Brandon's Media Talk: Fresh Start: New Year at the Movies

Brandon's Media Talk: Fresh Start: New Year at the Movies:            Going to the movies has become a global industry. Each year, movies are released to battle each other to see which one will reig...

Fresh Start: New Year at the Movies

           Going to the movies has become a global industry. Each year, movies are released to battle each other to see which one will reign “king” at the box-office. Depending on the year, a film can become a cultural phenomenon due to the level of audience interest and promotional awareness. In our modern world, the Internet has become a resource for coming attractions. I often read many articles and check several movie blogs to see what the entertainment industry is working on in terms of movies and television series. We have just finished the month of May, and the summer blockbuster season is in full force. 2014 has had a very fresh start with various motion pictures that were able to become early box office successes. This has made moviegoers very excited to see what is to come for the rest of 2014. Each notable motion picture, despite the different genres, is a build up to what people in 2015 consider the greatest movies of 2014.

            On March 2^nd, 2014, the Academy Awards gave out their respective awards to the best movies of 2013. Since the ceremony received worldwide coverage, let’s move forward from the 2013 coverage of cinema and instead discuss the current status of the industry. Normally, January-April is a time when movies that are not well received critically or commercially are released. However, that trend has changed in the past couple of years with successful first-time franchises starting out early in the year. This includes How to Train Your Dragon, Thor and The Hunger Games. Even Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (though not well received critically, it became a mega blockbuster early in the movie season). This year, the trend continues but with a new month added. The Lego Movie was released in February and surprised critics and audiences. The film became a hit at the box office and was universally praised. Scoring $461,869,249 thus far, it is the fourth highest grossing film of 2014. While it lags behind Frozen’s record-breaking box office success, Warner Brothers still considers the film a hit and is planning a sequel.

In March, there were 3 films that were expected to be mega box office successes. The first was Divergent. Following the success of two young adult franchises, The Hunger Games and Twilight, Divergent is expected to join along with these franchises as part of the young adult novel adaptation genre. The film grossed $56,000,000 on opening weekend and has since made $267,009,291 thus far. Critically, it looks like it will follow the trend of Twilight in terms of being a blockbuster with mixed to even poor reviews unlike The Hunger Games Series, which has received very positive reception. Katniss Everdeen has become an iconic heroine due to Jennifer Lawrence’s powerful performance. It is easy to rank Katniss up there with other classic movie heroes such as Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise, Indiana Jones from the Indiana Jones movies, and James Bond from the 007 series. Because of Divergent’s strong opening, a sequel has been greenlit by Lionsgate, the studio responsible for these young adult franchises. Will the film do better than the first movie? Film is always subjective to any person or critic. Personally, the film needs a stronger director in order to gain critical recognition. The casting does not require any changes. In fact, the performances were praised for the most part. A change in direction would not harm the franchise. This happened with The Hunger Games franchise when a new director was hired to direct Catching Fire.

The second film to mention is Muppets Most Wanted. After the success of The Muppets in 2011, it was a no-brainer to release a sequel. Much like the first film was meant to pay homage to the original Muppet movie, the sequel also relays its respects to its predecessor The Great Muppet Caper released in 1981. The Muppets won an Oscar for best song in 2012. Only time will tell if Muppets Most Wanted will follow the same trend. The reviews were not as strong at the first film but critics still showed their approval. Unfortunately, the film was not able to start fresh at the box office. Grossing only $18, 014,000 on opening weekend, it seems that the overall interest with the Muppets might dwindle away once more. Since opening weekend, it has earned only $77,646,206.

The third film to mention is Noah. Last year, The History Channel released a television series called The Bible. It was a huge success that movie studios understood that audiences were hungry for a biblical epic to return to the silver screen. Back in the 1950s, biblical epics were the norm with filmgoers. Such classics as The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur were mega blockbusters and in the case of Ben-Hur, winner of multiple Academy Awards. In the new millennium, biblical epics have not achieved the same level of success. 2004’s The Passion of the Christ is the only notable example. Grossing $611, 899, 420, it still holds the record as the highest grossing biblical epic to date. Other films such as One Night with the King and The Nativity Story have been pushed aside and did not achieve a blockbuster status. Son of God, which is based on The Bible television series, was able to show studios the growing interest of film adaptations of stories from the Bible. Could Noah bring back the Hollywood biblical blockbuster? Paramount is currently confident about the situation. Noah has grossed $345,470,714 and critics gave their approval. However, audiences were divided with the film. Director Darren Aronofsky, who’s responsible for notable indie flicks such as Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and Black Swan, took several liberties with the source material by making Noah an early environmentalist. Many Christian and Catholic critics were very critical about the film’s presentation. The film received harsh criticism from the Creationists claiming the film showcases little respect for the story of Noah by giving the story a humanist evolutionary twist. Could we call Noah a success? Yes and no. The film cost $125,000,000 to make and only grossed over $210,000,000 above its budget. The film still needs to gross over $400,000,000 to be considered a mega blockbuster. There is another biblical epic being released later on this year. Exodus, starring Christian Bale, will be the story of Moses. A new generation of Moses is coming again. Ridley Scott, director of Alien, Thelma and Louis and Gladiator, will be bringing this epic to life. Will Ridley Scott make Exodus another humanist tale? It is currently unknown what is going on with the production. The film will be released during the Christmas holiday season.

In terms of independent productions, Wes Anderson released The Grand Budapest Hotel, which has been strong at the box office. After his indie hit in 2012 with Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson has shown himself to be a unique filmmaker. Director and actor Jon Favreau (Known for bringing Iron Man to the screen) directed a small independent film that caught the eyes of many critics called Chef. The film does feature many actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe such as Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. Despite not receiving overwhelming media attention, the film is on recommendation lists of many critics who gave their approval of the film. Earlier in March also saw the release of another religious themed independent production. Following the success of independent Christian productions such as Facing the Giants, Fireproof, Letters to God and Courageous; God’s Not Dead earned $8,564,000 on opening weekend. Christian audiences felt inspired by the story of a Christian college student debating an atheist professor. The film features cameo appearances of Willie Robertson from the popular TV reality show, Duck Dynasty and the Christian rock group Newsboys. With this kind of publicity, another Christian Independent production was able to rise to the occasion at the box office. Heaven is For Real has grossed $90,767,934 at the box office to date. Further proving that Christian Independent movies are increasing in numbers.

The month of April started off with the first comic book superhero film of the year, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this will lead up to the highly anticipated sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, that is to be released in 2015. Last year, Iron Man 3 joined the billion-dollar club and Thor: the Dark World was able to be part of the year’s top 10 highest grossing films of 2013. Captain America opened with strong reviews and is currently the highest grossing film of 2014. Grossing $709,341,134, Marvel films continue to dominate cinemas all over the world. Marvel has slated for August Guardians of the Galaxy, which is Marvel’s first original film in a while due to the concentrations of the Iron Man, Thor and Captain America films. The trailer did bring plenty of media attention when it was released during the Grammy’s, but will that show at the box office?

 Over at Sony and Fox, we have The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has gotten so much attention due to the collection of villains “Spidey” has to battle with. The most intriguing of all of them is Electro played by Jaime Foxx and Green Goblin played by Dane DeHaan. However, the trend of multiple villains in one film has its disadvantages. 2007’s Spider-Man 3 received poor reception for its overdose of villains. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 seems to be receiving the same criticisms. The only saving grace is the strong opening weekend from both foreign and domestic box office records by grossing thus far $690,414,244. The film will still face more Marvel competition with X-Men: Days of Future Past. Bryan Singer returns to direct the X-Men franchise after a long hiatus since X-2 back in 2003. Though he produced the successful X-Men: First Class, fans were eagerly awaiting to finally see Bryan’s direction return once more. The film opened with strong reviews and has grossed so far $503,315,109. The film could take the number 2 spot at the box office for the year in the coming weeks, beating the current status of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In my opinion, there is way too much competition going on with Comic Book superheros, especially since these hero’s all come from the same parent company. Can one film be better than the other? Definitely, yes; but it is rather difficult for each film to top one another when audience expectations are high for each film.

In terms of other subsequent animated films, Mr. Peabody & Sherman from Dreamworks Animation and Rio 2 from Blue Sky Animation; have only performed modestly at the box office. They still face competition with other animation studios such Pixar and now even Disney Animation. While Pixar is taking a year off, Disney Animation Studios is in its Computer Animated Renaissance. With the success of Tangled and Wreck It Ralph, and now the global phenomenon of Frozen, Disney Animation Studios can consider themselves a top competing studio, unlike in the 2000s decade when they released disappointments like Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and Bolt. Dreamworks Animation is also experiencing its own renaissance with the successful franchises of Kung Fu Panda, How to Your Dragon, and The Croods. How to Train Your Dragon 2 will be released June 13^th of this year, and around Christmas Dreamworks will release the spin-off film The Penguins of Madagascar.  Disney animation will release in November Big Hero 6 (Disney Animation’s first collaboration with Marvel Comics).  Laika Animation, the studio that brought you Coraline and ParaNorman, brings its 3^rd film Boxtrolls. This year alone will be a highly competitive year for each animated movie. But the films also face the high expectations due to previous successes. With Big Hero 6 being a major departure from the classic fairy tale musical formula that Disney is known for, it is unknown if the film will achieve the same global success of Frozen.

When it comes to stand alone blockbusters, Godzilla is making a return to the big screen once again. Grossing $375,592,665, the action monster flick has brought a level of renewed interest in the Godzilla mythology. But Godzilla isn’t the only mythological creature gracing on the silver screen. Angelina Jolie is playing the “Mistress of All Evil,” Maleficent. This is her biggest film in recent years. After watching the haunting trailer featuring Lana Del Ray’s eerie rendition of Once Upon a Dream, the film could receive a better outcome compared to last year’s OZ The Great and Powerful and also the box office success of Alice in Wonderland. The film had strong opening numbers, becoming Angelia Jolie’s most successful film to date. While her performance was praised, the film still experiences the style-over-substance problems that were present in both Alice and Oz.

The rest of 2014 shows diversity when it comes to films and franchises.  Marvel isn’t the only studio releasing sequels to successful products. We have Transformers: Age of Extinction, Dawn of Planet of the Apes, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Night of the Museum 3. Transformers and Night at the Museum hold some distinctions for different reasons. Transformers: Age of Extinction will now feature actor Mark Wahlberg instead of Shia Lebeouf, whose career seems to be fading.  It has been a few years since the last Night of the Museum film so hopefully this will be a nice return for Ben Stiller. Out of all these franchises, which one could be the highest grossing film of the year? My hopes are actually on Mockingjay but we will see what film will dominate the airways. Reboots of previous franchises are making of return to the screen. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be making a comeback coming this summer. The popular 80s characters have had many incarnations at the movies since the early 1990s. Because of the huge cult following of the franchise, fans are excited to see a whole new generation experience their childhood heroes.

With the success of the soundtrack from Frozen, there are 3 musical films being released this year. All of them based on notable Broadway musicals. The first is Jersey Boys, which will be directed by Clint Eastwood. Not much has been discussed about this film. Next, the classic musical Annie will undertake a modern makeover. Beast of the Southern Wild’s Quvenzhané Wallis will now pick up this generation’s torch as America’s beloved and hope-bringing orphan girl. Disney will be adapting Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, a musical that features a mish-mosh of classic fairy tale characters. The film will be in the same vein of Maleficent in terms of visual style. What will make this film unique is the lavish musical numbers, which were absent in the various live-action fairy tale adaptations.

In terms of Oscar bate movies for the 87^th Academy Awards in 2015; it is too early to tell. However, one film has gotten some attention that won’t be released until the holidays. Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight Trilogy, will be releasing his first original movie since Inception back in 2010. The film is called Interstellar. Starring recent Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey, this will be another science fiction tale with Christopher Nolan’s unique style. Ever since Matthew McConaughey’s big career change of becoming a serious actor, notable directors will be hiring him for big projects in years to come. It looks like things will be “Alright…Alright…”

2014 is shaping up to be either a strong and diverse year at the movies, but it could also be a weak year. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 divided critics and audiences already upon release and while Captain America: The Winter Soldier became a critical success; it has yet to achieve major prominence at the box office like The Avengers and Iron Man 3. However, I often feel that a film does not lose its stature due to lower box office revenues. Captain America was able to rise above the previous perception that a classic patriotic hero could not adapt to modern audiences. The box office revenue for the film is still very strong and shows promise for the next Avengers film. In terms of Spider-Man, the debate the still goes on about Sony’s continuation with the Spider-Man franchise. After all, Spider-Man was a major player in the Avengers comics. If The Amazing Spider-Man 3 continues to divide filmgoers, it may prove that it was too soon for a reboot.

Other genres face similar competition. Animation is a growing industry in Hollywood. Unlike previous years where there would be 1 to possibly 3 animated films released in a year, the numbers keep growing due to multiple animation studios. While Computer Animation is considered the prominent form animation, Stop-Motion Animation and Anime do not lag behind with animation fans. Especially since some of these films will be consider major award contenders. The year is still fresh and new, and people will have to keep an eye out for new trailers and information of each upcoming attraction. I believe that if studios play the right card game, the industry could move forward with the current formula of film releases while still bringing something new to the table.