The Proposal is one of Sandra Bullock’s most iconic roles, making it an equally-iconic romantic comedy. The movie combines the enemies to lovers trope with a fake dating/marriage of convenience situation that turns it into the perfect cocktail. If you’ve watched it so many times you’ve worn out your DVD or your Hulu account is laughing in your face, there’s a chance you’re in need of a new obsession.
We’ve compiled a list of the top ten romantic comedies that you should watch next if The Proposal has been checked off your watch-list.
1. While You Were Sleeping
If Sandra Bullock is what you’re craving, then look no further than While You Were Sleeping. This holiday-adjacent film tells the story of a woman who inadvertently gets herself into a fake dating situation with a man in a coma. It has all the humor and energy that Bullock brings to the table alongside the zany family that is so beloved in The Proposal.
2. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
This awkward, messy teenage version of a fake relationship is nothing short of heartwarming, hilarious, and adorable. While it’s definitely a notch down from The Proposal, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before contains the same cover-up relationship turned romance that everyone knows and loves. The movie features an awkward teenager who kisses a popular lacrosse player to avoid an ex, leading them to start a contractual and mutually beneficial, fake relationship. Even though you feel like you know what will happen, it’s well worth the watch.
3. Pretty Woman
Next to Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts reigns supreme in the land of classic rom-coms, and Pretty Woman is about as good as it gets. Not only does it have the high-power business type entering a fake – but mutually beneficial – relationship, but it also has makeovers, glamour, and the iconic luxury store scene. Prostitute Vivian is hired by businessman Edward to stay with him for a weekend, acting as his date for business luncheons and meetings, and you can probably guess what happens next if you haven’t seen it already.
4. The Hating Game
If your favorite part of The Proposal was the office tension and angry work fights, The Hating Game is the next best thing. In this book adaptation, Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell enter into a workplace rivalry that leads to (duh) romance. Not, of course, before making everyone else in their workplace absolutely miserable with their antics.
5. When Harry Met Sally
Would a rom-com list really be a rom-com list without a couple of Meg Ryan classics? When Harry Met Sally is a years-long stranger to enemies to lovers to strangers to lovers again story. Their cooky dynamic shares a lot of resemblance to Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds’ in The Proposal, and it has enough iconic jokes, moments, and lines to last a lifetime. If you’re any sort of rom-com connoisseur, this is at the top of your must-watch list.
6. You’ve Got Mail
via Warner Bros.
Yet another Meg Ryan Classic, You’ve Got Mail is the epitome of an enemies-to-lovers movie with an amazing twist; the enemies don’t know that they’re falling for each other. Ryan and Tom Hanks write anonymous emails to each other while feuding over her tiny bookstore and his book-selling conglomerate. It has the classic high-power business type who is slowly thawed by the earnest and hilarious goofball, and honestly casting Bullock and Reynolds in the gender-swapped version wouldn’t be a bad idea.
7. Can’t Buy Me Love
Sometimes all you need is a good old-fashioned 80s high school romance, and Can’t Buy Me Love is as classic as it gets. In the movie, the popular cheerleader agrees to pretend to be Patrick Dempsey’s loser character’s (yes, an oxymoron) girlfriend. Naturally, her popularity boosts him up and the pair develop real feelings for each other. Just like The Proposal but without the threat of deportation, and all with the charm of an 80s film.
8. Red, White, & Royal Blue
Image via Prime Video
This relatively new movie checks all the boxes when it comes to fake relationships and loathing turned to love. An adaptation of the 2019 novel, it features the fictitious prince of England and the son of the American president who enters into a fake friendship to solve a public feud. Naturally, that friendship evolves into something more. Much like The Proposal, the relationship between an uptight black cat and a goofy but sarcastic golden retriever is sure to leave you swooning.
9. Pride & Prejudice
This is possibly the ultimate enemies to lovers romance from which all other great romances, like The Proposal, were born. Probably. There’s nothing like impassioned speeches made in 19th Century English and numerous proposals to make any and all romance lovers swoon. And in case you’re worried that an adaptation of an old British novel won’t quench your need for the extremely odd characters often present in classic rom-com, fear not. The likes of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins will have that need well fulfilled.
10. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
This one may be the most similar. Two people that have at least a little distaste for each other, entering a relationship for their own personal gain. While it may not be fake dating, their hearts certainly aren’t in it until they really (accidentally) are. This 2000s classic has everything you could want. Zany friends, fabulous outfits, and Matthew McConaughey. Seriously, what more could you want?
Especially as the weather turns colder, there’s nothing like cozying up with a warm beverage, popcorn, and the perfect rom-com. With such a great new watch list, you hardly have the time not to do that. If you’re ready for your next romance movie marathon, it’s time to get watching.
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Netflix’s new rom-com Love Is In the Air dropped earlier this week, with singer and former soap star Delta Goodrem playing Dana, a private pilot whose tiny business is due to be shut down by a young executive (Joshua Sasse) trying to prove himself to his businessman father.
The film certainly seems to be gaining traction for Goodrem’s likable performance, as well as Sasse’s acting chops as William – a gentlemanly, ever so slightly awkward Hugh Grant-esque character – and Aboriginal comedian Steph Tisdell in only her second film role as Dana’s best friend Nikki, who thinks nothing of egging Dana on when it comes to William.
Of equal importance, though, is the gorgeous setting. Love Is In The Air may be a fairly standard will-they-won’t-they romantic movie, but it gets an extra kick from the paradisaical beaches and rangy island landscapes that fill the frame. So where exactly was it filmed?
A part of Down Under to die for
The answer is the Whitsunday Islands, an archipelago about 600 miles north of Brisbane on Australia’s east coast. Situated on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, the islands have in recent times become a popular tourist destination for sailors and snorkelers alike. Although the main island has a population of around 1350 people, most of the other 70 or so islands in the group are uninhabited, making the seaplane Goodrem flies in the film a natural choice for island-hoppers. The movie was partly funded by the state organization for fostering the film industry, Screen Queensland.
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Well, that didn’t last long. You’d think the news that Marvel Studios is finally making baby-steps on its long-awaited X-Men reboot would keep MCU fans on cloud nine for a while there, but actually it seems the Multiverse Saga’s many mishaps has left folks so cynical that they’re already making clear Marvel knows they have some demands that need to be met. Meanwhile, as one door opens another closes, as Sony appears to have finally flushed a long-gestating Spider-Man spin-off down the drain.
The excitement for the X-Men reboot couldn’t last 24 hours before a line was drawn in the sand
Image via 20th Century Fox
Yes, as you may have heard by now, Marvel is in the process of finding a writer to pen the script for its first ever X-Men movie, but instead of celebrating the good news, MCU cynics are already anxious over who the studio could hire for the job. Given his work as showrunner of Loki, the most-viewed Marvel Disney Plus series ever, you’d think Michael Waldron would be a safe pair of hands for the X-Men reboot, but fans are fearing such an appointment after his work on Doctor Strange 2, which memorably featured the first appearance of Professor X in the MCU — and basically ruined Scarlet Witch’s arc. And yet people are still excited for Loki season 2. The mind of the Marvel fan is a hard thing to understand.
Sony is definitely not moving forward with a Spider-Man spin-off movie that’s cursed throughout the multiverse
Image via Marvel Comics
For a movie to fail to be launched as part of one franchise is bad luck, but to get the boot from two separate cinematic universes is practically a curse. Hey, they do say Black Cats are unlucky. Felicia Hardy fans, prepare for some bad news as screenwriter Lindsey Anderson Beer — who was working on Sony’s Silver & Black movie — has confirmed the Silver Sable and Black Cat team-up from director Gina Prince Blythewood is “not currently developing” at the studio. Considering this one has been cooking in some form since The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it’s unfortunate that it won’t be coming as part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe after all.
Werewolf by Night would get a third Disney Plus release if Michael Giacchino had his way
Image via Marvel Studios
When Werewolf by Night released in black-and-white last year, Marvel fans bowed down before it. When Werewolf by Night was announced to be getting a re-release this October, but in color, Marvel fans were more skeptical. But if Werewolf by Night gets released a third time, I’m pretty sure the good will might finally run out. Nevertheless, director Michael Giacchino is personally hoping to get the Halloween special another new lick of paint, this time giving it a 3-D upgrade. You have to admire his enthusiasm, but maybe Giacchino putting his energies into a whole new adventure for the titular lycanthrope would be a more fruitful use of his time… and ours.
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As hungry consumers rushed from their homes to take in live performances from stars like Beyoncé in the post-quarantine years, a simple but crucial question came to light: How can we keep experiencing concerts, but in a way that minimizes the number of people we need to smell while doing it?
The answer, it seems, is concert movies — theatergoing experiences that combine the decibel levels of a live music event with the everyman-friendly ticket prices of an Expendables sequel. Thanks to the jaw-dropping presale success of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie (helpfully titled Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour), the floodgates have opened. It seems like they’ll let anyone with hundreds of millions of followers and a pile of awards taller than they are have a concert movie these days.
By way of example: Variety reports that former Destiny’s Child member Beyoncé Knowles—who enjoys a fair bit of celebrity—is headed to cinemas as soon as December 1 of this year. Current scuttlebutt indicates that the beloved megastar’s Renaissance World Tour is being developed into a moviegoing experience exclusively for AMC Theaters, and will feature “elements of her top-grossing 2023 live shows, parts of the long-gestating visual album Renaissance and a documentary-style account of making the record and building out the tour.”
Will Beyonce and Taylor Swift upend the studio system?
Concert movies are nothing new, but the fevered interest in them following Swift’s latest project has turned them into a shockingly viable financial opportunity for studios. Variety reports that Beyoncé’s Renaissance film is projected to bring in over half a billion at the box office. With Deadline predicting a roughly $100 million opening weekend for the Eras Tour movie, Hollywood executives are undoubtedly beginning to wonder why they poured all that cash into CGI Spider-Men over the years when they could’ve just pointed their iPhones at a Reel Big Fish house show and let the money make itself.
Concerns have been voiced over the effects that these projects could have on the studio system, circumventing traditional distribution conventions like they do and passing straight from the artist to the theater chains, farm to multimillion-dollar table. Eras and Renaissance are primed to take a substantial cut of the 2023 box office away from already-struggling studios. Could Beyoncé and Swift’s monopoly on the theater seats be what finally topples a hundred years of Hollywood tradition?
Hard to say. Probably not, though. And for what it’s worth, the studios are doing a fine job of shooting themselves in the foot thanks to unsustainable streaming models and cutthroat project cancelations without the help of the star of Austin Powers 3. It’ll be fun to hear “Church Girl” in surround sound, though.
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It’s a common misconception that the main character in the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who is named “Doctor Who.” In reality, their name is “Doctor Whom,” and the real fans know that.
And there have been dozens of performers considered for the role of Doctor Whom over the show’s 60-year history, ranging from the also-ran footnote character actors of the 1960s and ‘70s, to genuine, A-list stars in more recent years. Here’s a look at some of the more recognizable faces that nearly took over the TARDIS controls before thinking better of the opportunity, passing it up, or royally wetting the bed.
Benedict Cumberbatch didn’t make his Doctor’s appointment
Image via BBC One
During a talk show interview in 2011, Benedict Cumberbatch revealed that he was encouraged by rapidly-exiting incumbent Doctor David Tennant to toss his zany red felt fez in the ring for the part of Gallifrey’s wackiest scofflaw. In spite of what would eventually become a lucrative working relationship with the series’ new showrunner, Stephen Moffat, Cumberbatch declined the invitation, going on to state that playing the Doctor means “you are on the flask, you are on the school lunch box, you have to sometimes go on the school bus as Doctor Who on promotional tours. I like to keep the work on the set.”
Incidentally, here’s Benedict Cumberbatch shooting a promo video a few years later, visiting a comic book shop dressed as Doctor Strange.
Brian Blessed made things hawkward
If you don’t know Brian Blessed, then yes, you do. His trumpeting baritone voice and Ghost of Christmas Present physicality have been bringing larger-than-life characters to the screen for over 60 years, including Boss Nass in The Phantom Menace, Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon, and, no kidding 13 years’ worth of Grampy Rabbit on Peppa Pig.
Speaking with The Telegraph in 2014, Blessed recalled being invited into the Doctor Who fold all the way back in the ‘60s. He shot down the opportunity, but fortunately, he wasn’t turned away at the door when he showed up to play King Yrcanos in the Sixth Doctor MIndwarp serial a few decades later.
Bernard Cribbins almost had an even longer Doctor Who history
Image via BBC
If you love Doctor Who, chances are that you love the late Bernard Cribbins, the actor who brought the objectively adorable Wilfred Mott to life across David Tennant’s run on the show, along with a role in the Peter Cushing Doctor Who movie in 1965, if you want to get super obscure. What you might not know is that Cribbins met with the producers of the series back when they were shopping for their fourth Doctor. Speaking with Digital Spy in 2013, he recalled being asked what he would bring to the role, and telling the folks in charge that he’d been a paratrooper and knew how to fight. He was a little ahead of his time, and the Doctor’s tortured war era was still a long way off, narratively speaking. It was a pass.
Alan Cumming had to be going
Image via Peacock
It would have been fun, seeing Alan Cumming running from Daleks in whatever outfit the The Traitors host would have picked for himself – presumably something involving a mesh kilt and a dope bowler hat, but that’s just a guess. He was slated to play the Doctor in a series revival circa 2003, but the plans were scrapped in favor of the Russell T. Davies reboot. Cumming got the last laugh, appearing in the series nearly 20 years later as one of the only watchable aspects of the Chibnall era.
Dame Judi Dench could have been Doctor Judi Dench
Image via Universal Pictures
During the blue sky phase of developing the return of Doctor Who around the turn of the century, many names got thrown around. Among them: Judi Dench, who was reportedly a favorite of series producer and BBC executive Jane Tranter. Would Dench have accepted the role? Hard to say. Your gut tells you “no,” but then you remember she said yes to CATS, so who knows? She’s a wild card.
Alan Rickman didn’t blink, but the studio did
Image via Warner Bros.
Sometimes, you find out that an actor was up for the part of the Doctor and think “Weird, that would’ve been different.” Other times, you think “Wait, how did that not happen?”
Alan Rickman came treacherously close to playing the Doctor back in the ‘90s, when the franchise was, as a whole, deep in the throes of flop sweat. A feature film was set to be made, directed by Leonard Nimoy and featuring Rickman in the lead role, with Caroline Munro as his Gallifreyan companion. Doctor Who: A History reports that the story would have involved Amelia Earhart, kissing, and kissing Amelia Earhart, had the whole thing not blown up in an eruption of litigation and lapsed franchise rights.
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Since the early 2000s, the Saw franchise has disgusted us, terrified us, and thoroughly entertained us. James Wan released the original Saw in 2004, marking his directorial debut, and the consequential success led to other influential horror films such as The Conjuring and Insidious franchises. Consistently for very year since 2004, a Saw sequel was developed, and the pattern ended with a long hiatus between the seventh and eighth films as Jigsaw released seven years after Saw 3D.
Between 2004 and 2023, there have been ten installments of the Saw franchise released. Before Saw X landed in theaters today, Spiral: From the Book of Saw was the latest addition, attempting to reinvent the torture porn genre and revive an outdated franchise. In April 2021, Saw X, was confirmed to be in development, with the spine-tingling chapter being brought to fruition to kick off this year’s spooky season in a major way.
With ten Saw films spanning over 19 years and the production crews changing all the while, there were some successful stand-outs and some flat-out failures. So, before franchise die-hards flock to megaplexes in droves to witness Jigsaw’s latest outing, here is every Saw film, ranked.
10. Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Image via Lionsgate
As previously mentioned, Spiral: From the Book of Saw was the most recent Saw-related release, although not explicitly marketed as a sequel. The producers commented on Spiral’s significance within the universe, claiming that it was more of a standalone. Unfortunately, Spiral ranks the lowest on our list. Chris Rock was a saving grace, but not enough to make up for awful production values and a weak storyline that pales in comparison to its predecessors. Spiral attempts to reinvent the torture porn genre and breathe new life into a bygone franchise, but fails miserably.
All things considered, Spiral can be given praise for its attempt at changing up the franchise formula, but it ultimately falls short of giving the Saw franchise the boost it needs to regain relevance. Spiral was intended to focus on the corruption of law enforcers, but the theme seems hopelessly lost to generic approaches and an annoyingly predictable plot. Long story short, Spiral succeeds in tarnishing Saw’s good reputation for imaginative deaths and inventive plots.
9. Saw 3D (2010)
Image via Lionsgate
Taking a very different approach than any other Saw film, Saw 3D was shot entirely in RealD 3D, using the SI-3D digital camera system rather than filming on a set and later transferring the footage to 3D. Admittedly, the 3D element does add a certain flair to the seventh film, but 3D is often bashed for being unnecessary and distracting. In this case, like many others, the same rules apply.
The plot follows a man who, after falsely claiming to be a survivor of one of the Jigsaw Killer’s games in order to become a local celebrity, finds himself part of a real game where he must save his wife. Rather than John Kramer, the culprit behind the Jigsaw murders is none other than Mark Hoffman, an accomplice to Kramer instructed to continue his work after his inevitable death.
Saw 3D experienced commercial success at the box office, which seems impossible given the shocking reviews. Poorly acted, sloppily filmed, and a downright disgrace to the Saw brand, Saw 3D only ranks above Spiral for its admirable attempt at revolutionizing the franchise using 3D effects to amp up the immersive scare factor. By the seventh film, the Saw narrative began to feel played out, thereby dooming its successors.
8. Jigsaw (2017)
Image via Lionsgate
First there was Saw 3D. Then there was Jigsaw. In the film, the police investigate a new series of murders that fit the modus operandi of the eponymous Jigsaw Killer, who has been dead for almost a decade at this point. Essentially, John Kramer has a doppelgänger mimicking his procedures to continue the Jigsaw legacy. Honestly, ranking Spiral, Saw 3D, and Jigsaw was difficult; none of them deserve anything above last place, but Jigsaw has some redeeming qualities that give it a slight edge over the competition.
At least Jigsaw is relatively revolting, which is one of the main attractions for the franchise as a whole. Honestly, Jigsaw would have never been groundbreaking, nor even made waves in the Saw universe. It never encapsulates the core concept and delivers a half-baked retelling of the original Saw that disappoints rather than paving the way for a new era of horror. Jigsaw is undoubtedly a fun ride despite its flaws, whereas the others were plain awful. Needless to say, Jigsaw leaves much to be desired and its mind-blowing twist doesn’t live up to the expectations set by its predecessors.
7. Saw V (2009)
Image via Lionsgate
Many may disagree, but Saw V was thoroughly interesting. Finally, there came a continuation that focused less on senseless violence and gore and gave the audience a real takeaway message. Primarily focusing on five targeted low-lives, Saw V reminds its victims that survival depends on “acting against your instincts,” which, as we all know, means ignoring the fight-or-flight adrenaline rush and discarding that “survival of the fittest” mindset to work together and live.
As expected, the quintuple participants are in it for themselves from the get-go, and at the final test, when five dwindles down to two, the remaining victims discover that all of them could have survived if only they had set aside their selfish ways. Saw V had inventive torture devices, plentiful gore, and enough stable plot to keep the mindless violence significant as well as a less complicated and more engaging storyline.
6. Saw VI (2008)
Image via Lionsgate
As we ascend the list, it seems painfully obvious that the earlier Saw films far outweigh the newer revivals. Still, Saw VI ranks lower than its siblings due to a clunky, confusing plot and unconvincing acting. At the time of its release, Saw VI was the lowest-grossing Saw film ever made (until the modern additions proved to be even worse). One of its exceptionally gripping moments comes at the very beginning, thereby ruining the tone by the halfway point. Anyone can admit that watching a grown woman chop off her own arm is as grotesque as it sounds.
Consumed almost entirely by backstory, Saw VI is one of those throwaway placeholders in which the flashbacks overtake the actual plot. Sometimes not everything needs to be explained. People want blood and guts and gore, not overly dumbed-down explanations and tie-ins. However, Saw VI is a huge step up from the updated releases in that it stays true to its source material and keeps an air of consistency within its splatter film multiverse. Saw VI is faithful to the franchise and a satisfying filler, even if that’s all it really is.
5. Saw IV (2007)
Image via Lionsgate
What can we say about Saw IV? Wow. The fourth installment has some of the best twists of any entry, which isn’t a bold statement in the slightest. Granted, nothing could ever top Saw VI‘s ending with Hoffman escaping the Reverse Bear Trap, but Saw IV has a more consistent storyline overall. It also fills in a lot of blanks with John’s backstory that give us some insight as to why he was driven to become Jigsaw, his relationship with his ex-wife Jill Tuck, and how Amanda Young fits into all of this.
The first act can be a little slow, we’ll admit it, but the dynamic with Strahm and Hoffman redeems a few minor issues here and there. It also nicely sets up the ending of Saw V when Hoffman eventually kills Strahm. It’s the beginning of a rather perfect conflict between two wonderfully written characters. Rigg isn’t very likeable, so that’s a negative, but there’s so much Hoffman and a fair amount of John, which is all you ever need in a Saw movie.
4. Saw X (2023)
Image via Lionsgate Movies
For a horror franchise that’s now reached a tenth movie, it’s certainly an impressive feat for Saw X to land so high up on this list. Touching back to its original roots and focusing on engineer-turned-torturer John Kramer, the tenth chapter centers around him traveling down to Mexico after being informed about a particular medical program which specializes in curing cases of terminal cancer. In the end, John discovers that the entire operation was merely a ruse, leading him to enlist the help of Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman to capture those who conned him and enact revenge.
The franchise’s tenth outing is undoubtedly a refined touch on a film series which has been seriously lacking quality content over the last few years. For the first time ever, eagle-eyed viewers truly witness a different side to John Kramer which is certainly more vulnerable and weakened. And yet, Tobin Bell’s groundbreaking performance reminds us all why this is his franchise.
3. Saw II (2005)
Image via Lionsgate
Just a year after the immensely successful Saw, its immediate sequel, Saw II, was released. In the film, a group of ex-convicts are trapped by the Jigsaw Killer inside a house and must pass a series of deadly tests to retrieve the antidote for a nerve agent that will kill them in two hours. Among them, Amanda Young, the only known Jigsaw survivor, works undercover for John Kramer.
Much more is explained in Saw II regarding the motives behind the Jigsaw murders. Kramer reveals that he was diagnosed with cancer and gained a newfound appreciation for life that he wished to instil in others using pre-meditated and escapable torture methods that teach a valuable lesson upon survival. Saw II brilliantly references its predecessor and keeps the same momentum throughout that made the original Saw untouchable. Saw II lags behind in appeal, but outshines the first for its fool-proof ending without the cheat codes.
2. Saw III (2006)
Image via Lionsgate
As the highest-grossing Saw film of the series both internationally and overall, Saw III solidifies itself as a worthy successor to the original. Above all else, Saw III brings the gore. After adding in the component of Amanda Young defying John Kramer’s methods and losing belief in his teachings, the traps were made to be inescapable, resulting in multiple deaths. While the gore may be overplayed, its presence feels intended and perfectly executed in light of the plot developments.
One of the biggest problems with Saw III was the script, which overuses flashbacks and loses the plot (which is actually a huge turning point for the remainder of the series) to more senseless deaths. There can be positives and negatives taken from Saw III’s gorier take on the tension-filled original. The acting is refreshingly believable and Saw III is admittedly the most enjoyable, period, of any other Saw film. If willing to overlook the frankly trying attempt at “gorier equals better,” Saw III is a wild and unmissable ride, forever cemented as one of the greats in the Saw legacy.
1. Saw (2004)
Image via Lionsgate
By now, it should have been expected that the original would come out on top. As seen with many other long-standing franchises, the original is — more often than not — the best. Saw is the shot-in-the-dark by James Wan that started it all. It gained a cult following from its commercial and critic success and has been considered one of the most revolutionary horror films of all time. Without it, the others would not have existed.
Saw grips its audiences with lofty ambitions and a deceptively clever plot with memorable scenes that far exceed any expectations. For such a low-budget film, the gory scenes were amazingly evocative and masterfully done given the limited resources. In its climax, Saw presents a satisfying resolution to the ongoing mystery that fits its ghastly undertone. Saw will always be considered an untouchable relic, credited with kickstarting a franchise. Its twisted morality can never be replicated, for Saw truly is the first of its kind.
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To me, my X-Men! Presumably, that’s the message Kevin Feige is telepathically sending out across Hollywood right now from within his office in Marvel Studios HQ — as well as maybe asking Wolverine to fetch him a pizza — as, believe it or not, the day we’ve all been waiting for us has come. In an unexpected and yet long-anticipated update, it’s being reported that Marvel is finally entering development on its X-Men reboot.
With the WGA strike finally coming to an end, the House of Ideas is believed to have begun work in earnest on the first movie featuring the mutant superhero team to be set in the MCU. According to what “sources” have told Deadline, Marvel is looking to set up some meetings with prospective writers to pen the project this fall. With no release date set as yet, the studio is noted to be happy to take its time in finding the right scribe, with it unlikely someone will be hired, and work started on the script, until early 2024.
Photo via Marvel Studios
Obviously, Marvel is already tackling the X-Men universe in Ryan Reynolds’ upcoming Deadpool 3, which had its production held up over the strikes, co-starring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and likely a bunch of other legacy Fox actors to boot. While DP3 is looking to be a last salute to all that Fox accomplished (both good and bad, knowing Wade Wilson’s sense of humor) over 20 years, the X-Men reboot will presumably introduce a rebooted version of the characters, native to Earth-616 (or 99999) for the first time.
It’s still very much early days, then, but things are finally starting to roll on this dream Marvel movie. And, just like the Juggernaut, there’s no stopping it now.
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Based entirely on what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, the easiest and smartest way to secure a status as the number one most-watched movie on Netflix’s global charts is to stick “Love” in the title somewhere, with Love Is in the Air soaring onto the viewership rankings at the very summit.
Per FlixPatrol, the Australian romantic comedy that doesn’t have an original bone in its body has premiered as the top-viewed feature in 28 countries around the world and soared onto the Top 10 in upwards of 50 more, putting an end to a two-week winning streak that’s nothing if not curious.
What did Love Is in the Air dislodge to become anointed as the streaming service’s top dog? Why, that would be romantic comedy Love at First Sight, guaranteeing that for at least 15 consecutive days (and probably more), the number one slot will belong to a star-crossed rom-com with humanity’s most overridingly powerful emotion in the title. Creatives, take note; this is how you make it in the cutthroat world of streaming.
In this instance, Deltra Goodrem plays a pilot for a nonprofit air service, transporting supplies to local island communities. Naturally, Joshua Sasse’s unscrupulous corporate representative arrives on the scene to pore over the books, with the ulterior motive of auditing the company with an eye on shutting it down permanently.
If you’ve seen five minutes of one solitary rom-com in your entire life, then we won’t be handing out prizes to anybody who guesses how things pan out in the end, but based on its impressive arrival, subscribers don’t seem to care in the slightest.
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Time heals almost all wounds eventually, but try telling that to the never-ending battle between opposite sides of the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom aiming to determine whether or not Iron Man 3 can truly be called trash or treasure.
Of course, one person’s steaming dumpster fire is another’s priceless stash of rare jewels, and that sentiment has applied to Shane Black’s insanely opinion-splitting threequel ever since it scored massive box office in the wake of The Avengers a full 10 years ago. Some love it, others loathe it, and plenty think it’s perfectly acceptable superhero entertainment, but nothing close to a consensus has ever been reached.
via Marvel Studios
However, seeing as the Multiverse Saga has repeatedly conspired to deliver the long-running comic book franchise’s worst-rated and most-hated projects on an alarmingly consistent basis, the tides have shifted on Iron Man 3 yet again. This time, a Reddit thread naming it as one of the greatest Marvel movies ever made has gathered a substantial amount of backing, although the naysayers are inevitably lurking in the comments and replies, too.
Speaking of which, the tides of opinion have been ebbing back and forth so often for so long regarding Robert Downey Jr.’s final solo outing as Tony Stark that if it carries on like this, the entire planet is destined to spin off its axis eventually, plunging billions into an irreversible state of cosmic horrors. Hyperbolic, sure, but that’s how it feels trying to keep track on whether or not the MCU supporter’s club adores or abhors the film on any given day.
Michael Bay is the living, breathing definition of cinematic excess, with almost his entire filmography taking a kitchen sink approach to both its narrative subtlety and explosive action sequences. Despite being in the game for almost 30 years, though, nothing encapsulates his bespoke approach better than Bad Boys II.
At 147 minutes it dramatically overstays its welcome by at least half an hour, there’s a body count so high it beggars belief, enough pyrotechnic set pieces to fill at least three smaller movies, dialogue and banter that’s questionable at the best of times, and the encroaching sense that maybe there’s such a thing as too many shootouts, car chases, and bullet-riddled carnage for a solitary feature.
via Sony
That being said, genre junkies have a very soft spot for Bad Boys II, which is understandable when it ticks far too many boxes in terms of wall-to-wall chaos. It’s the ultimate example of Bayhem that remains the apex of its originator’s distinctive style a full 20 years on from release, even if it did accidentally almost kill the franchise.
Bad Boys II remains ideal “turn off your brain” viewing, to be fair, and that reputation evidently isn’t going anywhere after FlixPatrol named it as one of the most-watched titles on Prime Video, Rakuten, and Starz heading into the weekend.
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With 2023 seemingly being full of unprecedented flops ranging from Marvel to DC and everything in between, perhaps studios such as Disney and Warner Bros. should look to the new film The Creator for a solution to one of their biggest issues.
You see, when a movie flops, it is usually made that much worse when a film’s budget is out of control and doesn’t even seem to hit the mark of quality you would think a higher rate of spending would generate. Over-inflated budgets have been a common problem with many of this year’s biggest bombs since their break-even points at the box office become that much higher. However, when it comes to The Creator, the film was made on an astonishingly low budget of $80 million, according to The Numbers.
How could $80 million be considered low? Well, when you compare it to other movies from this year that failed to meet financial expectations such as Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Warner Bros.’ The Flash, The Creator starts to look like an indie film by comparison, even though it is produced by the Disney-owned 20th Century Fox.
The Creator, starring John David Washington and directed by Gareth Edwards, is a sci-fi epic about a future earth in which parts of the world are at war with artificial intelligence. Despite what the earliest reactions might have had you believe, The Creator isn’t quite universally acclaimed as a masterpiece or anything, with it currently sitting at a 69 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 165 reviews. And to be fair, there’s a solid chance The Creator will bomb at the box office as well. So what exactly makes me say it has the antidote that big studio franchise films should be seeking out?
Wow #TheCreator just became one of my favorite films this year. Visually stunning, it reminds me of Apocalypse Now, Akira with hints of iRobot yet gives you such an original story that is even more relevant today. If your a fan of Sci-Fi I can’t recommend this one enough! pic.twitter.com/EYnP2vFERw
Well, despite some reviews being not-so-rosy, The Creator‘s amazing visuals, computer-generated effects, and impressive set pieces were pretty much universally acclaimed, even in the negative reviews. The main criticisms leveled at the movie focus on not landing the emotional moments, rather than the visuals being subpar. Take NPR’s Justin Chang, for example, who writes in his excerpt, “Even the most strikingly beautiful images — like the one of high-tech laser beams shimmering over a beach at sunset — are tethered to a story and characters that never take on a life of their own.”
Another reviewer, Paul Whitington with the Irish Independent, acknowledged The Creator‘s weak story while still calling it “absolutely marvellous to look at.” Meanwhile, Leo Brady’s mixed review for AMovieGuy.com called out a “frustrated” experience in terms of trying to be revelatory but still hailed it as having “gorgeous visuals.” Other reviewers have proclaimed The Creator as one of the year’s best.
The point I’m trying to make here is to highlight how impressive the universal praise is for The Creator‘s visual effects and action set pieces are, considering it only had $80 million to work with. That is a feat in and of itself when you consider other films from this year with much higher budgets had their visual effects taken to the cleaners by critics.
For comparison, consider the melting wax-like renders of characters featured in The Flash, with its mannequin-like CGI resurrection of Christopher Reeves’ Superman, and the wildly inconsistent digital de-ageing of Harrison Ford in Dial of Destiny that made it look like a PlayStation 4 video game cutscene at times. What’s baffling is The Flash‘s budget was more than double The Creator‘s, at $200 million, and the latest Indiana Jones adventure came in at more than triple, at $300 million — that’s more than a quarter of a billion dollars just to make a movie that ended looking terrible at parts. They are among the movies that bombed the hardest this year, with Dial of Destiny only raking in $381 million and The Flash hauling a global gross of $267 million.
Now, a quick thought experiment: if either of those films had an $80 million budget but made the same amount at the box office, would we still be calling them financial flops? The answer is unequivocally no. By the rule of thumb that a movie must double its production budget just to break even as a ballpark estimate, The Flash would have profited over $100 million and Dial of Destiny would have profited over $200 million.
Projects in the Marvel wheelhouse are suffering from similar budgetary issues. For instance, the Disney Plus series Secret Invasion was slammed not only for bad overall storytelling, but for terrible-looking CGI. However, Secret Invasion‘s budget was much higher than The Creator, at $211.6 million. Another Marvel project lambasted for its stomach-churning visuals was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which had a production budget close to $200 million.
We don’t necessarily have hard evidence to show either Secret Invasion or Quantumania flopped in the traditional sense of low viewership, with the Ant-Man threequel reportedly barely eking out a profit, for instance. However, they were certainly both considered failures from a critical standpoint. Plus, once we know more information about each project’s financials, such as Quantumania‘s post-production cost, it could change to include more red in the ledger, after all. But the question still stands: how can these projects with more than double the production budget of The Creator have worse visuals when all the dust has settled?
We don’t necessarily have an answer to this query, but we have the feeling it’s the right question to ask. One that could hold the key to studios hauling in more sustainable box office returns in the future. For now, we will have to check out The Creator, in theaters on Sept. 29, just to see for ourselves how mind-blowing the visuals truly are.
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Today, Sony is releasing their Wall Street-takedown movie Dumb Money in select theaters. The biographical comedy-drama examines the GameStop stock controversy that erupted in early 2021, when a host of small-time investors tried to beat Wall Street at their own game.
Here’s the background: In the late 2010s, GameStop was a company comprising brick-and-mortar stores that sold video games, and thus was struggling under people’s increasing dependency on online shopping.
GameStop’s stock price declined significantly as more financial firms and hedge funds bet on it failing, but then in mid-2019, a large asset management firm acquired a stake in the company, signaling to investors that maybe there was more value in the stock than the market soothsayers thought.
Enter the investing subreddit /r/WallStreetBets, which was known for occasionally taking on meme stocks and offering its users information on high-risk, high-reward transactions. Many members of the subreddit, led by an investing influencer named Keith Gill, began buying up GameStop stock. This led to what’s called a “short squeeze” — driving a stock’s price up so fast that those betting against the company were forced to sell their shares to cover the losses they were experiencing.
Things got pretty dramatic in Jan. 2021, when the short squeeze resulted in myriad hedge funds and other financial service companies losing billions. While much of the short squeeze was driven by small, personal investors, other funds also got in on the action.
By Jan. 28, 2021, the GameStop stock was valued at $500 per share, roughly thirty times what it was at the beginning of the month. At that point, many brokerages (such as Robinhood and other investing apps) stopped buying the stock, which triggered criticisms of market manipulation.
Congress then began investigating Robinhood and the various hedge funds that were involved. And, well, we won’t spoil the ending.
Why was Dumb Money given an R rating?
In case you were thinking of taking your kids to see a movie about the little guys sticking it to the Wall Street gatekeepers, you might want to put that plan on the back burner. According to IMDb, the film is rated R for “pervasive language, sexual material, and drug use.”
If you want more details about the rating, Kids-In-Mind.com has provided a rather elaborate post-mortem. They note that Dumb Money features:
“…a kissing scene, two fully nude men running on a track (their genital areas are not evident), many scenes of people arguing and feeling anxious about losing money, a scene of a man smoking marijuana and another of someone snorting cocaine, and over 100 F-words, and other strong language.”
The film’s cast includes Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Nick Offerman, America Ferrera, Seth Rogan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Sebastian Stan, and Shailene Woodley. And if you’re Stateside but not in a major city, don’t worry: The film releases wide on Sept. 29.
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