Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 2 General Discussion (Spoilers discussed for All Films -- Please Read First Post) (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

3) Does Tessa Thompson's character have a name? Thor and Loki refer to her as "a Valkeryie" and say that the Valkeryies were an Asgardian group of warrior women. But they never actually call her anything else. It seems like she should have an individual name, unless the Valkeryies are just clones. Thor is "an Avenger," but he's still named Thor. So that seems unusual.

It's complicated. In the comics, there was a character called Valkyrie who was, well, one of the Valkyrie. Her given name was Brunhilde, but in general, I don't remember her being referred to or addressed as anything other than "Valkyrie". Technically, I suppose you could say it's her "code name".

I suppose it becomes similar to the run of the comics where Jane Foster becomes "Thor". I know a lot of fans were put off, thinking that Thor Odinson was transformed into a woman. But the backstory was that Thor Odinson somehow (though it was eventually explained later) lost his worthiness to wield Mjolnir. Along comes a woman (later revealed to be Jane) who is able to pick up Mjolnir, and because of Odin's enchantment deciding she was worthy, gains the power of Thor (complete with slightly re-tailored costume). Everyone (including herself) calls her "Thor". And when Thor (original) eventually meets her (though he didn't at the time know she was Jane) and realizes she is worthy, he decides he's fine with her calling herself "Thor", while everyone now just called him Odinson. So (in essence) for Jane, "Thor" was a code name, not her actual name.

But yeah, it seems like the MCU should really give Valkyrie a real honest-to-Aesir name.

And apropos of not much, the thing that's been really missing from the Thor movies is his Best Bro. In the comics, his boon companion was the god Balder the Brave. I have no idea what the current status of the character is, but it seems strange that he's never appeared in the Thor films.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I figured this was as good of a place to put this as any. Alan Taylor did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about his career leading up to the upcoming Sopranos movie prequel, The Many Saints of Newark. During the course of this discussion, he talked about his experience on Thor: The Dark World.

[Alan] Taylor returned for the second season of Thrones (and this time he was given four episodes) and would have stuck around even longer.

But that’s when he got an offer from Marvel.

Looking back on his decision to abandon Westeros to direct Thor 2, “It seemed like this was the next big step,” Taylor says. “It felt necessary and ‘onward and upward.’ “

The 2013 Thor sequel was subtitled The Dark World, which hinted at the film’s original tonal intention — something darker and more grounded than director Kenneth Branagh’s debut entry. “[Marvel president] Kevin Feige was always smart about looking at what worked and didn’t in the last iteration and trying to retool from that,” Taylor says. “So I came in to ‘bring some Game of Thrones to it.'”

The Dark World is considered one of the MCU’s weakest entries, even if it was a box office success (drawing $644 million). Some known factors in its creative troubles included a tight production deadline and a script that was seemingly never finished. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins was initially attached to the project but wisely bowed out. “I did not believe that I could make a good movie out of the script that they were planning on doing,” Jenkins said in 2020. “It would have looked like it was my fault.”

Instead, it looked like Taylor’s fault, and the director watched as the film changed radically during postproduction editing and reshoots.

“The version I had started off with had more childlike wonder; there was this imagery of children, which started the whole thing,” he says of the unseen “Taylor Cut.” “There was a slightly more magical quality. There was weird stuff going on back on Earth because of the convergence that allowed for some of these magical realism things. And there were major plot differences that were inverted in the cutting room and with additional photography — people [such as Loki] who had died were not dead, people who had broken up were back together again. I think I would like my version.”

Taylor modestly suggests certain writer-directors (he is typically a director and producer) might have been able to turn around the beleaguered project. “I really admire the skill set of somebody who can go in with a very personal vision — like [Thor 3 director] Taika Waititi or James Gunn — and manage to combine it with the big corporate demands,” he says. “I think my skill set may be different.”

The whole article is here:

Director Alan Taylor’s Tortuous Journey to the ‘Sopranos’ Movie: “The Hardest Job I’ve Ever Done”

The prestige TV Emmy winner who killed Ned Stark on 'Game of Thrones' and introduced Don Draper on 'Mad Men’ — before surviving ‘Thor 2’ and ‘Terminator: Genisys’ ("I lost my will to live as a director") — returns with 'The Many Saints of Newark.'

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Jake Lipson]

Disney has staked out a bunch of release dates for untitled films, including four Marvel titles in 2024: February 16, May 3, July 26 and November 8.

Of course they won't confirm, but I strongly suspect that one of those dates will be used for the Fantastic 4 film that Jon Watts is directing next. I've heard some people hoping that could be 2023. Watts has delivered a Spider-Man film for Marvel (with Sony) every two years. But I don't think they would do that. Releasing a Fantastic 4 film in 2024 seems too obvious to pass up. (I'm still surprised that Sony and MGM passed up the opportunity to release Casino Royale in 2007.)

Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ to Open on Memorial Day Weekend in 2023

The remainder of Disney's 2021 movie slate including 'Eternals' and 'West Side Story' will get the theatrical treatment for a 45-day window, while the animated movie 'Encanto' will have a 30-day window.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

We should know more soon. Marvel still has three more slots to fill for 2023, which will presumably shoot next year.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Marvel still has three more slots to fill for 2023, which will presumably shoot next year.

Three? Where did you see that?

They already have Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on February 17, 2023 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on May 5, 2023. If they added three more titles, that would be five MCU films in a single year. They've never done four before this year, which was partially due to the pandemic pushing back their slate so much. I would be very surprised if they tried to have five theatrical releases in a single calendar year.

I would expect two more, but not three.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Three? Where did you see that?

The "Marvel Studios Celebrates The Movies" promo dated Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for 2/17/23 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for 5/5/23.

Meanwhile, the official Walt Disney Studios release calendar lists untitled Marvel movies for 7/28/23, 10/6/23, and 11/10/23.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I didn't know that. Thanks, @Adam Lenhardt. I must have either massed that or forgotten it at some point. Thank you for pointing it out.

10/6 and 11/10 are unusually close together, even for the MCU. I would not be terribly surprised if one of those two dates ends up being swapped with a Disney title from a division other than Marvel. We'll see.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

10/6 and 11/10 are unusually close together, even for the MCU. I would not be terribly surprised if one of those two dates ends up being swapped with a Disney title from a division other than Marvel. We'll see.

I agree that it's unlikely that both dates will end up getting Marvel movies. I think it's more about keeping their options open than having movies for both dates.

But, as of right now, they have slots reserved for five movies in 2023.

And this all assumes that everything doesn't shut down again because of a COVID variant that the vaccines are ineffective against.

 

[Joe Wong]

This post-Infinity Saga phase is wild, and I'm here for it! It's almost hard to fathom that in 2012, there was only 1 MCU film released (albeit it was The Avengers). Now we're getting 4 films a year, plus 3-4 TV series.

 

[Joe Wong]

Posted this in some of the individual film threads, but several MCU entries are being pushed to a later date (notable exception is Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3):

Marvel Movie Shifts: ‘Doctor Strange 2’ To Kick Off Summer 2022, ‘Thor: Love And Thunder’ Heads To July & More

Disney has just shifted its entire Marvel movie theatrical schedule for 2022 and beyond.

deadline.com

 

[Sam Favate]

I wonder what’s driving all these delays?

 

[Joe Wong]

I wonder what’s driving all these delays?

It could be they want more time for post-production, or wait for the impact of COVID to be further reduced. Even though Black Widow and Shang-Chi performed quite well this year, one could surmise that Disney thinks they could have done even better with fewer COVID restrictions, given the popularity of Black Widow as a character, and the strong reviews and word-of-mouth for Shang-Chi.

One other possibility is they wanted Dr Strange 2 in that prime May slot, given what a huge and consequential movie it's turning out to be, though the opening of Avengers: Endgame would suggest that any weekend could work (and recent MCU openings, such as Shang-Chi's Labour Day record, have confirmed).

The downside with the revised schedule, for me, is that now we have to wait 4.5 months between MCU films (Spider-man: No Way Home and Dr Strange 2)!!! I suppose I've been spoiled with the idea of 4 MCU films in a year, so only 3 films next year feels like we're missing something. Oh well!

Edit: another reason as mentioned in the article is that Disney needs to plan out their production time-slots, so that crews can move on from one to the next.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Deadline and Variety both say that it is to allow for more time for production. I'm not worried about it. Most of these dates already had a Marvel movie penciled in anyway. All that's changing is which one is going with which date. Marvel has already proven several times that they can open a film anywhere on the calendar of their choosing and get robust grosses. Shang-Chi went out on Labor Day weekend and was huge (for the pandemic), when Labor Day is traditionally one of the slowest weekends of any given year.

The only date next year that was going to have a Marvel movie on it that now won't is March 25, which was previously given to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The May 6, 2022 date for it is only 42 days later. Similarly, there's only 63 days between May 6, where Thor was going to open, and its new date on July 8. I know fans tend to get nervous, angry or both when delays happen, but this really doesn't feel like a big deal to me. They've got a little more time to work on the movies and we're still going to be seeing Marvel movies on most of these dates. I see no reason at all to be concerned.

This also makes it easier for Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness to avoid a problem Spider-Man: Far From Home ran into. With Far From Home so close on the schedule to Endgame, Sony wanted to start promoting their movie before Endgame came out and actually resurrected Peter after his Infinity War death.

I was wondering how Disney was going to begin marketing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for a March release because we know he's in Spider-Man: No Way Home. I think it is fair to assume that whatever happens in No Way Home is going to lead directly to Multiverse of Madness. Now, with that movie in May, Disney won't need to start marketing as soon. This will give more people time to see No Way Home and wherever that movie's storyline leaves Doctor Strange before Disney has to begin the marketing campaign for his movie. So I think that's a win.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

It could be they want more time for post-production, or wait for the impact of COVID to be further reduced. Even though Black Widow and Shang-Chi performed quite well this year, one could surmise that Disney thinks they could have done even better with fewer COVID restrictions, given the popularity of Black Widow as a character, and the strong reviews and word-of-mouth for Shang-Chi.

From what I've been reading, COVID has zero to do with these delays.

 

[Sam Favate]

Obviously not Disney’s intention, but moving Strange could help The Batman have longer legs. It opens three weeks before Strange was originally scheduled.

 

[Jake Lipson]

On the other hand, Black Panther is now one week after The Flash. Disney seems pretty secure with that date, since The Marvels was there previously. I wonder if WB is going to blink and move theirs.

 

[TravisR]

On the other hand, Black Panther is now one week after The Flash. Disney seems pretty secure with that date, since The Marvels was there previously. I wonder if WB is going to blink and move theirs.

They'd be crazy not to move it. That's going against a juggernaut.

 

[Sam Favate]

As we’ve seen with the disappointing box office of Batman v Superman and Justice League and others, DC films are far from sure things, even one with Batman.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Of course, the November 2022 schedule has had an MCU film a week after The Flash for some time. Black Panther simply took over the date previously designated for The Marvels. So WB has known before now that The Flash was scheduled to face an MCU film in the second weekend. All that has changed is which sequel it is.

 

[TravisR]

Disney + is going to have all(?) of the Marvel IMAX movies in their IMAX ratios starting on Friday.

Disney Plus to Launch 13 Marvel Movies in Imax Expanded Aspect Ratio

Disney Plus will offer 13 Marvel movies in Imax's Expanded Aspect Ratio, which offers up to 26% more screen picture.

variety.com

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't some of those IMAX versions of the movies not get a disc release?

Spoiler

Now where the hell is The Force Awakens in its IMAX ratio, Disney+?

Spoiler

Also, I'd bet that Warners is now only going to make the IMAX version of Dune an HBO MAX exclusive.