The BOF Mailbag – June 2018

By
Bill "Jett" Ramey
-
2742

HEY NOW BOF peeps!

Welcome to the June 2018 edition of the #BatmanOnFilmMailbag!  Summer is finally here with all that entails — especially here in my neck of the woods in Texas.  And boy, do I miss being up in my second home state of Minnesota!  Spent a week up there very recently and lows were in the 50s and I don’t think it ever reached the 80s as the high.  But alas, I shall digress and get to your questions!

JETT SAYS: I don’t know if I’m “excited” for it, but I’ll say that I’m looking forward to it — depending on the price.  Maybe I can pull a few strings and get it comped for, ahem, “reviewing purposes” here on BOF. 😉

And what is this “Batman Returns” you speak of sir?

The people who are obsessed with Ben Affleck [as Batman] are the same people who just cannot get over how Bruce returned to Gotham in RISES right?

JETT SAYS: LOL! Perhaps.  I’ll say that many — but not all — of those who are “obsessed” with Ben Affleck as Batman are the same folks who had a meltdown when his casting was first announced back in 2013.  As soon as they see the new cinematic Batman in Matt Reeves’ film on the big screen, they’ll immediately proclaim the dude as the greatest movie Batman ever.

And Bruce got back to Gotham in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES after escaping the pit because he’s The F’n BATMAN — ’nuff said.

JETT SAYS: HEY NOW Chris!  I’d say that SUICIDE SQUAD 2 doesn’t have to mention Gotham or Batman — even if Harley Quinn and The Joker are in it.  With BIRDS OF PREY, you could mention Batman, but you don’t have to have him show up in the movie.

Chris, I’m of the opinion that you simply ignore everything that came before (i.e. BATMAN v SUPERMAN and JUSTICE LEAGUE) and move forward.  Make the best DC films that you can individually and don’t worry about continuity or building a shared universe.  Then someday — when and if the time is right — you can do another JUSTICE LEAGUE or maybe even a WORLD’S FINEST movie.

Check out my “Amnesia-It!” op-ed on the very subject if you — or anyone else reading — hasn’t as of yet.

Will we ever see a new Batman live-action TV series where Bruce Wayne has been Batman for many years?

JETT SAYS: I have no idea man…maybe, I guess?  It seems to me that Warner Bros. wants the full-on Batman in live-action to be exclusive to film.  But I gotta figure it’ll happen on TV one day.  TV is just getting too big and too damn good.

JETT SAYS: Well, when it comes to DC on film, I my hope and wish is that my friends at Warner Bros. do not — DO NOT — go overboard as they have in the past with a bunch of nonsense.  They need to publicize their 2 upcoming films — AQUAMAN and SHAZAM! — and that’s IT.  Maybe you show a short teaser for WONDER WOMAN 1984 (only because it’s actually filming), but that’s not really needed now.

They DO NOT need to “announce” a bunch of DC film nor do they need to provide a list of release dates.  Eff all that stuff they’ve done previously!  Let me now direct your attention to the latest BOF Vlog where we address this very topic. I’m the super handsome one on the left of your screen, FYI.

Have they cast the new Batman already.  How much more do you know that you aren’t letting on? 

JETT SAYS: John, your question(s) are in reference to THIS, I assume. I have no idea (really), and I always know more than I let on…always.  It’s why I know what I know ’cause they know I won’t ever tell. (Case in point, JUSTICE LEAGUE.)

JETT SAYS: Dude, I SUCK at fan-casting!  But I’ll give it a go…

Bradley Cooper as Mr. Freeze, Ryan Gosling as The Riddler, and Rick Shew as Poison Ivy.

It seems like enthusiasm for SHAZAM! took a nose dive when the costume reveal happened and it was noted the movie will be faithful to the New 52 “Curse of Shazam!” reboot. I myself, lost a lot of interest when I learned it would be based on that instead of the classic Fawcett style-Captain Marvel with an Alex Ross tone. Do you think it was a mistake to go that direction and not full-on Fawcett, old-school Captain Marvel? (via email)

JETT SAYS: Hank, I assume you’re asking me this question because you know I’m a fan of Captain Marvel (and I’ll ALWAYS call him that!)

I haven’t lost interest at all personally.  I think they made a HUGE mistake by not putting out an official pic of Zachary Levi as Shazam (Captain Marvel dammit!) before they started filming on location.  But honestly, I think (hope?) that there might be a lot of that old-school Fawcett stuff in this film.  I’m going to be there at the press screening and opening night for sure. I’m still excited.  Check out the video of episode #25 of the BOF Vlog where we discuss how Warner Bros. should promote SHAZAM! at San Diego Comic Con in a few weeks.

JETT SAYS: LOL brother!  If Justin makes ’em, we’ll offer ’em up — but I’ll want something from BATMAN FOREVER to counter and keep the balance. 😉

Hey Jett, am I the only one that thinks that the average moviegoers won’t bother to see two Joker movies with different actors set in different universes? I mean, how many Joker movies does the world need? And does having different Jokers mean we are gonna have two different Batmen (Batmans?!) too?

JETT SAYS: I’d bet my last dollar that there will not be 2 solo Joker movies.  I do not think that the Leto version of the character will get a solo film.

Is there any chance WB moves up AQUAMAN’s release date? December 21st is a crowed date. The whole month of December seems to be packed.

JETT SAYS: I can’t definitely rule it out, but I highly doubt they move the date to an earlier release.  Hell, they’ve already moved it from July, to October, and then to its current 12/21/18 date.

Alright y’all, thanks for reading this month’s mailbag.  Next month — July 2018 — there will be two as the Independence Day holiday (you know how I love my holiday mailbags) comes next week.  Stay tuned! – Bill “Jett” Ramey

 

 

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