Marvel Comics on Film

[thirtyframesasecond]

Hardy's a weird one. Besides Bronson and the Nolan films he doesn't have much of a filmography, yet he's a big name. I saw a trailer for that romcom he did with Witherspoon and Pine; they're both spies, stringing her along. I assume that will be his one and only effort in that genre.

[tenia]

If I'm not mistaken, he's famous also for Warrior, Lawless, Fury Road and The Revenant, and I seem to remember Locke wasn't too badly received as well. It certainly isn't a massively successful filmo, but it seems to be enough to make a recongizable face for the audience.

[reaky]

I’d say his signature role is in the TV series Taboo, which he stalks through like a timebomb. He’s often touted as a future Bond, and I know a good number of women who fancy the pants off him.

[DarkImbecile]

Also, “and the Nolan films” encompasses several hundred million tickets sold (too say nothing of home video copies and streaming) all by themselves, which goes a long way toward making one a big name.

[Big Ben]

Hardy is a good actor in my opinion who occasionally takes on some real WTF projects. Him taking on the role as Venom was because his son is a fan of the character.

[tenia]

Also, “and the Nolan films” encompasses several hundred million tickets sold (too say nothing of home video copies and streaming) all by themselves, which goes a long way toward making one a big name.

It does make for a lot of tickets sold, but it also doesn't make for a lot of movies (and I'd argue that Dunkirk isn't really a front for Hardy considering his very limited screentime in this one). Lots and lots of actors have been lucky to get one or two roles selling tons of tickets and not much else, so in this regard, it can be fair to ponder that yes, they're huge sellers, but they're also "only" 3 movies.

[Mr Sausage]

Tom Hardy is an odd phenomenon: an eccentric character actor who's become a popular leading man. I'm sure his charisma and good looks have helped him in this, but it is notable how weird and unglamorous a lot of his more popular performances are, and how unafraid he is to use peculiar and difficult vocal characteristics that risk incomprehensibility.

[colinr0380]

Reading Never Cursed's comments on the previous page, I'm just curious as to when the Venom character was created. Was it before or after the manga series Parasyte?

EDIT: To add to the Tom Hardy comments, he also seems like the only actor to have worked out in the modern era that a well placed mask can add to the hotness factor (I wouldn't be surprised if a Phantom of the Opera adaptation was in his future somewhere down the line!)

[tenia]

Reading Never Cursed's comments on the previous page, I'm just curious as to when the Venom character was created. Was it before or after the manga series Parasyte?

Venom appeared in May 1984, while Parasyte was published between 1988 and 1995.

[bunuelian]

Hardy is a good actor in my opinion who occasionally takes on some real WTF projects. Him taking on the role as Venom was because his son is a fan of the character.

It wasn't because of the $7 million they paid him? (I've taken this figure from a random website that popped up on Google, but it seems reasonable.)

I would think seven million bucks is a good incentive to put aside artistic integrity for a few months' work.

[Dead or Deader]

Michelle Williams only did the role for the paycheck and to work with Hardy. Having a son whose a fan of the character sounds like a good excuse to do the project.

[swo17]

They're paying Michelle Williams to be in movies now?

[Dead or Deader]

Movies where her co-star isn't Marky Mark.

[McCrutchy]

Ryan Reynolds Filmed New Scenes for PG-13 Deadpool 2

I don't like this. On the one hand, Reynolds aping The Princess Bride with adult Fred Savage sounds clever, but the concept doesn't sound funny enough to sustain a theatrical release of a censored version of the film, and the fact that this is happening when Fox is being sold to Disney, and with a Marvel character (on the heels of Venom also not being R-rated, to boot), means that it really does feel like it could be an attempt to see if the character works without profanity and bloody violence. Surely it's also an attempt by Fox to wring the last drops of profit out of a burgeoning franchise before they become Mickey's lapdogs, but still, I think I would feel a lot better if this were being released on home video instead of in theatres for Christmas. I'm sure Fox doesn't expect much, but Disney might be looking to this as a perfect opportunity to retire the character and then bring him back in a couple of years as an MCU version.

I'm also tired of the backhanded admission, time and again, that kids love R-rated franchises even though the movies don't make as much money. If the R-rated films are so kid-friendly that installments released when that audience is older need to be PG-13, then bring the kids to see the R-rated film in the first place. This is what I never understood about Live Free or Die Hard or the Alien vs. Predator films, with PG-13 entries following on from R-rated films--if anything, it should be done the other way around.

[Big Ben]

It didn't work for The King's Speech but again that's a different kind of film. Deadpool certainly exists in more family friendly formats but his vulgarity is sort of a staple. Given Disney Executives have stated they have no desire to really change much at Fox I'm of the opinion that is is indeed an attempt to squeeze more out of Deadpool but with far less nefarious intentions.

[colinr0380]

This is taking me back to the days of 'R' and 'Unrated' sex comedies of the late 90s and early 2000s, as popularised by American Pie and Borat, just involving films that I might actually watch some day! I don't think there is too big a problem with filming alternate scenes for different versions, although it would be nice to have an indication as to which is the version that the filmmakers most intend to be seen, which with Deadpool 2 is presumably the R rated version. Maybe the swapping out of scenes for a toned down version placated the studio and allowed them to go further in the R version? Unfortunately I guess it is too late to get the newly filmed PG-13 footage onto any DVD edition of the film, but it might turn up on future reissues.

I'm also tired of the backhanded admission, time and again, that kids love R-rated franchises even though the movies don't make as much money. If the R-rated films are so kid-friendly that installments released when that audience is older need to be PG-13, then bring the kids to see the R-rated film in the first place. This is what I never understood about Live Free or Die Hard or the Alien vs. Predator films, with PG-13 entries following on from R-rated films--if anything, it should be done the other way around.

As with the way the Harry Potter films get darker and more 'grown up' along with their assumed audience?

Apropos of nothing and regarding UK ratings but this reminds me of the time in my local video store in the early 90s when I unsuccessfully tried to argue with my dad that if I was allowed to rent out the PG rated Iron Eagle 2 then I should obviously be able to watch the 15 rated Iron Eagle too, since why would anyone expect somebody to watch the sequel without having first seen the original?

[tenia]

I don't think there is too big a problem with filming alternate scenes for different versions, although it would be nice to have an indication as to which is the version that the filmmakers most intend to be seen, which with Deadpool 2 is presumably the R rated version.

This seems cynical to the last degree, and rather different from making this kind of alternative versions straight from the start, in which cases I feel it has more to do with very slightly altering the tone to push it as much as you can while still being able to show it to much of its core audience (say, like very slightly altering a movie in the UK to go from 15 to 12). You probably can make a rather raunchy teen comedy and be rated PG-13 somehow.
But Deadpool (the movies) have always been marketed as this vulgar super-hero comic-movie that isn't family friendly. It's graphic, it's vulgar, it's gross, it's stupid. It's not your average family super-hero movie. And now, they're actually doing the exact opposite, to turn it into a family movie at which you can bring your kids ?

[domino harvey]

Just saw that Venom has somehow outgrossed both Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy

[knives]

Worldwide only though. Domestically it still has a while to go.

[Never Cursed]

I can't believe Venom did as well in China as it did - it outgrossed the other two movies domino mentioned there almost 2-to-1 (ie it made 200 million)

[Kirkinson]

Apparently, at some point Marvel approached Lucrecia Martel (!!) to direct the upcoming solo Black Widow film. I wonder how many other surprising names they've approached — it now seems comparatively far less weird that Chloé Zhao is directing The Eternals.

[colinr0380]

Apparently, at some point Marvel approached Lucrecia Martel (!!) to direct the upcoming solo Black Widow film. I wonder how many other surprising names they've approached — it now seems comparatively far less weird that Chloé Zhao is directing The Eternals.

I'm afraid I'm at work so cannot look at the article to see if they mention it there but it is quite amusing to think that Marvel 'scouted' Lucrecia Martel! But it (and really all these leftfield directorial choices of big studios of artier directors to helm their latest blockbuster entry, even if a number of those choices do not work out) is kind of charming in the way that at least someone in that studio is using their position to at least meet a variety of filmmakers. The Film Comment podcast mentioned it a little while back and that it happened around the time she was in New York to do a retrospective of her films (and probably around the time she visited the Criterion closet). They also speculated there that one other reason for Martel meeting up with the Marvel team is because she apparently has a potential sci-fi themed project in development that might benefit from some research into CGI and action filmmaking techniques, and who better to have a meeting with than the epitome of that kind of filmmaking at the moment!

(Which kind of makes me hope that Shane Carruth got to meet with Marvel at some point as well, but I digress!)

[bearcuborg]

Into the Spider-verse is the most spect ... ever seen


Says Leonard Maltin. I guess I have to go see this now...

[dda1996a]

It's not "amazing" but it's the most fun I've had in a superhero film in the past five years at least, it's the best animated film of 2018 and it's a pretty great film as is. And you get Spider-Ham and a Nic Cage Spider-Noir