TMW #68: M3GAN sequel ideas and the death of the streaming movie
Plus, prepare for the new DCU blockbuster with a Superman quiz
Welcome to your Tuesday edition of The Movie Wingman! Today we’re musing on M3GAN sequel ideas that could revive the ailing franchise, and wondering if The Old Guard 2 sounds the death knell for the straight-to-streaming movie. Plus, a Super-quiz in preparation for James Gunn’s DCU reboot.
Enjoy, and we’ll be back on Friday with reviews of Superman and more…
Robot Dr3ams
How to recharge the M3GAN series…
“It may be time to pop a pin in the M3GAN cinematic universe.” Not the words a M3GA-fan, who loves the franchise with the ferocity of an over-enthusiastic android child-protector, wants to read. But there’s no denying the fact, per Variety’s report-slash-post-mortem, that M3GAN 2.0 has short-circuited at the box office. Here’s a few ideas that could get the A.I. death-doll up and slaying again…
SCAR3 TACTICS
Producer Jason Blum has admitted that switching genres, from horror to sci-fi action, was likely one of the reasons audiences who flocked to the 2022 original didn’t return for the sequel. So let’s be kind to the gorehounds with a full-blooded return to ear-ripping, katana-swinging, nail-gunning mayhem. Happily, exec-prod Adam Hendricks for one has already “promise(d) we’ll go horror on the next one”. Can we have an addendum to that promise saying that in the event of a decapitation, no silhouettes will be used?
FAMILY TIM3
Conversely, we could go completely the other way and make it more kid-friendly; any shortfall in ticket sales could be easily recouped by mass-marketed M3GAN dolls (batteries and homicidal tendencies not included) becoming the biggest thing since Labubu. Let’s have an animated show too (M3GAN and F(R)IENDS); if it turns out freaky enough to be worthy of our inappropriate toons list, then cult nostalgia will generate a smash-hit revival a few years down the line. Gotta think ahead!
EARLI3R MOD3L
…Or we could look to the past. As Variety’s article suggested, A.I. isn’t the laughing matter it was in the innocent days of 2022. What’s more, both the tech - and the debate - are evolving too fast now for a movie to get in front of them. But 2.0 offers the seed of a prequel begging to be made, about a help-bot at a printing company that went rogue in 1984 and finisher-ed everybody off. Anyone who’s ever filled an empty A4 tray with tears of frustration would surely warm to the idea of a vilified photocopier.
PROBL3MO SOLV3D
One of 2.0’s most inspired ideas was riffing on Terminator 2’s reformed-bot/bad-bot clash. Hard for the franchise to mine the other Terminator sequels for good ideas (there weren’t any)... but it could rip the mickey out of them instead, with an ageing M3GAN giving death stares through her granny glasses to younger, noisier A.I.s. Or raising Cady to be a warrior armed and ready for humanity’s final stand against the Furbys who, in the alt-90s, mobilised under the slogan, ‘The more you play with me, the more I do, like hacking top-secret government websites after bedtime.’
TUN3 UP
Some of the very best moments in the M3GAN movies are when our living doll slays in the musical sense (‘Titantum’ and ‘Toy Soldiers’ in the first film, ‘This Woman’s Work’ in the second), which tells me that an all-singing sequel is a guaranteed banker. For maximum audience reach, I’m sure it would be easy to tweak a few Broadway standards: “Maria!/I’ve just met a girl named Maria!/Whose classmate I’m going to obliterate, just for nicking my pal’s protractor”. Ok, maybe I should leave it to actual spin-off Soulm8te to rescue the franchise instead… (Matthew Leyland)
Requiem for a stream
Is the streaming original movie now a complete non-starter?
The Old Guard 2 launched on Netflix last week, but you’d be forgiven for not noticing. Despite starring Charlize Theron and Uma Thurman and being a sequel to an original with an admittedly cool concept and modest reach, it felt like there was absolutely no pre-release awareness of it, anecdotally at least. According to this particular Wingman’s Netflix homepage, it’s the platform’s no1 movie in the UK, though as ever, it’s a relative position with no hard stats to measure it against. Prime Video’s action comedy Heads of State, led by two pretty big stars (Idris Elba and John Cena) playing world leaders, also debuted last week with minimal fuss. This anti-Barbenheimer pairing had me once again considering something I’ve suspected for a long time - is the streaming original movie dead?
Rumours of the death of theatrical releases seem to have been greatly exaggerated, given how this year alone has seen the biggest ever 4th of July weekend opening (Jurassic World: Rebirth), and the biggest ever Memorial Day weekend (the combined might of Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning). Also this month, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are looking to put plenty of additional bums on auditorium seats.
Leaving aside a debate on cinema’s reliance on franchise IP for another time, there’s no denying the cultural footprint of the aforementioned titles. They just seem to be in the air - well, all over social media and newsstands, and normal citizens (as opposed to the professionally film-obsessed) talk about them at the gym, hairdressers, school gates, etc. Not a single mention or promotional push for The Old Guard 2 made it onto my timelines (despite my algos being heavily geared towards films.)
I’m struggling to think of any other straight-to-streaming releases (without even a nominal theatrical debut, such as Echo Valley had) that have made any notable impact in the past 12 months. The (very good) Predator: Killer of Killers is a prelude to a big-screen Predator movie coming later this year, but its release on Disney+ barely seemed to register. The enormo-budget dud The Electric State seemed like just another nail in the coffin for streaming blockbusters, the kind of movie that people might click on simply because it’s there, but that no one is actively seeking out (or remembering more than five seconds after it has finished and the service has already started autoplaying something else).
Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge was excellent, but even that only found word-of-mouth success, and arguably didn’t fully break out into the public consciousness outside of the most dedicated film followers. Had it received a festival debut and/or a theatrical release, and all the additional promotional hype that comes with that, it’s hard to believe that anyone other than Aaron Pierre would be in the James Bond casting conversation.
K-Pop Demon Hunters is another recent streaming original on the verge of breaking out, and it’s currently in the top 10 on Netflix. But then again, so is the 2013 Jason Statham thriller Homefront, so who knows how many views are required to crack the chart.
Studios even seem to be getting wise to this. The biggest film of the year so far (and set to cruise past the $1bn mark any moment now) is Lilo & Stitch. Unthinkably, this remake was originally destined for a Disney+ premiere, before the House of Mouse’s top brass saw sense. Elio might have had Pixar’s worst-ever box-office opening, but at least people know that it exists, and when it inevitably arrives on the streaming service before too long, it’ll come boosted with the halo glow of having had a cinema release.
Increasingly, we’re seeing directors favouring deals that guarantee a theatrical release (it was one of Zach Cregger’s sticking points when Barbarian follow-up Weapons was at the centre of an intense bidding war), and who can blame them? Streaming is a natural home for TV and serials, and perfect for catching up on films you may have missed, be they recent cinema releases or the 2013 Jason Statham thriller Homefront. But original movies? They need the cinema in order to feel like they really exist. Another zeitgeisty cinema release this summer? F1® The Movie, currently sitting at almost $300m at the box office, with plenty of gas left in the tank. It’s an Apple Original Film, but no streaming date has been announced yet. It’ll continue to pack out IMAX screenings for the time being, and when it does eventually come to the at-home service, it’s going to feel like a high-end premium product. Talk about streaming a little bigger… (Matt Maytum)
What’s your take on streaming original movies? Sound off in the comments…
The Wingman Quiz: Super-movies
Before James Gunn’s Superman arrives in cinemas this week, let’s see you Corenswet over a few steel-hard posers…. Scroll down for the answers.
In which of these categories did 1978’s Superman receive one of its three Oscar nominations?
a) Best Art Direction b) Best Costume Design c) Best Editing d) Best Supporting Actor Being Supported By Cue Cards (Marlon Brando)
Who plays Daily Planet editor Perry White in 2006’s Superman Returns?
a) Frank Langella b) Martin Sheen c) F. Murray Abraham d) Terence Stamp
Among the many, many things destroyed in Man of Steel’s Supes/Zod showdown is a satellite bearing which logo?
a) LexCorp b) Wayne Enterprises c) Queen Industries d) Marvel Entertainment
In Superman III, what substitute element is used in the creation of synthetic Kryptonite?
a) lead b) clay c) tar d) flubber
What was the original title of James Gunn’s Super-movie?
a) Superman Reborn b) Superman Legacy c) Superman: The Man of Tomorrow d) The Krypto Factor
Quiz Answers
c) Best Editing
a) Frank Langella
b) Wayne Enterprises
c) tar
b) Superman Legacy
I heard a rumour that the crew of the M3gan films would happily keep making the films for a long time to come. As much as they have the opportunity to be a lot of cinematic fun I always finish them feeling a little underwhelmed.
You guys honestly hit the nail on the head for the way I use streaming services for my movie watching. In between trips to the cinema I always search streaming services to catch up on films I missed. I have seen some promotion for The Old Guard 2 but definitely less than I was expecting. It left me wondering if there was less confidence in it