General Movie Discussion

According to former Fox movie executive Bill Mechanic, Rupert Murdoch hated movie people and was never fond of the movie business.

He says some interesting things. Here are the final 8 parts of this article.

Quote wrote:

Perhaps the greatest thing Fox has lacked under Murdoch is a culture of values. Between the phone hacking scandal in the U.K. and the mess at Fox News, ethical compliance was never asked for and never achieved.

There’s a multitude of reasons why Fox decided to sell — the failure to buy the rest of Sky; the abysmal performance of its digital ventures (remember MySpace?); the middling result of its film slate — but the biggest reason is that Rupert has an affinity for news, and little else.

The Disney deal is all about Fox’s TV strengths, rather than its historic movie tradition; and it’s hard to imagine Fox’s film group staying intact when the acquisition is finalized. While there are film assets of value, none is a deal driver the way it might be for an Amazon or Netflix (which in any case seems to have no interest in film, other than as another product to stream).

I’m sure Disney’s happy to bring two of Fox’s most popular franchises, X-Men and Fantastic Four, into its fold, but the reality is Marvel’s made more out of less with its characters, while Fox has made less out of more: Thor, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Ant Man and Guardians of the Galaxy are far bigger movie franchises than those Fox controls, and X-Men has been feeling tired after a 17-year run.

Blue Sky Studios has even less deal value: Ice Age has been pounded into the ground, and Fox has no other ongoing animation franchise — as if Disney needs help with animation. As for its Avatar series, since Disney already owns the theme park rights, that’s relatively small potatoes.

I always thought Rupert won in business because of two factors: he was the most aggressive person in the media world, and he treated News Corp. like it was his to do with as he pleased. Board meetings when I was there were a joke.

I’ve never worked with Iger, but what he’s done is impressive, and he’s done it within a very public company. He’s acquired strategically and with a vision. Fox has gone from being one of a handful of majors to zero, in the same time Disney has gone from zero to being the biggest major of all.

In a sense, it’s a Small World after all. Thanks to Disney, it just got smaller.

Disney has become the first studio to make $6 billion twice at the global box office.

They are also the first studio to make over $3 billion for 3 years in a row.

Between this, buying out Fox Studios, Paramount probably going down after 2019, and Sony going down 5-10 years later, Disney is going to be the top dog for a long time.

Comcast, which owns Universal Studios, is in legal trouble via for deceptive business practices.

First the AT&T/Warner Bros. merger gets stopped via a DOJ anti-trust lawsuit and now this. Disney might really be the top dog by default if this keeps up.

Here's an interesting You Tube video about why Dreamworks is so inconsistent.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Here's an interesting You Tube video about why Dreamworks is so inconsistent.

This is a great video, and the analysis it presents about DreamWorks having no real identity is pretty firmly rooted in what we've seen from them. They've always tried to define themselves as "NOT Disney" without ever establishing what that means, always trying to follow what they think will make them the most money and thinking very short term in the process. They do have some great movies under their banner, sure, but I long for their days of artistic triumphs like The Prince of Egypt or thoroughly hilarious and witty comedies like The Road to El Dorado.

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Here's an interesting You Tube video about why Dreamworks is so inconsistent.

This is a great video, and the analysis it presents about DreamWorks having no real identity is pretty firmly rooted in what we've seen from them. They've always tried to define themselves as "NOT Disney" without ever establishing what that means, always trying to follow what they think will make them the most money and thinking very short term in the process. They do have some great movies under their banner, sure, but I long for their days of artistic triumphs like The Prince of Egypt or thoroughly hilarious and witty comedies like The Road to El Dorado.

This also reminded me of two of my other posts on Universal's current success being in the moment and them not having a long term plan. What exactly is their identity? They didn't plan anything in case JW was successful and with the rights going back to the Crichton estate after JP6/JW3, what else do they have if they can't get the rights back? F&F can only last for so long, Dreamworks and that other animation branch they have have no real identity either, their own monsterverse, the Dark Universe imploded on itself, so I don't know what their long term plan is.

Say what you want about WB, but with the Godzillaverse, them trying to salvage the DCEU, and the Harry Potter spinoffs, at least they have some sort of long-term plan and an identity, even they are both slightly fuzzy.

So far, the Jumanji rebootquel has made just under $323 million dollars.

What is really surprising is that it's actually a good, solid movie.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

So far, the Jumanji rebootquel has made just under $323 million dollars.

What is really surprising is that it's actually a good, solid movie.

Yeah, I'm just as surprised here as well! Whilst hoping it would be a fun (if dumb) movie that would help buoy The Rock's career (since it was waning a bit after Moana), I wasn't so sure based on the trailers. I saw it the day before yesterday, and while it's connections to the original film were not as abundant as compared to say the new films in the Star Wars and Jurassic Park series, it did keep me smiling and chuckling throughout a good portion of it. They did a decent job of re-inventing the concept as a video game whilst keeping it entertaining.

So let me mention something if you guys don’t mind.

God particle. Aka cloverfield 3 was initially slated for October 2017 if I have that right. It was pushed back to Feb 2 2018.... we are like 4 weeks away and have seen NOTHING. I guess it’s safe to say that’s not coming out in Feb? Yes I know 10 cloverfield Lane was shown late, but this is a bit extreme.

I wonder if something is wrong with the film?

Edit: I saw this on reddit today. The person made a topic about this and it got like 40k likes, which is a large amount obviously. Then OP deleted his post and account.... maybe too big a conspiracy but it makes me wonder if this is part of the marketing?

The Jumanji reboot/sequel hybrid is close to the $500 million dollar mark.

Who would have thought that Sony Pictures, of all movie companies, would end 2017 on a high note while starting 2018 on a good note with this movie while the opposite happened for Disney via SW8? Granted, they will make up all that money with Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, but still, this is very unexpected.

Jumanji has finally overtaken SW8 at the top spot at the box office.

Talk about a surprise nobody saw coming.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Jumanji has finally overtaken SW8 at the top spot at the box office.

Talk about a surprise nobody saw coming.

Yep! I have a feeling Sony will get the wrong message though and assume people want a Jumanji Universe lol.

I saw Jumanji yesterday, I honestly didnt think it was that bad, I actually laughed at a few points.

If I'm reading this correctly, Kevin Tsujihara has basically been demoted while Toby Emmerich is basically running Warner Brothers now.

Mel Gibson returning for Machete Kills sequel
http://moviehole.net/2018128851mel-gibson-returning-for-machete-kills-sequel

This is amazing

Eliza Dushku wrote on her Facebook account that when she was just 12, that she was sexually molested during the making of True Lies.

That poor girl... reading that made my feel physically sick.

I hope that son of a bitch stunt coordinator never works again after this.

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

That poor girl... reading that made my feel physically sick.

I hope that son of a bitch stunt coordinator never works again after this.

And this is most likely the tip of the iceberg. If the FBI did an undercover sting operation and exposed just how large this is and how widespread the child pedophile ring is in Hollywood, it might very well cripple the industry for years and many studios that are struggling now would be finished off for good.

Kevin Spacey has now been accused of racism via the set of House Of Cards.

There goes whatever is, or was, left of his career.

It looks like Lionsgate is ripe for a takeover.

And 5 months from now, Disney will buy it.


Police in the UK are investigating a third sexual harassment claim against Kevin Spacy.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

It looks like Lionsgate is ripe for a takeover.

And 5 months from now, Disney will buy it.

Lionsgate's bad business practices and costly box office flops were bound to do them in before long, but please let it not be Disney who buys them. But, at this rate, they're probably eyeing the studio like a hawk....

BarrytheOnyx wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

It looks like Lionsgate is ripe for a takeover.

And 5 months from now, Disney will buy it.

Lionsgate's bad business practices and costly box office flops were bound to do them in before long, but please let it not be Disney who buys them. But, at this rate, they're probably eyeing the studio like a hawk....

And that's not the only studio that Disney might buy.

Tony Vinciquerra, a Sony Pictures chairman says the company has to grow or it will be bought.

Quote wrote:

"If we don't grow, we will be somebody's purchase," he told moderator Soledad O'Brien. "I didn't take the job to do it for a year and sell the company."

It's only a matter of time before Disney/Marvel gets Spider-Man back for good.

It looks like another major person in Hollywood will get exposed.

From what I can tell, he's talking about Dan Schneider, who's been accused of child molestation in the past.

Peter Jackson is making a documentary about the First World War.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Peter Jackson is making a documentary about the First World War.

Set to air on BBC One on the 100th anniversary of Armistice, I now know what I'm watching on that day. I hope 2018 proves to be a comeback year of sorts for PJ, between him directing this WWI documentary and producing The Mortal Engines.

Christopher Nolan finally got his very first Best Director Oscar nomination.

I really hope he wins.


The Anne Hathaway Barbie movie is set back to come out on May 8, 2020.

WB is making a new Cat In The Hat movie.

It can't be worse then the one Universal made.

Rachel Weisz says that the downfall of Harvey Weinstein was/is all about money.

It makes you wonder how much of the MeToo movement and anything else related to this comes down to money as well.

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle has made over $822 million dollars.

Sony REALLY hit the jackpot with this movie. I'm actually very impressed.


Glee actor Mark Salling killed himself before being sentenced (somewhere between 4-7 years) for holding child porn.

Good riddance.


CBS and Viacom are merging and both CBS boss Les Moonves and Viacom might get the boot.

I think Sony pictures is either someone’s purchase very soon or about to get a huge shakeup and hopefully get better.

Kaz Hira is officially stepping down as CEO, but will still hold a respectable place in the company. Yet it’ll be Kenichiro Yoshida taking his place.

Now why do I think this is significant? Kaz was always a huge proponent of Sony’s entertainment division including the PlayStation(doing wonderful) but also Sony Pictures(I don’t need to say anything lol).

This Kenichiro Yoshida on the other hand is known for how aggressive he is with “trimming the fat” off of Sony. Getting rid of divisions, jobs, assets etc that bleed money and from what I’ve heard the investors really like that about him. Which is probably why he has stepped into the position.

Now obviously I don’t KNOW how he feels about the movie division and how it’s run right now. And Kaz will still be in the company(as was Yoshida all these years). But it’s extremely hard for me to imagine this guy letting Sony pictures poor performance go on. I think we are potentially about to see a huge shake up. Whether that means a closure, sale, or making it way better (hope this is the case).

Watch closely over the next year or two.

http://variety.com/2018/biz/news/kazuo-hirai-sony-entertainment-strategy-loses-biggest-champion-1202685374/