It looks like Warner Bros. is excited about the success of Dune, which is currently on its way to becoming their second film to pass the $100M mark at the domestic box office. The film just left HBO Max, as it was still part of the streaming deal that Warner Bros. made last year. As around $50M of its income worldwide is from IMAX showings and domestically an impressive 20% of its total box office, it seems they want to use the chance to re-release it again for a limited time on December 3rd.
The film was specially shot for the format. So, it makes sense that they’d want to continue to bank on it. Select locations will even have a 1.43 aspect ratio vs. the usual IMAX offering of 1.90:1 that adds up to 40% more of the film’s picture. The film was shot with this format in mind, which Warner Bros. and Legendary banked on while advertising the film.
Of course, it was a bit of a conflict with the simultaneous streaming release, but Dune still has shown a strong box office holding. It currently still remains in the top 5 and was only pushed out of the top spot with the release of Eternals. It’ll be interesting to see if this additional screening will add a decent boost to its performance.
Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s marketing is in full force, as they’ve created an entire TikTok channel for the in-universe Daily Bugle. Not just that, fellow Midtown High student, Angourie Rice‘s Betty Brant, is the service’s new intern and will host various videos alongside J.K. Simmons‘ J. Jonah Jameson. It’s a clever way to advertise the upcoming film without showing too much footage. It’s similar in style to when they created videos ahead of Ant-Man’s release that is from the in-universe news channel WHIH Newsfront. You can check out the TikTok account by clicking here. @BrandonDavisBD also uploaded the pic featuring Brant’s introduction on Twitter which you can check out here:
The MCU Daily Bugle has an official TikTok account!
It’s quite a clever idea to advertise the film and its in-universe events. Sadly, the WHIH concept only ran for a limited time and wasn’t recurringly brought back. It would be great to see the Daily Bugle be a recurring element in the MCU’s future. Betty Brant’s addition is also a great touch, as she is famously part of the news organization in the comics. So, it’ll be interesting to see if she has a future with the company moving forward and there is even a reference to it in the upcoming No Way Home film.
Will she or won’t she? Until Murphy’s Multiverse got the first look at Hailee Steinfeld on the set of Hawkeye last year, nobody knew if the actress was really going to play Kate Bishop or not. Now we know and it’s clear that Hailee Steinfield is a good representation of the Kate Bishop in the comics, so good, in fact, she’s not only an anchor point for this series but could be one for the future of the whole MCU.
Through the first two episodes of Hawkeye, Hailee Steinfield portrays Kate Bishop as a determined, outgoing, 22 year old. She has grown up idolizing Hawkeye because he saved her life in the battle of New York. Ever since then, she has been protective of her mother. Over the course of the first two episodes, you see Kate openly reject any attempts by her mom’s fiance, Jacque Duquesne, to bond with her while attempting to force herself into Clint’s life.
While her relationship with Clint is very similar in the comics, the death of her father is a change to the story that allows for her to connect with Clint on an even deeper level. If the Battle of New York would have never happened and her father wouldn’t have died, she wouldn’t have gotten so into archery and self-defense. The absence of her father has left her searching for someone to fill that role. While Jacque is all to happy to force himself into the role, Kate is more interested in forcing herself into that relationship with Clint. Daughters seek the acceptance of their fathers, but they don’t just want to be accepted without reason; they want to prove that they are worth accepting. This is what we see from Kate in the first two episodes: the refusal of one father figure’s empty gestures, in exchange for having to prove to Clint that she is worth accepting. Steinfeld is super believable in both those relationships, to the point where she could almost be playing two different characters.
Steinfeld’s talents as an actress allow this to resonate with the audience. There is a subtleness to her hatred towards Jacque even though she loves her mother. On the other hand, there is an over eagerness to her attempts to make Clint like her. In the first two episodes of the show, Hailee presents a character that is funny and outgoing. Even though her mom warned her to stay out of trouble, Kate’s stubbornness has gotten her into exactly that kind of trouble, which ironically involves her mom’s fiance and his family. Her stubborn determination led her into the scene of the murder of Armond and right into the crosshairs of the Tracksuit Mafia. In the end of episode two, Kate is in some serious trouble and we will have to wait and see if her personality traits will do anything other than get her in deeper and deeper trouble.
Even though her story has been changed from the comics, the stubborn determination the character has in the show comes straight from the pages of the Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung’sYoung Avengers and Matt Fraction and David Aja’sHawkeye. In the YoungAvengers Kate is always trying to help people and get things done efficiently. In Hawkeye, she is always curious and wanting to learn something new. Almost from the moment they meet, Hailee portrays the character as trying to learn from Clint, much to the displeasure of her unwilling mentor. In doing so she nails one after another of Kate’s key character traits. Steinfeld was a great choice for this role because, in my own opinion, she is very likeable and has a wide range of talents. I am looking forward to seeing Steinfeld continue to bring Kate to life in the MCU and become a key player in it.
After Kate’s bungled rescue attempt of Clint left both of our heroes hostage at the hands of the Tracksuit Mafia, Episode 2, “Hide and Seek”, briefly introduced a woman, dressed in black and surrounded by booming speakers, before abruptly ending. Who was that woman and what does she have to do with the bigger picture of the season of Hawkeye? Read on true believers.
During the black market auction that serves as the inciting moment for much of the plot of the first 2 episodes, the auctioneer mentions that “the Ronin decimated the criminal underworld” of New York, “almost completely annihilating the status and power of the head of organized crime.” As fans of the comics know, that “head of organized crime” is very likely Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, who has long been rumored to appear in Hawkeye with VincentD’Onofrio reprising the role he first played over 3 season of the Netflix’s Daredevil. As the episode unfolds, it becomes clear that the Tracksuit Mafia, who can barely stay out of their own way, are foot soldiers who answer to someone else-the someone else Clint set out to see when he allowed himself to be captured by the Bros. The closing moments of the episode lead the audience to believe that boss is the mysterious woman in black, but that’s almost certainly a very clever misdirect on the part of director and executive producer Rhys Thomas. The woman in black is Maya Lopez and while she’s not the big boss, her comic book counterpart is directly linked to the man that most likely is.
Maya Lopez, aka Echo, is played by newcomer Alaqua Cox, and will spinoff into her own Marvel Studios streaming series which will probably stream in 2023. While we don’t get to see much of Lopez in episode 2, her presence (accompanied by a killer beat) seems to imply bad things will be coming for Barton and Bishop. First introduced in 1999’s Daredevil, Vol. 2 #9, Lopez was raised by and worked for the Kingpin…after he murdered her father. Marvel Studios isn’t big on direct page-to-screen adaptations of stories or characters, so the dynamic and history seems like it’ll be a little different here with Lopez seeming to serve as a lieutenant for the Kingpin, getting her hands dirty so he won’t have to.
To that end, Lopez has an impressive skill set that will almost certainly be sampled in Episode 3. Born Deaf, Lopez displayed what the comics called “photographic reflexes” from an early age. Simply put, Lopez demonstrated the ability to watch someone do something and then repeat is at an expert level. This ability allowed her to master musical instruments, despite not being able to hear them, drawing, dance and, relevant to her position as someone who kicks ass for the Kingpin, martial arts.
The end of the episode gives us just enough information to know that the MCU iteration of the character is Deaf and, like in the comics can read lips, and is to be feared as a physical threat (one of the Tracksuits ominously says “you’re in trouble now, Bro”, before cutting to our first look at Lopez-which is a really funny and self-aware comment because he realizes that Barton was never “in trouble” before despite being surrounded by half a dozen bros). We also know that her father, played by Zahn McClarnon, will appear in the series (see this old, exclusive set video of ours which shows her visiting her father’s residence), so it’s important to note that we are just at the beginning of Lopez’s journey. While Lopez may start the series in the employ of the “head of organized crime”, it’s highly unlikely she finishes it that way and even more unlikely she’s on good terms with “whomever” that is.
Finally, the long wait has come to an end and we finally got our hands on the first two episodes of Hawkeye. The latest Marvel studios show introduces us to a more grounded storyline with Clint Barton trying to make up for past mistakes and his unlikely new protégé, Hailee Steinfeld‘s Kate Bishop. The release also includes some insights into the creative team, even some that we haven’t heard about yet. In the first episode’s credits, the name Andrew Guest pops up as a consulting producer.
It’s quite an interesting addition that hasn’t been announced so far. Guest has worked on quite a number of classic comedies, such as 30 Rock and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Interestingly enough, it seems his inclusion in the project was teased back in September when the Community writer shared his excitement for the latest Marvel Studios project.
One of the highlights from the series is the dynamic between Kate and Clint. There’s a good chance that the writer and producer’s experience with comedies. He might’ve joined the writing team to offer his insight into some of the character moments, or even bring the comedy of the Tracksuit Mafia together. It’ll be interesting to see if his style of comedy shows through the rest of the series as we see how the story continues to unravel.
In Star Wars, George Lucas introduced audiences to the Stormtroopers. Faceless, uniformed goons who accept their (literal) marching orders from their unseen overlord without question. When we first see them board the Tantive IV, they’re presented in overwhelming numbers and, since they’re accompanied by Vader, seem pretty terrifying. Over time, however, they’ve become so well-known in pop culture for their ineptitude (especially when it comes to shooting) that they were the butt of a meta joke in an episode of The Mandalorian. Whatever Lucas’s original plans, Stormtroopers have become weak-minded canon fodder for the heroes of the Star Wars universe, falling for every trick in the book and only mildly threatening because there seems to be no end to how many of them can be marched out.
Whether intentionally or by happy accident, Marvel Studios newest Disney Plus streaming series, Hawkeye, has introduced a group of similarly buffoonish foot soldiers to the MCU in the Tracksuit Mafia and, over the first two episodes, the delivers HEAVY Stormtrooper vibes. The parallels are astounding. Similar to the Stormtroopers, they explode onto the scene in a terrifying fashion as they rob the basement black market auction…and they do so as faceless, uniformed goons. Even in large numbers, the Tracksuits can’t handle Kate Bishop and are only successful in their quest for the enigmatic watch by accident-and that doesn’t even go well for them. Their next attempt to catch Kate ends with them taking another ass-beating at the hands of both Bishop and Barton but it’s not until their Molotov assault on Kate’s loft that we see their ineptitude on full display and it only gets worse from there. Clint’s conversation with the Bros following his “capture” reveals that much like the Stormtroopers, they’re none to bright, much to the frustration of Hawkeye.
Through two episodes, the Tracksuits have accomplished absolutely nothing of note…other than to become absolutely loveable for their stupidity. Hats off to the group of actors, led by Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk and Carlos Navarro, for bringing the Tracksuits to the screen straight from the pages of Matt Fraction and David Aja’s epic run. Their interactions with the Hawkeyes and each other, both during the fire bombing and “interrogation” scenes, deliver an ignorance-is-bliss type of humor that will continue to be low-hanging fruit for the remainder of the series. As they botch their jobs and argue among themselves in their matchy-matchy tracksuits, the lack of indistinct personalities, which Barton mentions himself as he’s begging to talk to their boss, only strengthens them as Stormtrooper analogues: it doesn’t matter who is who, bro, they are all equally as useless as the next one.
Thankfully, it seems we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg with these loveable idiots. Trailers and TV spots have show that a future episode will bring the iconic car chase from the comic run to life, meaning we’ll get to see Kate unleash all manner of trick arrows on the Tracksuits and we’ll never know which ones are getting flipped off a bridge or crashing into concrete. And at no point in time will anyone ever believe Clint and Kate are in any real danger. One after another, the legion of Tracksuits will serve as cannon fodder for the Hawkeyes, only to be replaced by another Bro as they follow the marching orders of their unseen overlord. And let’s be honest, that’s who we’re really hoping to see anyway. Until then, here’s to the Tracksuits, Bro, the Stormtroopers of the MCU, Bro.
The MCU has become self-aware. The opening episode of Hawkeye brings the Avenging Archer and his children to the Big Apple for what we can assume is maybe opening week of Rogers the Musical, a stage show dedicated to the life of Clint’s friend and fellow Avengers, Steve Rogers. The musical itself isn’t important to the plot of the show other than being the plot device that brings Clint to New York and getting him involved with Kate Bishop and the Tracksuit Mafia. It is, however, important in that it represents a fabulously funny step forward for the MCU: it’s learned to laugh at itself.
In a wonderful bit of meta humor, the musical reenacts the Battle of New York (in song form!) and puts, at its center, one of the real internets most memed MCU moment: Captain America’s “I can do this all day.” The musical gives each of the Avengers their moment to shine, even putting Ant-Man who, as Clint points out was NOT there, a moment in the spotlight, but its shining moment is when the actors who plays Cap belts out the character’s signature line. Hulk’s smash moment comes in a close second, but for the creators of Hawkeye to put one of Rogers core traits at the center of the musical and use it for a laugh shows that they are deeply connected with their fandom.
To be fair, this isn’t the first time the line has been used for a laugh. Avengers: Endgame saw one Steve say the line to the other which led to a light moment. This feels different, however, as it’s not a moment between Caps. It’s a great meta moment because once you’re done laughing at it, you immediately think, “Wait a minute! He never said that at the Battle of New York. And how’d they know he said that anyway?” and that, folks, is the joke. Turning the Battle of New York, the moment the Avengers came together as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, into the plot of a musical that gives an historically inaccurate representation while one of those Avengers sits in the audience is the kind of laugh that can’t be built in a day. It’s the kind of laugh that only long-time fans of the MCU are going to truly get; it’s so layered and nuanced that the fan who is watching Hawkeye because they like Hailee Steinfeld would need a 20-minute long lecture from a friend to explain why it was funny in the first place; it’s the kind of laugh that lands hardest because it’s the world’s most successful franchise laughing at itself.
The MCU has become self-aware and if this is the type occasional meta humor fans can expect to see, then Feige has transitioned from MCU overlord to MCU memelord, cementing himself as The One-Above-All.
Mass Effect was released to critical acclaim in 2007. The 3rd-person shooter developed by Bioware initially followed the story of an almost fully-customizable character named Commander Shepherd. Their mission was simple: hunt down a rogue Spectre named Saren across the galaxy. Its success led to a sequel that has become heralded as one of the greatest games of all time. Now, the franchise is finally heading into live-action, as Amazon Studios is nearing a deal to develop a series based on the gaming franchise.
Jennifer Saalke, the head of Amazon Studios, said that we will see the studio “continuing to invest in fantasy genre of all kinds. We have a genre-focused team on the ground in Studios who work tirelessly with our creative partners on those slates, and you can look forward to more.” Mass Effect was highlighted in the article by Deadline about the studio’s upcoming projects to do exactly that.
The franchise saw a resurgence with the release of the Legendary Edition, which includes the first three entries of the game. While the Andromeda game was controversial during its release, there’s a lot of hope for the recently announced Mass Effect 4. It’ll be interesting to see if the series adapts Commander Shepherd’s story or takes a unique approach within this universe. There are many corners that could get explored in a series with some familiar faces popping up here and there. Sadly, we won’t get to choose our protagonists’ dialogues this time around.
It looks like Amazon Prime’s latest new series, Wheel of Time, is off to a strong start as Deadline is reporting that the fantasy novel adaptation has become the most-watched series of 2021 for Prime Video. Not only that, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke has highlighted that it’s in the top 4 of the streaming services launches. So, it looks like they are quite satisfied with its performance and the new series might have a bright future ahead.
She also added that the series had some of the highest completion rates they’ve seen for a series with third parties pointing it to being the most talked-about release for Amazon so far. The Rosamund Pike-led project was even outpacing Netflix’s popular fantasy adaptation, The Witcher. Early predictions have come true, as it was poised to be their biggest opening since the second season of The Boys.
Amazon has also highlighted that they are aiming to offer more transparency for the future, which seems to be a reactionary move due to Netflix also offering insight into their top ten streaming performances on a weekly basis. It’ll be interesting to see if we get insight into how exactly these series perform across the board, especially with the ever-growing competition.
The second part of Masters of the Universe: Revelation has finally found its way to Netflix. Kevin Smith‘s series acts as a continuation of the many story threads left behind in the original 1981 series, while also expanding upon the lore of the world of Eternia and the mysteries of the mystical power’s origin. The first part started on a surprising tragedy that pushed our characters to explore their place in a world without He-Man. Even in the second part, we get some strong character moments surrounding key characters of the original. In a colorful world like Eternia, drama is a surprising addition that adds a unique challenge to its goofier origins.
The characters in this world have some rather curious naming conventions. Some of them even follow the same rule as Digimon‘s titular monster all ending their name the same way. Throughout the journey, we’ll meet He-Man, Beast Man, Moss-Man, Mer-Man, and many other “Man” named characters. One of our main antagonists, or technically protagonist, is unironically named Evil-Lyn, which she pokes fun at not being her choice.
It’s great that the show embraces these names that defined these characters in our childhood. It just accepts that this is their name and it makes sense within this universe rather than mocking every single character. Beast-Man especially gets a great character moment highlighted by his name in the final episodes. But I confess to sometimes chuckling when someone screams out the name Clamp-Champ in a dramatic fashion.
Still, it’s not the namings of these characters that make the drama not always land as strongly as it could. Skeletor has unleashed his power across the world early in the first episode of Part 2 and is, at long last, an actual threat to our heroes. Yet, as this is happening, we have characters like Fisto and Clamp-Champ making jokes during some high-stakes moments. So, when a character screams: “It’s time for this mist to meet my fist!” it takes away a bit from the actual tragedy that is unfolding for a bit.
The music sometimes also takes a more “heroic” direction with some jokes thrown in right before landing on a rather tragic moment. We have burned corpses on the ground mere minutes after a joke was made. Even as the sequence starts focusing more on the drama of how helpless our heroes are and building tension, Skeletor throws out another pun to de-escalate it. It’s not technically an issue and Even with more drama added in, the expansion of the once more kid-friendly cartoon still tries to keep some of the goofier elements alive, but that seems to be at a constant struggle with the more serious additions.
It doesn’t downplay the storytelling at play here and some of the deeper character moments hit quite hard. Sometimes it just feels like the show could’ve done with one or two jokes less, or at least aged up some of the humor alongside the drama. At the end of the day, it’s subjective if the humor and drama hit the right balance for you. It just didn’t quite hit the mark all the time, but I will say the second season ends on a high note that makes up for some of the goofier moments earlier on in the second part. Here’ shopping that momentum is carried over into the third.
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