"Flipping Out" About the Deadpool & Wolverine Trailer; Today's Box Office Trends Started in April 2014
A few quick thoughts about the NSFW MCU trailer. Also, we should have known The Sound of Freedom was coming based off of the "godly" movies released 10 years ago.
A quick apology to those of you waiting A YEAR for this post. Things got “real” between new jobs, kid activities, and other life events. In other words, Rob Thomas and the rest of Matchbox 20 were right about the “real world.”
With that out of the way, let’s jump in about some things I am currently “Flipping Out” about:
Like a Prayer: Did the MCU Gods Deliver with the First Full Trailer for Deadpool and Wolverine? - YouTube (Scroll Down for More)
April 2014 Looks Like a Strange Month at the Box Office. Turns Out it Was a Sign of Things to Come – (KEEP SCROLLING)
Keeping Myself Honest: Checking in on Predictions from 2023 (YES… MORE SCROLLING)
Deadpool & Wolverine Full Trailer Reaction (April 22, 2024)
The weekend belonged to Taylor Swift, but it appears today is all about Deadpool & Wolverine. Marvel dropped the first full trailer on YouTube, and it is not surprisingly the top video of the day. Special shout out to the Disney person choosing Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” as the song for this trailer.
I am not the comic book whisperer, but it feels like the online response has been overwhelmingly positive so far. There’s not a lot of backlash other than folks being skeptical of what comes next in the MCU.
Below are a few highlights from the trailer:
I know this was in the teaser, but I love the 20th Century Fox logo being demolished in the background of a confrontation between Deadpool and Wolverine (34 second mark).
Comic book fans jumped all over the “Liefeld’s Just Feet” sign online (1:16 in the trailer) as a nod to Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld. Deadpool 2 also included a joke about Liefeld’s ability (or inability perhaps) to draw feet.
Viewers got their first good look at Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova (1:49 mark), the likely villain of the film. We also see Matthew MacFadyen’s character, Paradox, rocking a band-aid over his nose (52 seconds in) as he explains how “Wolverine let down his entire world.”
The Void looks like it will consume a big part of the film. We see a nod to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with a “Giant Man” Variant helmet (1:40), along with Ant-Man’s skull (!?!), and Alioth, the all matter-consuming cloud creature, from Loki (50 seconds in).
The trailer ends with Wade Wilson chatting with Blind Al about drug-related terms that will likely rub Marvel President Kevin Feige the wrong way. The film is guaranteed to include more 4th-wall breaking jokes when it is released on July 26, 2024.
Things Are Better AND Worse at the Box Office Thanks to Trends From April 2014
Before we go back a decade, I am currently watching movies and freaking out about tech like it is 1999. This is not just about bad AI showing up in movies like Late Night with the Devil. No, I have been thoroughly enjoying my life reading and listening (yay for Audible) Brian Raftery’s 2019 book Best. Movie.Year.Ever. about the films of 1999.
While looking back at some of the iconic movies released 25 years ago(!!!), Election still being my personal favorite, I have also been reflecting on other films from the not-too-distant past. For instance, it has been 10 years (!) since Captain America: The Winter Soldier took over the month of April 2014 (source: Box Office Mojo). The movie is still regarded by many MCU fans as one of the best solo sequels from the original core members of the Avengers.
The rest of the Top 10 is lacking a bit in the number of classics other than Wes Anderson’s The Grant Budapest Hotel, but this slate looks like an early sign of things to come at the modern-day box office. Marvel movies continue to dominate the box office even if they have taken some hits in recent years. If you think it feels weird that Nike signed off on Air and Mattel agreed to Barbie, April 2014 included a fictional-NFL story about the drama unfolding during Draft Day. Also, The Sound of Freedom phenomenon may have started thanks to a pair of Christian-based movies in 2014. Let’s dive in:
Yes, Low Budget Faith-Based Films Have an Audience
Nearly a decade before The Sound of Freedom broke box office records for an independent film, we have two other low budget faith-based movies in the Top 10 with God’s Not Dead and Heaven is for Real. One return on investment (ROI) measurement is comparing “Total Box Office Gross” to “Budget.” Based on this metric, God’s Not Dead was the top film as it made more than 32x its budget ($64.6M on a $2M budget). Noah was a biblical blockbuster release that made more in ticket sales than both films in April, but there’s a good chance it only barely broke even after all marketing costs ($359.2M global gross on a budget of $125M).
Low Budget Horror as a Reliable Option at the Box Office
The second film to have the highest ROI from a box office perspective for April 2014: Oculus. The film made nearly 9X its budget ($44.4M on a $5M budget). Not a bad sophomore effort for writer / director Mike Flanagan (More haunted house shows, please).
The next 10 years would see additional relatively low budget horror films bat at a fairly high box office rate including more sequels and spinoffs to The Conjuring and the Terrifier films (third film coming this year).
That said, Some cracks are starting to show in 2024 as The First Omen and this past weekend’s female vampire film Abigail have underwhelmed at the box office.
Female-Led Films Can Succeed
Challenges persist in Hollywood around diversity and female-led films. Even with Barbie leading the global box office in 2024, a new study shows a big gender discrepancy in terms of roles in front of and behind the camera.
A bigger step back shows macro trends could be pointing in the right direction, and April 2014 showed some promising signs of this. The mainly female cast of The Other Woman, led by Cameron Diaz, made it in the Top 10 despite being released late in the month on April 25. Rio 2, featuring the co-lead voice of Anne Hathaway, was the second highest grossing film of the month, and Divergent was still very relevant, after being released in March, featuring Shailene Woodley and Kate Winslet.
Simply Marvel-Ous
Captain America won the month, but previous and future MCU stars alike made a presence in other films rounding out the month of April. This included Karen Gillan (another female-led title) in Oculus, Chadwick Boseman in Draft Day, and half the cast of The Grand Budapest Hotel just to name a few (Tony Revolori, Edward Norton, and Willem Dafoe). Marvel would continue its historical run at the box office culminating in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame breaking box office records.
Prediction Accountability Check In AND Some New Ones for 2024
Anyone can talk a big game, but it is also important to recognize if you were right or wrong about something. Based off of Colin Cowherd’s “Colin Was Right / Colin Was Wrong” segment, I have decided to keep myself honest about some predictions from 2023. Here is my scale:
Gaming is the new Top Genre in Hollywood (Grade: Pepsi? RIGHT ON!)
I am sure I can make this argument based on the success of Super Mario Bros. The Movie and now with Amazon renewing Fallout, but it feels like the new genre could be “familiar yet fresh.” Video game adaptions fit this mold, but Barbie was also something new yet familiar enough to create a wide net for the broad consumer audience. Look for more movies to be based on properties or co-produced by major corporations. For instance, we are still waiting for the John Cena “Crocs” movie.
Super Mario Bros. Movie will be the highest grossing movie based on a game and top family film (box office wise) of 2023 (Grade: RIGHT ON!)
Double check!
Disney Will Acquire a Gaming Studio by the end of 2025 (Pepsi? Partial Credit but still a little OFF)
This might be a challenge to meet the full prediction, but Disney did make a big $1.5 billion dollar investment in, Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite (Not THAT Fortnight, Swifties). The plan calls for unique-Disney experiences. It might take longer than my end of 2025 timeline, but this could eventually be the next big acquisition for Disney.
Final Plug!
A reminder: I try to sprinkle “joy” across multiple social media sites. Wherever you hang out online, not including the “site formerly known as Twitter,” FlipLand or one of my personal accounts is probably nearby. A heads up that Threads is becoming my new personal favorite space. That should make Mark Zuckerberg happy.
