Gatsby77

Could be worse, tho. Still not as large a % drop on its 2nd Friday as BvS.

No other way it could have ended. The show did its job in demonstrating that she was: 1) one of the most powerful beings in the MCU (known to comic collectors following House of M and shown in the MCU when she nearly single-handedly defeated Thanos in Endgame); and 2) She's psychotic - bat-s--t freaking crazy The *had* to let her go in that moment, as otherwise she would have just disintegrated not just the entire town, but the surrounding area. Monica understood this, the FBI, etc. understood this - and fandom, the viewers watching at home -- should have understood this as well. If not, any doubts should have been dispelled by watching her power displays in Dr. Strange: MoM.

My favorite part was when they all went to hold hands together and said, "It's SHAZAMin' Time!"

Matt Murdock's overt Christianity - and Catholicism - predates Miller. He meets with a priest to discuss faith in # 119 - and, while I haven't read it in decades, I'm fairly sure he briefly touches on his faith in # 53 as well.

Worth it for the first minute alone.

This. Black Panther needs to be played by a black actor because being black is core to the character's identity. Nick Fury, however, doesn't need to be played by a white actor because his ethnicity is *not* core to his identity in the comics. If anything, it's even more powerful if he's played by a minority because he spent the 1940s - and the 1960s - fighting Nazis. Similarly, there are many things wrong with the 2015 FF film - but Michael B. Jordan's casting as Johnny Storm isn't one of them. The core to Johnny Storm's character is he is a rebellious, impulsive hothead. And Jordan captured that perfectly. That the film went one step further and had Sue Storm be the adopted one was interesting social commentary. It works the other way too, though. I don't remember mass outrage at the news that Sue Storm was being portrayed by a Hispanic woman in the first two movies.

I thought Marvel established recasting fairly early - given that we've seen three actors play Bruce Banner (and two of those within the MCU proper). We had two Rhodeys in two Iron Man films. Rumor has it Harrison Ford is taking over as Thunderbolt Ross. We even saw three different actresses play Kitty Pryde in the first three X-Men films. The point? The idea that Iron Man, Cap, Thor or Wolverine can't be recast without fan (or box office) backlash is hogwash. If audiences can accept three different Spider-Man actors or three different Batman actors (twice!) within 10 years, they can certainly handle re-castings of the primary Avengers group.

C'mon...you don't think Blue Beetle is gonna' follow in Aquaman's footsteps and clear a cool billion?

Maybe 3 minutes? It’s mad simple: 1) type “Justice League Part” in the search bar 2) Go to page 1 3) Copy your review - which you apparently felt so passionate about, you repasted it into the new thread. The point? You liked the theatrical Josstice League better than the BvS extended cut. Which I only remembered, because I found it surprising at the time.

Agreed. Depending on the extent of the color touch - and scraping - could come back anywhere from a 4.5 to a 6.0 - but will definitely look uglier.

Umm... 'Dis you?:

You gave them both strong reviews. But the positive theatrical Justice League one was surprising - even for you.

Exactly my point earlier today in the Shazam thread. These films are no longer being made for us (as in...old school comic collectors now in their 40s-50s) - but are driven by the general (i.e., non-comic familiar) public. In the grand (box office) scheme of things, we don't matter. Yes - non-comic reader ticket sales are down overall - but that's as much due to technology shifts as the quality (or lack thereof) of Marvel Phase IV, etc. Overall theatrical sales are still down - largely because more folks today have large flat screen TV / home theater setups - and the various streaming services virtually guarantee you can now watch any movie at home just 4-6 months later. That's a true sea change in how Americans consume movies. In addition, I think we've past the apex of comic book movies. The best characters have nearly all (The Flash aside) had their stories told on screen, by solid writers and directors. Superhero movies had an unprecedented 20 year run, from 2000 (X-Men) to Avengers: Endgame (2019). Hard for me to say whether the peak was 2008 (the twin triumphs of The Dark Knight and Iron Man) or 2012 (Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Chronicle) - but what both of those years had in common was not just truly superior films -- but also genuine excitement about the cliffhangers and road ahead. Recent product (overall) hasn't been great and (more importantly) hasn't generated rank-and-file excitement about what's next. Honestly, I think the last year the general public was truly excited about what's next in superhero movies was 2018. Why? Because that year we we were just coming out of Wonder Woman, and had Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther, Into the Spider-Verse and Deadpool 2. All were well-written, well-received and had non-comic book nerds genuinely excited about what was next.

? You gave the theatrical cut a glowing review. Unfortunately lost now to the ether, after you and @Jaydogrulesgot the original thread poofed.

Nah. If that were true, Justice League Part 1 wouldn't have bombed.

Y'all are vastly overestimating the effect of comic book fans on the overall box office. Very few people outside of the comic book collecting bubble know, let alone care, that this film - or Shazam in general - won't be part of the new vision for interconnected films 2-3 years from now. It's not for us - we are not the broader movie market. Perfect example - once upon a time, Warner Bros. released an exceptional superhero film, knowing it was made for fans of the source material - but would be a *really* hard sell to the general public - due to the no-name heroes and harsh adult subject matter. That film was Watchmen. It was excellent and it bombed. Shazam Fury of the Gods was marketed to kids and parents - as a family friendly superhero comedy romp. It bombed with that audience, on those terms. The studio neither cared about comic book nerds, nor catered to them with this film - they literally don't care what we think.

Wait - it opened worse than Birds of Prey too?

A silver lining: Dwayne Johnson's probably feeling *much* better about Black Adam today.

These numbers are incredible. Even Green lantern (2009) and Josh Trank's Fantastic Four (2015) each did better than $50 million domestic in their opening frames. Ghost Rider did $45+ million back in 2007 - and that movie was garbage.

I'm happy for Michael B. Jordan - that's a helluva directorial debut.

So...audiences think it's better than BvS? Thank g-d for that!

So...we're supposed to believe this will be released in just over 2 years… With zero cast announcements so far? Even if the screenplay's finished, that's still a tight deadline.

I mean - it could be worse. They could have had movie posters featuring the six heroes and the tagline “Unite the Seven” - only to have the seventh hero never actually appear because his scenes were deleted in editing.

Maybe they need to keep hordes of alien demons from collecting three jewelry boxes.

I sold off 95% of my collection following a lay-off in 2014. Some went to Clink, a large chunk sold here on the Boards. Of those thousands of books, the two I will never own again are: Showcase # 4 (CGC 3.0) - sold for $2,600 - this was just months before the Flash TV show debuted. TMNT # 1 (CGC 5.0) - sold for ~$2,200.