Author: BRWC

Dune Wars: Can Denis Villeneuve Take Star Wars’ Holiday Crown? By Tony Black.

For over two decades, the dominance of the Christmas holiday season across the US & Europe has been a golden goose sought by everyone from 20th Century Fox to Disney and beyond but there may be a new player in town in 2020 – Warner Bros and their incoming adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal science-fiction tome, Dune.

Having recently completed shooting over the summer, Dune has seen a shift in its 2020 release date from November to the coveted December 18th spot, allowing it to capitalise on the Christmas market as families break up from work and prepare to enjoy the holiday season. In 2018, the spot was filled by Disney with the relatively successful Mary Poppins Returns, and once again it will be claimed by the House of Mouse thanks to the final saga in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker. In fact, Disney have controlled the coveted spot since 2015 following The Force Awakens, the rebirth of Star Wars, but Warner Bros look set to wrest control back for the first time since 2014, with the conclusion of The Hobbit trilogy in The Battle of Five Armies.

Moving Dune in this manner feels like a significant vote of confidence for a property which, to an extent, will be an unknown quantity.

On paper, Dune appears to be a recipe for success. Director Denis Villeneuve is one of Hollywood’s hottest talents and more vibrant modern auteurs, following critical buzz for a litany of recent films including Sicario and Arrival, before recently dipping his toe into franchise waters with long-awaited sequel Blade Runner 2049. Herbert’s source material is a vast, futuristic universe teeming with fascinating, vivid, alien characters (more figuratively than literally), filled with adventure, war and stunning landscapes and galactic locations. It has been reported that Warner Bros are looking to fashion Dune into a Star Wars-esque franchise with a raft of sequels, tie-in material and the grand scope of George Lucas’ legendary fantasy universe. 

Only it may not quite be that simple in practice. While there is no doubt Lucas was in some sense inspired by Herbert’s novel, as have the majority of science-fiction writers of the last half-century, Star Wars and Dune are very different beasts.

If Villeneuve has adapted Dune well, if he has retained many of the elements that made Herbert’s tome one of the defining texts of the 1960’s and beyond, Dune will not be as easily accessible to audiences as Star Wars was in 1977 and eleven successive films. Lucas’ world is a classical text built off well known mythical archetypes and tropes that play out in stories as far back as Ancient Greek legend. Herbert’s book is strange, sometimes languid, frequently esoteric and unlike Luke Skywalker, the dashing young troubadour discovering his destiny as a space Knight who would slay the evil King, Dune’s protagonist Paul Atredies is an introspective noble radicalised by a prophecy cult who becomes the basis for a fanatical and, ultimately, fascistic religious empire. Dune is complex space opera concerning the rise and fall of empire, environmental anxieties, crusading religious tyranny and, come later in the book series, some deeply strange weird fiction that will be far harder to accessibly convey on screen as Star Wars’ line of thrilling but lightweight, iconic and symbolic heroic fantasy.

Reputedly, the first of Herbert’s books is to be divided into two films, the first of which is 2020’s franchise opener, and it will be joined by a developing cross-media universe including the previously announced Dune: The Sisterhood, set to focus on a cadre of ‘witches’ known as the Bene Gesserit, but the question is whether Warner Bros will be able to expand Herbert’s series into the same kind of consistently profitable franchise as Disney have mined with Star Wars since buying LucasFilm, or Warner Bros themselves successfully propagated with The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy. 

The success of that series proves it could be possible, given for decades many believed J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendary pieces of literature were unfilmable before Peter Jackson came along. Similar has often been said about Dune, despite previous attempts to do the material justice. David Lynch famously wrestled a faithful but condensed and bizarre take in 1982 and the SyFy Channel developed two big-budget mini-series adapting the first book and Herbert’s third novel, Children of Dune, in the early 2000’s, yet neither of these approaches truly did Herbert’s vast, intertextual universe justice. Villeneuve has both a combination of poised, artful cinematography and stylistic vision, not to mention historic box office clout, to make the most faithful version of Dune yet committed to celluloid. Faithful also doesn’t necessarily mean distancing and merely cult, again as Jackson proved. It could be done.

Warner Bros will have to seriously consider just how they market Dune if they hope to repeat the success of its forebears. It will have a number of built-in mechanisms to aid a healthy box office, beyond just the holiday placement. While not a household name by any means, Villeneuve is one of the most celebrated filmmakers working today and will engage many cinephiles on his name alone while the cast he has assembled is full of A-list names flanked by celebrated character actors – Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin and Stellan Skarsgård to name but a few. A galaxy of stars with their own established fan bases who will gravitate toward Dune, even if science-fiction is not necessarily their go-to genre. 

Dune will naturally pull in a significant core fan base of the franchise (one which has already spawned many tie-in novels over the years, plus numerous video games) and general fans of the genre who do not necessarily have knowledge of Herbert’s lore. A tantalising trailer, combined with many of these elements, will drag punters in. Dune has the size, scope and budget to operate as a significant tentpole release for Christmas 2020, despite the fact it could lack the mass appeal of Star Wars. There is also the distinct probability this will not be a child-friendly picture. If we start getting Muad’Dib action figures, something has probably gone wrong!

Collectively since the franchise returned in 2015, Star Wars has banked Disney $4.8 billion across just four films, with at least another billion almost guaranteed this Christmas with The Rise of Skywalker. Over its six films, The Lord of the Rings franchise netted Warner Bros a princely $5.8 billion over six films. Dune, which many will be looking at to potentially swoop in as the next great franchise, will have to come out of the gate swinging if it seeks to capitalise on Star Wars’ downtime – Disney having announced after The Rise of Skywalker we won’t see another Star Wars movie until 2022. Dune will need broad appeal, the world over, to compete with these behemoths and anyone who understands the source material will be aware that Dune does not readily fit a specific Hollywood template. It might surprise people, and indeed surprise at the box office as a significant winner, but much will depend on how Warner Bros sell what will be, if Villeneuve truly has made a definitive version of Frank Herbert’s novel, a philosophical, chilly and unnerving space opera.

For now, let’s have faith in Dune’s power to rule the holiday season box office. Fear is the mind killer, after all.

Cloud Computing and Movie & Television Studios. By Frankie Wallace.

Movie and television studios all face common, significant challenges. Large-scale movie studios require many employees to work on production, editing, computer-generated graphics, and more, which can push the release time out months or even years. Studios must purchase and power hardware, resulting in hefty expenses and high electrical bills. Plus, there’s the ever-present concern of how to protect the production files from data corruption, equipment failure, and countless other threats that could result in their loss. 

But as cloud computing and storage potential grows, it could help to solve these problems. 

Business operations have increasingly relied on the cloud for the many benefits it offers, including increased efficiency and workflow, less need for hardware, reduced electricity bills, and improved collaboration between staff. Now, movies and television studios are recognizing how the cloud can help them to overcome obstacles and improve their operations, so they’re beginning to change over, too. 

Remote Access and Teamwork

With files stored on the sky drive, a studio’s employees can access their work anywhere and from any device. Because employees don’t necessarily have to be in the physical studio to work, this design can allow studios to recruit companies from all over the world. With their ability to draw from a larger talent pool, studios can potentially increase the quality of their staff and of their movies and shows, as a result. Contracting out aspects of production, such as commissioning an original score or securing rights to existing music for a soundtrack is common. With the cloud, studios could better incorporate new and innovative employees who could both revitalize and shape the future of television shows and movies. 

Because the cloud increases the accessibility to these files, it can help to speed up workflow and lead to overall increased efficiency. Multiple employees can often work simultaneously on projects when they’re in the cloud, and this design also leads to improved communication between staff. When studios are working under tight deadlines, cloud computing may allow them to release movies or shows earlier than they could otherwise. This is particularly valuable when a studio is releasing multiple movies in a highly anticipated series, such as the Toy Story or Spider-Man series. 

The cloud can help to even the playing field for smaller studios, too. These studios can access increased talent remotely, which can be a major advantage when they’re trying to find top-quality staff on limited budgets. Studios with smaller budgets can increase their computing power by using the cloud, while avoiding the challenges that purchasing in-studio hardware would require. These expensive studio hardware could be easily now replaced with technologies like GPU Dedicated Server or Azure Windows 10 VM at a low cost. Many cloud services allow studios to pay as they go, so smaller operations with limited budgets can purchase just the capacity and computing power that they need at any given time. Collaborative cloud programs like Celtx, Mural, Wipster, and Splice allow teams to work together on everything from idea generation to editing. 

Increased Data Storage Capacity

The cloud doesn’t just make it easier for studios to work on production; it can enhance the way that movies and television shows are delivered, too. Delivering shows and movies through streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix, or Hulu offers consumers the convenience they want to watch media-on-demand. But at times of peak streaming, the cloud offers a responsive platform that can be tailored to accommodate high volumes of viewers. 

Streaming companies can rely on the sky for increased capacity through extra bandwidth in anticipation of a major release, such as when the newest season of a popular show like Stranger Things hits. This scalability accommodates the corresponding spike in viewers on the platform, allowing viewers to watch their favorite shows and movies without interruption. 

When studios are dealing with high-data storage, the cloud provides a reliable platform with the capacity that studios need. 

Improved Security

Studios invest millions of dollars in movie and television show production, and the loss of a file near the end of production could be devastating. Storing media in the cloud can offer a safer option which can help to remove some of the risk that studios face when storing data on a physical device, like a laptop, which could be damaged or stolen. 

In 2017, hackers threatened to release Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales unless the studio paid a ransom. That same year, hackers uploaded the latest season of Orange Is the New Black after trying to get Netflix to pay a ransom to prevent the release. Cloud computing offers studios increased protection against a variety of potential cyberattacks, including the hacks and ransom threats that Disney and Netflix faced. Studios can use both private and public cloud platforms, paired with top-notch security management, to help protect their files. The cloud can offer data loss prevention as well as protection against malware, ransomware, hackers, and other threats. Studios can hire security businesses to continuously assess and monitor their platforms to ensure maximum security.

Cloud Computing: Gaining in Popularity

Working in the cloud offers many valuable benefits, including scalability, better communication even with employees located remotely, and the ability for employees to always access their work, even on various devices. These benefits have prompted a major transition as more operations take to the cloud. By 2020, the cloud computing market should grow to $411 billion. 

The cloud is ideal for movie and television studios, but they aren’t the only operations using the cloud. About half of businesses use the cloud in some form. Some businesses rely on the cloud as software, while others use it to store data or as an overall platform for their operations. Most businesses combine public and private cloud platforms to design an operation that best suits their needs. 

Studios are already embracing this new platform and have used sky computing to produce shows and movies including the 2015 film, The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. Given the many ways that this platform can improve studios’ operation, we’ll likely see more and more studios utilize this versatile platform.  

Is LGBTQ Representation on the Big Screen Getting Better? By Frankie Wallace.

As time goes on, evolution usually follows — but when it comes to LGBTQ representation in films, Hollywood is going backward. According to GLAAD, there were 109 films released from major studios in 2017, yet only 14 of them had characters who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. This is down 5.6% from films in 2016. While LGBTQ representation went down overall, though, four studios increased representation. Focus, Roadside, Searchlight, and Sony Classic had a 17% increase in movies containing LGBTQ characters from 2016 to 2017. 

While some films have gotten LGBTQ representation right, many have seriously missed the mark, reminiscent of a time when LGBTQ characters were shunned from films during the AIDS crisis. Media purposely didn’t touch the topic because it was so taboo, despite there being so many misconceptions about it. This association with AIDS and HIV created a bad perception of the LGBTQ community, making it more difficult for the film industry to bridge that gap. Today, GLAAD is attempting to reverse the trend by incentivizing studios to use LGBTQ characters.

The Studio Responsibility Index

The GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) tracks the diversity, quality, and quantity of LGBTQ characters in films. While it doesn’t map each and every film released, it does cover movies from seven major studios (and four of their subsidiaries): 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Disney, and Warner Brothers. Viewers who want to see movies with accurate and fair LGBTQ representation can refer to the SRI to choose which films they watch. The idea is that the SRI will act as an incentive to studios that want to get a perfect score in order to appeal to a broader audience.

The Vito Russo Test

The Vito Russo Test was developed by GLAAD as a way to analyze how well a film handles LGBTQ representation, or if it handles it at all. To pass the Vito Russo Test, a movie has to have an identifiable LGBTQ character who isn’t entirely defined by being LGBTQ. The character must also be significant to the movie’s plot. The Vito Russo Test is similar to the Bechdel Test, which a film can only pass if it has two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.

Movies That Got it Wrong

Try as they might, some movies just can’t get LGBTQ representation right. Negative attitudes toward the LGBTQ community doesn’t simply hurt feelings, they can be dangerous, too. For example, social stigma can cause people to refuse AIDS and HIV treatment, which can cause an increased rate of infection. In terms of LGBTQ representatio, these movies failed even when they had the chance to succeed.

Hail, Caesar!: In Hail, Caesar!, two characters reveal that they climbed the Hollywood ladder by sleeping their way to the top. Viewers feel that this type of portrayal of a gay character is outdated and that predatory characters who bribe or pressure men into sex isn’t just offensive, but overdone by this point.

Thor: Ragnarok: Superhero movies are not known for portraying LGBTQ characters, but audiences hoped it would be different with Thor: Ragnarok. Instead, much of Valkyrie’s bisexual character didn’t make it to the film’s final version, other than a short flashback that hinted at her sexual identity.

Zoolander 2: Maybe it’s because the sequel to Zoolander came more than a decade after the original, but the LGBTQ humor in Zoolander 2 seems dated, not to mention offensive and silly. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson’s characters can’t stop talking about All, the movie’s non-binary character, and wondering what type of genitalia All has. While comedy has its place in movies with LGBTQ characters, the jokes in Zoolander 2 were seen as cheap and mocking.

Some movies go in expecting to showcase LGBTQ characters one way, but then change their mind during filming or editing. Other films, though, seem to purposely portray these characters in a way that’s harmful to society.

Movies That Got it Right

It’s not all bad news. Some movies got it right, realistically portraying LGBTQ characters and relationships without turning them into caricatures or stereotypes.

Battle of the Sexes: Emma Stone played Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes, representing the character during a time when King was still in the closet. While her marriage, her affair with her hairdresser and coming to terms with her feelings played a major role in the movie and were handled maturely and sensitively, King’s sexual orientation wasn’t central to the plot.

Call Me By Your Name: The budding relationship in Call Me By Your Name was handled with care by everyone involved – the characters involved with each other as well as the main character’s parents and even girlfriend. Viewers watched everyone in the movie acknowledge and embrace the story that played out in front of them, no matter how unexpected it was.

The Kids Are All Right: It’s common for movies with lesbian characters to be shown through the male gaze, but in The Kids Are All Right, a long-term lesbian couple depicts a comfortable, lived-in type of relationship. The movie perfectly showcases the love between a same-sex couple while also touching on many issues that any married couple faces. The characters are complex, and the plot is captivating and emotional.

Young audiences want to see LGBTQ representation in films, and movie studios that want to stay relevant need to deliver. Audiences want movies to be reflective of real life, and a majority of Americans feel that society should be accepting of LGBTQ people, a sentiment that increased by 14% between 2006 and 2016. The hope is that major studios will want to pass the Vito Russo Test or make it onto the SRI. While it’s important for independent movie studios to embrace LGBTQ characters (and many of them have), it’s even more important for major studios to reach the masses with supportive messages. 

Lost In Space, Then And Now.

The classic, much-loved 1960s TV sci-fi series has been re-imagined for the 21st Century with a big budget and cutting edge effects, featuring the same characters, the super-intelligent Robinsons, torn off course en-route to what they hoped would be a fresh start on a distant space colony, and crash landed on an alien planet. 

The complete Lost In Space first season is now available on DVD and Blu-ray, loaded with extras and deleted scenes. As an exclusive on the Blu-ray, there’s a colourised unaired pilot episode from the original 1965 show – so you can compare and contrast the old and the new. With that in mind, here’s a look at how the current cast measure up to their original counterparts.

JOHN ROBINSON

In the original series (which ran from 1965 to 1968) Dr John Robinson was played by Guy Williams, star of TV shows including Bonanza and Highway Patrol. Robinson was a strapping, handsome and intelligent scientist, and head of the family venturing into space to colonise the planet Alpha Centurai.

In the new series the role is taken by an equally tall and handsome Toby Stephens (Black Sails), who, this time, is a former Navy Seal. The big difference here is that he his wife Maureen is the brains and the driving force behind the expedition.

MAUREEN ROBINSON

In the 1960s series June Lockhart was Maureen Robinson, a biochemist by profession, but whose part in the series was very much in the role of the loving mother, looking after her family on their trip into the unknown.

In the reboot, top scientific engineer Maureen, played with real gusto by the actress Molly Parker (Deadwood), has been reimagined entirely. Following the Earth being hit by a meteor, she has been approached by the American military to help build spaceships for intergalactic travel so that humans can colonize another planet. 

DON WEST

Major Don West (played by Mark Goddard, who would go on to appear in the sci-fi film Strange Invaders) was a Space Corps officer, and pilot of the spaceship Jupiter 2, that flew the Robinsons into space. He was hot-tempered, but very handy to have around on the ship, and quite adept at fighting off aliens.

He also had a possible romantic interest in the form of Judy Robinson. In the new series West (Ignacio Serricchio from Clint Eastwood’s The Mule) is a little more rough around the edges than the air force veteran in the original. He soon forges a bond, however, with the Robinsons, who provide him with the family he never had back on Earth

JUDY ROBINSON

Marta Kristen (who went on to star in sci-fi films Terminal Island and Battle Beyond the Stars) was Judy, the eldest child of the family, who finds her theatrical ambitions re-routed into interplanetary travel. Initially reluctant to join her family on their space adventure, she quickly changes her mind when she sees Don West will be their pilot.

Taylor Russell (who previously appeared in the sci-fi series Falling Skies) is Judy in the new show, this time a step-daughter of John Robinson, and no longer the ditzy would-be actress, but the ship’s doctor – and an extremely perceptive one at that.

WILL ROBINSON

Child prodigy Will Robinson (Billy Mumy, who later appear in the 1990s would star in sci-fi show Babylon 5) was highly intelligent and extremely precocious, often getting himself into trouble because of his insatiable curiosity. He strikes up a close friendship with the B-9 robot onboard the ship. Will, in the new show (played by Maxwell Jenkins, Sense8) is a talented engineer for his age, but very shy and a little less self-assured than his predecessor, and latches on to the ship’s robot for companionship. 

THE ROBOT

The B9 robot in the original show was made by Robert Kinoshita, who also came up with the iconic Robby the Robot from the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. The B9 had human characteristics, and was well known for what became his catchphrase – “Danger Will Robinson!”. In the new series the robot is far more sophisticated and versatile – and initially hostile to humans, until he is rescued by Will Robinson – and the two become firm friends.

PENNY ROBINSON

Angela Cartwright, a child star in The Sound of Music, played teenager Penny, another highly-intelligent Robinson, with a tomboy-ish streak and a very vivid imagination.

Mina Sundwall is Penny in the new series – and here she is down to earth, resourceful, brave and funny. Some might say she gets all the best lines in the series.

DOCTOR SMITH

Jonathan Harris, as Zachary Smith, produced one of the most memorable characters in the 1960s show. A stowaway on the Jupiter 2, and responsible for it veering off course, the treacherous Smith could be relied upon to attempt sabotage of the Robinson’s space mission at any given opportunity – and soon became the man the audience loved to hate.

In the 2018 version, Parker Posey (Tales of the City) is equally hissable as a criminal who bluffs her way into the spaceship impersonating the psychotherapist Dr Smith. Manipulative, deceitful and wholly untrustworthy, Posey is a worthy heir to Harris’ appalling behaviour.

LOST IN SPACE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is available now on DVD and Blu-ray. ORDER TODAY: //amzn.to/2XSaUKh