Originally Posted By leemac <<I've seen several different previews for 'Brave' -- >> I think I've seen 5 different rough cuts and it could literally have been 5 different movies. I know that Pixar movies always have difficult gestations but this one just doesn't seem to know what it wants to me. Personally I preferred the original version which had a lot less of the action sequences. It all seems a little overblown to me now.
Originally Posted By JeffG >> "I just don't class it as WDP as it was funded by Paramount." << Actually, "The Avengers" was financed by Disney (Marvel, specifically). Paramount's deal with Marvel was strictly for distribution and only gave them a small percentage (I had heard around 10%) of the net. Disney bought out that distribution deal by essentially pre-paying Paramount what their earnings were likely to be. Both of the "Iron Man" films, "Thor" and "Captain America" were all financed by Marvel/Disney. -Jeff
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Entirely right - I meant to say "funded by Marvel" i.e. pre-Disney. I'm not sure if the Merrill Lynch funding package is still in place - Marvel took out a hefty half billion dollar line of credit to finance their first slate of films which I think began with Iron Man. Merrill Lynch were effectively guaranteed the first dollars of profit to cover the principal outstanding. My clumsily-made point was that Iger and Ross seem to have no desire to make movies any more beyond Marvel, Pixar and a handful of Disney-branded movies. Everything is skewed towards $200m+ tentpoles which is why Carter is the most costly flop in history. Oz and Lone Ranger could be heading for similar budgets. Eisner used to talk about singles and doubles being the most profitable way to run a studio - Iger seems to think it is just swinging for homers. I forgot to add Frankenweenie to the 2012 slate - so they have Brave, Timothy Green, Frankenweenie and Wreckit Ralph under the Disney umbrella.
Originally Posted By brotherdave I finally saw John Carter (2nd feature at a drive-in) the other night. I actually thought the movie was somewhat decent and better than I expected. (It was way better than Prince of Persia, at least!) However, I can see why it bombed, too. It felt cold, like Tron Legacy did. Not much emotion and more emphasis on the special effects (which were spectacular, by the way.) Still, overall, I found it more enjoyable than I thought I would. Definitely worth renting when it comes out on home video.
Originally Posted By basil fan Saw a "coming soon" blurb for the DVD/Blu-Ray. I definitely want to own this one. Phil's Hero Rules <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/hero.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/...ero.html</a>
Originally Posted By danyoung Seeing those two trailers side by side was a real revelation for me. I read the books when I was a kid, so since I already knew what the story was the original trailers looked way cool to me. But I can see the problem with those who don't know who John Carter was. And that fan-made trailer really did an excellent job of telling the story without revealing too much. So I'll agree with most others here that Disney's marketing department screwed the pooch on this one.
