The King of Wakanda AKA Black Panther wins the weekend box office! (Update for February 23-25)

sounds like two things are for sure

@Byshop said:

We missed it this weekend because I accidentally bought tickets for the wrong day. This'll be me and the wife next weekend:

And one more just for good measure. If I fits, I sits:

-Byshop

Hmm, that picture.

Coming to America is the wrong movie unless they are trying to be a bad pun.

But good for Black Panther on the 2nd weekend.

His movie sucked. But then, superhero movies in general were mostly garbage back in the '90s, before Blade came along and changed the rules. However, the problem with Spawn was the movie, not the comics, so he deserves a second chance. Maybe the MCU could do justice to him this time around.

The more I hear about this proposed Spawn reboot, the more it seems like a bad idea.

For one thing, it's going to be cheap--the production company, Blumhouse Productions, is known for making low-budget horror movies, such as Insidious, and The Purge movies. Anyone who's expecting an action-packed spectacle is gonna be disapointed.

Point 2--Spawn won't even be the main character in his own movie. According to Todd McFarlane, it's gonna be horror focused and Spawn will have more of a boogeyman type presence. That's like making a Spider-Man movie where you watch Aunt May shuffle around the house for 90 minutes (and not even the youthful, early 50s, Marisa Tomei one--the one from the early comic book days that looked like the Crypt Keeper's stunt double.

Point 3--McFarlane is writing and directing this himself. And if anyone thinks it might not be that bad that he's doing it himself, remember this...

Frank Miller's The Spirit.

This is gonna be a hot mess.

@hallenbeck77: @Jag85:"But then, superhero movies in general were mostly garbage back in the '90s"

I actually like that Spawn movie. Going into that movie I never heard of him. And actually Batman Forever(1995) was a good movie.

@hallenback

So you think he just want to cash in on super hero movie craze?

Actually went and saw this last Saturday. The movie was freaking awesome and totally did justice to Black Panther's character and lore. The action is sick, Wakanda looks awesome, and all the characters are really well developed. Plus the movie does a great job at feeling both like an action/sci-fi while also feeling really spiritual. All in all, everything in this movie is really well done, and I highly recommend it. It's also getting me really hyped up for Infinity War.

@PSP107: No, Spawn is a bad movie. No matter how you look at it the movie is a trainwreck of shit. Bad acting, bad cgi, lame story, the only good thing about it was the clown.

And hate to break it to you, but Batman Forever is also a bad flick. It's not Batman and Robin bad, but it's still bad.

Now that's not to say you can't enjoy them, I actually have a soft spot for Spawn and have watched it a few times since it was released, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize that it's a crappy movie.

To be fair to him, he's been pushing for another Spawn movie for about 20 years now. That first movie was at best, moderately successful, despite horrid acting, directing, and some of the worst visual effects from a major studio, and no one was about to take another chance with it. Even New Line wasn't rushing to make a sequel. Finally, he found a production company is willing to pay for the movie.

I think he has an hard uphill journey ahead of him, According to this article, he's hedging his bets that the Venom movie does well (being that he co-created the character) so he can hitch the success of that to his Spawn movie; If the teaser trailer is any indication, I wouldn't take that bet. According to the article, he thinks Spawn will do well because it has minority characters, and Black Panther did well.

What he fails to realize is that Blank Panther did well because there was a talented cast and production crew with years of experience involved (Disney money to make it didn't hurt, either). McFarlane is never directed a movie before, and his writing ability is, well...there's a reason I stopped reading Spawn years ago. He's making a low-budget movie where he hopes that name recognition is enough for it to be a hit, and I doubt it'll be enough.

@hallenbeck77: I’m glad you said what you did. I think there is a natural hater instinct in a lot of us, in which we see something successful and we need to qualify it. Black Panther is an important movie in a lot of ways, but if you think it has achieved its success due to a single element I think that would be a mistake. There is no denying that Black Panther has huge cultural importance. I see that hater instinct activating in a few commenters on here wanting to dismiss the importance of this movie, although I don’t understand why you would actively try to downplay it- unless you’re just racist or naturally cranky. So many movies that feature minorities end up being exploitive or borderline, and Black Panther managed to feature a mostly minority cast without being exploitive, at least in my opinion. This movie succeeded so well, because it was a damn good movie that had a great script, wonderful characters and acting, and looked amazing. Usually when a movie features a heavily african american cast, its subject matter is usually focused on the minority story. BP broke that mold here by telling a story that was easily accessible to all kinds of people, but with a minority cast. It’s a pretty tricky thing to pull off, especially when you consider the cultural climent currently here in the US. I am new super optimistic that we’re going to see some sudden change in the way hollywood operates due to this movie, but I’m happy it got made and it showed whats possible. I worry about attempts to duplicate its success, because I think a movie like BP is more the exception, so if a lot of films fail in trying to duplicate it- they may end up doing more harm then good.

Didn't Spawn have low a budget hence the bad CGI. Plus that was 1990's tech.

Did you go into Spawn already familiar with the franchise?

And I'll take Batman Forever over any super hero movie beginning with Spiderman 2(2004)

@PSP107: I can't...I can't take you seriously if you truly think that Batman Forever is better then all the superhero movies after Spider-Man 2.

Modern movies are just boring. Take away some questionable cg and action scenes, it just people talking.

I mean you can't really say the Amazing Spiderman was better.

Yes she is. Gorgeous woman, classy actress. I concur with your rating. Great movie. Just saw it.

I don't agree with what he's saying, but he does unintentionally bring up a point.

Brooding, gritty superhero films are no longer popular nowadays and are judged more harshly than lighthearted films where silliness and thin plot can be forgiven if the movie is fun. If you add modern CGI action scenes and add a few self-aware jokes, Batman Forever would be a well-received movie if it was released today.

It's not that brooding, gritty superhro films are no longer popular. It's just the recent ones have been total crap. The Dark Knight series by Nolan was great. The recent DC movies, however, have been extremely poorly written, directed, and acted. They lack plot, writing, and purpose. I'm hoping in the future, that someone can redirect this recent poor trend.

@one_plum: "Brooding, gritty superhero films are no longer popular nowadays and are judged more harshly than lighthearted films where silliness and thin plot can be forgiven if the movie is fun."

Batman Forever (1995) was not a serious film compared to the original and Batman Returns. But is was enjoyable.

Today's movies are long and boring.

@one_plum: Lol, you think Batman Forever would be well received if it was released today?!? Bwahahahaha, you're as nutty as psp107. It would be torn to shreds worse then it was back then.

@vfighter: Pity we'll never see if that's true or not.

9/10. My fav, Marvel film.

Amazing cinematography

Amazing production design, makeup and cotume

Amazing villian

Amazing music

Amazing visual effects

---

Only negative things is that it's really groundbreaking, This is no Dark Knight. It's a superbly done, great action flick.

@needhealing: I'm not sure you know what amazing means? The cinematography was really bland, which was a huge disappointment considering how amazing Africa is visually. It was probably my biggest peeve with the movie. Also Eric was really, well bland and uninteresting, hell he was outshined by Klaue (sp?) in the movie. And the visual effects (CGI) were really off at times.

Now the costumes and make up though were amazing, they absolutely nailed it there.

@needhealing:

Yes, a solid movie all around starting with that superb cast.

@hallenbeck77: Is the Spawn reboot really going to be that bad? I hope not because I re-watched the animated series and I'm 130 issues into the comics and mostly finished the spin offs/sidestories from the Curse Of The Spawn, Sam And Twitch and Angela comics.

Spawn might actually work better as a horror movie than a superhero film. I don't really see Spawn as a superhero and most superhero movies have to stay in the lines of PG13 to keep themselves mass marketable and family friendly. A PG13 rating for Spawn would easily ruin it in my opinion. But as a horror movie they have the excuse to most of the violence and darkness of the comics. From some of the issues I read where we look at Spawn from a normal person's view such as Sam and Twitch it may actually work as a movie but trying to sell it as a Spawn movie is a bad movie in my opinion since he won't be the main focus let alone get any actual lines. This movie could work as a setup for people that don't know to have a sequel of "Who is that mysterious creature?" and then get a Spawn movie that focus on him.

Does the comic really get that bad later on? I'm at issue 131 right now and I'm lovin it.

@Jag85: Spawn will never be in the MCU as he is not owned by Marvel Comics. He is a part of Image comics so hes more likely to appear in The Walking Dead.

@NoodleFighter: For me, it got so convoluted I couldn't keep track of what was going on anymore. I wound up bailing out sometime around 2000 or so. It was so long ago, I can't remember exactly when. But if you're getting enjoyment from it, I'm glad that you are.

As far as the upcoming movie goes, they are going in the direction you mentioned; basically telling the story from a another human's point of view--Twitch is supposedly in the movie, but no Sam.

If they had an accomplished director at the helm...hell, if they had one with actually directorial experience, this may have been interesting. But as it stands now, this ranks right up there along with the upcoming reboot/remake/reimagining/rehash of The Crow with Jason Mamoa as Eric...just another bad idea stemming from Hollywood's superhero and reboot craze.

@hallenbeck77: Twitch but no Sam!? That's like Bugs Bunny without Daffy Duck or Tom without Jerry. While Sam may not be nearly as competent as Twitch he's still a fun character and the two compliment each other very well. Now my hopes for this movie is really low.

It has passed 1 billion...