Originally Posted By leemac <<After reading all the posts, it seems the Studios, which were once the core business of TWDC, are now a minor part of it and that small part can even be more disastrous when Oz and the Lone Ranger will flop this year. And Iger will still in charge as CEO?>> Iger's vision is about IPR from the creative outlets like the Studios providing revenue opportunities for other business units. He doesn't believe in the "singles and doubles" philosophy of MDE - in fact it is the complete opposite - he wants to only swing for The Avengers-sized homers. It is a monumental gamble. It has worked for the Marvel properties as they have a great dedicated team at Marvel. It will be much harder for properties like Oz and Lone Ranger that don't necessarily lend themselves to consumer products or theme parks.
Originally Posted By leemac And I'll wager that The Lone Ranger ends up north of $300m even before marketing.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<However they took a huge gamble on the writing team of Shane Black and Drew Pearce and Shane's direction.>> Got that right. Former friend of mine became acquainted with Shane personally around the time first Lethal Weapon came out and wasn't impressed with the golden boy graduate from UCLA. I've never been a huge fan of his writing; too formularic for my tastes. Yet he's made a fortune in selling them. If IM3 has an Achilles' heel, it's gonna be Black.
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Feige accepted the script for IM3 without many revisions - and no script doctoring - so they must have been happy. He annoys the heck out of me. Very arrogant individual. He is lucky that Downey Jr is such a loyal man as he was a big reason why he got the role. Sometimes his loyalty can be blind - see the mess that was Sherlock Holmes 2!
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Sherlock Holmes 2 was an utter train wreck! Here's hoping the IM franchise doesn't meet the same fate.
