Monthly Archives: August 2018

Latest details on upcoming Batman movie

News broke today that Star Wars star Oscar Issac is in talks for a role in the new Batman movie – possibly as the film’s villain. If this turns out to be true, I’m all for this as I believe he’s a fine actor and could be a pretty good Batman villain. But which villain? That’s the mystery.

To catch folks up to speed – Warner Bros. is currently developing a new Batman movie, tentatively called “The Batman”, with director/writer Matt Reeves signed on. Reeves previously directed the last two “Planet of the Apes” movies and “Cloverfield”. He’s been hard at work on finishing the script for the movie.

I was surprised at some of the sloppy reporting seen in many of the news articles that hit the web with the Oscar Issac news. For example – many of the articles are reporting that Matt Reeves’ Batman movie would be (loosely) based on Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One”. No – it’s not. Many of the articles also state this is the beginning of a standalone trilogy that would stand separately from the already existing DC Universe movies such as Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Justice League. No – it’s not. It’s not hard to go out and do a little fact-checking on what’s been said by the movie’s director/writer.

Here is what we currently know about Matt Reeves’ “The Batman”:

  • It won’t be a origin story. This is the direction Matt says his Batman movie will take: “We’re doing a story that is definitively Batman though, and trying to tell a story that’s emotional and yet is really about him being the world’s greatest detective and all the things that for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman.”
  • It will be a story that is all about Batman. Matt wants to avoid having the movie filled with cameos servicing other stories.
  • It will be part of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) of movies. However, that doesn’t mean the movie won’t take place in the “early days” of Batman and feature a younger Batman than what we saw in Justice League.
  • Ben Affleck is still involved – per Matt Reeves.  In which capacity he’s involved remains unknown. Even if Matt goes for a younger Batman for his movie, Ben’s involvement could be at the Executive Producer level. Or perhaps the movie starts with Ben’s Batman telling the story of an earlier adventure.
  • Production looking to begin late spring, early summer 2019. But it’s all depending on the script.

I am a huge Batman fan  – of both the movies and comics. I am really looking forward to seeing what Matt Reeves has in store for the Dark Knight. And I’m also a fan of Ben Affleck as Batman. He fits the version of Batman seen in the comics. I think we haven’t had a chance to see him truly *be* Batman yet on the big screen  and hopefully we get that chance. (There’s been some good scenes but I don’t think the storylines in Batman V Superman and Justice League really gave both actor and character “justice” – pardon the pun.)

I suggest following Matt Reeves on Twitter to stay updated on the latest going on with “The Batman”.

The “Way of the Warrior” Star Trek Mission Crate

UPDATED on 8/20 to include tweet from Loot Crate on their new Shipping Status page. 

Subscription boxes have become popular with different fandoms over the last few years led by Loot Crate and others like Funko. These subscription boxes usually come every 1 to 2 months with a bunch of nerdy exclusives and other goodies based on a theme. I had been a subscriber for Loot Crate’s main subscription boxes – or “crates” – but canceled my subscription because I was finding the contents and themes for the crates hit or miss. Then late last year, Loot Crate announced they would be doing Star Trek subscription boxes. As you can imagine, I jumped on board immediately and bought a subscription for their Star Trek Mission Crates. How could I turn down getting a subscription box filled with Star Trek exclusives in partnership with Quantum Mechanix every 2 months?

Their first Star Trek Mission Crate subscription box was “Wolf 359” themed. It shipped in January in a box that looked like a shuttlecraft from the Original Series. Inside, it came with an exclusive “Locutus” limited edition statue from QMx and some other goodies. I didn’t blog about it here but this post here does a really good review of the box. 

Today I received the second Star Trek Mission Crate subscription box which is “Way of the Warrior” themed. “Way of the Warrior” was the title of the 2 part episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that saw Michael Dorn join the cast as Worf after war breaks out with the Klingon Empire. (Despite taking the theme from DS9, I had a little giggle when I noticed the box was labeled as “The Next Generation”.)

Opening the box revealed all the goodies!
Klingon socks, badge, and sticker with Mirror Universe tribble and Worf!
Worf looks pretty badass!

The box included:

  • A Worf “Master Series” Limited Edition Statue from QMx.
  • A Mirror Universe Tribble from QMx. 
  • A pair of Klingon socks.
  • A Klingon emblem badge from QMx.
  • A Klingon sticker. 
  • A Star Trek: Discovery Lapel Pin. 

Everything is this subscription box was awesome. I believe the Discovery lapel pin was handed out at the 2018 Office Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas earlier this month and since I couldn’t attend – I was glad to score one through this way! I have no complaints about the box. This Star Trek fan is impressed.

However, I do have a general complaint about my overall experience with the Star Trek Mission Crate subscription. I feel like Loot Crate is struggling a bit to fulfill the promise of shipping these boxes every 2-months. The second Star Trek Mission Crate subscription box was supposed to arrive in March. And it was supposed to be “Dark Frontier” themed after the 2-part Star Trek: Voyager episode “Dark Frontier” and feature Seven of Nine in some fashion. In May, I received an email saying this box was delayed and was expected to ship mid-July. That’s the last thing I heard about that box. Then in early July, I received an email saying that the “Way of the Warrior” box was delayed until late July. No word on what happened with the “Dark Frontier” box. Then on July 31st, I got another email saying the “War of the Warrior” box was delayed again to mid-August. The box finally arrived but still no word on the “Dark Frontier” box. It has been almost 7 months between boxes. I really want to see Loot Crate be more transparent about what’s going on with these boxes, which boxes are supposed to ship when etc. 

Overall though, I’ve been very impressed with the 2 Star Trek Mission Crates I’ve received so far and really excited for more!

UPDATED: Loot Crate responded to my tweet about this blog post alerting me to their new Shipping Status page. It just launched. 

Chris Pine walks away from Star Trek 4

A follow-up to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond is in development at Paramount with S. J. Clarkson on board to direct. “Star Trek 4” will be the 4th in the series of new Star Trek movies that began with 2009’s Star Trek directed by JJ Abrams. However, the new movie may be in trouble as both Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth have reportedly walked away after negotiations have stalled over money according to the Hollywood Reporter. Pine would have returned to the iconic role of Captain Kirk while Hemsworth would be returning to play Captain Kirk’s dad George Kirk which was announced in 2016 just after Star Trek Beyond his theaters.

Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek Beyond.
Chris Hemsworth as Lt. Cmdr. George Kirk from Star Trek (2009).

In 2009’s Star Trek movie – George Kirk was the first officer aboard the U.S.S. Kelvin as it was attacked by Nero who’s ship was thrown back in time. This resulted in the creation of the Kelvin Timeline. George Kirk died as he collided the U.S.S. Kelvin into Nero’s ship (the Narada) in order to help the crew of the Kelvin (including his wife and newborn son James T. Kirk) escape. 

When Chris Pine signed on to play Kirk in Star Trek Beyond, he also signed on for Star Trek 4 with the deal locking in how much he would get paid for Star Trek 4. From what I gather from the Hollywood Reporter article – it seems that Paramount wants to re-negotiate that deal after Star Trek Beyond didn’t do as well as they were hoping at the box office. 

According to IMDB, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond nearly had the same budget but Star Trek Into Darkness grossed $467 million worldwide while Star Trek Beyond grossed $343 million worldwide. I think Paramount was hoping Star Trek Beyond would do as well or better than Into Darkness. It seems Paramount’s expectations for Star Trek movies is that they will earn an estimated $400 million at the box office and that Star Trek isn’t at the same level as Marvel or Star Wars movies. As a result, they are looking to find ways to maximize their profit off these movies by (probably) lowering the budget and asking their lead actor to take a pay cut. 

I think this is a cheap thing for Paramount to do. If they want to make a 4th Star Trek movie, having Chris Pine as Captain Kirk is absolutely critical to the movie being even remotely successful. He’s a damn good Kirk and people recognize that. His appearances in major hit movies like Wonder Woman will also help. He’s *worth it*. In looking at things to cut from the budget, Chris’s pay (which was agreed on in a deal signed 2 years ago) should be one of the last things to try and cut.

I’m assuming a deal was signed with Chris Hemsworth when they announced he was returning to play Kirk’s dad in 2016. However, he’s not critical. Paramount can adjust the story if they don’t want to pay the big bucks for Hemsworth. Or they can go with a completely different story altogether. Take the time to develop a good story with the budget you’re willing to go with. There’s no sense in rushing a new Star Trek movie. 

But one thing is clear to this Star Trek fan: Paramount – you don’t have a Star Trek 4 without Chris Pine.