Ant-Man Shrinks, and Other Lukewarm Stories
Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at 10:38AM I don't always get around to stories when they hit. Join me in the catch-up comments...
Fan made poster (if I knew who made it I would credit them, but so many blogs are bad about giving creditAnt-Man Shrinks
By now you've heard and digested or, more likely given this crowd (you didn't even comment on that juicy misogynistic She-Hulk debacle!), ignored the drama surrounding Disney/Marvel's Ant-Man movie. The long and short of it: Edgar Wright, of Shaun of the Dead / Scott Pilgrim fame who is unarguably adept and inventive about action-comedy (a unique skill given how unfunny action 'comedies' usually are), abruptly left over creative differences. Now from the roster of potential replacements (none of them even ⅕ as interesting as Wright), one has already fallen away. Leaving us sad for Paul Rudd (probably locked into the role for a decade) and Joss Whedon's Avengers: The Age of Ultron (doesn't Joss need Ant-Man to have his story work since Ant-Man created Ultron?)
The probable answer as to why is that Disney/Marvel, now that they've won all the moneys in the world and are surely empowered by the knowledge that audiences are lemming-like about these things and will turn out in droves for even dud superhero movies (Thor: The Dark World, Amazing Spider-Man 2, Iron Man 2), can afford to dump directors with artistic vision and focus on generic bosses who will just keep the assembly line running with less "ideas" / back-talking. Capitalism eventually ruins everything. Marvel sadly didn't learn the inspiring lesson they could have from hiring Joss Whedon. He made The Avengers the success it was, basically rescuing The Black Widow entirely, understanding how tiresome Iron Man had become and how to limit the dose, finding a way to make Thor and Hulk work in a team format even when they've never worked on their own. You need an artist to accomplish these kinds of juggling miracles and feats of resuscitation, not hired hands.
The silver lining? This Ant-Man debacle did inspire the parody Michael Haneke twitter account to chime in...
. @marvel plz plz i bein praktisn wth mi cat!!1! he help katch ants 4 film. most he killd tho lol #haneke4antman pic.twitter.com/KcXEmX0bIA
— Michael Haneke (@Michael_Haneke) May 28, 2014
Who Stopped Roger Rabbit 2?
It's a story that never quite dies. It is... undead. The Dissolve performs the oft performed reanimation of that story corpse wondering why the sequel never happened and if it might happen now since the original people all still want it to. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) is the Movie of the Week over there which is why they're asking.
In a Hollywood culture that prizes franchises and recognizable characters above all else it is a still a SHOCK in all caps that this sequel never came to be. In many ways this movie is the movie that proved to Hollywood that people would go nuts for a mix of new envelope pushing visual effects mixed with old school nostalgia. Which you could argue led to Toy Story which you could argue led to everything. I am ultra fond of that movie (I'd have easily nominated it for Best Picture that year) but I also have a not-so secret amount of affection for the fact that it never produced a sequel.
Why would I not want a sequel to something I love that much? Well, sequels are in so many ways our collective junk food and in an era where movies produce not only sequels but reboots and straight-to-dvd spinoffs and other forms of money-grubbing self-cannibalizing, Roger Rabbit feels comparatively monumental in its mystic standalone purity.
Finally...
Big Hero 6 Teaser
I meant to share this last week and completely forgot. I don't have much to say about it other than that it is adorable despite doing nothing other than ripping off The Incredibles (2004) for its "too fat for this suit" slapstick teaser but people have very short memories about these things so everyone can LOL anew
Reader Comments (4)
The split was due to Marvel wanting him to make something that felt tied into the universe and he didn't want to do that. If this were phase 1, before The Avengers? They'd have probably let him do that. But now the movies are thriving on interconnection (Remember that jerk politician from Iron Man 2? Hydra agent.) and a solidified "place in the universe" approach. Though I don't get going after RM Thurber or Reuben Fleischer instead of, I dunno, the Phil Lord and Chris Miller team? The choice which EVERYONE said would be the best damage control?
volvagia - i can't believe that would be the reason. because edgar knew going in that it would be connected to the larger universe. my guess is his vision is a little too idiosyncratic for them and they want more homogenous movies
THANK YOU. I thought I was the only one who got serious Incredibles vibes off the Big Hero 6 teaser. Still quite enjoyed it, but yeesh.
Meanwhile, I'm glad they never sequelized Roger Rabbit. It's refreshing when movies come out and just exist. Would I hate it if they made a sequel now? Not sight unseen, but how many of these "25 years later" sequels have actually been worth it?
Re: Ant Man - People concerned for Wright's artistic integrity should be glad that he left. You cannot direct a $150m+ blockbuster movie in 2014 Hollywood and not be a corporate water carrier to a very significant extent.
The Ant Man thing was upsetting because I really wanted to see it and I was on board because of Edgar Wright. The fact that they were re-writing his script without his consent is upsetting although not surprising considering how Hollywood does things.