Films are a work of art, they display our culture and heritage. Films pan borders and continents and spread the joy of visual storytelling. Every movie has a uniqueness to it, some are realistic, some are larger than life, some are based on thoughts and some are true stories. Love them or hate them, movies are one of our momentous achievements as humans.
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| Photo by Bruno Guerrero on Unsplash |
But don't you feel something has changed about movies as of late?
Every film industry is facing a dilemma, be it production, strikes, cancel culture, wokeness, the MeToo movement, sting operations, sex scandals and more.
Fans are fuming when their characters are not given justice when the movies are gaslighting them, subliminal messaging and politics are influencing films, propaganda is ruling what type of films get made, and lobbies are dictating what businesses get more preference from films. Alas! There's nothing that a fan can do.
Does that affect the films? No!
And why do you think that is so?
The film business and money
Movies are definitely a business! Anything on the big screen is a product of years of careful planning, research, analysis and execution led by a band of corporate executives to generate revenue. Movies are a product.
The team/s that "produce" films are called "Productions" or "Production Houses". Like any product, a film has a marketing team, sales team, distributor, advertiser, staff, union, and so on. A production makes a product (i.e. A film), which is then sold to you, the "customer" or "consumer".
Thinking of a film beyond this would be silly.
Suits decide
You need to understand - it really does not matter what you have to say. If a board of directors sitting in some fancy penthouse corporate office who has probably never read a comic book in their life or doesn't even care or don't even want to, they just mean business. What they want is - what if we make a movie that if we put $1,000,000 in and we get $10,000,000 out? What sort of movie should we make right? And that decides the budget, that decides what film gets made - if a film gets made.
The hierarchy of power in Movies
What is happening with the Rachel Zegler starrer upcoming Snow White film? Her interviews and her personal life are under scrutiny? An accomplished actress like Gal Gadot is being criticised for her nationality. And the studio (Disney) is under fire for these happenings.
Johnny Depp, who was the face of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise - was fired by Disney when his trial in the case against Amber Heard started. Disney just ousted him, they did not simply want to have to do anything with him.
A catalyst leading to the doom of a production house, brand, franchise or film could be something as simple as a fallout between some businessmen.
The recent one is the one of the Rock and the DCU. When Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson came out saying that the hierarchy of power is going to change in the DC universe in his promos for the 'Black Adam' film, he was serious about it. And then he got ousted. That is also the reason that Henry Cavill was supposed to be Superman was cast out, but when Black Adam came into play, Dwayne Johnson got him back. And then they had a legit theatrical release print cameo which teased the much-awaited return of Cavill as Superman and the sequel to Black Adam wherein Superman and Black Adam would be fighting, but that did not happen.
Just when everyone thought what happened with Dwayne Johnson was very brutal, the entire cast of the existing DC Universe was gone. There no longer exists Zack Snyder's film universe i.e. The Snyderverse.
The endings of Shazam 2, The Flash movie, Blue Beetle or Aquaman 2 - which were already in the making - just left viewers scratching their heads - as to what was happening. The fans were really upset because of this.
Suits calling the shots brought back a fellow suit (who had led to all this mess and was reportedly fired) and he started helming a new DC Universe with James Gunn. Now fans were really on a roller coaster ride with this one because first the Justice League was overtaken by Joss Whedon, who made a mess out of it - again, a move by the suits. It was opposed to what could have been Zack Snyder's vision. This led to the even poorer choice of in-production films and ready films being shelved, the faces of these characters being fired, slated movies flopping (since there was no vision connecting any film to the other) and ultimately a good brand's reputation being tarnished due to the greed of its board.
It is just pretty evident from the new Justice League Snyder Cut that came out later on that the original vision was nothing short of incredible as believed by many as compared to what was released in the theatres. As of today, the DCU is retired and there is no way it will ever see the light of the day unless a billionaire buys DC and gets Snyder to fulfil his 3-part Justice League trilogy with the exact cast and crew.
Because of such moves, it is not just the fans that are upset, a lot of businessmen are upset as well. That's the reality. Why? Because a lot of money was spent on these things and DC has obviously a lot of products, after all, it is also a Warner Brother property. This directly impacts stock prices in the markets, a key driver of the business. There is a lot at play here and these decisions are based on ensuring that the company continues to stay in profits and the suits continue to fill their pockets.
No more reviews
If you believe the so-called film reviews are real, you're mistaken. It is a marketing tactic, that pays content creators, under contract to talk nice about their films or shows. Sometimes they might even provide such "influencers" with ready scripts that they have to use. In another tactic, to tarnish the reputation of a particular film, cast or production, a competitor pays to talk negative and damage the reputation. This is just business for both of them.
I have seen reviewers badmouth a film, give it the worst rating and it became a cult classic. These reviewers flipped 180 and said that they loved it when it came out and that such cinema should be encouraged. The hypocrisy.
The bitterness
I'm sure you've understood that a business will exist only for the sake of profit. Movies too exist for this sole purpose. Delving on hopes, fan service, expectations as to why a certain film did not pan out as required, why fans 'emotions' were disregarded, why this director made it this way, why did they not do it that way instead, etc. are pure illusions that one has fostered or believed in. The world doesn't work that way.
Remember, a film's director is a salaried employee. In today's world, there is nothing called as a director's vision. If someone says so, it is a marketing gimmick initiated by the production house that wants to whitewash you into believing that they are doing so for the fans, that they care for the fans, blah blah blah.
You are presented with a product. You might like it, you might not. It is in the market, some will buy it, some won't, and if some like it more, they will find ways to profit off of it - a sequel, a prequel, maybe a game, a comic book, a spinoff, a challenge, a toyline, perhaps a limited series, and what not. Aka making subsequent products for a vast reach and tapping into that cash cow.
You can complain about a bad product to probably a Food/Drug authority in your country. But you cannot do that for movies.
No fan service in a business
You often hear a lot of fans and the so-called fan base being loyal to the brand and the identity of a character or a franchise. They raise their voices either in tandem or maybe in opposition to whatever the movie is portraying. What one needs to understand is that it is not these studios targeting the audiences or the fanboys. It is a pure-cut business move.
Business is cutthroat. Business is ruthless. Business only means money and money itself. It doesn't care about the emotions and feelings of people who have grown up in comic books and other things.
Thus, studios do not bother about the source material as long as they have rights to it. If they have rights, they can make Jack Sparrow a Mickey Mouse character for all they care, if that will earn them big bucks.
They do not care if RDJ is playing Doctor Doom or not. He is popular, bringing him back will bring billions more, and even if he asks for $500 million, they would happily pay it - as it is nothing compared to the ROI they will be minting off of him and his fame.
They do not care if Henry Cavill is the Superman (or the best super portrayal of Superman), or if his moustache needs to be fixed in post-production simply because the studio messed up things.
Look at Deadpool, look at the Flash movie - they are trying to please the fans a la 'fan service'.
When we look at 'Spiderman: No Way Home", they had 3 Spiderman come together. What!!!
"Deadpool and Wolverine" had legacy characters brought back despite the differences between them and the franchise.
Your feelings and your nostalgia = Their money.
Franchises & Franchisees
Avatar was a good film. James Cameron's 20-year vision was fulfilled, he told the story he needed to tell. Why did they make the 2nd and the 3rd? Money.
It minted a billion dollars, so suits being suits, got greedy, saw a potential cash cow and thought "Why not make a sequel to it?"
Fast and Furious series films are often mocked or made memes out of on social media, but they are incredibly popular. These movies have spawned countless products and offshoots that have earned the studio millions of dollars. With every new movie breaking all the records of its predecessors. It has spawned 10 sequels.
Mission Impossible has spawned 8 sequels. Marvel has been criticised for not being able to create good content recently. But they've got Disney Plus, an OTT platform. This platform needs subscribers to stay relevant, and to show profits in its quarterly and annual shareholder meetings, that determine its funding, market price and brand value - they CANNOT afford to go down or worse, be deemed a loss-making entity. So they make shows that help achieve these objectives.
That is also the case with WB & Discovery, Peacock, Lionsgate and other production companies.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Business moves are very crucial.
The Discovery & Warner Brothers merger is an interesting one. Discovery obviously had access to WB's properties and DC is one of them. With DC superheroes and films becoming more popular, they wanted to wipe the slate clean and come up with an entirely new universe that they could use to leverage and compete against Marvel.
DC obviously has some of the best heroes and God-like creatures in their possession, as well as a vast library of characters that the new bosses could skim through and pick those that they could benefit from. It was not possible unless they wiped the slate clean and created everything in their own image. And what better way to do that than with a fellow suit that was fired before the merger? So that is what it was.
All the characters and the actors playing them were victims of a business move. All your favourite Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, all got removed from the equation. And that is what we have now - a dead movie universe with incredible potential. The Knightmare trilogy never really began.
In the 90s, when Marvel Comics was not doing well, they were willing to sell off the entire company for anything. But nobody bought it. Sony purchased only Spiderman, Fox purchased only its Mutant characters, X men and the likeness of. Newline bought Blade. Netflix purchased the rights to the Defenders, which are Daredevil, Punisher, Jessica, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Kingpin and so on.
When Disney bought out Marvel, people did not blink an eye. With more money in the bank, Disney realised that they could get all these properties back. So when the contracts ended Disney got these characters back in their kitty.
Disney is a biggie, but still, what got left out was the Spiderman Universe, which is a gold mine in itself. And they realised this. And Sony was in no way letting go of it. So, they struck a deal with Sony only to use Spiderman in Movies. Mind you, the animated film/series, toys and every other right belongs to Sony. Even a major chunk of the profit from all the Spiderman films goes to Sony.
So, Sony is left with Spiderman's Rogues Gallery - Venom, Kraven, Morbius, etc. While Disney and Marvel can "marvel" at their achievements, they will never have the entirety of their library of their characters anytime soon. I could go on about this, but that is just how businesses work.
Don't worry, be happy
Never think of films and franchises or remakes as this is my favourite, that is my favourite, why did they do it this way? why did they do it that way?
That is a team of people, experts, consultants, analysts, and researchers who work this out.
Do you think that just because Kevin Feige wanted to make 'Fantastic Four', Disney let him make it? No.
The analysts at Disney understand that there has never been a better Fantastic Four, it has a loyal fanbase and people love these characters. Despite the 3 films by Fox, when Disney bought Fox, these rights came along and they realised that there was a potential with the mutants. Now if they have this property, they have to leverage it somehow. So that is what they are trying to do. To fit these characters in the existing universe.
As is the scenario with retconning any character/s. it is obviously going to disappoint many fans because the studio is not going to stick to the source material. They have to align it with the new universe (i.e. the MCU) that they have created, which is not in alignment with any of the canon comic book issues, storylines, timelines, events, or episodes that exist. It is better that we just think of it as a new age story for the even newer generations who did not grow up reading or watching them.
The future is incredible!
Take films with a pinch of salt, don't have expectations from any of them. If books are being made into films, remember that they want to profit off the book and will do anything to cater to a global audience rather than just readers - so comparing why the films threw this out, created this new thing, that wasn't covered, the book is better or the movie - is pointless.
We have a lot more generations to cater to, and even tougher competition as foreign films are now being presented in multiple languages. Comics have a plethora of stories to tell and it will be there long, even after we are gone. It is best, rather than not to argue, that just simply enjoy these movies and marvel at the world that some wonderful people out there are creating.
Remember the good bits and chuck off the trash - and you'll see that life as a movie lover becomes a joy. We can simply be astonished by the quality of films, the mesmerising animations, top-notch actors playing our favourite characters, and the opportunity to see these characters on a film screen.
What a time to be alive.
