Oh dear. Poor old DC/Warners. Last week, the signs were looking good for Justice League at the overseas box office. However, the US box office taking this past weekend has been below expectations: $96m, which although pretty good is the lowest ever opening for a DC Extended Universe movie. It also got a ‘40% rotten’ critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and is now projected to lose Warner somewhere between $50m and $100m.
Oops.
All is not lost, however, since it’s Thanksgiving week in the US, and Justice League did eventually hit its domestic mark after another day’s takings. It’s also done $185m outside the US and has an audience Rotten Tomatoes score of 85%, meaning audiences liked it twice as much as critics did – in fact, they liked it more than Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, although not quite as much as Wonder Woman, naturally.
Still, already everyone and their auntie is weighing in on what went wrong. Previously, director Zac Snyder had been universally blamed for all previous failings of DCEU movies. However, a personal tragedy meant that he departed the movie after shooting a big chunk of it, upon which Warner hired Joss Whedon (yes, that one) to do some rewrites and reshoots.
Weirdly, a whole bunch of people are therefore putting Justice League‘s perceived failings down to there being not enough Snyder and too much Whedon. There’s even a petition by fans to have a Snyder cut of the movie that the movie’s own cinematographer is backing. Someone even claims to have a list of all the changes Whedon made. All the hints in Batman v Superman as to the original plot of Justice League are probably out the window – or maybe they’ll turn up in Justice League 2 if that ever happens.
Want to know what I think of Justice League? Well, I’ll tell you after the jump. But first, let’s talk about comics…
As previously mentioned, former Wonder Woman illustrator Liam Sharp is working on the first ever Batman-Wonder Woman title. But we now have some actual details:
It’s a six-issue mini-series called The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman, out on February 21st. One week earlier and people would talk. The series will mix Wonder Woman’s Amazonian mythology with the legends of Irish and Celtic gods. “The story would involve the death of an Irish god, and Wonder Woman would bring in Batman, the world’s greatest detective, to help investigate.”
Sharp said this new story will be a continuation of his Wonder Woman series with [Greg] Rucka, taking place not long after their final issue. He said Wonder Woman and her classic supporting character Steve Trevor are still a couple, but that he was tempted to add a little of the romantic spark that has existed between Batman and Wonder Woman over the years in various adaptations.
“There’s a moment [between Batman and Wonder Woman] in it. It’s more of a nod than anything else,” Sharp said. “I fell very much in love with the Steve and Diana story during the series with Greg. We felt like we gave him a certain richness to his personality that perhaps he’d lacked somewhat previously. There was a sense that the fanbase said this is right and this is how it should be. So I don’t want to spoil that. That’s the [Wonder Woman] that we created and that’s the dynamic that we created, but at the same time there is a [romantic] nod [to Batman].”
Should be fun. And well drawn.
Continue reading “Weekly Wonder Woman: Justice League (2017), Wonder Woman #35”
It’s Thanksgiving in the US this week, after which it’s basically December and Christmas, so everything’s just about coming to a halt on the broadcast networks, ready for a January restart. That means there aren’t as many regulars to worry about and WHYBW can revert to its normal time of Tuesday – at least for this week.
That does mean I’ve also not quite had time to watch the latest episodes of Babylon Berlin, though, but I hope to have caught up by next week. Lovely wife is poorly and since I’m worried that Marvel’s Inhumans might actually kill her, we’ve held off watching the series finale, too.
However, even if the broadcast networks are taking a break, the cable and streaming services are carrying on apace, as is the rest of the world. Elsewhere, I’ve reviewed the first episodes of Future Man (US: Hulu) and There’s… Johnny! (US: Hulu), while Boxset Monday took in Marvel’s The Punisher (Netflix). I’ll be passing a third-episode verdict on Frankie Drake Mysteries (Canada: CBC; UK: Alibi) on Thursday, and reviewing the first episodes of Marvel’s Runaways (US: Hulu) and The Indian Detective (Canada: CTV; UK: Netflix) next Monday. Sisters (Australia: Ten) will have to be consigned to the “never going to happen” pile, though, I’m afraid.
After the jump, I’ll be looking at the latest episodes of the current regulars: The Brave, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Mr Robot, SEAL Team and Travelers. See you in a mo!
Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Travelers and Mr Robot”
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