That's true. I should have titled the end of the "risk free" franchise film. Disney and WB drop 200 million on a movie and start filming without a coherent script because they knew that the film would coast on the name alone. I think those days might be gone. Marvel and others might need to step up their game to survive.

I'm glad someone was dedicated enough to do this but frankly this is too much work for that website. Moving away from the huge social media companies will be healthier for the internet and they are nothing without users. Best they remember that.

Sounds like these "grassroots backers" work for Warner Brothers to me.

The only other franchise he was in was the Witcher. Both the Witcher and Superman failed due to bad writing not the acting.

WB was hyping it up like it was the greatest superhero film ever made. I've actually seen the movie and can assure you it is far from it. The whole thing felt like an inside joke from WB.

Very sad he was one of the best. The Exorcist is incredible. I still need to watch Sorcerer.

Perhaps but there has always been the Big 5 major studios. Right now there is Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios, and Sony Pictures. Used to Sony wouldn't be counted or they would say big 6 but there has normally been 5 major studios. One dies another takes it's place.

RKO and MGM used to be part of the big 5 back in the day now gone but replaced. I think the same will happen here. Someone will fill the gap. Apple is spending big money for Scorsese and Ridley Scott. Amazon and Netflix are also trying to be players. I don't think Disney made the dent in competition that they thought they were going to make.

I think this could technically fall under name, image, likeness rights. Your voice could count as likeness and can't be used without your concent. I know the big movie studios need to get permission from the family to do their creepy dead actor cameos like Disney did with Peter Cushing. I think this would be the same.

Fair point about DC and Indy but Disney has had a few flops recently as well. Pixar isn't a franchise but it was definitely a brand that normally would bring people to the theaters with just the name alone. Now they are struggling to get people to come to the theaters.

That was part of it. They are also getting stiffed by streaming services.

My hope is that like in the 70's American New Wave the studios panic and start doing weird experimental stuff with young directors. That's where a lot of the big name directors came from today. Back then US directors copied what the French were doing and it got people back in theaters. If I were a director I'd look at South Korean films there has been a ton of great films come out of there in the last 20 years or so.

I think Disney Plus is in a lot of trouble. It's costing Disney a lot of money and hurting their cable channels and box office returns. I wouldn't call it a failure yet but it's far from a success.

Sure things take time but look how quickly they moved on Star Wars and Marvel. They made a deal with Sony for Spider-Man and then he's immediately in Civil War. I just don't understand the hold up. Also I don't think Deadpool is going to bridge the gap between Marvel and Fox X-Men. I don't think Disney world use a R rated comedy for that. I think a lot of people expected Multiverse of madness to bring the X-Men in and when it didn't happen they were disappointed. Marvel seems to be running out of steam if I were them I'd shove in as many X-Men as I could.

I'm finding harder to even find 90m horror films to watch on Halloween. Used to be every horror film was 90m lol.

I think Guardians 3 and Spiderverse may be exceptions though. Spiderverse has a cool visual style that makes it stand out and is riding of the goodwill of the last film. Guardians 3 is the last guardians film and I've seen a lot of people say it was the last marvel film they were interested in. I think audiences might need more motivation than just a marvel logo now. Captain Marvel got over a billion dollars while marvel was on the hype train but I doubt the sequel does that well.

I think Ghostbusters did ok but I think this phenomenon of people avoiding franchises started after that movie, around Antman 3.

True about the parks, but besides Avatar none of Fox's properties really fit the Disney parks.

I've met people from California who now live in Texas and are right leaning and typically they are very right wing. More so than your average Texan. Most older people in Texas don't like change and are Christian conservatives. The right wingers from California feel different to me. I'll use the term neo reactionary to describe them, but they are the no regulations, meritocracy, pro eugenics types. You can't use the old school stuff like "what would Jesus do" which would occasionally work on getting the most stubborn conservative Texan on a neo reactionary as they typically don't believe in God.

I'll be honest I've heard some of their ideas and they frighten me. They imagine a antidemocratic world controlled by AI and tech executives. It's very different from the conservative Texan ideas I'm used to seeing. The classic Texan conservative wants prayer in school and the freedom to not wear a seatbelt. They can be stubborn and annoying at times but I'm used to it and I think they mean well. I don't feel the same way about neo reactionaries.

I really like the show. I've pitched it to friends as a mix of Lost and a Steven King book.

The 9/11 attacks put the CIA on a dramatically different course. The agency went from an emphasis on traditional spy work — collecting intelligence and recruiting foreign spies — to a focus on paramilitary operations.

This quote is a huge lie. The CIA has been involved in paramilitary ops and coups in South America and other places since its inception. This article tries to pin all of the CIAs sins on the Bush administration which is a lie by omission and a hostile lie as it's praising the agency on the Ukrainian Russian war. This puff piece was meant to make it seem like the CIA is in the moral right to be anti Russia but made a misstep on the war on terror. It's propaganda and it is a terrible way to stay informed.