This is PROBABLY not for real, though the site swears it is, and cites a source reliable on other stories, but supposedly Joss Whedon is on the list the direct the Avengers movie.
The Guardian covers it well.
Favreau is the Nolan of the Marvel films, and everybody is basically running their stories through him. Why would Whedon be interested in that kind of scenario? Even in comics, all of the stuff that he’s worked on that I can remember has been some distance away from the core of the Marvel mess - the X-Men are practically their own little sub-universe, and Runaways flits around on the outskirts of the core Marvel properties. It might be interesting to see, but I’m having trouble figuring out why a guy who could basically write his own check at this point would want to hop onto this deal.
Why can Whedon write his own check at this point? He’s a hero of nerdia, sure, but in the real world he had a successful TV show like 15 years ago, then had a show that got canceled super fast, and a movie that flopped. I don’t see him as a big name outside of, well, Whedon fans. It’s certainly possible that he’s directing Avengers, but I don’t see any reason to think he wouldn’t jump on that because he’s too big.
He’s still a name director. Contrast that with, say, Singer, who has a much, much more successful television show than Whedon could ever have dreamed of having and a more successful feature film career and you see the difference. His failed Wonder Woman script notwithstanding, Whedon is in a position to control the story and the direction for any number of comic properties (Runaways comes to mind, in particular). The Avengers isn’t one of them. It also doesn’t speak to any of his pet issues (there are no gay characters and I don’t remember any particularly empowered women in The Avengers, though that’s not precisely in my wheelhouse when it comes to comics and I could be very wrong). I’m not saying I wouldn’t be thrilled - I’m just saying, of all the things he could do, why would he do this? For that matter, why would the studio want him, given the trouble he’s had hitting the mass market in the past? I don’t think his movie (Cabin in the Woods) has even hit the market yet, has it?
Which, I guess, means that he couldn’t write his own check. I guess I misspoke.
Cabin in the Woods will be out next January. It was delayed to add 3D.
‘Control’ is an odd way to spell ‘completely shit up’.
“Cabin the Woods” isn’t “his” movie anyway. Or not completely- Drew Goddard directed it, not Whedon.
I don’t even understand why you posted this.
It didn’t even come close to flopping. Made plenty of money above what it cost to produce. Which is important, but not nearly as important as the fact that the movie came to exist in reality in the first place. The circumstances surrounding Firefly and Serenity are largely unique in the history of television and film production, that’s why it gets talked about as an event of importance.
I don’t know what it did on DVD, but Serenity grossed less than it cost to make. And I’m reasonably sure that that’s before you count in the cost to market it and the cut that theaters kept.
Yeah. Just ignore those DVD sales.
But polar bears aren’t found at the South Pole!
I love the ‘quote someone and ignore what they said and just reply to whatever you want them to have said’ game. I think I’m winning!
(I admitted I didn’t know what the DVD sales were. At no point did I post ‘It was a bomb because we should ignore all DVD sales ever!’ Looking around Topeka.com, it seems like fans have done the math and found that Serenity eventually made money on DVD sales and TV rights, though Universal has never released the numbers. Still, the movie bombed at the box office and the likelihood of someone handing over the reigns of what is likely to be a massive summer blockbuster to a guy who can claim that his underperforming sci-fi epic made money on DVD eventually is still pretty low so the original point made still stands.)
Let’s assume marketing and dvd sales were equal (they weren’t), “breaking even” is not “a bomb.”
So they sell DVDs at box offices now?
Huh.
The main reason Universal agreed to produce Serenity was because of the DVD sales of Firefly (I bought at least six copies of Firefly to give to friends to get them hooked so they would see Serenity).
Yes, I know. That’s not the point that Daniel and (to a lesser extent) Brian were…
Y’know what? Nevermind.
Whedon hasn’t demonstrated much of a knack for action. He needs to stay as far away from directing a superhero movie as we can get him. I’m all for letting him come in and work on the script, but I don’t want Avengers (or anything else) to have that same cheesy feel as River beating up a room full of Reavers. It was like a textbook Starfleet hand-to-hand combat snooze-fest.
Just to get this back on track, big Hollywood studios have hired directors before that had less profitable efforts in their portfolio. I think concentrating on whether or not Whedon/Serenity/whatever has made money is never going to tell us if this story is true.
I’m only pointing out that the moniker “box office bomb” is not appropriate to use when discussing Serenity. That’s all. It’s also not a MacGuffin.
I don’t understand why people are harping on Joss Whedon as not being a big box office director. Neither were the directors for Iron Man (Jon Favreau), The Incredible Hulk (Louis Leterrier), or Thor (Kenneth Branagh). Captain America’s Joe Johnston may be somewhat of the exception to the rule.
Perhaps Marvel Whedon for his ability to write and direct for an ensemble cast rather for the action part. An anti-George Lucas if you will.