last updated May 21, 2023Comments? Send email to: fny@freenewyork.net
Episode #953: Inside Baseball
First Broadcast: 4/3/23
Repeated: 5/22/23
The latest feature-length movies in the Marvel and DC superhero universes have been released: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for the former and Shazam! Fury of the Gods for the latter. Both have similar ratings on IMDB (6.4/10 for Ant-Man and 6.6/10 for Shazam), and both were #1 at the box office for their opening weekends. Ant-Man to date has made over $471 million worldwide--way out in front of Shazam's $119 million worldwide gross--and yet even that giant haul doesn't yet put it within the Top 200 all-time worldwide box office hits, a list on which even former champions like Star Wars and E.T. now find themselves only halfway up the scale, outranked by films such as Fast & Furious 6 and Jumanji: The Next Level. So, despite their relative financial success, one might look at their ratings & reviews and--if they feel like it--take a personal viewing of the films as well; and if they come away from both movies as relatively "meh" as I did, one might ask the question, "Have we reached superhero movie saturation?" As it turns out, people have been asking this question for over a decade now, so I certainly wasn't the first one to think of it. But, have we reached that point nonetheless? Are Marvel & DC's upcoming release schedules the epitome of how completely risk-averse Hollywood has become in the 21st Century? Do we want to continue down a road where almost every movie in a theater is either a sequel, a Disney film, or part of an already existing franchise? Maybe the successes of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once and Cocaine Bear can help push movies into a more diverse direction in the near future, at least? This and $2.75 will get me a ride on the subway, I'm certain!
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last updated May 21, 2023
Comments?
Send email to: fny@freenewyork.net