What’s going on everyone, oh how I’ve missed you all. I’m very sorry for not putting up an article Friday. I live in Mississippi and there was that whole hurricane thing that happened and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to put up the article I wanted. There was, however, a rough draft of what I was planning on putting out that did go live and for those of you that read that, sorry. I wasn’t aware that went live until Sunday night.

But enough about my past, it’s time to talk about all the news that happened last week. Welcome to Deja News!

Blade Runner Disappoints?

This past weekend we saw Blade Runner 2049 finally make it’s way to the theater and though the critics absolutely love it, it currently has a rating of 88% on Rotten Tomato, audiences weren’t interested in the film. While the movie did finish in first place it wasn’t nearly the box office hit everyone expected.

Thanks to BoxOfficeMojo.com, we can look at the numbers here. With a budget of 150 millions dollars and a weekend gross of only 32.7 million, it’s understandable why the film is being considered a disappointment. The question is, why did it do so poorly? My personal belief is that a lot of people weren’t aware of the film that came before it. Yes, a lot of people have seen Blade Runner and a lot of people love that film but that movie came out a long time ago and if you’re not a big film buff seeking out “classic” films, there’s a strong chance that you missed it. That’s what I think happened here.

It’s also important to keep in mind another film that was a follow up to an 80’s classic that didn’t light the world on fire when it first released either: Mad Max Fury Road. That’s right! We all look back at the OSCAR NOMINATED film with rose-tinted glasses. The movie that couldn’t stop making money at the box office. The movie that everyone loved. WRONG! Mad Max Fury Road, with a budget of 150 million dollars (sound familiar?) opened in 2nd place at the box office making 45 million dollars. It was word of mouth though, that kept Fury Road in the theaters making money. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Fury Road made a million dollars or more at the box office until it’s 9th week in theaters. And this is only in the United States. All in all, Mad Max, the movie that opened behind Pitch Perfect 2, ended up making 378 million dollars worldwide. Will history repeat itself with Blade Runner or will it become lost in time, like tears in rain? Only time will tell.

That Justice League Trailer is Something

With Today’s news being very short, I thought I’d do something a little different and break down just what’s in this trailer, and if you like it, well, I plan on doing a stand-alone article where I do the same thing for the upcoming Star Wars trailer. If you don’t like it, well, let me know in the comments. Any feedback is good feedback.

The trailer opens with Lois Lane walking outside what might be the Kent family home to see Clark Kent himself standing in the middle of a field. He mentions the ring on her finger and how the fact that she still has it on must mean she says yes. We then see her wake up suggesting that this was all a dream. Not so fast my friend. Never forget that movie trailers aren’t really interested in actually showing you the movie’s events in the order in which they happen. What we’re supposed to believe is that this is a dream sequence but could it be something more? Could we actually be seeing one of the last shots of the film? Is this Clark returning to his future wife? Well, let’s hope so because out of everything that’s gone on in this current DC run, these two have probably been my favorite.

After this scene we see that the world has really gone down the toilet now that the symbol of hope is gone. Crime has gone up, people are sad, cat and dogs sleeping together. It’s mass hysteria! Obviously, this is a trailer and I’m more than willing to give this movie a chance but I don’t think this idea works in a film where we have Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg all running around fighting crime. And even if the world doesn’t know about Cyborg, Flash, and Aquaman, they most certainly know about the other two. There’s also the Suicide Squad who totally saved the world at some point in this timeline as well. The point is, there are heroes everywhere, and while Superman was beloved by billions, his death shouldn’t send the world into chaos. If this was a stand-alone movie where Superman was the only hero, then I would totally understand, but with all of the heroes I’ve listed running around, I’m just confused.

We get our first look of something called Parademons chasing after some Amazonians. How do I know these are called Parademons? Well, the internet told me. If you don’t remember them, they are from that really weird dream sequence that Batman had in Batman v Superman where Superman was ruling the world and he had his own personal army. We also see a shot of a male warrior being transformed into something. The theory is that this how the Parademons come to be before they eventually join Darkseid’s army. Sort of a Game of Thrones, Army of The Dead situation.

Oh, who is Darkseid? He’s sort of like Thanos but without the glove. I’m gonna be honest with you folks, I love DC comics, but everything having to do with space is all brand new to me. Which is one of the reasons why I’m not a big fan of the direction the DC films have gone in. ANYWAYS back to the trailer.

Nothing super important here, just Batman looking awesome in front of what I can only assume is the Bat-Wing. Batman was one of the only things I enjoyed in Batman v Superman so I’m obviously excited to see more of the character.

Here we get a better look at the Parademons as well as the films bad guy, Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is yet another DC character that I’m very unfamiliar with. The little I know about him is that he’s a member of Darkseid’s crew who leads the Parademons into battle against Earth. Why are they waging war on Earth? Oh, that one’s simple. They’re here for the Mother Boxes… What are mother boxes? Apparently, they’re these really powerful supercomputers that offer specific powers. I’m not gonna lie, they kind of sound like infinity stones, though I’m sure they are VERY different. They did make an appearance in Batman V Superman but you only knew what you were looking at if you read the comics… moving on!

Whether it’s his big jovial smile…

or him yelling, “YEAH!” when he lands on the Batmobile, Aquaman is just too happy in this trailer. In all of the battle scenes shown in the trailer, we see an Earth that appears to be completely destroyed. Why is he having such a good time? It’s scenes like this that give me flashbacks to the Joss Whedon directed Avengers film where characters were cutting jokes while all of New York was being destroyed. I understand this is a trailer and it probably (hopefully) doesn’t represent the full battle scene in any way but with what I’m presented with, I’m let down.  However,

we do see both Cyborg and The Flash doing some pretty cool stuff and with the basic understanding I have of these Mother Boxes and the fact that we know that the Flash stand-alone movie is going to deal with him interacting with different timelines, there is a chance that the destruction of Earth or at least this part of the planet that this battle is taking place on won’t ultimately matter. If we end up seeing some sort of resolution that results in our two newest heroes reversing time and ultimately erasing the damage done to the planet by the invading army, then it would at least explain how we get sequels to all of this. After all, with no Earth, where is Batman supposed to brood?

So far the DC films have left me disappointed and this trailer doesn’t really help me feel any better. Much like the other films I’ve seen, one day I’ll get to Wonder Woman, I promise, I’ve loved parts of them but never enjoyed the whole thing. This trailer sums up that statement entirely. I love the idea of a world where Superman has died and now the people of Earth have to deal with the fact that their hero is now gone (though as I mentioned I don’t think that makes a lot of sense in this movie) and I’m absolutely annoyed by yet another big pointless battle that appears to ends a DC movie. A lot of what I’ve seen in this trailer gives me flashbacks to the first Avengers movie. I didn’t like that and I’m worried I won’t like this.

Conclusion…

So, what do you think? Is Blade Runner a disappointment or will word of mouth help it to eventually become a success at the box office? And what about this Justice League trailer? Am I being too hard on it? Am I expecting too much? Let me know either down in the comments or over on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ThinksofaThoughter/