BLACK WIDOW: THE MOVIE (TBD) 4 4

[NewWorldOrder]

3 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

But this is where I disagree with that.  I liken it to the same thing as shopping for household essentials.   Pre-pandemic I shopped at Target or Rite Aid to pick up things like deodorant or tooth paste.  Now?  Amazon all the way. 

Groceries?  I used to go to the supermarket all the time.  Now my food shopping experience has shifted to Costco even for their butcher, Amazon, and then if I need anything else after that, the local supermarket. 

Comic book bags and boards, action figures, home essentials and anything else... February of 2020?  Comic Store, Target / Walmart, Home Goods.  Now? Amazon, Amazon / Hasbro Pulse, Amazon.  

People have gotten used to watching their movies from home.  Add to the fact that even before 2020 the turnaround time from theater to small screen had decreased.   Trends are changing.   People are changing their consumption habits. 

 

Now in the case of the quality of Black Widow.  This movie was delayed so many times that I kind of predicted this when I likened it to the delay of GI Joe Retaliation.  

There will never be be a society where people would rather watch big action movies on their terrible home viewing set-ups instead of going to the movies.  I live in California, where these candy canes softies are scared of everything, but Friday night the theater was packed. 

I would rather see the movie business go away than watch any of these movies for the 1st time on Disney+.

Just as people said they are never again hand-shaking, I shook 40-50 strangers hands last weekend during my gf's business dinner.

I am sure in 1918 or whenever when that last flu pandemic happened people said the same thing about living activities, and then slowly went back after it was over.  Of course some people will continue to work from home, give Amazon more money, more things delivered (hence why you should be buying those type of stocks), but you will be spending more money on fees from some of them and or more mess ups when they bring you the wrong items as I have seen a lot lately.  

Doordash is great......great until they forgot my salad last night after waiting 45 minutes and paying fees.  Cheaper to go get it myself and faster. 

Society never goes backwards in terms of making money.  As some commercial buildings stay empty something else will take over and make money.  Business life cycle continues..... 

Movie theaters are fine going forward.  Theaters and streaming will be working together for the foreseeable future IMO.

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by NewWorldOrder

[NewWorldOrder]

So I watched Black Widow again last night.....

You know what.  I really think this movie was really good.  I am giving it a solid A- for a MCU movie. 

Yes, yes, yes, I get the complaints about TaskMaster, however I get why they did it that way and how this movie should have been made in 2014   

However for me ever since I saw Black Widow back in Captain America 2: Winter Soldier I was drawn to her as a character in the film. Scarlett Johansson delivered her best performance yet as the character, and the character development was very good in this film.  I also felt the comedy was toned down a lot, compared to the other films. I felt this movie's undertone was very serious for a MCU movie, and I really cared about what happened to these characters.  It was James Bond's moon raker mixed with Jason Bourne, and CAP 2 winter soldier sprinkled on top.  IMO this movie was well worth the wait, and I think this movie is going to age very well, especially since we all can go back and re-watch the other movies to see the tie-in scenes like with her and Loki in Avengers 1.

SOLID A- (In my opinion)

Edited July 19, 2021 by NewWorldOrder

[Buzzetta]

23 minutes ago, NewWorldOrder said:

There will never be be a society where people would rather watch big action movies on their terrible home viewing set-ups instead of going to the movies.  I live in California, where these candy canes softies are scared of everything, but Friday night the theater was packed. 

I would rather see the movie business go away than watch any of these movies for the 1st time on Disney+.

Just as people said they are never again hand-shaking, I shook 40-50 strangers hands last weekend during my gf's business dinner.

I am sure in 1918 or whenever when that last flu pandemic happened people said the same thing about living activities, and then slowly went back after it was over.  Of course some people will continue to give Amazon more money, or delivery services, but you will be spending more money on fees from some of them and or more mess ups when they bring you the wrong items as I have seen a lot lately.  

Doordash is great......great until they forgot my salad last night after waiting 45 minutes and paying fees.  Cheaper to go get it my self and faster. 

 

Don't be a fool. 

So get off your high horse and describing people who may not agree with you as candy cane softies.  

However, it is about the money. 

My friend has three kids.  For all five of them to go to a movie where all three children are under the age of 9, they are easily spending $100 and that is something that they simply cannot afford living in Nassau County on Long Island.   So, they are VERY happy that their children are content watching movies on their 'terrible home viewing set-ups."

I love going to Yankee games but you know what?  I can think of better ways than spending $100-125 for four hours at the stadium.  How did I come to that conclusion?  I went to every single Opening Day from 1998 to 2013.  I even went to Boston on Easter Sunday to watch the opening of the MLB season one year.   Then I got hurt in 2014 and gave my tickets away.   The next year, I had another surgery and missed it again.  When I went back... I realized, how much money am I spending here that where I could just as easily enjoy it at my place with the same crew and with cheaper food and beers.   

AND... I won't wind up tearing up the hat of some stupid red sox fan and tried setting it on fire. (That actually happened at the ESPN zone during the 99'ALCS.... good times - I was 24 and my friends and I were quite... 'happy'... but that was also an expensive night.)

I've spent that money in better places. 

One of my favorite pieces of baseball memorabilia 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Buzzetta

[NewWorldOrder]

2 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

Don't be a fool. 

So get off your high horse and describing people who may not agree with you as candy cane softies.  

However, it is about the money. 

My friend has three kids.  For all five of them to go to a movie where all three children are under the age of 9, they are easily spending $100 and that is something that they simply cannot afford living in Nassau County on Long Island.   So, they are VERY happy that their children are content watching movies on their 'terrible home viewing set-ups."

I love going to Yankee games but you know what?  I can think of better ways than spending $100-125 for four hours at the stadium.  How did I come to that conclusion?  I went to every single Opening Day from 1998 to 2013.  I even went to Boston on Easter Sunday to watch the opening of the MLB season one year.   Then I got hurt in 2014 and gave my tickets away.   The next year, I had another surgery and missed it again.  When I went back... I realized, how much money am I spending here that where I could just as easily enjoy it at my place with the same crew and with cheaper food and beers.   

AND... I won't wind up tearing up the hat of some stupid red sox fan and tried setting it on fire. (That actually happened at the ESPN zone during the 99'ALCS.... good times - I was 24 and my friends and I were quite... 'happy')

I've spent that money in better places. 

One of my favorite pieces of baseball memorabilia 

 

As a fellow east coaster, yes west coast is much softer

I love my high horse. 

I get what you are saying, but what you described has been going on before covid.  Disney isnt going to let a family of 4 watch their for movie on the cheap, hence why they are charging $29.99 to watch it at home.  Movie theaters will always be around, and now they get to make more money with streaming to go along side it was my point.

Edited July 19, 2021 by NewWorldOrder

[Buzzetta]

1 minute ago, NewWorldOrder said:

As a fellow east coaster, yes west coast is much softer

I love my high horse. 

Heh... wanna see my second favorite piece of baseball memorabilia ?  I found it in the cabinet when I went to get the Red Sox hat remains.

[drotto]

25 minutes ago, NewWorldOrder said:

There will never be be a society where people would rather watch big action movies on their terrible home viewing set-ups instead of going to the movies.  I live in California, where these candy canes softies are scared of everything, but Friday night the theater was packed. 

I would rather see the movie business go away than watch any of these movies for the 1st time on Disney+.

Just as people said they are never again hand-shaking, I shook 40-50 strangers hands last weekend during my gf's business dinner.

I am sure in 1918 or whenever when that last flu pandemic happened people said the same thing about living activities, and then slowly went back after it was over.  Of course some people will continue to work from home to give Amazon more money, or delivery services, but you will be spending more money on fees from some of them and or more mess ups when they bring you the wrong items as I have seen a lot lately.  

Doordash is great......great until they forgot my salad last night after waiting 45 minutes and paying fees.  Cheaper to go get it my self and faster. 

Society never goes backwards in terms of making money.  As some commercial building stay empty something else will take over and make money.  Business life cycle continues..... 

There were obvious reasons if you had the money to invest in the stock market during covid it should have been the greatest $ money time of ones life.  Sad to say because of the pain it caused real victims of covid, but true none the less. 

Movie theaters are fine going forward.  Theaters and streaming will be working together for the foreseeable future IMO.

 

I do not agree about the movies.  Do you have kids? I do, two of them, and they will sit there watching movies and YouTube on their phones, when there is a 70 inch 4k TV with surround sound sitting 10 feet away from them.  My son loved the MCU, the only MCU he has watched since Endgame is Loki, he had no interest in the other shows, nor did he care about seeing BW. Before Covid, we had a large group of friends that we got together and saw all the big releases opening weekend together.  It was a lot of fun, I loved it.  To my knowledge non of them has seen BW, non seemed interested, so we went alone. I think that what you are missing is that the entertainment industry was already evolving, this is going to accelerate that change. Only the big tentpole films were propping up theaters the last few years.  You get a few more films that perform like BW from the theater's perspective and things will be forced to change. What people want more then anything else is easy.  So using door dash, buying online, and streaming are all easy.  So when you make movies easier to see, from home, while eliminating any exclusivity for theaters, people will take the easy. The current streaming model, with theaters getting basically no exclusivity will change the industry and how it makes money.

 

We already exist in a world where network TV is going away.  Where traditional TV seasons are gone.  Where the fall season is meaningless.  In that world, we have to expect the viewing habits for first run movies to also change. As I already said, my theater was 20% full. 

 

Now, I am not coming from a place of fear, and my friends and family are not fearful at this point.  We have had several large BBQ's already this summer.  My schedule through August is packed. I have two concerts this year.  I am going to NYCC. i am going on a big international vacation in August. So for the most part my life is returning to normal.  I went to the theater today, it felt normalish.  Does not change my opinion some things have been forced to evolve due to Covid, and will be changed forever. 

[NewWorldOrder]

Just now, Buzzetta said:

Heh... wanna see my second favorite piece of baseball memorabilia ?  I found it in the cabinet when I went to get the Red Sox hat remains.

yes!

 and I assumed you were rooting for me eagles against the pats a couple year back!

[NewWorldOrder]

6 minutes ago, drotto said:

I do not agree about the movies.  Do you have kids? I do, two of them, and they will sit there watching movies and YouTube on their phones, when there is a 70 inch 4k TV with surround sound sitting 10 feet away from them.  My son loved the MCU, the only MCU he has watched since Endgame is Loki, he had no interest in the other shows, nor did he care about seeing BW. Before Covid, we had a large group of friends that we got together and saw all the big releases opening weekend together.  It was a lot of fun, I loved it.  To my knowledge non of them has seen BW, non seemed interested, so we went alone. I think that what you are missing is that the entertainment industry was already evolving, this is going to accelerate that change. Only the big tentpole films were propping up theaters the last few years.  You get a few more films that perform like BW from the theater's perspective and things will be forced to change. What people want more then anything else is easy.  So using door dash, buying online, and streaming are all easy.  So when you make movies easier to see, from home, while eliminating any exclusivity for theaters, people will take the easy. The current streaming model, with theaters getting basically no exclusivity will change the industry and how it makes money.

 

We already exist in a world where network TV is going away.  Where traditional TV seasons are gone.  Where the fall season is meaningless.  In that world, we have to expect the viewing habits for first run movies to also change. As I already said, my theater was 20% full. 

 

Now, I am not coming from a place of fear, and my friends and family are not fearful at this point.  We have had several large BBQ's already this summer.  My schedule through August is packed. I have two concerts this year.  I am going to NYCC. i am going on a big international vacation in August. So for the most part my life is returning to normal.  I went to the theater today, it felt normalish.  Does not change my opinion some things have been forced to evolve due to Covid, and will be changed forever. 

I disagree completely.

No kid would rather watch Endgame on their phones than in a theater if they had the choice. 

I watch YouTube more than anything, and I have been streaming for years since we cut cable.  OMG no, kids are you kidding me?  I dont want that life long death sentence

So what year will I no longer be able to go to a movie theater? 

Disney is going to make more money with combining movie theaters sales and streaming.  One isnt going to live without the other now, and streaming is not going to put movie theaters as a whole out of business. 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by NewWorldOrder

[Buzzetta]

13 minutes ago, NewWorldOrder said:

yes!

 and I assumed you were rooting for me eagles against the pats a couple year back!

I know it was 1999.  Usually my friends and I sat in the Bleachers that season but we did not have tickets for Joe DiMaggio day... so to the Upper Deck we went. This was earlier in the season and shortly before my 24th birthday. 

Well... my friends and I brought the bleachers to the UD... Families were not impressed but the two rows of college kids loved it.  They kept buying us beers.  Who is going to turn down free beer at Yankee Stadium?  We paced ourselves and they did not.  Eventually we decided to see what antics we could get them to do to our amusement.  After the 7th beer sales were cut off so we challenged them to find us beer now. 

I have no idea where they got it but they returned carrying a near empty keg.  How do you get the beer out?  You shake and press the plunger with beer foam spraying out.  Next thing I know a full stadium crowd is calling us rectal cavities, we flipped everyone out like we were in the WWE, I grabbed this hat off a vendor's head as we were being removed, one guy in our group had some connections so no arrests were made and I watched the remainder of the game at Stans.   We were told not to come back.

We returned a couple of weeks later. 

We then realized that we could have been arrested and lost everything in our lives so moving forward we were more careful at Yankee Stadium.

 

At ESPN zone... that was a safe spot at the time  

Ah... the old days before real cell phone cameras and things like that. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Buzzetta

[Buzzetta]

11 minutes ago, NewWorldOrder said:

yes!

 and I assumed you were rooting for me eagles against the pats a couple year back!

A nation was rooting for the Eagles against Tom Brady and the Patriots. 

[NewWorldOrder]

Just now, Buzzetta said:

A nation was rooting for the Eagles against Tom Brady and the Patriots. 

[Straw-Man]

saw it yesterday.   liked it very much.  i look forward to adding it to my comic-movie dvd collection.

[drotto]

Just now, NewWorldOrder said:

I disagree completely.

No kid would rather watch Endgame on their phones than in a theater if they had the choice. 

I watch YouTube more than anything, and I have been streaming for years since we cut cable.  OMG no, kids are you kidding me?  I dont want that life long death sentence

Disney is going to make more money with combining movie theaters sales and streaming.  One isnt going to live without the other now, and streaming is not going to put movie theaters as a whole out of business. 

 

Have kids, you will see they do not give two F**&%s about large screens. They spend hours watching on a 5" screen. I am the only one that watches my big screen TV most days. They want easy and cheap. I gave both my kids the option to come with me today to see BW on the big screen.  Both said no, and they may get around to watching it at some point. These are kids that saw basically all the MCU films on the big screen opening weekends.

 

Yes Disney is going to continue making money, but they are going to have to re-evaluate how much they spend, and how much they produce.  Disney cares about Disney not the theaters. They reported BW made $60 million for premium purchases opening weekend, this weekend crickets chirping.  Anyone can deduce there is a reason for that, meaning the sales dropped off a cliff. There is just not as much money in streaming as a big box office run can generate. You are also naïve if you think that being able to see it on streaming same day does not cannibalize theater ticket sales. So if we are generous and say BW makes $450to $500 million between theaters and streaming, how long is that sustainable when you are spending $400 million to make and market a movie?

 

Theaters will survive, but they will need to evolve.  They are going to have to find a unique spot.  Something they can offer that being at home can not offer.  That unique thing will have nothing to do with screen size.

[NewWorldOrder]

17 minutes ago, drotto said:

Have kids, you will see they do not give two F**&%s about large screens. They spend hours watching on a 5" screen. I am the only one that watches my big screen TV most days. They want easy and cheap. I gave both my kids the option to come with me today to see BW on the big screen.  Both said no, and they may get around to watching it at some point. These are kids that saw basically all the MCU films on the big screen opening weekends.

 

Yes Disney is going to continue making money, but they are going to have to re-evaluate how much they spend, and how much they produce.  Disney cares about Disney not the theaters. They reported BW made $60 million for premium purchases opening weekend, this weekend crickets chirping.  Anyone can deduce there is a reason for that, meaning the sales dropped off a cliff. There is just not as much money in streaming as a big box office run can generate. You are also naïve if you think that being able to see it on streaming same day does not cannibalize theater ticket sales. So if we are generous and say BW makes $450to $500 million between theaters and streaming, how long is that sustainable when you are spending $400 million to make and market a movie?

 

Theaters will survive, but they will need to evolve.  They are going to have to find a unique spot.  Something they can offer that being at home can not offer.  That unique thing will have nothing to do with screen size.

I did, I hated watching Back to Future 2 on my parents TV.  Theaters were always better.  Disney needs movie theaters or they will lose billions, so unless they build their own theaters they need them for all their new movie releases.

Yes, that is why Disney is not going to do that going forward after Black Widow. I already stated earlier you just must have not read it that Disney and other movie studios do not want a family of 4-10 to watch this movie for only $29.99 at home so theaters will stay.  It's naive to think movie theaters are going away anytime soon, and if they do then movie studios wont be making much and we wont be getting these great MCU movies as often.  It's a simple formula, release the movie in theaters, rent on their streaming platform a couple weeks after that, blu ray 4k after that, then make it included in the streaming service.  

Theaters have evolved years ago with bars, more comfortable seating, and better food etc...  Again they have the one trump card that streaming at home cant ever offer average Joe which is a huge screen, especially Imax.  Come on man no one thinks Endgame would have been just as good on your iPhone   

Cable would have gone away in 2005 it wasn't still for sports.  Now that people cant stand how they cant escape from their virtu signaling ways they have to adapt or they will find people will start to lose interest as the ratings have shown.

Listen all I know is the MCU machine is still in the driver seat and I am looking forward to watching FF and X-Men in the next couple of years with my feet up in a nice air conditioning Imax theater.   See you at the movies, take care 

Edited July 19, 2021 by NewWorldOrder

[zosocane]

35 minutes ago, drotto said:

Theaters will survive, but they will need to evolve.  They are going to have to find a unique spot.  Something they can offer that being at home can not offer.  That unique thing will have nothing to do with screen size.

Theaters will survive as 3- to 4-screen movie houses.  The multiplexes (10+ screens) will eventually die.  You're right that the screens won't be bigger and might get smaller.  And it will be the blockbuster action (e.g., comic book) films that make the cut to the "big" screen.  I think a lot of genres will suffer, including dramas, comedies, science fiction, horror, war, because they're not going to generate $500 million+ in theater ticket sales.  So we end up getting those with with much weaker production value (Netflix offerings).  The days of original films that become classic films are probably going to be behind us.

[paperheart]

People will always go to the movies but how many? In the mid 40's, Hollywood sold over 4 billion tickets in the US. Around the introduction of color TV in the late 50's, the number was 2.5 billion. In 1995, the number was 1.2 billion. In 2019, the number was 1.2 billion- so a flat line over 25 years while the US population grew 20%.  The proliferation of streaming options and technological advancements for at home viewing paints a dismal long term picture for traditional movie theaters.

[NewWorldOrder]

3 minutes ago, paperheart said:

People will always go to the movies but how many? In the mid 40's, Hollywood sold over 4 billion tickets in the US. Around the introduction of color TV in the late 50's, the number was 2.5 billion. In 1995, the number was 1.2 billion. In 2019, the number was 1.2 billion- so a flat line over 25 years while the US population grew 20%.  The proliferation of streaming options and technological advancements for at home viewing paints a dismal long term picture for traditional movie theaters.

I only said Californians are candy cane softies earlier to bait you. 

Boring alert Mike!  

Seriously though most home theaters are $1.00 book trash. 

I agree with you in terms of watching drama movies, and comedies for example.

I would argue Hollywood just isnt as cool and as good as it used to be.  80's there was a new classic movie every other week, now forget about it.  Just like the NBA and MLB this is the least amount talent I have seen in my lifetime.  Even growing up in the 90's we had some. People, myself included are tired of there terrible retreads with same old CGI boring effects. 

We dont even have Rock N Roll or real movie stars much any more.  I am so happy I didnt grow up in a time when I wanted to be internet Youtube famous.  Whats the point of being famous if you are just in your house all day. 

Comic book movies are the #1 reason movie theaters have done so well since 2000.  At least these stories are new and fresh to most people.  

I agree streaming will make theaters grow less and less, but I know comic books and movie theaters will be around for the rest our lifetimes so that is good enough for me.   

 

[Bosco685]

6 hours ago, drotto said:

I do not agree about the movies.  Do you have kids? I do, two of them, and they will sit there watching movies and YouTube on their phones, when there is a 70 inch 4k TV with surround sound sitting 10 feet away from them.  My son loved the MCU, the only MCU he has watched since Endgame is Loki, he had no interest in the other shows, nor did he care about seeing BW. Before Covid, we had a large group of friends that we got together and saw all the big releases opening weekend together.  It was a lot of fun, I loved it.  To my knowledge non of them has seen BW, non seemed interested, so we went alone. I think that what you are missing is that the entertainment industry was already evolving, this is going to accelerate that change. Only the big tentpole films were propping up theaters the last few years.  You get a few more films that perform like BW from the theater's perspective and things will be forced to change. What people want more then anything else is easy.  So using door dash, buying online, and streaming are all easy.  So when you make movies easier to see, from home, while eliminating any exclusivity for theaters, people will take the easy. The current streaming model, with theaters getting basically no exclusivity will change the industry and how it makes money.

 

We already exist in a world where network TV is going away.  Where traditional TV seasons are gone.  Where the fall season is meaningless.  In that world, we have to expect the viewing habits for first run movies to also change. As I already said, my theater was 20% full. 

 

Now, I am not coming from a place of fear, and my friends and family are not fearful at this point.  We have had several large BBQ's already this summer.  My schedule through August is packed. I have two concerts this year.  I am going to NYCC. i am going on a big international vacation in August. So for the most part my life is returning to normal.  I went to the theater today, it felt normalish.  Does not change my opinion some things have been forced to evolve due to Covid, and will be changed forever. 

I think you are spot-on in that the world has changed. And both society and businesses will be forced to recognize this fact. Even theaters had to change up their marketing to promote how clean they are now partnering with corporations like CLOROX. 

But with box office results, Disney is a publicly traded stock. And the investor mindset is still one of are company balance sheets conveying continuous growth. That will drive companies to always push for bigger revenue-generating options. And though streaming is the more profitable path, in no way can it currently match the massive results of the extensively worldwide distribution of theaters throughout the world. It took decades for this to be established. Streaming is not going to supplant this venue in only a few years. Which is why Disney moved the Black Widow release date 4x before it finally came out. It recognizes this fact.

It will take time for this mindset shift to settle in. Along with resetting investor expectations on movies results, and their contributions to the bottom line. Along with achieving a higher streaming penetration into the worldwide market.

[1Cool]

We had my daughter and boyfriend over so we rented Black Widow.  I thought it was pretty good for the most part but I'd give it a B- with that being one of the lowest Marvel movies I've seen.  The flow was a tad choppy and it kind of felt like a movie that really didn't do anything really well.  The most irritating part was the movie was filmed so long ago and had repeated mention of cap and iron man fighting.  It wasn't a deal breaker but it just added to the flatness of the flick.

[1Cool]

And what is up with the new rocket ship by our names??