Josh and Benny Safdie, a.k.a. The Safdie Brothers, will follow up their breakout indie hit Good Time with a remake of the Walter Hill action/comedy classic, 48 Hrs.
Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson as a low-level crook trying desperately to get his mentally-challenged brother and partner in crime (played by Benny Safdie himself) out of prison, didn’t get the widest distribution this past August. But the film was a hit with most critics, and audiences have discovered it at home these past few weeks.
The word-of-mouth success of Good Time has made The Safdie Brothers hot commodities in Hollywood. They’ve been mulling over follow up projects for a few months, and now THR reports they will indeed helm this new 48 Hrs.
The original starred Nick Nolte as a racist cop and Eddie Murphy, in his first film role, as the convict helping Nolte find a killer. It was a smash hit in 1982, unofficially launching the buddy cop formula, and it had a less successful 1990 sequel, Another 48 Hrs.
Taken at face value, a remake of Hill’s classic should generate ample groans and eye rolls. But, now that The Safdie Brothers are in charge, there is more than a sliver of hope. First up for them, however, is Uncut Gems, a Martin Scorsese-produced crime drama starring Jonah Hill.
Disney (almost) officially purchased the entertainment side of 21st Century Fox, and while Lemmings fans rejoice, here comes a dose of reality. What’s happening is a bad thing. An awful thing. For several reasons. And while the dreams of a new entry into the cookie-cutter Marvel Cinematic Universe now featuring the X-Men might seem worth it, the consequences of this ever-growing monopoly are certainly not worth its weight in CGI.
Disney is not known for pushing the envelope.
Let’s pretend Marvel films are good and not forgettable b-movies with 300 million dollar budgets. Okay, fine, I’ll believe the truth, and you can keep pretending. X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool and the rest are now part of the MCU. Each franchise will now get the focus-group treatment. And we’ll get more superhero movies. Great. But what will we get? More of the same. Part of the appeal of Deadpool is that it wasn’t more of the same. Logan pushed the envelope of what a comic book movie could be. Disney is not known for pushing the envelope. If anything, they’ll just mass-produce the envelop and put the Disney logo on it.
So, above, is the mildly good, short-term news. Here’s the long-term reality. Disney is already pushing to monopolize theaters with Star Wars. With even more power, this is going to happen without much resistance. Disney will eradicate all competition at many local movie houses, leaving the chance for the next Star Wars or great pop culture gem from making a mark. The film industry as a whole, outside of Disney, will suffer.
But Disney’s move to vacuum up all geekiness
has political consequences too.
The streaming game has now changed too. The Fox deal gives Disney a majority control of Hulu. The move puts them in the game with Netflix and Amazon to suck up streaming viewers. It all makes sense considering the recent announcement of Disney’s plans for a new streaming home for its content. And sooner or later, Disney will either buy Netflix too or pull all its content, and FOX content, off of Netflix.
We’re a pop culture site focused on the fun, geeky stuff we all love. But Disney’s move to vacuum up all geekiness has political consequences too. Fox is selling all the entertainment portions of its operations which gives its news side more capital to play with. Consider that Disney just gave FOX News more money to peddle their brand of cable-news nonsense.
The biggest problem with a deal like this is that it just makes it even easier for Disney to grow more. With more power like this and more control over major brands, other studios like NBCUniversal will struggle to keep pace. Ultimately, barring some sudden shift in pop culture or the economy, Disney will be big enough to buy Universal too. And then what?
A deal like this only ends with Disney owning the vast majority of Hollywood, giving them ultimate power to control what we see on a daily basis. As it is, choices are limited already, and this only makes it all the worse.
A shadow is looming over the entertainment industry,
and it’s in the shape of mouse ears.
UPDATE (12/15/17): Don’t want to believe my gloom and doom message? How about the Writers Guild of America, yeah, the people who write the movies we all love? They had this to say …
“In the relentless drive to eliminate competition, big business has an insatiable appetite for consolidation. Disney and Fox have spent decades profiting from the oligopolistic control that the six major media conglomerates have exercised over the entertainment industry, often at the expense of the creators who power their television and film operations. Now, this proposed merger of direct competitors will make matters even worse by substantially increasing the market power of a combined Disney-Fox corporation. The antitrust concerns raised by this deal are obvious and significant. The Writers Guild of America West strongly opposes this merger and will work to ensure our nation’s antitrust laws are enforced.”
In a monumental moment for cinema as a whole, Disney bought part of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 Billion. There are many elements to the deal, but many fans are left wondering what will happen to Fox’s comic book properties, specifically Deadpool. Disney CEO Bob Iger acknlowleged this, read his quote below.
“[Deadpool] clearly has been and will be Marvel-branded. But we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool. As long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine.”
What do you think of Disney buying 20th Century Fox? Click here for more details on the purchase.
As more news regarding Disney and Fox develops, Monkeys Fighting Robots will have it covered.
The company put out a press release this morning announcing the deal, and most of the internet is focusing on what titles now live in the House of Mouse. Properties include X-Men, Deadpool, The Simpsons, Avatar, and everything from FX Networks (like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).
Now, people should be asking, “Is it good for one company to have this much power? What impact is this going to have on the film industry?” But instead, they’re asking “Is Disney going to ruin my favorite movie/TV show? Are they going to censor Deadpool?”
Relax. Take a deep breath. There is no evidence that suggests Disney is going to “Disneyfy” the Fox properties. As much as I’d personally love to see Deadpool become a princess, remember that his movie broke box office records and was critically acclaimed. The same goes for The Simpsons and It’s Always Sunny; they’re fan favorites and cash cows. Why would a company that just spent $52.4 billion in stock to acquire them want to change that? The point of business is to MAKE money.
And THE SIMPSONS already did this joke almost 20 years ago anyway.
In short, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
People don’t seem to realize that Disney has quietly been putting out edgy and adult content for decades. 21st Century Fox is now a subsidiary company of Disney; let’s take a quick look at some of the movies that the Mouse has had its hand in through other subsidiaries:
Pulp Fiction
Scream
Several Wes Anderson flicks (Life Aquatic, Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore)
Pearl Harbor
Unbreakable
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo
The Sixth Sense
Armageddon
Pretty Woman
Scary Movie
Kill Bill
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
And that’s a conservative list. Granted, yes, there have been exceptions. Disney wouldn’t distribute Kevin Smith’s Dogma back in 1999 due to the controversy surrounding the movie. But these examples are few and far betweeen, and Disney did end up producing and distributing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back a few years later, a far raunchier Smith movie.
So don’t freak out just yet, at least not about the “Disneyfication” of your favorite things. If you have to freak out, freak out about one company’s quest to own all of Hollywood.
What do you think? Is the Disney/Fox deal good or bad for the industry? Sound off in the comments below.
Port Of Earth is Image/Top Cow’s new sci-fi comic book series. Writer Zack Kaplan, artist Andrea Mutti, and colorist Vladimir Popov waste no time in immersing readers in a unique concept.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
Sometimes it can be a drag when a comic is largely made up of news reports. That’s not the case here, these segments are how we learn about the world we are immersing ourselves in. These news sections put the reader in the shoes of a citizen of this world and let’s them form their own opinion on what’s happening.
The premise of this series is an interesting one, with it comes a handful of interesting questions. Sorting through the various factions, motivations, and points of view gives the reader plenty to think about along the way rather than just power through to the end.
Our two main characters are a bit dull so far; their relationship is very cookie cutter. We haven’t had much of a chance to get a sense of their personalities past the surface level. Luckily, the story doesn’t depend on the dynamic of these two characters.
As events are unfolding, a devious plot starts to peek its head out. Zack Kaplan didn’t need too long to hook readers into this world. This comic is an easily digestible, high concept sci-fi examination of human beings and how we’d respond to extraterrestrial business propositions. If Kaplan can flesh out our two main characters more, this book would gain an even deeper layer.
Port Of Earth‘s art reminds me a lot of the fantastic Men In Black cartoon. It’s darker but doesn’t shy away from fun designs. There’s a gray film over the reader’s eye, almost like you’re looking at these pages through a gray lens.
Vladimir Popov does some interesting color work in a book that’s mostly black, gray, and white. When our two main officers are in the tunnel, searching for their alien perpetrator in the dark, he plays with the splashes of light. The speckled background and shadows give this more of a noir appeal than you would expect.
When the action gets going, Andrea Mutti flexes a muscle we hadn’t really seen much of yet. The fast-paced chase sequence flows effectively and picks up the pace of the book rapidly. His creature and structure design are delightfully intricate. Every alien we’ve seen so far has been unique and interesting to look at.
While it’s not an absolutely perfect book, there’s more than plenty to love about Port Of Earth. As the series continues, and we get to know our cast more, this could potentially be one of the top sci-fi comics heading into 2018.
After weeks of rumors that a deal was coming, it finally became official. Disney now owns 21st Century Fox.
This is the biggest Disney acquisition to date at $66.1 billion. They are specifically buying Fox’s film and TV studio, the National Geographic and FX cable channels business, regional sports networks, international networks, including Star India, Fox’s 30 percent stake in Hulu and its 39 percent stake in European pay TV giant Sky.
What does this mean for Marvel Studios and the cinematic universe? Disney now owns the rights to X-Men, Fantastic Four, and all the characters associated with the two franchises.
Not only do they now get to utilize mutants and the “first family,” but also characters such as Galactus, Doctor Doom, and Silver Surfer. Some have speculated that this impending deal is the reason Marvel hasn’t shared many details about their “Phase 4” slate of films. We should expect major announcements coming soon.
We may finally get a Fantastic Four movie worth a damn, which means a worthy adaptation of Doctor Doom. Possibilities are endless. With how calculated the MCU has been so far, I imagine they already have a plan in place for a majority of the properties.
When it comes to X-Men, there’s some cause for concern. The X-Films have taken a more mature turn recently, with Logan and Deadpool, hopefully Disney won’t make any changes. Given the success of both films, I highly doubt we’ll have to worry.
Kevin Feige and the curators of the MCU have a whole new world of toys to play within the gigantic sandbox they’ve built over the years. Fitting the existence of mutants into an already fully realized world is no easy task.
It worked with Spider-Man given the character’s age difference fitting into the timeline. However, the X-Men are the forefront of an entire portion of the population that carry the mutant X-Gene. The transition will require some major creativity.
Perhaps the inclusion of infinity stones will play a big part in reshaping reality. Or maybe Marvel will hold off on putting everyone together and keep the universes separate for the time being. With Deadpool 2, The New Mutants, and X-Men: Dark Phoenix on the way, we should expect anything definite for a while.
Regardless of what they do and when, it’s an exciting day for Marvel. They finally have all their properties back.
The rumors are true. The making of a crossover merger between the two giant companies of 21st Century Fox and Disney is about to become a reality. Thought the business world is discussing the financial side of the ramifications of two of the biggest entertainment companies coming together there is a much more pressing questions at hand: How will this affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe? What will happen to the Fantastic Four and X-men?
The main hypothesis most fans are speculating is this will finally allow for the X-Men and Avengers to share the same universe. This will be a welcome sight for many who thought they were never going to see the two factions unite or battle. It may also result in more attention being brought back to the importance of Mutants in not only the Marvel Cinematic Universe but the comics as well.
When Disney studios did not have the rights to use Mutants in any of their creative properties a choice had to be made. The Marvel universe is synonyms with people with bizarre powers appearing out of nowhere and this factor needed to be added to the Cinematics. This led to the increased importance of the Inhumans and their mythology into not only the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also in the comic books. The new merger may result in Mutants once again getting the respect (or more appropriately disrespect) they originally garnished.
Unfortunately for now we can only speculate and hope the merger will produce positive results. For now though, since its early, here hoping for the X-men to meet the Avengers, Spider-Man and Deadpool to hang out, and the Fantastic Four once again becoming the number one family of comics.
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What are your thoughts on the merger? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Disney bought part of 21st Century Fox today for $52.4 billion, according to CNN.
The part of the deal that is of most interest to Monkeys Fighting Robots is the film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four Universe. As there will be huge ramifications in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for Marvel Comics. This is a breaking news story and we will have more details as they become available.
Disney’s four largest acquisitions in the past decade:
What a year for television! A lot of ongoing shows really stepped it up, but there was a plethora of great new ones in 2017. We had a ‘Star Trek’ revival, brought back fan-favorites like ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and ‘Duck Tales’, to name a few, and saw an explosion of new comic book adaptations, with plenty of new and original Sci-Fi series on the way in 2018.
This is a spoiler-free list, devoid of everyone else’s favorites, ‘Big Little Lies’ (HBO), ‘Mindhunter’ (Netflix) and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (Hulu), because you have definitely already seen those awesome shows, and they’ve gotten plenty of love as it is. This list features six comic book adaptations, three from Marvel, including two mutant-based shows. It also includes the Archie-themed show that not only launched this year, but has already turned in half of its second season this year as well. Here are our other favorites from this year that we feel you should check out.
About: Delve into life in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s, when porn and prostitution were running rampant in Manhattan.
Bottom Line: This is a pretty brutal look at what life was like in the big city during this decade, including the harsh experiences women had to endure over that span.
About: A diverse group of students navigate various forms of racial discrimination at a predominantly white Ivy League university.
Bottom Line: This series is a refreshingly honest, humorous, informative and heartfelt, look at what minorities battle with on a daily basis. Take notes, so that we can strive for a more inclusive and peaceful 2018.
About: In a world where superheroes have been real for decades, an accountant with no superpowers comes to realize his city is run by a supervillain. As he struggles to uncover the conspiracy, he falls in with a strange blue Superhero, called The Tick.
Bottom Line: This is not only a series that includes a powerful superhero battling villains, but it is also extremely funny. It stays true to its predecessors, The Tick (2001) and the Animated Series (1994).
About: A recently released convict meets a mysterious man who calls himself ‘Wednesday’, who knows way too much about ‘Shadow’ and his life and past.
Bottom Line: This is a book adaptation from famed comic book creator and novelist Neil Gaiman. It is as incredibly gripping as it is weird. It is an alien-type journey for the battle of American souls with a poetic script.
Premise: An institute for mutants fights to achieve peaceful coexistence with humanity in a world where the mutated are treated with distrust, racism and fear.
Bottom Line: This series makes having special powers fun again through great visuals and special effects, but also dives into how hard it is to be a mutant in a predominantly anti-mutant time.
About: Jump in for a subversive take on Archie and his friends, while exploring small-town life, including the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.
Bottom Line: This series is a modern realization of the famed Archie Comics and is already currently airing its second season, having launched its first installment back in January.
About: David Haller is a troubled young man diagnosed as a schizophrenic. After a strange encounter, he discovers special powers that will change his life forever.
Bottom Line: We all know David Charles Haller, the son of Professor Charles Xavier, what he is capable of and what he ultimately does in the X-Men Universe. This series follows his early years as he starts to finally experience his powers, battles his inner demons and figure out just what he is capable of.
About: After the murder of his family, Marine veteran Frank Castle becomes a vigilante known as ‘The Punisher’ with only one goal in mind, revenge.
Bottom Line: This Marvel adaptation of Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, is awesome! It has as much heart as it does bullets flying. The show follows his backstory and what possibly led to his family being murdered as he seeks out to punish those involved in the conspiracy.
About: A Chicago-based financial advisor secretly relocates his family to the Missouri Ozarks when his dealings with a drug cartel go awry.
Bottom Line: The great thing about this show is that it essentially has fallen in line with some other out-of-nowhere series to come out on Netflix and become instant gems. It is an intense crime drama that will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat.
Wonder Woman has found her twin brother. Her brother, Jason, was sent off of Themyscira after he was born to protect him from Hera’s wrath. For decades, he was raised by the last living Argonaut and was warned to stay hidden. He grew envious of how his sister had become a legendary superhero and joined Grail, Daughter of Darkseid, to take her down. The two demigods defeated the mighty Amazon and now plan to sacrifice her energy to give to Darkseid.
This storyline has had its highs and lows in terms of quality. There are times where the story becomes interesting, due to Wonder Woman learning the value of family and bonding and others where it falls flat. Its failures are because mostly because of not highlighting key plot points through pictures. Instead, we had scenes of forced exposition dialogue. We have reached the penultimate issue of the arc, with two demigods against Diana. How will she get out of this one?
**Some Spoilers Below**
Story:
After losing the battle, Wonder Woman is held captive by Jason and Grail. They proceed to give villainous monologues until Diana has had enough and breaks out, ready to fight. While she is able to make quick work of the two demigods, a new challenger approaches to face her: Darkseid. With Darkseid now about the size of a teenager, he has enough power to face Wonder Woman with ease.
While I am relieved we have no more exposition through monologue, there is something that drags the issue down. Some of the characters don’t act as they should. Grail is usually a lot more vicious, even if she was under the command of Darkseid. Instead of just punching her, which barely worked in the previous battle, she would be using terrible forms of torture. Diana is not much better as she would be more compassionate towards her brother, saddened by his choice, instead of violent.
The character, however, that is the most guilty of acting illogical is Jason. One moment, he wants to kill Wonder Woman then he claims that he didn’t know that Grail means to end her. Another moment is during a scene very reminiscent of Return of the Jedi. As Darkseid blasts Diana with his Omega Beams, Jason begs them to stop because “they are blood.” I understand the writer wants Jason to have this redemption arc for Jason, but this is a woman he has known for about five minutes. If this bond was made during the first chapter of this arc, I could see it more.
Art:
While I had an issue with the characters, the real draw to this issue is the art. The pencil work is top quality, with amazing designs for Darkseid and a character that appears on the last page. The colors go hand in hand with this as well, by creating a vibrant world and beautiful flashback panels. If there is any reason to pick up this issue, it would be for the art alone.
Conclusion:
Overall, this is a weak penultimate issue to this arc. While it is beautiful to look at, the characters actions towards one another bring down the quality of the issue overall. We have one last issue that will wrap this up, after which we’ll have introduced Jason as a more regular character. Let’s just hope that the final issue brings something groundbreaking.
