Aladdin Director Guy Ritchie Responds To The Genie Backlash

Aladdin Director Guy Ritchie Responds To The Genie Backlash

Aladdin is one of Disney's most popular animated features, so anticipation and curiosity were at a high when the first looks at the new live-action adaptation began to arrive. However, the first responses to Will Smith's Genie weren't all that excited. There was a general feeling that he actually looked pretty terrible.

Guy Ritchie, the director of the new Aladdin, appears to have been mostly surprised by the reaction, simply because the sort of instant feedback that the internet provides wasn't something he was used to. According to Ritchie...

There was a Sonic The Hedgehog / Genie frog. Everything is under such critical scrutiny. I came up in an era where there was no internet. It’s a new thing that I’m trying to get a handle on.

I feel like the comparison between the Genie and the recent Sonic the Hedgehog trailer is a bit rough. The Genie may have had some issues, but he was no Sonic. People may have not loved Genie, but the Sega mascot's look in the new movie got such backlash the producers are now promising to make changes.

Guy Ritchie is no stranger to making movies in the age of the internet but he's never made a movie quite like Aladdin. It's a movie with a built in fan base that's very invested and is going to be very vocal about its opinions. It's a far cry from the stylized English gangster movies that Ritchie is still best known for.

And the audience was far from kind. "Nightmare fuel" and other such phrases were used to describe what the big blue Genie version of Will Smith looked like. Big movies like this rely on the buzz that the marketing creates but that plan only works if the buzz is positive, and in this case it wasn't.

However, as the new Aladdin continued it's promotion. Attitudes seemed to soften a bit. While the big blue Genie still isn't looked at in the best light, we know that the Genie won't have that look the entire time and other aspects of the movie were looking good enough that the questionable CGI might be easy to overlook.

In addition, as is frequently the case. Not all the CGI was even finished when the first trailer hit, which meant that as those effects were finished up, the Genie himself began to look better. Guy Ritchie tells Empire than now even some of those who were the harshest critics of the Genie are walking back their comments...

It even came with apologies from the cynics who were so adamant initially. I’ve never seen apologies in that world. I thought, ‘Oh well, great, we’re back to where I’d hoped we’d be’.

The History Of The Color Changing Genie

It does seem like the new Aladdin can't catch a break in the Genie department. The first look we ever got of Will Smith in costume he wasn't blue at all. He was just Will Smith in a Genie costume, and that set people off because of the way it seemed to be changing the source material. Then, when we finally got Will Smith in action in his first trailer, he was blue, and everybody freaked out again.

It seems that the plan for the film is that the Genie will spend a significant amount of time looking human in the new film rather than blue. This way the character can blend in with the rest of the players and interact with them rather than spending the entire movie locked in the lamp. It also helps the budget for the movie stay down.

If you haven't had a good look at what the Genie, and the movie as a whole, looks like now, check out the trailer below.

It makes a lot of sense to include a lot of Will Smith, blue or not. Robin Williams worked for scale when he recorded his voice for the original Aladdin and I'm guessing Will Smith did not. If you're paying him millions of dollars, you'll want to get everything out hf him that you can.

The earliest reactions from the few who have seen the new Aladdin have actually been pretty positive, and while the blue Genie might not work, it seems like the rest of the movie works well enough to make up for that.

The Aladdin Remake Was Always Going To Have Problems

The deck was always stacked against the Genie. The casting of Will Smith seemed designed to attempt to prevent any Robin Williams comparisons before they started, and yet, such a thing is ultimately impossible. Williams' Genie is one of the most iconic characters in the history of animation. His casting in the role played a huge part in the fact that most animated films are now cast with big Hollywood stars.

It's a difficult balancing act. As with any remake, there are elements that fans love from the original that they'll want to see translated into live-action, or re-done with modern effects or whatever new thing the remake is trying to bring to the table. Some will be disappointed if they don't get a new and improved version of whatever their favorite bit was.

Unfortunately, it has to be said that, so far, the movie looks very much like a "shot-for-shot" remake of the animated version. In fact, only Will Smith's Genie looks to be a significant change from the original animated classic. While bringing back all the old songs and adding a couple new ones certainly makes sense, I'm certainly hopeful that there's more hiding in this movie that is different compared to what we've seen so far.

At the same time, if all you're really doing is making the same movie over again, then why bother. The original is a classic because everybody has already seen it, and they can watch it again on DVD anytime they want.

I'll be entering the new Aladdin the way I do most movies these days, with cautious optimism. I want every movie I see to be good and Aladdin is one of those movies that I loved as a kid, and I want any remake to be good as well. If the new movie brings something actually new to the story that can make it worthwhile in its own right, that would fantastic.

The new Aladdin hits theaters Friday.

Captain Marvel Just Passed Two More Movies On The List Of Highest-Grossing Films

Captain Marvel Just Passed Two More Movies On The List Of Highest-Grossing Films

This has been an eventful week across the board, so it's understandable that Captain Marvel slipped under-the-radar with her own quietly impressive news.

There's all this talk about the Game of Thrones finale, but also John Wick 3 topping Avengers: Endgame in its opening weekend, with Endgame topping Avatar at the domestic box office. Endgame is well on its way to taking the all-time worldwide title from Avatar, but it's not there yet.

Avengers: Endgame is up at #2 on the list of highest-grossing films of all time, just behind Avatar. But down at #22 is Captain Marvel, which came out in March and has been getting some extra box office juice from the release of Endgame not quite two months later.

Captain Marvel didn't make huge money this week, and in fact it didn't even crack the top 10 at the May 17-19 domestic box office. But from last Sunday to today, its domestic total jumped $2 million, and that's not counting the money it's still making overseas. All told, the past week or so has been enough to push Captain Marvel's worldwide gross above two competitors:

22. Captain Marvel (2019): $1,125,411,720

23. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011): $1,123,794,079

24. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): $1,120,237,002

Those numbers aren't adjusted for inflation, so we're not talking about total tickets sold here, just the overall dollar amount. It's kind of shocking to me that Michael Bay's third Transformers movie was even that high on the list. Captain Marvel topping the final Lord of the Rings movie is a bit surprising to me, but we have had some ticket price hikes in the past 16 years.

You know who is next on the list above Captain Marvel? I don't think Carol Danvers can top her fellow superheroes, but here they are:

20. Captain America: Civil War (2016): $1,153,304,495

21. Aquaman (2018) $1,147,761,807

Yeah, I suspect Captain Marvel will be sticking with No. 22 for a while, and possibly pushed down along with some others after 2019 closes out. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker wants a place in the top 20, at the very least, and Toy Story 4, The Lion King, and Frozen 2 will be making plays as well.

Check out the current list of highest-grossing movies, per Box Office Mojo. (I'm never going to get over Minions cracking the top 20, but there it is at No. 19. It topped Carol, Cap, and Arthur Curry.)

The list is packed with superhero and Star Wars movies, and we have more to come this year. On the MCU front, we still have Spider-Man: Far From Home in July. Disney's Toy Story 4 opens in June with Frozen 2 in November. Then Star Wars Episode IX ends the Skywalker Saga in December. Keep up with all of the 2019 release dates with our handy guide.

Terminator: Dark Fate's Sarah Connor Is A 'Bad Grandma With A Shotgun,’ According To James Cameron

Terminator: Dark Fate's Sarah Connor Is A 'Bad Grandma With A Shotgun,’ According To James Cameron

There are plenty of reasons to bring back a character as memorable and important as Sarah Connor is to the Terminator franchise. Among the typical reasons of bringing original franchise fans back under the tent, as well as erasing the series of the franchise’s more questionable follow-ups, there’s one in particular that appealed to series creator James Cameron when he sat down to help craft what we’ve come to know recently as Terminator: Dark Fate.

For him, Sarah Connor not only represents the good old days of his franchise’s vision, she’s also a counterpart to some male actors who have been given the chance she has now to become what he calls a, “bad grandma with a shotgun.” Cameron explained this in the following remarks from a recent interview:

Sure, there are lots of female empowerment characters -- you've got Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman and Black Widow. There's quite a list. How many of them are over 40? Not too many. Gets to be a very short list. Talking about action empowered, action females. There are all these dewy young things. How many of them are over 60? Big fat zero. And now you start looking back through history and how many female action hero prototypical characters that were over 60. Lots of guys. Lots of midlife crisis guys -- you know, Bruce Wilis, Liam Neeson, Clint Eastwood, they're still packing guns into their 80s. How many ladies? Not too many. So I thought, 'This is worth doing, this is a great thing to do.'

Much like the return of James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Terminator franchise in Terminator: Dark Fate, bringing back Linda Hamilton’s female bad ass from the original two films signals the return of the original team that made The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day so memorable. But in addition, Hamilton can now claim herself as a role model in the same vein as Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, and Clint Eastwood before her, as Sarah Connor’s return is key to the story that James Cameron helped set out to tell in Terminator: Dark Fate.

This information from James Cameron, who serves as not only a producer but a writer on Terminator: Dark Fate, came from a now-pulled interview that he’d done with Flicks and the City. And in that same interview, in-between mentioning how this new film would be a continuation of John Connor’s story from Terminator 2, Cameron continued to lay down just why Sarah Connor’s inclusion in this latest film, alongside co-stars Mackenzie Davis’ Grace and Natalia Reyes’ Dani, is so important.

As it turns out, in his eyes, Sarah Connor is part of a trinity of the following archetypes he wanted to use in the film’s story:

In the Greek mythology, you have the three female archetypes -- there's the virgin, the mother, and the grandmother. Well, in our society, we discount the grandmother. But in ancient societies, the grandmother was the keeper of wisdom, the judge, the keeper of the values, sometimes the witch, the sorceress, the seer of the future. ... So this is a powerful archetypal figure. You put that together with a known great kickass action hero I think you've got something special and something you haven't seen before. ... She's bad grandma with a shotgun, and you'd better watch your ass.

Information such as this starts to help decode just what Terminator: Dark Fate may be about, as Linda Hamilton is squarely cast in the role of “grandmother” Sarah Connor, bringing new light to a Greek archetype that gets overlooked quite often. Which means that newcomers Grace and Dani are probably the “Mother” and the “Virgin” respectively, as Grace looks to come from an embattled future in order to protect Dani, a virgin in the sense that this is her first foray into the world of Skynet’s covert war against humanity.

How these respective roles will play out, and whether or not Sarah Connor will survive her return to the party in Terminator: Dark Fate are both up in the air. But if James Cameron keeps giving interviews such as this one, we’ll probably get just enough clues to start asking some specific questions pertaining to that very subject.

Terminator: Dark Fate will be released into theaters on November 1, so let the self-ass watching commence!

How Avengers: Endgame’s Writers See Their Future With Marvel

How Avengers: Endgame’s Writers See Their Future With Marvel

In the last 11 years, few filmmakers have had as big an effect on the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Initially the duo were hired by Marvel Studios to write the script for Captain America: The First Avenger, but not only did they go on to pen the entire Captain America trilogy, but they also developed both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame with directors Joe and Anthony Russo (not to mention they also created the Agent Carter television show). That’s an impressive track record all by itself – but fans will be excited to know that they still feel they have more to contribute to the franchise.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely for the latest episode of our HeroBlend podcast, and in addition to doing a deep dive into Avengers: Endgame, I also asked them about their current relationship with Marvel Studios. As you would expect following the release of one of the biggest movies of all time, the two sides are currently on excellent terms, and Markus made it sound like the door is open for them to potentially collaborate on another movie for the franchise at some point in the future:

We're all great friends. We are not at the moment on a Marvel job, but that's not to say that we wouldn't take another one when the right opportunity came up. We can't write a bigger movie. We can't raise the stakes. We can't do better at the box office. So, you know, if and when we come back it will be for probably one character in a small situation, and re-expand from there. But I don't know who that is.

So while as of right now it looks like Phase Four may be the first era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe not to feature a film scripted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, that might not necessarily continue to be the case. The two writers aren’t working on a project for the franchise right now, but given the right inspiration it sounds like they’d be happy to jump right back into the action.

But what could that potential project be? Given the legacy of Marvel Comics it’s actually hard to make a specific guess – and it’s an even greater challenge now that the merger between the Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox has been completed. Now the two writers could not only potentially take on any of the classic Avengers characters, but Fantastic Four and all of the X-Men are now up for grabs as well. We’ll just have to wait for them to find the story that they want to tell.

This was just one of the subjects that I had the chance to talk about with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and you can actually listen to the full interview now as part of the latest episode of HeroBlend:

Is there a specific character that you’d like to see Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely take on in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Hit the comments section below with all of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for a lot more of our Avengers: Endgame coverage!

Apparently China Is Really, Really Into Green Book

Apparently China Is Really, Really Into Green Book

This year’s recent Oscars ceremony may have ended in shock for many when Green Book took home Best Picture, but the movie's Oscar success has definitely been beneficial. Since the win, Green Book has seen been showing off its “Oscar halo” in 63 markets – including a 121% boost at the domestic box office and has just become No. 1 in China.

That’s right, China loves Green Book! The 2019 Best Picture opened at an impressive $17.2 million opening weekend behind How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (which made $33 million) and Alita: Battle Angel ($24 million) before rising to the top spot on Monday with an overall $25 million by Wednesday, per The Hollywood Reporter. Green Book is now the country’s second highest-grossing Best Picture winner, behind Titanic.

The movie is also scoring seriously high reviews from Chinese critics and moviegoers. For example, the movie received a 9.6 out of 10 rating on Maoyan, a Chinese ticketing app. But wait… Green Book is an all-American story about race relations in the deep South. What about that screams an instant hit for China? There are a few reasons why.

The answer is timing. The Academy Awards are well-followed in China and the Best Picture winner opened in theaters across the country just three days after the telecast. The award show created some effective buzz for Green Book, since the film took home three Oscars out of five nominations – including a second Supporting Actor win for Mahershala Ali and Best Original Screenplay.

Additionally, the richest man in China, tech tycoon and CEO of Alibaba Pictures, Jack Ma, was an investor on Green Book and made it well known to Chinese media. The film studio has also had a hand in investing Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Star Trek Beyond which made $181 and $65 million in China, respectively.

Another contributing factor to Green Book’s success in China is the same reason why the film was met with backlash and controversy over from American audiences. Many have criticized the movie for its mediocre approach in presenting the complexity of race relations and its use of the tiresome “white savoir” trope.

Green Book was also called out by the family of Don Shirley (played by Mahershala Ali), who called out the movie for being “full of lies” and the film is based off one of the film’s writers Nick Vallelonga recalling his own memories from his father (played by Viggo Mortenson). One important perspective of the race relations movie may seem to be missing due to this.

Many moviegoers in China don’t have intricate understanding of America’s complicated ties with racism, just as with Americans, many of us don’t claim to understand the history of the Chinese people. So what might have seemed “uninspired” to many in Green Book, may have been just China’s speed ­– as they needed little background knowledge to follow along.

Factors such as these is a good reminder of why some Hollywood movies become hits in unexpected markets and Green Book is the latest example.

What Is Really Going On With Robert Pattinson And The Batman Movie?

What Is Really Going On With Robert Pattinson And The Batman Movie?

Ever since Ben Affleck confirmed he was retiring as Batman following his three-film run in the DC Extended Universe, fans wondered who would replace him as the Caped Crusader for Matt Reeves’ The Batman. And then, just two weeks ago, the internet was taken by storm with the news that Robert Pattinson would put on the cape and cowl… or at least, that’s how it looked at first, as word came in soon after that Dark Phoenix star Nicholas Hoult was also in the running for the role.

Whether or not you think Robert Pattinson would make a good Batman, it’d be nice if we had some official confirmation if he is actually succeeding Ben Affleck as the incredibly popular DC Comics superhero. Which brings us to today, where at first glance, it looked like it was finally set in stone that Pattinson will indeed star in The Batman. Once again, though, things aren’t exactly what they seem.

If Variety is to be believed, then Robert Pattinson playing Batman is a done deal, with the actor having closed a deal with Warner Bros. However, outlets like The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter are saying that while Warner Bros has selected Pattinson to be the next Batman, a deal hasn’t been worked out yet. This is something IGN’s Jim Vejvoda echoed with the following tweet:

Officially, Warner Bros hasn’t said a peep about Robert Pattinson’s connection to The Batman, although Deadline’s report on the subject says that we should “expect an announcement imminently.” Unofficially though, going off these various sources, it seems like Pattinson has been selected over Nicholas Hoult to play Batman, and the only thing left to do now is for the actor to sign on the dotted line once everything in his contract is to his liking.

But there are other details that have come out today concerning The Batman, also courtesy of Deadline. For instance, reportedly the screen tests for Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult occurred yesterday, and by the end of the day, Warner Bros decided Pattinson was the right man for the job. That’s an extremely quick turnaround, but I guess if you know immediately who is the better candidate, why wait on moving forward?

This report also mentioned that Robert Pattinson’s deal will include options for at least two more movies, which is hardly surprising given how often studios give sequels to superhero movies. It’s also noted that The Batman will track Bruce Wayne “in the formative stages of Batman,” hence why a younger actor was required to bring the Dark Knight to life.

The last interesting tidbit is that The Batman “will in no way carry on the work that Ben Affleck did as the older Batman in Batman Vs. Superman and Justice League.” Now obviously if The Batman is a direct prequel to those movies, then there’s no need to reference or allude to them since those events are approximately a decade away from happening.

However, given that Warner Bros is willing to release Joker, a standalone movie not set in the DCEU, I can’t help but wondering if The Batman might also not take place within that shared universe, and Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will be his own entity rather than a younger version of Ben Affleck’s Batman. That would give Matt Reeves a lot more creative freedom with telling the kind of Batman story he wants and not needing to worry about it lining up with DCEU canon, but we’ll have to wait and see if this is indeed the case.

So far all that’s been revealed about The Batman is that it will be a noir tale that highlights the eponymous protagonist’s detective skills. Matt Reeves has also said it will features numerous Batman villains, with Penguin and Catwoman reportedly among them.

The Batman will cast its shadow in theaters on June 25, 2021, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates. In the meantime, you can learn what other DC movies are in the works with our handy guide.

Oscar Isaac Teases Lots Of Poe And Finn Scenes In Episode IX

Oscar Isaac Teases Lots Of Poe And Finn Scenes In Episode IX

The relationship between Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron and John Boyega’s Finn was one of the highlights of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and, depending on your perspective, something that was missing from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The two heroes each had their own stories in the sequel trilogy’s middle chapter so we were denied their fun dynamic together. Fear not though, because Poe and Finn are set to have lots of scenes together in Star Wars: Episode IX as Oscar Isaac teased:

I think the one thing I can say is that it has been the most fun for me, particularly working with John Boyega because we have just had so much more to do together and we just really connected in a great way. It was really a wonderful way to finish it for me because John was the first person I met right when I screen-tested. It was just with me and him. So it just felt like a real full-circle thing.

Oscar Isaac couldn’t reveal much about the ultra-secretive Star Wars: Episode IX in this interview, but what he could reveal should be welcome news for fans who love the bromance between the Resistance pilot and the former Stormtrooper. He told Metro that he and John Boyega had so much more to do together in this film, which makes it sound like the two characters will share more scenes together in this final chapter in the Skywalker Saga.

We don't know the precise plot of Episode IX, but with Finn poised to take on a real leadership role in the Resistance and Finn finally committing to the fight himself, it makes sense that these two would be working together more closely than they did in The Last Jedi when Finn was off on his Canto Bight escapades.

It seems the two actors really connected and had a good relationship, so having the opportunity to reunite with John Boyega to bring "full-circle" closure to what they started together in The Force Awakens was quite rewarding for Oscar Isaac and simply made for a more fun filming experience. Their reunion also allowed the actors but not necessarily the characters to go out on a high note, although hopefully it's a characteristic that extends to the final film itself.

The Triple Frontier actor has said before that Episode IX was the most fun to film of the trilogy because of the looseness and energy on set, but now we know it was also because Poe got his friend back. This will no doubt reignite the flames of the Poe/Finn shipper fire, a fire that Oscar Isaac himself has stoked on occasion, but they may have to deal with a third wheel in Daisy Ridley’s Rey.

About a year ago we heard that Star Wars: Episode IX may not separate Rey and Finn, so if true, maybe the entire trio goes off on an adventure together or Finn is with Rey for part of the movie and Poe for other parts. Whatever the case, the duos of Rey and Finn and Finn and Poe have great interplay together and Episode IX can only benefit from more of that.

This is just the latest thing that Oscar Isaac has said that is a positive sign for J.J. Abrams’ film. The actor has said that Episode IX is a fulfilling end to the 9-film Skywalker Saga and that fans will be blown away. He clearly really enjoyed making this last movie and has genuine enthusiasm for what they made.

Hopefully we’ll get a better idea of what that is pretty soon. We are still awaiting the title and first trailer for Episode IX, but Star Wars Celebration is less than a month away and there would be no better movie to attach a big trailer to than April’s Avengers: Endgame.

Star Wars: Episode IX blasts into theaters on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of this year’s biggest movies and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all your movie news.