Cinema Issues: The National Democratisation Of Cinema

In this edition of Cinema Issues we are talking about the rise of international cinema.

For a long time Hollywood has been a dominant box office force, this has led to them becoming an out of touch echo chamber where they think they can tell people how to live and think. In terms of cultural imperialism this was doubly true, a lot of world markets struggled to maintain cinema industries or their own as their narrative offerings were often torn apart by the American studio films.

However Hollywood seems sick, maybe that sickness is coming from one ruling class of people who cannot see the culture has changed and that people want something different. Maybe that sickness is coming from the sea of nepo babies and diversity hires who don’t understand how to make good films anymore, or the focus groups they use to test films. One thing is for true and it is that Hollywood is in decline the box office is shrinking in the west and more and more studio fare is flopping.

In this climate Indian Cinema, Chinese Cinema and Japanese Cinema are all stepping in and achieving greater and greater success not just in their own markets but globally, including in the US market. People are starting to see Hollywood for what it is and move away move to these other things that are offering something fresh.

Many American productions are also moving abroad which in turn is moving resources and people out of California.

The world is shifting whether Hollywood likes it or not.

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Cinema Issues: Is Woke Dead?

In this edition of cinema issues we are discussing the broader progressive movement in films and tv and checking it’s pulse.

So before we get into it a quick highlight reel, the Acolyte was canned after one season, Starfleet Academy was cancelled, Doctor Who had series worst views, lost its deal with Disney and now is in limbo beyond a Christmas special, the Rings of Power has been a huge failure and has lost millions of viewers season on season, the Wheel of Time was cancelled, the Witcher was aborted.

It is pretty safe to say being an overly progressive show or film isn’t safe anymore, there is a question to be made that it never was, but now it is definitely for the chopping block. Audiences across the board have rejected things like Snow White and Tron 3, and are sick and tired of media preaching progressive views at people.

The thing is they did this to themselves they suffered from what we called California Syndrome wherein they believe they are modern day saints or apostles preaching the progressive bible and must stick it into everything. This is what happens when an echo chamber forms and any other form of thought is labelled toxic and removed. Even once safe brands like Marvel have started flopping, last year marvel made 3 films each flopped. One side stepped the natural successor to Cap and had Falcon take his place so they could go look we have a black Captain America, the next was a team up focusing on mental health, the final was a Sue Storm origin film that showed that strong women are the real heroes. All of them lost money.

The question this piece asks is it over? No is the answer. The fact remains that the people in the industry still ascribe to the Californian Creed and will still try to push for it, the only difference will be that the money people will tell them no, and they’ll be forced to either do their own stuff or scale it back. So whilst the tide is reversing the battles are not done. The fact is you can still see vestiges of it in new releases, remember these projects often take years to make and so are not reflective of the current alignment. Look at two big releases this summer, Masters of the Universe wherein they are making a Barbie Doll for a masculine franchise and the lead is saying he is borrowing from traditional masculinity and femininity. This shows you it’s still there. Additionally look at Supergirl wherein the lead has already 3 months before release gone on the war path to scream that anyone who doesn’t like the film is a sexist and that men think they own women’s bodies. As you can see the sickness is still there, the idea of entitlement that they are deserving of having people watch, the idea of attacking fans, the idea of wrong think and punishing people for it, is still very much alive in Hollywood.

It appears there is a growing split between studio heads, the people with the money and the talent. In many ways this is going to get worse and will lead to the wider use of AI to remove the creatives. The studio heads can see the writing on the wall and want a pull back from progressive nonsense, Bob Iger said this ages ago, but the talent still wants to virtue signal. The only way to reach them is to make sure their offers of work dry up by not watching their projects.

It’s a shame now we live in an era wherein you have to look up an actors politics before you watch a film with them in, to go oh do they hate white people, straight people or the Jews, as these are the only groups Hollywood is allowed to go after now. Sadly actors and creatives moved away from the idea of not wanting them as a person to interfere with the project and felt the need to seek praise online by agreeing with every progressive cause they could , they openly hate you.

The issue truly is that they didn’t realise it was us that cut their checks.

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Cinema Issues: What Happened To Kids Movies

In this Cinema Issues article we are talking about the recent spate of soulless kids movies. This isn’t about any one film or even one studio but a broader issue.

There are still some kids films that manage to bring heart into their films, and that manage to feel deep rather than shallow and without personality but by and large this is an exception to the rule.

Kids films used to have substance to them and be more than just references and loud noises, they would stick to universal themes and not try and force in left wing activism, they would have stuff for adults as well as kids, rather than seemingly pitching stories that only adults would get.

It feels as though a lot of these films aren’t even aimed at kids anymore, for example Hoppers had a plot about environmental activism and a mechanism around body hopping kids wouldn’t understand that. These films market with the idea of oh look small animals to appeal to kids but when the film starts there is far more too it that just goes over the kids head.

As we’ve said time and again, almost all of these things can be traced back to two things. One due to the rise of short form content a lot of these films think they don’t have to work on good narratives and can instead just throw quick moments or scenes together to keep child engagement. Alternatively, you have the fact that the goal with a lot of films, not just kids films, for a long time has been to push politics not to actually entertain. There is the idea that if you push progressive content into kids films it’s will get them to normalise these ideas and embrace them as they age. This isn’t true and is pretty creepy to begin with.

If you have kids honestly these days the better bet is to get a steaming service and put on animated films of yore, back when they had to try and back before they needed to shove left wing messaging into everything.

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Cinema Issues: Marvel Doubles Down On Slop

So Daredevil has been sidelined in his own show. Certain members of the cast have already come out to disparage and name call the audience.

The Punisher will be a lot less brutal and almost comedic in Brand New Day

And Peter Parker is second fiddle to the community within Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Can you feel that the last vestige of a brand are dying.

So the head of Marvel TV has been taking, and boy has he shown he shouldn’t be in a job. He has renewed Wonder Man for season 2, because of DEI , or maybe because it was given a two season order but this is despite the fact it was the least watched Disney + show. More people watched Echo. He claims it’s because people loved the show the numbers don’t reflect that.

Then in terms of Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man he said it is about a community telling a community tale. We’re sorry we thought it was a Spider-Man show. Also which community only has white people as villains outside of Peter and feels the need to have every single race and ethnicity ticked off on a list.

They have renewed Marvel Zombies for a season 2, that was a show we were excited for before it just became a girl boss show and a way for them to continue to include Riri despite the God awful ratings for that show.

Marvel’s efforts with Disney + have been what’s taken the brand from the heights of End Game to where we are now. Yes they made some bad films, but by and large it has been the terrible Disney + shows that have inflicted the mortal blows on the brand.

Last year the MCU released 3 films, Captain Falcon the Brave New World, The Thunderbolts, which we liked, and Fantastic Four. All of them lost money. As for Disney + you had Daredevil which was met with collective disappointment, except from us though season 2 has taken us there as well, Iron Heart, Wonder Man, Eyes of Wakanda, Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, and Marvel Zombie non of which had any cultural staying power. Pandering hard to the black community and to women, who don’t traditionally watch a lot of superhero fare doesn’t appear to be giving them the audience they want.

Never fear when in doubt just keep doing the same thing and expect different results, the definition of insanity. Born Again season leans into overt left wing messaging and relegates Daredevil, they green light season two of Wonder Man despite the terrible ratings, Punisher, a character fans actually liked is neutered.

At this point I think Doomsday will be big but nowhere near the levels of Infinity War or End Game not even close. I think years of alienating the audience calling fans toxic, and making the projects you want to make rather than what audiences ask for has come around to bite. They did it to themselves.

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Cinema Issues: Harry Potter And The Ridiculous Backlash

In this edition of Cinema Issues we are talking about the backlash from parts of the LGBTQ community to the new Harry Potter tv series trailer.

Did your protests make book shops stop selling Harry Potter? No.

Did your protests kill Hogwarts Legacy? No.

Is J.K Rowling personally killing trans people? No.

Is J.K Rowling creating laws you don’t like? No.

Will your protest stop this show from being popular? No.

So before we get into it, we just wanted to say that we didn’t want to watch this Harry Potter show because of the modern audience slop it’s doing with Snape, but we have now been put in a weird catch 22. We can not watch it and let the militant trans people sending death threats to Rowling win, or we can watch it and deal with the modern dayisms. It’s a rock and a hard place.

In the online conversation around the new Harry Potter trailer amongst people saying there is no need for this or that visually it didn’t look as good, both valid points. There were people sending death threats to J.K Rowling calling her names saying she had blood on her hands, and trying to spoil the book for new audiences. This doesn’t make your cause, the trans movement, look good nor does it make you look like people who people want to protect or side with. When you behave in such a manner it actively helps people who don’t like you as they can point to your behaviour of sending death threats of proof of what they say about you. That’s not winning hearts and minds.

On top of that you have the fact they think they can shame people into doing what they want attacking people who mention Harry Potter as bigots or as being transphobes. Again you cannot shame people into doing what you want them to do it doesn’t work and makes them go the other way. The fact that the trailer has been massively viewed isn’t surprising considering there is a group of people out there demanding others don’t watch it. It very much is like when you’re a kid and your parents may say don’t do something it often makes you want to do it more.

Ultimately there is a crisis of entitlement going on across the world, wherein these small pressure groups think they can dictate how the rest of the world behaves. You need to understand you’re a tiny group and that most people don’t care, and with your behaviour you’re turning people from don’t care into active dislike. You don’t have a right to not be offended or to be catered to, as you would like to say to people you disagree with if you don’t like it don’t watch it and be quiet. You are making things worse for yourself not better.

Cinema Issues: James Gunn The Man Who Should Have Stayed Cancelled

In this edition of Cinema Issues we are talking about James Gunn, why he’s a truly awful studio head and why God willing he’ll be fired soon.

Where to start, perhaps with the fact that he was too afraid to use the phrase truth, justice and the American way on the Superman poster but will use truth, justice, whatever, on the Supergirl poster.

Or perhaps we should think about how edgy he is, and how he needed to have Superman cancelled in his film, just like James was, or have him called a bitch by his cousin or have a photo of him pissed on by his dog. Just to remind you that no one cares about Superman least of all James Gunn. As why respect one of DC’s oldest and most beloved heroes?

Why not have Kal-El suggest Superman take a harem, why not force in the Justice Gang as it has then invokes his initials. It’s bad decision after bad decision.

In that same vein why not allow a guy who thinks the word Green in Green Lanterns is lame to make a Green Lanterns show in a true detective style. Or shoot a Clayface film without a Batman.

How about his new feminist side of showing how women can be just as messy as men, and how women aren’t perfect by having them be damaged drunk party girls who don’t grow. The same person who thinks telling little girls it’s okay to be a mess is a positive message.

Maybe we can get back to the fact that he likes to get into spats online, or the fact he revealed a whole slate of projects most of which haven’t been seen or heard from again. Remember the Authority?

All of this comes without all the creepy jokes he made about kids or SA and thing of that nature that got him canned from Marvel.

Honestly his tenure as studio head, opening with a cartoon no one watched, following it with a Superman film that was a financial disappointment and then following that with a Supergirl film with zero hype, suggests that he really was the wrong man for the job.

It’s time for WBD or Paramount to just fire him.

Cinema Issues: Putting Star Trek Out To Pasture

What show has a large woman who eats her own comms badge, a black guy who has two dads that left him, and also a ship captain who seems unable to sit in a chair. That’s right it’s Starfleet Academy.

One’s mind may go back to the instantly memeable moment from the Simpsons wherein the kid goes stop it it’s already dead. The numbers have been bad for a lot of Kurtzman Trek over time but this one just couldn’t seem to connect with much of anyone as such it was cancelled before it’s second season even airs. This is due to the fact that the second season is already paid for and shot so it will be released likely all at once and then the show will be canned.

The reason why the show has been cancelled is because no one was watching it and the ratings were bad. It is that simple. However if you wanted to talk about why the ratings were bad then let’s go, they chased away the male audience calling them bad and toxic, and aimed primarily at women and the LGBTQ+ crowd, this is not enough to hold up a majority male brand who knew. Whilst other shows had the bare amount of testosterone needed to get men to watch it, Academy seemed to be against that from the beginning deciding to lean even harder into it’s small Blue Sky niche audience. Spitting on your fans also doesn’t help with this.

Before we hear the trite Star Trek has always been woke reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee comments, there is a difference between a show exploring political ideas of both the left and the right and having a nuanced debate and letting you make up your own mind, as the Original Series and The Next Generation did. As opposed to telling you what to think and saying if you don’t think this your a Nazi as modern trek loves to do.

The narratives online is already that this is because the family that runs Paramount are Trump supporters, if this was the case why wasn’t it cancelled earlier why now, and is based out of the fact that these people cannot understand that they are the minority and that no one watched. It’s sad.

Cinema Issues: The Killing Fields

In this edition of Cinema Issue we are talking about release strategy and how Hollywood cannot seem to get out of its own way. Back a few decades ago films would come out on the same weekend and compete, this became less and less done and studio executives became more and more skittish.

Now you have things like films with very similar premises such as Ready or Not and They Will Kill You coming out a week apart. This is not a return to direct facing off, in that they are coming out on the same weekend, which at least has free market merit, this is release date stupidly. By spacing out the films by a week the latter will suffer at the box office as people are not going to want to see a film very similar to Ready or Not a week later. Ultimately it should have either come out alongside it at the same time, if they have confidence in it, or moved to a different release date.

This is but one example of this trend you can see studios doing things like this all the time sometimes cannibalising their own films. For example next spring/summer Disney are going to release the live action remake of Lilo and Stitch 2 at the end of May and then the third Incredibles film in the middle of June. This gives their own Lilo and Stitch about 2 weeks before it will have its marketshare eaten into by Incredibles 3 and is just stupid. If rival studios want to challenge each other that’s business but if studios are committing acts of self harm to their own release slates that stupidity.

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Cinema Issues: The Oscar Fate Of Sinners

The film got 4/16 nominations, many of which were undeserved. Cinematography, original screenplay and best actor should not have been given to it. After the smear campaign against Timothy Chalamet the ground was being set for the upset and for Jordan’s win but he didn’t deserve it. Playing two characters which are the same as the character he plays in everything else doesn’t mean he deserves the award over people like Ethan Hawke. It was tokenism. They knew Sinners wouldn’t get best director or best picture so they needed to give it something big and so they did. It was an effort to stop the inevitable calls of racism. Too late.

People have already screamed racism as it didn’t win all the awards it was nominated for, no film has ever won that many, they are also calls for black people to boycott the Oscars now and only care about the NAACP awards, therefore creating segregation in the awards circuit. Also the NAACP awards literally gives away awards based on race, so it does away with even the slightest whiff of merit. Screaming racism as a film doesn’t win 16 Oscars just devalues what racism is and makes you look like a baby having a tantrum, racism is people being treated as lesser based on race, suffering violence based on race, have freedoms revoked based on race, not a film only winning 4 Oscars.

To return to awards that this film didn’t deserve let’s talk about best original screenplay. There was so little original about Sinners that as we said, the award should be given to Robert Rodriguez, the film in so many ways is a rip off of From Dusk Till Dawn, that to call it original is baffling. This sets a new low bar for original at the Oscars and has devalued it in the process.

The phrase give someone an inch and they take a mile comes to our writers minds, the Oscars tried to pander and tried to give into tokenism to avoid being called racist and avoid these calls for boycotts and yet despite doing this and damaging their credibility it happened anyway.

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Cinema Issues: Paramount Wins

In today’s edition of cinema issues we talk about the fact that at the moment of writing it seems as though Paramount is going to win in it’s bid for WBD.

Ultimately there was always a chance of this as the current American administration favours them, and could have made things very difficult for Netflix at the regulatory stage.

There are some people who are saying that this is a win for cinemas, as Netflix would have led to them closing down, however, this is not the win they think it is. Two major studios merging means there will be mass layoffs, which will further contract the industry and also likely lead to less things coming out in cinemas overall.

So far Paramount has confirmed they intended to keep a large theatrical output going forward, much higher than what they are currently doing however , the numbers that have been floated likely aren’t realistic.

Moreover, this move seems threatening to other studios, you have to think now that players like Sony and Universal will be thinking about expansion and to buy up independent studios and production companies in order to compete. Really a lot of this started during Disney’s era of expansion, in that sense the Paramount WBD merger appears similar to Disney buying 21st Century Fox.

There is also the Netflix question of it all, and what their next move may be, they had other studios on their list, will they move on to one of those or reflect over the strategy. Could Netflix make a bid for Universal or the film parts of Sony.

One thing is for sure we are in the era of monopolies.

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