Zack Snyder Has Blunt Words For Any Fans Mad That Batman Killed Someone

Zack Snyder Has Blunt Words For Any Fans Mad That Batman Killed Someone

Whatever your view of Zack Snyder's DC superhero movies, there's little argument that his particular take on Batman and Superman would qualify as "non-traditional." One specific way that Snyder broke with previous versions of the character was when he made a version of Batman who had no problem with actually killing people, a line that the character traditionally would not cross in modern films and comics.

However, at a recent Q&A following a screening of Snyder's earlier comic book movie, Watchmen, the director made it clear that he has little sympathy for people who took issue with his version of the classic DC characters, as seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as he feels they made sense for a modern comic book movie. According to Snyder...

Someone says to me 'Oh Batman killed a guy.' I'm like 'Really?' I'm like 'Wake the fuck up.' ... I guess that's what I'm saying about, once you've like lost your virginity to this fucking movie and then you come say to me something about like 'Oh my superhero wouldn't do that.' I'm like 'Are you serious' I'm down the fucking road on that. And it's a cool point of view. Look, I'm 100% fine, it's a cool point of view to be like 'My heroes are still innocent. My heroes didn't lie to America. My heroes didn't embezzle money from their corp, my heroes didn't commit any atrocities.' That's cool, but you're living in a fucking dream world, OK?

Snyder's comments at least make it clear where he was coming from in creating his version of the DC Universe. His earlier film Watchman, and the comic it was based on, argued that if superheroes were real, they would not be the paragon of virtue we're used to seeing in comic books. Snyder believes this idea so strongly that he carried it over to characters like Batman and Superman. He thinks viewing any sort of hero with that sort of idolization is akin to living in a dream world. Everybody has flaws and that should be understood.

While many might agree, the response on Reddit, where Snyder's comments were posted, is largely negative. Many feel that while a story like Watchmen has its place, Batman is something quite different and should be treated as such. Batman's decision not to kill his enemies is a key aspect of the character, and if you change it, he's simply not Batman anymore.

Of course, there's really no right answer to questions like these. There will always be fans of the traditional view of any character with a history as long as the one Batman has. Changes and new interpretations will always happen, but exactly what aspects of the character are immutable won't always be agreed upon. A Batman willing to kill certainly opens up interesting ideas to be explored that wouldn't be there with a more traditional iteration of the character.

What do you think about Zack Snyder's perspective on Batman? Let us know in the poll below.

Ron Howard Says He ‘Made a Mistake’ With The Dark Tower

Ron Howard Says He ‘Made a Mistake’ With The Dark Tower

Over the course of the decade-long development process The Dark Tower wound itself through, producer Ron Howard was on board for almost the entire ride, joining the project in the wake of J.J. Abrams’ departure. So if anyone knows what the first film in the failed Stephen King franchise went through in its birthing process, it’s him.

As such, Ron Howard is also qualified to discuss just what went wrong with the 2017 film that baffled critics as well as fans, and saw Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey occupying the center of the black hole that was The Dark Tower’s would-be origin story. And discuss this he did in a recent interview, in which Ron Howard admitted to the following mistake when it came to Roland the Gunslinger’s big screen debut:

I think it should’ve been horror. I think that it landed in a place—both in our minds and the studio’s—that it could be PG-13 and sort of a boy’s adventure… I really think we made a mistake not—I mean I’m not sure we could’ve made this movie, but I think if we could’ve made a darker, more hard-boiled look and make it The Gunslinger’s character study more than Jake. I think in retrospect that would’ve been more exciting. We always felt like we were kind of holding back something, and I think at the end of the day it was that.

It's a story that any Dark Tower fan could tell you from memory: the day that what was supposed to be the first entry in a series of films and TV seasons that told the story of all seven books was confirmed to be a PG-13 film. With the focus shifted to Tom Taylor’s Jake Chambers, and the story retooled to be a sequel that took the series past the events of the final written volume, aptly titled The Dark Tower, the Sony-produced picture eventually became a pretty big flameout when it was released into theaters.

As the literary source was a darker, more mature fantasy that saw much weirder and more gruesome events, including Jake’s own death after being sacrificed by Roland himself, the PG-13 style of filmmaking just couldn’t cut it. And while he was initially bullish on the film, even Stephen King himself admitted that the studio went crazy with trying to turn an R-rated novel into a franchise-ready, less hard-edged product.

But alas, hindsight truly is 20/20, and Ron Howard’s discussion on Happy, Sad, Confused showed just that. And while he admits it was a mistake, Howard does note that it was one that helped the movie get made, seeing as the studio may not have wanted the R-rated version of what was eventually a $66 million film version of The Dark Tower’s first, and so far only, cinematic installment.

However, the storied franchise’s fortunes aren’t totally washed out, as Amazon has been working on a brand new Dark Tower TV series that would stick to the original plan of adapting book four, Wizards and Glass, into a sprawling epic that would fill in the backstory for Roland. So while there was a failure to be had in The Dark Tower’s initial journey to the screen, it looks like that regret might become a big stepping stone on improving for the future.

We don’t have a premiere date on when The Dark Tower will hit Amazon, but you can see Ron Howard’s latest documentary, Pavarotti, when it opens in theaters this Friday. And if you’re looking for more excitement in theaters this weekend, or anytime in the near future, you can check out our 2019 release schedule to see what’s on the horizon. Results may vary depending on which dimension you’re reading this article in.

What Drew Zoe Saldana And Zach Galifianakis To Laika Stop-Motion Animation

What Drew Zoe Saldana And Zach Galifianakis To Laika Stop-Motion Animation

This year there is no shortage of exciting family films coming to theaters, from the highly-anticipated return of Woody and Buzz in Toy Story 4 from Pixar or Disney’s sequel to Frozen during the holidays, to Illumination’s second take on looking inside The Secret Life of Pets and the many Disney live-action remakes, such as The Lion King. There's a lot to choose from!

Among them is Missing Link, the newest adventure for stop-motion animation studio, Laika. The company is fairly new to the game as the upcoming movie will be Laika’s fifth feature film after breaking out with 2009’s Coraline. The studio has quickly gained intrigue among audiences for its unique approach to filmmaking, whether that be through its innovative behind-the-scenes process (that is so detailed it will break your brain), touching stories or bold style.

During the Los Angeles press day for Missing Link, a couple of the stars told CinemaBlend just what it is about Laika that attracted them to voicing their new characters. First, here’s what Zach Galifianakis, who plays Susan the Sasquatch, said:

They’re doing kids entertainment in a very artistic way and a lot of times you don’t see that – a lot of kids stuff is one-dimensional, it’s flat, it’s very computer-generated cold images. This is very warm and there’s a texture to it, it’s almost like a painting.

When you think about it, this is true! While there are beautiful advancements happening in CGI animation everyday, there can be an overwhelmingly colorful feeling to it that leaves viewers looking into a video game-like atmosphere. Laika’s films bring a little something extra because the characters are actual puppets that are filmed on real sets masterfully produced in the studio. It’s a unique art form that deserves a certain appreciation that few animation companies are doing.

Zoe Saldana, who plays Adelina Fortnight, echoed some of Galifianakis’ sentiments along with adding in some love for Missing Link’s story as well. In her words:

The aesthetic of what stop motion truly is and how Laika is unfolding it is mesmerizing. Not to mention this is coated by a lovely story with amazing messages and complex character that are not the most likable characters in the beginning, but then end up becoming really amazing.

Take a look at Zach Galifianakis and Zoe Saldana discuss working with Laika from my interview below:

As the actress notes, what sets Missing Link apart from what other family-friendly studios deliver is its storytelling style which often goes outside of the box of the expected. For this adventure, each of the characters have their own quirks and flaws evident to the audience from the beginning. Hugh Jackman’s character of Lionel Frost for example is an adventurer with selfish motivations.

The trio of adventurers travel across the globe in hopes of finding Susan’s long-lost cousins, the Yeti in Missing Link out in theaters on April 12.

Fantastic Four Director Just Keeps Trashing His Movie

Fantastic Four Director Just Keeps Trashing His Movie

Sometimes a reboot manages to successfully bring a superhero back onto the big screen and portray them in a new light while still staying true to the source material. And then there’s Fantastic Four, which was a critical and commercial bomb to the point that it killed 20th Century Fox’s future plans for this iteration of Marvel’s First Family. Four years after Fantastic Four’s release, director Josh Trank has no issue with trashing his own movie, as evidenced by this latest tweet.

This past weekend saw the release of Jordan Peele’s Us, and like many moviegoers, Josh Trank decided to check it out. Unlike most moviegoers, though, Trank has a movie that was not well-received by the public, and evidently the passage of time has allowed him to poke fun at his time helming Fantastic Four, as he’s quite comfortable declaring on Twitter that Us is the complete opposite of his 2015 movie. That’s not saying much, although Us has indeed been met with critical acclaim and made over $174 million worldwide so far. If you have a choice of watching one of these two movies, it’s pretty clear which one you should pick.

This comment follows a couple of weeks after Josh Trank responded “hold my beer” to a tweet declaring that no superhero movie fails. It is true that for the most part nowadays, superhero movies are usually at least commercially successful, with a good portion of them also doing well among critics. Fantastic Four was not one of those movies, and while much of the blame was placed at Trank’s feet for its poor performance, the director wrote in a tweet deleted shortly thereafter that the final cut of the movie was not the one he’d planned on giving to audiences, indicating studio interference. In any case, Trank appears to have made peace with Fantastic Four and doesn't have a problem making fun of himself for it, though it doesn’t sound like we should expect more self-deprecating comments from him anytime soon.

Originally the plan was for Fantastic Four to kick off a new film series, with the sequel coming out in June 2017. However, following the movie’s disappointing performance, Fantastic Four 2 was later removed from the calendar and eventually cancelled. While Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley has been working on a Doctor Doom movie, with Fox now under the Disney banner, it’s unclear if that project will still move forward or if Marvel will put its own Fantastic Four movie into development that better fits within the Marvel Cinematic Universe mythology. As for Josh Trank, his next movie is Fonzo, which stars Tom Hardy as Al Capone as he wrestles with dementia following his stint in prison.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any major updates concerning the next chapter of the Fantastic Four film franchise, but in the meantime, you can look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what’s coming down the pipeline in Phase 4, as well as our 2019 release schedule to plan your trips to the theater later this year accordingly.

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters' Worldwide Opening Numbers Are Massive

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters' Worldwide Opening Numbers Are Massive

There is perhaps no more appropriate movie to usher in the summer months than one in which a bunch of giant monsters fight each other. That is what we are getting with this weekend’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters from director Michael Dougherty. As befitting a movie with beasts of leviathanic proportions, the sequel to 2014’s Godzilla is looking to stomp its way into theaters in grand fashion with massive worldwide opening numbers.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters should reign supreme at the worldwide box office this weekend with an opening in the range of $230-$235 million according to Deadline. That’s a massive worldwide opening and one that would be a great start for a movie that may have had a production budget of $170 million before print and advertising.

Such an opening would give Godzilla: King of the Monsters the top spot at the worldwide box office, and the ability to say it’s the biggest movie in the world in TV spots, as well as besting Aladdin’s impressive $213.5 million opening from last weekend. An opening of $230-$235 million would also crush Legendary’s previous two MonsterVerse movies, Godzilla, which opened to $196 million and Kong: Skull Island, which opened to $146.1 million.

As far as how that $230-$235 million breaks down, domestically the tracking for King of the Monsters has the film landing between $50-$55 million. This is on the upper end of the long-range tracking from a couple months back that had the sequel opening between $40-$60 million.

However, there is an expectation that the Rotten Tomatoes score could have an effect on the domestic box office for Godzilla 2. Namely, if negative reviews continue to drag the film’s score on the Tomatometer down into the 20th percentile range, that could damper the enthusiasm of domestic audiences and thus hurt the film’s chances to enjoy that $50-$55 million debut.

Nevertheless, as anyone who follows the box office of films of this ilk could probably guess, Godzilla: King of the Monsters was always going to live and die overseas. On that front, the kaiju clash is expected to top the box office in 75 offshore markets for an international debut of $180 million. That would best the $140 million and $160 million international openings for Godzilla and Skull Island respectively.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ opening crucially includes China and where the movie ultimately lands on the weekend will depend a great deal on how it fares in the Middle Kingdom. A great debut there could possibly push Godzilla to $200 million international in its opening weekend. High anticipation and an international cast could work in its favor, with Godzilla 2’s Chinese debut estimated to be in the $75-$90 million range.

Also opening this weekend and hoping to counterprogram against Godzilla and friends is Rocketman. The Elton John musical from Dexter Fletcher is looking at a $25 million domestic bow and $45+ million worldwide. It obviously won’t take the crown from Godzilla, but it shouldn’t get drowned out either, as other would-be counterprogramming success stories have this year.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters hits theaters on May 31. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all of this summer’s biggest titles.

Jennifer Lawrence Wouldn't Return For Dark Phoenix Unless Simon Kinberg Directed, He Says

Jennifer Lawrence Wouldn't Return For Dark Phoenix Unless Simon Kinberg Directed, He Says

After writing and producing several of the X-Men movies, Simon Kinberg finally sits in the director's chair for Dark Phoenix, the last film of Fox's superhero franchise. This is Kinberg's feature debut, and while taking on the final film in the saga may seem like a daunting task for a first time director, Kinberg had full support from the cast. In fact, Jennifer Lawrence apparently wouldn't return as Mystique unless he was the director, Kinberg recently said.

Since X-Men: First Class, the X-Men franchise has been led by Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Nicholas Hoult. The actors signed deals for three movies, and it was unclear if any of them would return for Dark Phoenix after X-Men: Apocalypse. Eventually, all of them eventually signed on for one more ride, and while it was unclear to all of us what was going to happen, Kinberg didn't doubt they'd be back.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Kinberg revealed that they had always written drafts of the script expecting the actors to return. Kinberg knew they would be back because they had told him they would as long as he directed.

We presumed the First Class core cast — Fassbender, McAvoy Jennifer, and Nic [Hoult] were coming back for this film. Part of the reason I presumed that was at the end of finishing X-Men: Apocalypse, when it was clear Bryan Singer was not going to direct the next movie, it was the actors that approached me about directing the next of the X-Men movies. Jennifer especially. Jen said she wouldn’t come back for another movie unless I directed it. So, I had a lot of support from them.

With Bryan Singer -- who is the subject of multiple cases of alleged sexual assault on minors -- not returning for Dark Phoenix, Simon Kinberg was the logical choice to take the reins. He likely knows these characters inside and out, and the actors clearly had an admiration for him if he's the whole reason they came back.

Ultimately, everyone is back for one last hurrah. While this will be the last of Fox's X-Men movies, it wasn't always clear that would be the case. The Disney-Fox merger seemed to put an expiration date on the franchise, but according to Simon Kinberg, he went into it knowing that this would likely be the end.

I feel as though the notion of this being the last of this cycle of X-Men movies is tied for a lot of people, at least in the industry, to the Disney-Fox merger. In truth, when I sat down to write this movie, which was three years ago, I thought about it as the culmination of this cycle of X-Men movies.

The X-Men will one day be seen in the MCU, but until then, Dark Phoenix arrives in theaters on June 7.

Why I'm Excited For Disney+

Why I'm Excited For Disney+

At The Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day presentation last week, the Mouse House finally revealed what it has in store for its upcoming Disney+ streaming service, and it is a lot. Disney is coming out guns blazing with a slew of content and an aggressive price point that make Disney+ a compelling value proposition for consumers in a crowded streaming field.

There’s a lot to be excited about when the service debuts this November, from the first ever live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian to all the MCU series to the Imagineering documentary series. And I’m hopeful that classic Disney catalog animated series like Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Gargoyles and Recess will finally be available in their entirety on Disney+.

All the TV coming to Disney+ is great, but I’m also really excited for the potential benefits this new platform offers on the movies front. Read on to see why.

The MCU And Star Wars All In One Place

The Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars are the two most successful franchises ever, and eventually they will both be viewable in their entirety on Disney+. These franchises both have a high re-watchability factor, and if you’re a fan of either of them, having guaranteed access to them anytime on Disney+ is an enticing prospect.

Once Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out, you’ll be able to binge all nine films in the Skywalker Saga in one place. Consider the current situation with Avengers: Endgame as well. Many Marvel fans want to re-watch some of the previous MCU movies before The Infinity Saga comes to a close, but currently you can’t do that on streaming, even across multiple services. You would have to own physical copies or pay rental fees. Even as an advocate of physical media, I find this appealing, especially since Disney+ will support 4K and HDR, so I won’t need to upgrade nearly two dozen movies to get great quality.

New And Original Movies

Disney has found a lot of success theatrically thanks to its massive brands and recognizable IPs. The studio makes the most successful and popular blockbusters in the industry, but that’s basically all it makes. There is a sameness and safety to Disney’s theatrical strategy of rotating tentpoles from established properties that is wildly lucrative, but predictable. The Disney+ platform provides the company a way to do something different, as Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Productions President Sean Bailey said at the Investor presentation:

Disney+ affords us the opportunity to tell more stories from a variety of genres. We will always remain true to the values of what a Disney live-action film offers, but we’re able to take some risks, which is really exciting. While theatrical box office right now is being driven by giant blockbuster events, there are amazing stories and characters that are yearning to be enjoyed by the whole family.

For a studio sometimes criticized for only making blockbusters, this is exciting. Already Disney+ has the holiday comedy Noelle starring Anna Kendrick, the coming-of-age novel adaptation Stargirl and the kid caper Timmy Failure, to name a few. It’s awesome to see Disney branching out, taking risks and allowing for more creative freedom by telling different kinds of stories than it does on the big screen. Sean Bailey also indicated that the same love and care will be given to these Disney+ movies as the company’s theatrical titles, and that’s exciting.

Remakes Of Less Popular Disney Animated Movies

There is an argument to be made that Disney is going for cheap nostalgia dollars by remaking its animated classics in live-action, but people love them and they are largely successful. Yet as Dumbo recently showed, not all of the studio’s animated classics are really built to be box office smashes. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a solid live-action remake, and Disney+ provides a place for a smaller-budgeted remake to land.

One of the launch titles for Disney+ is a live-action reimagining of Lady and the Tramp starring the voices of Justin Theroux and Tessa Thompson. There’s also a remake in the works of The Sword in the Stone. Disney may run out of titles popular enough to be big screen blockbusters, but its catalog is extensive and has many films that could find new life in remakes on Disney+. We’d love to see Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet get some love too, but those two might require big screen budgets. The Black Cauldron maybe?

Live-Action Sequels And Reboots Could Have A Chance On Disney+

This isn’t so much a promise of Disney+, but a hope for the nascent streaming service. Disney has a long history full of great and beloved titles beyond its revered animated movies. Disney hasn’t indicated as such, but it seems like an ideal place for reboots and sequels of the studio’s live-action properties that no longer fit within its big-screen strategy. Or more specifically, the long awaited, frequently-asked-for National Treasure 3.

Bob Iger hasn’t doused hopes for National Treasure 3, and if finding a place for it on Disney’s crowded theatrical calendar was a problem, that obstacle could be removed if it releases on Disney+ instead. The hope for National Treasure 3 isn’t the only exciting possibility though. A reboot of The Rocketeer was in the works, and while we haven’t heard much about it recently, that too may be have a better chance to soar on Disney+. And that reported TV movie reboot of Hocus Pocus should really be a proper sequel dropping on Disney+ next Halloween.

No More Vault

Has there ever been a more brilliant and infuriating invention than the Disney Vault? Disney’s strategy of only making its animated movies available on home video for a limited time to create demand and make each re-release an event has long frustrated fans of the studio’s classic films. Disney has even employed this tactic in the streaming and digital realms; with the Aladdin remake on its way, the 1992 original is unavailable for streaming or digital purchase.

Like Robin Hood stealing from Prince John, Disney+ is busting that vault wide open and raiding it for subscribers. The vault program will not apply on the service and Disney+ will be the one-stop shop for fans of Disney’s animated classics. That means no more searching stores or different streaming services in vain when the mood strikes you to watch one of your childhood favorites. That convenience is awesome and as someone who grew up with Disney’s animated movies, it will be nice to know I can watch them all in one place.

It is still early and Disney+ hasn’t even launched yet, but it already has a lot going for it. The potential for Disney+ to reward Disney fans by offering both beloved existing films and unique new movies is immediately evident and exciting.

Disney+ launches in the United States on November 12 with a monthly rate of $6.99 or an upfront yearly price of $69.99. We’ll keep you updated on all the latest news on Disney+ as it arrives.