Ghostbusters — OFFICIAL THREAD

[EricJ]

Absolutely no surprise Spideyverse 3 got pushed back…it hasn’t even finished being written (as a final script), let alone voice recorded.

Another lesson about trying to serialize hit franchise movies so that you "know what you'll be releasing next year".

[Dacey]

Yes, because Across the Spider-Verse has been such a big failure, right?

[EricJ]

Yes, and such a big hit that they made Across a huge, complex two-part story, with Beyond the Spiderverse wrapping up the saga in late 2023......er, okay, maybe '24. Spring '25 at the earliest.
Just be glad it's not Deathly Hallows.

(Please read more carefully before knee-jerking, Lumina, or at least see a good orthopedist.)

[Dacey]

Literally none of that made sense.

[EricJ]

Okay. For ultimate clarity, we'll try the Random House "I Can Read" version, by Dr. Seuss:

To release a sequel an audience would like,
One must remember to beware of a strike.

Because sequels have put studios in a bit of a stew.
Instead of just one, they now want to make two.
You can't make just one, goodness me,
Or else everyone cries "You couldn't get THREE? "

"But how can you make two?", the question's begun,
"Heaven knows it was a job making one!"
"Quite simple," boardroom boss says, imperial:
"Don't you remember the Flash Gordon serial?
And those Pirates, of the dread skull and bones,
Making two off-topic stories about Davey Jones!
And Lord of the Rings, for pete's sake, and Marvel's Endgame!
Announce three years of movies for hype's pretend-game!

"With two movies in hand, your future's quite clear--
One for right now, and one for next year!"
The studios all listened, with hands on their hips,
And created event-movies like Lay's tater-chips.
They wrote them themselves, to save time, thinking it funny
That they'd ever have to pay ungrateful scribes money.
The hubris went swiftly from Bad to Quite Worse,
When every part-sequel was now "Universe".

But that, too, put them in some of a fix,
As they forgot actors were also caught up in the mix.
One can write titles straight out of one's head,
But without actors, production stops dead.
Until now, for sequels, they considered adept,
But promises made must be promises kept.
And one cannot story-promise what doesn't exist,
No matter how long your Release-Schedule list.

And now studios must wait, sitting on hands,
With their "event sequel" hostage to union demands.

[Dacey]

But that’s not what happened at all with Spider-Verse! This was announced years ago, long before there was any strike talk!

And you’re behaving as though Across the Spider-Verse is being viewed as some kind of failure. It isn’t. At all. Doing your post in rhyme doesn’t change that.

[EricJ]

\And you’re behaving as though Across the Spider-Verse is being viewed as some kind of failure. It isn’t. At all. Doing your post in rhyme doesn’t change that.

(beats Dacey over the head with a heavy wooden lesbian owl):
NO! NO, NO, NO!! NO!!!

Let's try it ONE...LAST...TIME. Slowly, and carefully:
After the first Into the Spiderverse was--now, let's be absolutely clear about this...we are clear, right?--was a hit, Sony overconfidently thought they could follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter,
...and Pirates,
...and Twilight,
...and Avengers,
...and Hunger Games,
...and Dune,
...and It,
...and The Matrix,
...and Halloween Kills,
...and Universal's "Wicked" movie which is now also held hostage by the strikes,

in creating a sequel story that was so "complex", that, well, they'd just HAVE to make it a two-part serial movie to fully explore the storyline!
Of course, the fact that Part 1 was itself built-in hype for next year's Part 2, which audiences would feel "obligated" to pay another $15 bucks for and not be left hanging, and write 2024's box-office headlines while it was still 2023, was just gravy.

Some fans believe they're getting that rich, complex story. Other fans believe they're being played for big fat cash-patsies, and are giggling like Renfield to see those studios frustrated by the union consequences of their own greed. Tune in tomorrow, true believ--...Er, oops, wait, make that "Next month", or maybe "Next year", if talks go well.
And that's coming from someone old enough to remember being frustrated that the 1980 strike kept us another six months from finding out Who Shot J.R.

[Ben]

I was at a funeral once (now a long, long time ago!) where my then-girlfriend and I were sat overhearing two nice, lovely old ladies both speaking very animatedly about "the man who was shot in Dallas".

Words to the effect of…

"Well, that was terrible, all that business, wasn't it?"

"Yes, such an awful time. Waiting to find out what happened. I was hooked!"

"Who did they think it was in the end?"

"Well, it was his wife, wasn’t it!"

"His wife!? No! She was in the car next to him!"

Etc, etc, etc. Yes, one of them was talking about the man who got shot in Dallas. The other was talking about the man who got shot in "Dallas". It was hilarious hearing them work that one out…!


As for cutting movies in two, The Three/Four Musketeers and Superman did it first as pre-planned, pre-shot sequels in the 1970s, Back To The Future Parts II and III in the 80s. Tis not a new thing.


And now…


MOVING ON…
(at the risk of forum bans or post deletions, whichever is applicable, and which I’m tempted to do from the top of this page, actually)…

[EricJ]

As for cutting movies in two, The Three/Four Musketeers and Superman did it first as pre-planned, pre-shot sequels in the 1970s, Back To The Future Parts II and III in the 80s. Tis not a new thing.

No, but other producers besides the Salkinds doing it does seem to be rather exclusive to the 80s on up.

And even then, Quentin Tarantino notwithstanding, Warner's unnatural obsession with the idea seems to date back to thinking Harry Potter 4's book had too many pages for a 2-hour movie.

MOVING ON…
(at the risk of forum bans or post deletions, whichever is applicable, and which I’m tempted to do from the top of this page, actually)…

Yes, but quite a bit of space could be saved by convincing certain posters out of death-or-glory battles to the end that uttering vile sacrilege about a current fan-worshipped movie does not always necessarily mean that said sacrilege was spouting heretical canards about it, gasp, not making money...
In fact, I'm pretty sure you're one of the few who's ever fact-checked about anything ELSE, and then usually grammatical.

[Ben]

Actually, I didn’t think your original comment had anything to do with any film's box-office, and was just remarking on the dangers of announcing a major movie date…only then to have to move it due to strikes, pandemics, not actually being finished, etc…


But…seriously…any further posts that are not about Ghostbusters will be…spirited away…

[gaastra]

Peter is back! New name also.

[Ben]

Don’t *love it* love it (not funny enough…yet), but I’m excited and intrigued!

[gaastra]

Slimer confirmed.

https://ghostbustersnews.com/2023/12/11 ... en-empire/

[Ben]

Makes me feel good.

[Daniel]

First poster: