X Marks The Spot
Screen Gems — By AltoidMan on July 21, 2010 at 10:40 AMWe have become a country of departments. Within those departments we have units. Within those units we have factions. Does this sound confusing? It should. Welcome to the way business is done in Hollywood these days.
It used to be a studio would buy the rights to a movie then hire people to shoot, star in, and edit said movie. Now, all of those things are contracted out to other companies or, even worse, other departments within the same studio. Why is this bad? Well it wouldn’t be if those departments, units, and factions all talked to each other (which they don’t).
I’m going to use the next X-Men movie as an example. It is THE Marvel Comics title. It is their Holy Grail. Yet, they don’t have control over the movie. 20th Century Fox does. And this is a very, very good thing.
Marvel showed they have no idea how to play the Hollywood game last week when they canned Edward Norton and proceeded to try and tear down the highly talented actor in the process. Besides letting information leak about actors they never hire, stirring controversy about their films in order to stay in the news, and treating people like shit, Marvel has shown they have a penchant to be socially inept to the Hollywood world. They could use the example by 20th Century Fox if they want to fix their problems.
What did they do right? For starters, they have assembled an extremely talented cast for their upcoming film X-Men: First Class. The only rumor even remotely leaked was that Taylor Lautner was going to play The Beast, but they always said it was tentative. Instead, they decided to ditch Lautner and cast a talented actor in Nicholas Hoult. Never heard of him? He was the kid who played opposite Hugh Grant in the movie About A Boy. In short, he was the boy the movie was about.
If he wasn’t enough, 20th Century Fox has managed to find good, young talent for this major reboot. The one I’m more excited about is the addition of Jennifer Lawrence. You don’t know who she is yet, but you will. She was INCREDIBLE in the movie Winter’s Bone. Now she will play a young Mystique. Add James McAvoy (Atonement) and Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) to the mix and this is a hell of a cast.
I can’t wait to see this movie. This cast is unbelievable. Marvel Entertainment can really take a pointer or two about how to get fans excited about projects. You don’t need to piss people off to keep your names in the media. All you have to do is act professional, hire actual talent, and fans will beckon for more. The new X-Men movie is slated to come out in 2011.
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1 Comment
I partially agree with you. Despite the revenue they brought, I thought 20th Century Fox’s X-Men 3 and Wolverine were abysmal, and that’s being nice. Leaves little hope for X-Men 0, however, 1 and 2 were good, and with Bryan Singer involved again, maybe some of the magic can be recaptured.
Marvel on the other hand has been consistent in their crappy handling of actors and other cast since their inception, however, they’ve created some awesome and fanboy lauded films with Iron Man 1 & 2. Even with The Incredible Hulk could be considered a hit, even if they were busy screwing Ed Norton on a writing credit during the marketing of that film. And even if they decided to rehash that negativity here recently with Ed Norton and show what dicks they really are, I still have no doubt that their Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers will be far better and superior to any X-Movie, Spider-Man, or other licenced movie. Because Marvel Studios may be crappy employers, they hire the right employees, and they in turn actually consult with Marvel Publishing, which is greatly refreshing after years of Quesada and Levitz of DC giving interviews were they state that there was hardly to no communication between the filmmakers and the publishers.