After the success of turning the book The Hobbit into a trilogy of films, the producers of the Ender’s Game book to movie adaptation have decided to turn that movie into three films as well. The titles of these movies will be:
Ender’s Game: An Unexpected Journey to Battle School
Ender’s Game: The Desolation of the Buggers
Ender’s Game: There and Back Again
Ender’s Game: An Unexpected Journey to Battle School is due out November 1, The Desolation of the Buggers 2014 and There and Back Again 2015.
Game of Thrones (HBO): Game of Thrones is the best of the best series in a spring season of a lot of great dramas.
Veep (HBO): I don’t think there’s been a lot of good comedies on TV recently but Veep is a big exception.
Mad Men (AMC): I think Mad Men‘s finest days might be behind it, but it’s still a great show.
Wednesday
The Americans(FX): I honestly didn’t think that The Americans was going to be a good show, let alone a great one when I first heard about it. How happy I am to be wrong.
Doctor Who (BBC America): Episodes of Doctor Who this year have been spotty at best but I still dig the Doctor and his new companion.
On the DVR
Orphan Black (BBC America): I watched one episode of Orphan Black and liked it but never got into it enough to check out other ones. All episodes are still on my DVR and I think I’ll end up watching them someday soon.
Looking forward to…
Arrested Development (Netflix, May 26): I think the return of my all-time favorite TV series of the last decade is a very big deal, not only for the return of the Bluth family but also for Netflix’s continuing commitment to quality original series.
The hour, which features a storyline about children killing other children, was removed from the network’s schedule in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. The hour, titled “Ceuf,” has instead been released as a six-part web series and released Wednesday, a day before the fifth episode of the series.
I get that NBC is trying to be sensitive to recent events, but why pull the episode instead of delay it? With NBC’s fortunes currently in the toilet it seems to me that they should be taking risks exactly like they’re doing with Hannibal to improve their chances rather than taking what they don’t like about the show, editing it for content and hiding the remains on the web for a few to see.
I’m really digging Hannibal, but a move like this by NBC makes me question the future of the series.
I’m starting to get the feeling that maybe we’re at the apex of the superhero movie. Okay, right now superhero movies are very popular and they’re making loads of money but it seems like they’re also becoming over exposed. This year there are four traditional superhero movies set to be released; Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The Wolverine and Thor: The Dark World, and next year five; Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men; Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thor: The Dark World Poster
Is there really a big enough market to sustain nine superhero movies in two years? And remember, these movies don’t just need to be successful, they need to be, pardon the pun, SUPER successful since each has a budget of (probably) around $200 million with additional millions being spent on marketing.
With these kinds of expenses these kinds of movies can literally make more than $300 million at the box office, like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Battleship and Wrath of the Titans did, and be considered a disappointment.
It doesn’t help that the superhero movie is starting to get a bit redundant in the story department too. Quick, which superhero movie am I describing here?
Superhero fights villain and the villain is stronger than the superhero. It looks like villain is surly going to win, but superhero steps up and saves the day by defeating the villain at the last minute.
It’s a trick question, that plot line pretty much sums up every superhero that’s been made in the last decade.
Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore superhero movies. I’m just wondering that if at some point in the near future we’ll all look back at 2013 as the high point for the superhero movie. Where budgets got out of control compared to grosses and only movies that would go onto make billions at the box office would be considered a success.
I’m sure all of these nine superhero movies are hoping to be the next The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises in terms of profits. But history shows us that there really can only be one or two (at most) of these a year.
