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Before I get into this article, let me preface it by saying I love watching Disney movies. That includes the ones they themselves make but also ones made by Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar, etc. That being said, they have their issues.

The new Han Solo film has become yet another example of Disney and its subsidiaries being unable to work with a director. In this case, multiple directors. As most probably know by now, the original directors of the upcoming Han Solo film have been fired and replaced by Ron Howard. This new director is a great one and I’m sure his character-focused repertoire of film-making is a great fit for the film. That being said, it’s yet another situation where Disney just seemingly couldn’t handle a filmmaker’s individuality and creative approach.

When I look at most movie series, I can easily rank the films in order of quality and preference. However, Disney films are something that I and many others are struggling to do so with. That’s because each film Disney puts out is basically the same movie with a different skin. That isn’t to say their movies are bad, in fact I enjoy seeing each and every one of them. However, where individuality and creativity are concerned, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between them besides on the surface.

This is because Disney and its subsidiaries (Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios for example) churn out films like the world is going to end soon. As such, they have this factory-made lack of authenticity to them that, while still good, can rarely be great nor horrible. Due to this approach, Disney struggles with allowing the talented filmmakers that they hire to express themselves and, rather, seem to be looking for yes men.

Han Solo is only the most recent example of this. Sticking to Star Wars, Rogue One had to have extensive reshoots because Lucasfilm and Disney weren’t happy with Gareth Edwards’ original approach. While the original gritty war movie approach that Edwards wanted kind of stayed, the end result was a strange mess. Rogue One was still enjoyable and had great scenes but it ended up having a disorienting and choppy beginning with random moments added in as nothing more than fan service.

Going back to The Force Awakens, Michael Arndt, the writer for Toy Story 3, was originally involved and then ended up leaving, supposedly, for other commitments. His original ideas had a greater focus on the children of the original trilogy’s cast and actually gave Luke Skywalker something to do. Despite how good Episode VII became, it had the potential to be great with Arndt’s ideas involved.

Moving away from Star Wars, Disney has this issue with Marvel movies as well. Edgar Wright was originally supposed to direct Ant-Man but after years of it being delayed and some creative differences, he was replaced with Peyton Reed. Ant-Man turned out just like Rogue One and The Force Awakens: enjoyable but felt copy-pasted, filled to the brim with fan service, and was largely forgettable.

Finally, we have Joss Whedon. Renowned for his work on TV shows like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Disney and Marvel made a great call having him direct The Avengers. However, he has gone on record to say that he didn’t really want to direct a movie about Loki, but rather Ultron. When the second film came around, he finally got to work on his dream project but in every single interview about the project he came across as tired, bitter, and defeated. Age of Ultron, just like Ant-Man, The Force Awakens, and Rogue One after it, suffered the same issues. He then dropped from the director’s chair for Infinity War and moved to DC and Warner Bros. Now he’s working for Marvel’s biggest rival helping finish Justice League in Zack Snyder’s absence and directing Batgirl.

I’m sure all of Disney’s upcoming movies, Han Solo included, will be just fine. However, unless they start allowing themselves to take risks and do something different, people are going to start getting sick of their movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is vast and wide but when Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, and Iron Man all have the same basic plot it’s time to branch out. As for Lucasfilm, the shock and awe of having a new Star Wars film every year has already worn off on most filmgoers. They’re never going to have the same hype Episode VII did unless they differentiate from the other films in the series.

What do you think? Comment your thoughts down below.

I spend most of my days working towards my Writing and Rhetoric degree at the University of Central Florida, but I spend a lot of my down time keeping up to date on the best TV, movies, and video games the industry has to offer. Here I put all of that extended time to use discussing each of them in-depth.

Geek Culture

Last of Us HBO Showrunner Quietly Removes Name from Troubled Borderlands Flick

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When your writer—one of Hollywood’s hottest—tries to hide their involvement, it’s a bad sign. The Borderlands film’s original script was written by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us, Chernobyl), who recently asked the WGA to use the pseudonym “Joe Crombie” instead of his name.

We hope this means Mazin considers Joe Abercrombie, Lord Grimdark, the grittiness GOAT, but that theory is unproven. Since Mazin wrote the script in 2015 for Eli Roth to direct, a steady stream of writers has been brought in. Aaron Berg, Chris Bremner, Sam Levinson, Zak Olkewicz, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, and Oren Uziel have put around 70 fingers in the honey pot.

The name change likely avoids confusion. Mazin probably doesn’t want to be blamed for Jack Black/Claptrap madness, but he wants to keep his rights.

To clarify, the Borderlands film finished filming in 2021, but Roth was replaced by Tim Miller (Deadpool) in January.

When this surprising star-studded film (Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cate Blanchet) limps out, what are your expectations? We think this was supposed to coincide with Borderlands 3’s 2019 release, but it’s overshot the mark.

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Monday’s YouTube premiere of “Foundation” is free

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Apple is streaming the first episode of “Foundation” on YouTube and hosting a Q&A on Monday before the second season’s premiere.
“Foundation” will return for ten more episodes on Friday, July 14, on Apple TV+. Apple is streaming the first episode of the first season to promote it.

“The Emperor’s Peace” will air on YouTube on Monday at 11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern. After the episode, executive producer and showrunner David S. Goyer will answer questions live.

 

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Geek Culture

Netflix cracks down on password sharing worldwide

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After a delay, Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is reaching U.S. and international subscribers. After experiencing cancellations in regions where it had already implemented “paid sharing,” the streamer delayed the debut till the summer. U.S. Netflix consumers must either remove people from their account or pay $7.99/month for an additional membership for non-household members.

In weeks and months, many of worldwide markets will undergo similar transformations.

Current members can examine which devices are signed into their account and remove unwanted ones, as well as reset their password, to make this transfer smoother.

A “Transfer Profile” feature lets Netflix account sharers move their viewing history and watchlist to their own account.

Netflix informed investors that despite early cancellations, the password enforcement will benefit its long-term development and financial health.

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the password enforcement in its first supported markets was similar to how subscribers reacted to pricing increases during its first-quarter earnings.

“We see an initial cancel reaction and then we build out of that, both in terms of membership and revenue as borrowers sign up for their own Netflix accounts and existing members purchase that extra member facility for folks that they want to share with,” Peters told investors on the April earnings call. “First of all, it was a strong validation to see consistent results in these new countries, because there are different market characteristics different from each other and also from the original Latin American rollout countries,” he said.

Netflix tested the feature in Latin America before adding Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain this year. It will reach more global markets today, including Brazil, Bolivia, Belize, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Philippines, Malaysia, Israel, Thailand, Taiwan, Switzerland, Sweden, and others.

The corporation may have postponed the crackdown in Q1 to avoid hurting net additions. Last quarter, the corporation added 1.75 million global customers, below Wall Street’s 3 million projection, to 232.5 million accounts.

It announced at results that U.S. members would receive the password-sharing adjustments “on or before” June 30. Netflix may have accelerated the timing.

Netflix revealed on its blog today that it will email U.S. account sharers.

“One household per Netflix account,” the firm advises. “Everyone living in that household can use Netflix wherever they are—at home, on the go, on holiday—and take advantage of new features like Transfer Profile and Manage Access and Devices,” the post adds.

The email, labeled “An update on sharing,” lists options and links to support documentation.

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Netflix explains in a press email that it is “now starting to roll out updates to sharing to countries around the world, including the U.S.”

Netflix has yet to see the effects of a password crackdown in the U.S., where it faces increased competition for users’ time and money.

Today, HBO Max becomes Max, a new service that combines HBO and Discovery+ content, doubling the amount of programming. Paramount+ will add Showtime next month on June 27. Disney plans to merge Disney+ and Hulu into one app. Subscribers get more content with some price increases. Netflix is charging more for the same.

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