Very true. No matter what Chapek’s intent was, or to what extent it was discussing logistics rather than the creative product, calling the film’s release an “experiment” threw a bucket of ice-water over the first MCU film in Phase 4 to introduce a new character. He might not have meant it that way, but it did. Liu is…

Pgoodso’s response to you is a pretty good one, but I’d also say that another distinction is between things that you experience constantly and things that are one-offs. If you go do some kind of military bootcamp thing for a weekend, you can “experience” (to some extent) what it’s like to be a soldier. But your lived…

“To be pedantic, 300 was released in March”

Early August and late August are a lot different — in the last 10-15-ish years, as the calendar has gotten more crowded, July has effectively started to leak into early August (Guardians was Aug. 1), October has started to leak into late September, May has spread into April*, and March has spread prodigiously into…

It really feels like catchup. They have so many actors under contract that they want to make sure they’re honoring making these movies when scheduled and actors don’t have to lose other jobs in the meantime (one of the impetuses behind hesitations for some to sign into the MCU), and with the ripple-effect environment…

Liu’s tweet is basically a daily affirmation. It’s telling that a lot of people who accuse him of misunderstanding Chapek’s comments basically misread Barsanti’s instigation into a relatively anodyne tweet.

I think it was mandated by Black Widow’s release, and trying to maximize theater time during the months when they expected the virus would be most under control, based on last year’s numbers and vaccine expectations. They just didn’t know a segment of the US population would work very hard to keep Covid alive and…

My biggest issue with this controversy is that I think it’s LIU whose being totally misrepresented here. I think he responded to the quote in financial news and was just revving up his followers to go see the movie, not accusing Chapek of racism.

Like, when Mean Gene told Randy Savage that the next Wrestlemania was…

One’s experience can include their education or media consumption as opposed to actual events in their lives. Not to say something completely obvious but liable to enrage the greys, but this is the basic distinction between most white folks in America understanding what racism is and that it exists and people of color…

Right, and the same thing is true of releasing Shang Chi in September. Black Panther and Shang Chi are both untested characters, and Marvel is clearly banking on their brand to sell the movie more than the character. It worked with Black Panther, and I’ll be real surprised if it doesn’t work with Shang Chi.

Guardians of the Galaxy was released in the relative wasteland of August and still pulled more than $750 million worldwide.

They released Black Panther in February

They released Black Panther in February, the spot on the calendar where studios usually dump their trash, and that movie did ok.

There’s also his experience with Kim’s Convenience, with white people talking over the lived Asian experience in the writer’s room, that might have made him think ‘enough of this shit’.

The second rule is.... (wait for it)...

I think anyone who percieves that they have been disrespected by their employer, or in this case the studio they are working with, should always feel free to speak up. 

I mean, even aside the issue of the money boat and the rocking thereof, the first rule of “Your company is actively being sued right now” is “Don’t talk about the effing lawsuit.”

Yeah what exactly does AVC expect him to say?

He said an obvious misunderstanding was an obvious misunderstanding. Sounds reasonable to me.

Giving a milquetoast soundbite is Feige’s superpower