks around and over a few long period of time maybe into September is able to crawl to that 625 million break even point, or it does not break even at all and the chuds win.

If you were Universal you would be watching that second weekend like a hawk the closer to 500 million you can get the easier it will be to survive post Spider-Man. If the film managed to barely drop at all in the second weekend it could comfortably break even at 625 over the later summer period.

As such for those celebrating it is too soon to call.

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Interstellar: Back In The 2010s Chris Nolan Was A Serious Filmmaker

Summary, a man goes on a mission to find a new home for his kids across the stars.

Unlike something like Project Hail Mary this film actually scienced it was hard science fiction from the off rather than wasting time with goofy elements.

The performances carried the film and there was a lot of weight to it, particularly the scenes wherein the main character sees his daughter again for the first time in decades.

The film does have some of the usual Nolan bloat as he likes to indulge in, the film would have been better sans the Matt Damon plotline, and sans the Cassie Affleck side quest but hey Nolan has to Nolan.

The film is visually great and the new worlds they explore look well realised and hold up even now 12 years later.

Overall, a sign of what Nolan can do when he’s not race swapping characters to bait the culture war.

3.5/5

Pros.

The world design

The human aspects

The science

The gravity of the situation

Cons.

Bloat

Needless subplots

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Ride Or Die Season 1 Overview: Amazon Keeps On Burning Money

Summary: two older ladies have their unlikely friendship rocked when one of them reveals they are an assassin.

Where to begin with why this doesn’t work, do we even need to say why the physicality of Waddingham makes the idea she is beating the snot out of dudes incredibly unlikely.

The usual places are saying this is wonderful for featuring older women representation, we’d say who is asking to see more action properties starring 50+ year old women? The counter argument of course is this is a comedy-action series. However, you wouldn’t know that from watching it the comedy doesn’t just not land it is outright painful.

The chemistry between Spencer and Waddingham also feels like two people forced to spend time together rather than two old friends, that doesn’t get better as the show progresses it remains immovable.

Overall, you seriously question why the studio head at Amazon Prime has a job left.

0.5/5

Pros.

It is once or twice unintentionally hilarious

Cons.

The comedy is DOA

Waddingham and Spencer have no chemistry

No one asked for this

It is dull and predictable

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Evil Dead Burn: Is That It?

Summary: the deadities go after a family after they discover an ancient weapon that can kill them.

So this film was watchable and had some good gore but that’s really it, it didn’t do much of anything new either in terms of horror more broadly or in terms of the franchise.

Another thing that was odd was that the humour which is a staple of the Evil Dead franchise was mostly missing as the film played it straight, this was a bad choice.

The film once again showed the evil side of the nuclear family and turned the film into a depressing PSA on domestic abuse.

Crucially it was an Evil Dead film that wasn’t fun.

Overall, watchable if the low point for the franchise.

2/5

Pros.

The gore

It is watchable

Cons.

The lack of humour

The return of Ellie is fairly meh

It is something you have seen before

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Cinema Issues: A Surprisingly Barren July (26)

If one looks at the release schedule for July you see the early big hitters of Minons and Moana and then the Odyssey takes up the middle of the month, but then there is a gap between the Odyssey and Spiderman Brand New Day that would be unthinkable for prime summer movie season.

One explanation could be that Nolan asked the other studios and cinema to give him two weekends with his latest venture and they let him, which would be dumb, or they want to see him fail in real time.

Another could be that there just isn’t that much to release as the after effects of the strikes and the downsizing in Hollywood are starting to cut the output. The weeks between the Odyssey and Brand New Day would be the perfect time to launch a sleeper hit horror movie but people are staying away.

The summer box office this year has been erratic, with obvious flops like He-Man, The Mandalorian and Grogu and Supergirl all crashing and burning, but also with films like Minions and Monsters opening softly. You can feel Hollywood shaking, they are out of touch and aren’t connecting and don’t know why. Moana and the Odyssey won’t save them and neither will an ever shrinking summer schedule.

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Moana (Live Action): Disney Doesn’t Respect You

Summary, a film that is barely 10 years old is repackaged to you by Disney as they think you’ll just buy anything.

This film is insulting, not in that it’s bad it’s incredibly mediocre, but in how cynical it is. This film was simply made to mine an IP there was no need for it and they didn’t change much about it, it was made as Disney thought kids would just watch anything. Gone are the days of Walt’s standards.

There is precious little to say about the film as they change very little about it, you’ve seen it all before as once again the film is barely 10 years old and most people can remember it. At times it feels like a parody of the original film but you realise it is played too serious for that, a parody would have been better.

Overall, if your kid like Moana just put the original on.

2/5

Pros.

The adventure is still the same

The songs are still mostly the same

Cons.

It doesn’t need to exist

It does nothing new

It is the worst version

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The Odyssey: Greece Is A Country In Africa

Summary, a modern audience adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey with renewed female focus.

Sadly the Editor demanded that someone cover this film and that fell to me so here we are. The film didn’t look good from the trailers and from the other marketing materials but there is still further to fall.

Firstly, not only is Helen of Troy black but also Troy has a black princess. This makes no sense for the region or the time period but hey Troy is clearly Wakanda lite.

Secondly, to address the evil nature of Homer’s original text and how it didn’t focus enough on the female perspective despite being written about a war and return home from it, things only men would have had experience with at the time, we get lots of Penelope action. She is a girlboss running Ithaca turning down all the marriage proposals, as she is married and believes her husband is still alive. This wastes a lot of the film’s runtime goes on for far too long, but hey we needed more female perspective so forced marriages and suitors is the way to go, very progressive Chris.

Thirdly, the idea of Ellen Page as a greek warrior is laughable. If a male child was born like that in ancient Greece it likely would have been left for dead, she has the normal portions for a woman, but hey ho this clearly a very tolerant and progressive ancient Greece.

Fourthly, as is customary of Hollywood you can’t really have villains they have to be misunderstood. Charlize Theron’s Circe both helps the gang but also keeps and rapes Odysseus for 7 years but is not treated like the out and out villain she is. The woman uses a man for her pleasure and that is all that matters in these modern days where marriage is oppressive and men the enemy.

Finally, Odysseus is made out to be a monster for killing innocent people during the Trojan war, once again despite the left’s refusal to accept reality innocent people die in war all the time. He is punished repeatedly by Zendaya, whose presence in this film reminds us all that you don’t need to be able to act to be an actor.

You can tell at times this is adapting the translation and not the original text, the message is very clear. Women are made to rule, to use and punish men as they see fit, and that men are only after power and use women for it and that war is bad.

Christopher Nolan used to be a serious filmmaker this is not serious filmmaking it is a vandalisation of Greek mythology, but hey they refuses to do the press tour in Greece so what does it matter.

1/5

Pros.

There are a few aspects of the classic text it leaves alone.

Cons.

The modern dayisms

Expecting people to believe that Ellen Page is a greek soldier

The terrible acting at times

The pacing and bloat

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Cinema Issues: The Cowardice Of The Odyssey

As many of you may know the new Christopher Nolan film is mere days away from release, yet unlike other Nolan offerings this one is wrapped up in controversy. Whether that is the vandalisation of greek mythology, casting a woman to play a man’s role (Ellen Page), the race swap of Helen of Troy, or possibly having Lupita N’yongo Karensplain female perspective to Homer thousands of years later. The latter is particularly egregious when you think the Odyssey has some of the most developed female characters in the ancient literature, but surely you don’t expect N’yongo to bother reading it.

The beginnings of the cowardice began when they announced a worldwide press tour for the film, but that it wouldn’t stop in Greece. This is important as the Greek Government has publicly criticised the film for not featuring Greek actors. Moreover, knowing what they have on their hands Universal has taken to turning off comments on any new marketing material they release in order to make sure they only platform positive comments and docile bot accounts. The ratio of the trailers shows a very different story.

The fact remains this may have been one of Christopher Nolan’s greatest mistakes as a director and this may well cost him professionally if it doesn’t land well over the 600 million needed break even point

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