The Avengers is officially a record-shattering box office success. It premiered on April 11, 2012, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, to the applause of millions of fans and even managed to garner positive reviews from most film critics. It has set numerous box office records, including the biggest opening weekend in North America, and managed to covered its estimated $220 million production cost 12 days after its release. Domestically, it crossed $500M in just 23 days, setting a new speed record overtaking Avatar which took 32 days. After tying the record for the fastest film to gross $1 billion worldwide, it is now the third highest-grossing film of all time behind the twin juggernauts of James Cameron, Titanic and Avatar.
However, the superheroes might have a more difficult fight on their hands due to just how successful they were at the box office. As it seems a new pack of superheroes, possibly including Batman and Superman, as well as a rebooted Wonder Woman, could be set to have a go at stealing their (and Thor’s) thunder. Warner Bros. is reportedly working on a movie of DC’s own team of superheroes, the Justice League. Variety reports that renowned script writer Will Beall has signed on to write the script, and with a stable full of iconic comic book heroes like, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern, expect DC’s heroes to step up and take on the Avengers at the box office.
Nothing says “summer at the movies” quite like a metric ton of big name blockbusters flooding theaters near you – superheroes on top of superheroes, classic television series brought back from the dead, re-imagined fairy tales, and animated gems about finding yourself. But with the cinema summer growing ever-larger, the stakes being pushed ever-higher, and enough content to keep audience members in their seats ever-longer, a line has to be drawn somewhere. As we start looking ahead to the future, a future of promise and potential, a future of tingling anticipation that the road stretched out in front of us that leads to the cinema will be paved with gold, let’s see what are some of the brightest shimmering wonder of movies to come.
Prometheus (June 8th)
Possibly THE most anticipated film of the year. Ridley Scott returns to direct his first science fiction film in thirty years. With films like Alien and Blade Runner to his credits, it’s hard not to get excited about this upcoming project. It boats a cast that includes Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, and Idris Elba.
The Avengers (May 4th)
The first of three major superhero movies to come out this summer. It may not have the box office history of the Batman and Spiderman franchises but with Joss Whedon at the helm, it’s omnibus collection of many of Marvel’s finest characters creates enough buzz to official kick off the summer blockbuster season.
The Dark Knight Rises (July 20th)
Is it really necessary to explain why this film is hugely anticipated? Ever since Christopher Nolan’s second Batman movie shattered multiple box office records and was near-unanimously praised as one of the best film’s of 2008, the hype for the third and final installment has been nonstop.
The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3rd)
Sony is rebooting one of the most successful franchises of all time and one that was responsible for the superhero boom of the past decade with all new personnel. With a story that is universally familiar, the challenge will be to find a new angle on an old familiar hero.
The Bourne Legacy (August 3rd)
Although Matt Damon leaves some big shoes to fill, Jeremy Renner seems up to the task in the fourth installment of the Bourne film series. Tony Gilroy settles into the directing chair this time, having previously written the screenplays for the first three Bourne films. With a supporting cast including, Edward Norton, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, and Stacy Keach, look for this one to rise above the sea of summer blockbusters.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (June 22nd)
Tim Burton. Vampires. Abraham Lincoln. Axe wielding honest Abe riding a rampaging horde of stallions against an undead menace. Where do I get in line?
Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1st)
From the stunning visuals to what looks to be a terrifying performance from Charlize Theron, Snow White and the Huntsman looks to bring a much darker and more violent version of the fairy tale to life. Cast includes Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, and Ian McShane.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (June 29th)
Much like it’s sibling toys-turned blockbuster-films franchise, Transformers, G.I. Joe has every sight set on being this summer’s massive action adventure. It’s already stepped up the game with just its casting with the addition of Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis as Roadblock and Mr. Joe himself.
Savages (July 6th)
The cynical, fun, energetic, and hard biting Oliver Stone is back with a high-energy crime-thriller. This is what he does best.
Brave (June 22nd)
Can Pixar continue their Midas touch? Smart money says, Merida, Pixar’s first Princess is up to the task.
Recently Redbox and Verizon have announced a new “joint venture” that will combine Redbox’s physical DVD rentals with an Internet-based streaming-and-download service. The new service seems primed to compete more directly with Netflix, as well as the territory currently occupied by Amazon, Hulu, and Dish Network/Blockbuster.
Although demand for affordable DVD rentals remain strong, anybody with a Netflix subscription and a Roku box can attest to streaming’s fertile future. The popularity of streaming proves it to be the future of content delivery, but studios seem intent on leaving their customers behind by clinging to the evaporating segment of DVD sales.
As we, the consumer, drift from DVD purchases, the studios are reacting all too desperately to retain those sales numbers. Disney recently announced its intention to join Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. in invoking a 28-day waiting-period to rent new releases on DVD — news that followed Warner Bros. own decision last week to extend its own rental waiting period for new titles to 56 days. This despite the facts that more market revenue came in from DVD rentals than sales — the first time that has occurred since 1998.
The whole condition makes for a curious economic scenario: Studios looking back to an era of vibrant DVD sales, vendors looking forward to the streaming era and a majority of consumers left squarely in the middle.
In 1984, a landmark case laid down a controversial law regarding technology, intellectual property and copyright infringement. The unlikely hero in the legal battle to preserve the right to record content using a VCR was none other than TV’s besweatered children’s broadcaster, Mister Rogers.
For many years in the pre-DVD, pre-streaming era, the Betamax, Sony’s prototype videotape player-recorder, was a punch line. A piece of technology that was quickly superseded by the VHS, it limped along in the shadows for two decades. And yet, it was the Betamax that gave name to a court case that has played a pivotal role in both technological progress and copyright law over the last thirty years. Here’s a look back at the “Betamax Case,” including the role Mister Rogers played in the Supreme Court’s decision.
Like many other cool electronic products, the Betamax came from Japan. In late 1975, it was introduced to the U.S. by Sony, who touted its ability to “time-shift” television programming. In an era when most viewers still had to get up off the couch to change channels manually, this innovation was as futuristic as it sounded. But while the public was wowed by the idea, the major entertainment corporations were not. Universal Studios and Walt Disney Productions filed a lawsuit in 1976 to halt the sale of the Betamax, claiming that film and TV producers would lose millions of dollars from unauthorized duplication and distribution of their copyrighted content.
When the case finally went to trial in 1979, the U. S. District court ruled in favor of Sony, stating that taping programs for entertainment or time-shifting was fair use, and did not infringe on copyright. Further, there was no proof that the practice did any economic harm to the television or motion picture industry. But Universal, unhappy with the verdict, appealed in 1981, and the ruling was reversed. With large sums of money and copyright ownership at stake, the Betamax case arrived at the Supreme Court in 1983. By this point, nearly 50 percent of all homes in America had a VCR (VHS replaced Betamax) and sales of videocassettes were competing with theatrical box office. Universal Studios vs. Sony Corporation of America, nicknamed the “Betamax Case,” was argued for a year.
During the controversial court case, the key testimonial came from Mister Rogers, who defended the VCR and Sony, saying:
“I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the ‘Neighborhood’ off-the-air … they then become much more active in the programming of their family’s television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been ‘You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions’ … I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.”
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sony and cited Rogers’ comments: “He testified that he had absolutely no objection to home taping for noncommercial use and expressed the opinion that it is a real service to families to be able to record children’s programs and to show them at appropriate times.”
Now, despite the popularity of legal movie and TV streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, P2P file sharing continues. Cases against file-sharing sites like Napster bring to light the the same points of law established decades earlier when Mister Rogers went to Washington.
89 years ago, the silent film, The Toll of the Sea, opened in New York City. While this film was not the first feature length color film (that honor goes to With Our King and Queen Through India from 1912) or the first Technicolor film (that honor goes to The Gulf Between from 1917), it was a real breakthrough as the first general release film to use Technicolor. Up to that point, previous color films required special projectors with near-constant attention from a technician to make viewing possible. The Toll of the Sea became the first film to use the two-color Technicolor process, allowing film to be shown on a standard film projector.
Through the early 1920′s films like, Wanderer of the Wasteland and Douglas Fairbanks’ The Black Pirate, showcased that Technicolor Process 2 could be commercially viable. This was further cemented by the used of Technicolor for color sequences in such major motion pictures as The Ten Commandments (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and Ben-Hur (1925).
Although the Technicolor process was invented in 1916, it took many years of continual improvements before it became the Hollywood standard. In the late 1920′s and early 30s, Technicolor Process 3 of using dye-transfer technique was introduced around the same time as sound-on film; thus, The Viking (1928) became the first Technicolor film with synchronized score and sound effects. Technicolor film, On with the Show! (1929) became the first all-talking color feature, followed by other talkies like, Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), The Show of Shows (1929), King of Jazz (1930), and many more.
Technicolor’s success reached a new height in 1938 when Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the top-grossing film of that year. Using new methods and improvements made over the previous years, Technicolor began attracting serious attention from studios who had remained reluctant to use the technology.
When you are looking at the best color films through the early days of Hollywood, from Gone With the Wind to Fantasia to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – they are all shot in Technicolor. Until 1952 when Eastmancolor from Eastman Kodak would become more popular, Technicolor was the standard used in Hollywood. In recent years, there has been a reintroduction of Technicolor and the dye transfer process in general film production. Classic films like, Rear Window, Funny Girl, and Apocalypse Now Redux, have been restored using the technology and several big-budget Hollywood films have used it on actual production. These include Bulworth, Pearl Harbor, and Toy Story.
Technicolor now focuses on both archival work in preserving our treasured Hollywood films and reinventing yet another way for people to experience film via 3D. This month, The Golden Closet is pleased to feature wardrobes from classic Technicolor films to celebrate their contributions in bringing cinema to life.
