A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[AEfx]

I'm surprised that Gunn hasn't reached out to Bautista and asked him to stop. Because honestly, I think he is making it worse for both of them. The cast statement really should have been the last word from them on the matter. They made their views known, they had a united front. Now let the folks behind the scenes figure out if there is a way forward. (which again there is a teeny tiny % change of Gunn coming back in any form, so no one should get their hopes up)

I think the ship has sailed on Disney taking back their decision, but if there is even a sliver of a chance, you are right, he is definitely not helping.

He is trying to bully Disney online by chastising them for supposedly responding to other online bullies.

So how would those optics look if Disney appeared to be responding to his accusations of falling prey to bullies by letting the actor at the bottom of the call sheet bully them into changing a major corporate decision?

Makes me wonder if he knows something we don't and that decision has been deemed "final", as several outlets have reported.

 

[AEfx]

Update: Drax has upped the ante again - he explicitly says in a new interview that if Disney doesn't use Gunn's script, he wants to be let out of his contract.

So, the lowest-tier supporting actor of a billion dollar franchise is issuing an ultimatum to Disney about the highest levels of creative direction.

/wave nice knowing you, guy LOL. Even though I can only remember your name when I look you up.

 

[Kman101]

I think it looks bad that action was taken now. They knew about the tweets, it was a "thing" and they still had him helm the movies. I can see why Bautista is mad (guess I can't say the other way). But he really should stay quiet.

Not defending Gunn at all. But I can see why it's getting the mixed reaction it's getting.

We also don't know these people. We know their tweets. The actors know these people. Again, not a defense of James Gunn and his appalling and disgusting tweets.

No one's had friends who've said some awful stuff but they aren't actually that person?

 

[asianway]

Update: Drax has upped the ante again - he explicitly says in a new interview that if Disney doesn't use Gunn's script, he wants to be let out of his contract.

So, the lowest-tier supporting actor of a billion dollar franchise is issuing an ultimatum to Disney about the highest levels of creative direction.

/wave nice knowing you, guy LOL. Even though I can only remember your name when I look you up.

Lol the guys current status in the MCU is “dead”. Not sure who’s dumber him or his character

 

[Rodan75]

Update: Drax has upped the ante again - he explicitly says in a new interview that if Disney doesn't use Gunn's script, he wants to be let out of his contract.

So, the lowest-tier supporting actor of a billion dollar franchise is issuing an ultimatum to Disney about the highest levels of creative direction.

/wave nice knowing you, guy LOL. Even though I can only remember your name when I look you up.

No way they recast Drax. It would be a bigger issue than Gunn. But he is making GOTGv3 unlikely.

 

[Princess Leia]

No way they recast Drax. It would be a bigger issue than Gunn. But he is making GOTGv3 unlikely.

If Bautista keeps this up and is fired/able to get out of contract, Drax is written out in reshoots of A4, and Adam Warlock becomes the official 6th member early in GotG3. At least that’s my guess.

Natalie Portman somehow got out of her Marvel contract (she also had issues with a director being let go). If Bautista wants out, Disney can replace him or move on without him.

 

[AEfx]

No way they recast Drax. It would be a bigger issue than Gunn. But he is making GOTGv3 unlikely.

I think you may overestimate his value. He even said "they can recast". I don't think the average movie goer would even notice, TBH. It would be a Two Darrin's situation.

That said, given how technically he is dead in the Marvel Universe now, they could just leave him that way and move on.

 

[Rodan75]

I think you may overestimate his value. He even said "they can recast". I don't think the average movie goer would even notice, TBH. It would be a Two Darrin's situation.

That said, given how technically he is dead in the Marvel Universe now, they could just leave him that way and move on.

v3 had a real shot at $1B. Without Gunn and Bautista it is looking at Solo level grosses. Likely in the 400-500M range. And the press tour is toxic.

Bautista is replaceable. But you are discounting the cumulative impact of these issues. GOTGv3 has real issues in this moment.

This is now Feige’s biggest challenge.

 

[CanadianGordon]

If they recast then they won't have my ticket money. I'm a fan of GOTG and really enjoyed the chemistry that they all brought. This will be very challenging for Marvel and Feige moving forward.

 

[AEfx]

v3 had a real shot at $1B. Without Gunn and Bautista it is looking at Solo level grosses. Likely in the 400-500M range. And the press tour is toxic.

Bautista is replaceable. But you are discounting the cumulative impact of these issues. GOTGv3 has real issues in this moment.

This is now Feige’s biggest challenge.

While I think it certainly will be challenging for anyone to sort through this mess, the average movie goer doesn't know who Gunn is, and I just can't agree that Bautista is half the reason people see the films. They don't really know his name, either. I just don't think this is some crazy crisis like they were losing Chris Pratt or something.

Personally, I felt the overall story ended just fine with the second film - they also could just skip GOTG3 entirely, and just use the characters elsewhere. I think the Marvel Universe survives just fine.

 

[Quinnmac000]

Actually this is highlighting an issue Disney will have in the future....essentially if Disney becomes too hard to work with, will top tier talent want to work with Disney despite the hardships or set up their homes somewhere else.

Disney has burned a lot of professionals lately and it may not bode well in retention high level directors for quality products (Edgar Wright, Spielberg, Whedon, Gunn, Lord/Miller). Studio politics will effect them a lot with the upcoming Fox deal and who stays and who leaves after their contract with Fox is up. (Dan Fogelman will probably leave due to how much Disney angered him while he worked with them)

 

[AEfx]

Actually this is highlighting an issue Disney will have in the future....essentially if Disney becomes too hard to work with, will top tier talent want to work with Disney despite the hardships or set up their homes somewhere else.

Disney has burned a lot of professionals lately and it may not bode well in retention high level directors for quality products (Edgar Wright, Spielberg, Whedon, Gunn, Lord/Miller). Studio politics will effect them a lot with the upcoming Fox deal and who stays and who leaves after their contract with Fox is up. (Dan Fogelman will probably leave due to how much Disney angered him while he worked with them)

The thing is, for every one of the disgruntled, there are untold numbers of people who would give their eyeteeth to work for Disney/Fox...Cripes, we are on a Disney fanboard. How many people who come to this forum would practically sell their souls just to work for Imagineering?

There is plenty of talent out there, Hollywood is one industry where you literally could not run out of creative people who still see all the lures of working for Disney (big budgets, big properties, etc).

It is kind of funny no one has once said we would have a hard time replacing some of the really major names that have gone down for different reasons over the past year or so, just the people we like.

 

[TalkingHead]

Put another way, you can always find someone to flip burgers at McDonald's.

 

[Quinnmac000]

The thing is, for every one of the disgruntled, there are untold numbers of people who would give their eyeteeth to work for Disney/Fox...Cripes, we are on a Disney fanboard. How many people who come to this forum would practically sell their souls just to work for Imagineering?

There is plenty of talent out there, Hollywood is one industry where you literally could not run out of creative people who still see all the lures of working for Disney (big budgets, big properties, etc).

It is kind of funny no one has once said we would have a hard time replacing some of the really major names that have gone down for different reasons over the past year or so, just the people we like.

However, will creative people want to be on a leash like Disney seems to be doing rather than having a lot more creative control under another studio.

 

[Princess Leia]

It’s not like the MCU hasn’t replaced someone in the past.
Rhodey: Terrence Howard -> Don Cheadle
Bruce Banner: Edward Norton -> Mark Ruffalo
Fandral: Josh Dallas -> Zachary Levi
Thanos: relative of Sidney Poitier -> Josh Brolin
Red Skull: Hugo Weaving -> replacement

The last two weren’t exactly noticeable, and Fandral was a small supporting role (which got smaller as the Thor trilogy continued). But Marvel replaced the freaking Hulk, so if they wanted to replace Drax with a more cooperative actor, they could.

I really think the movie gets pushed back by a few months to accommodate whatever is going to happen. I know they wanted to have this movie be the big opening for Phase 4 (I know they’re not calling it that), since it looks like Spider-Man: Far From Home might fill the role Ant-Man did post-Ultron, but they could probably fill the spot easily with Black Panther. It’s not like Chadwick Bozeman & Co. had the largest roles in IW, and they won’t in A4 either, so a proper return to Wakanda would be nice.

 

[LSLS]

His most recent tweets just made me think of how ironic it is that yet another person is essentially destroying their career with/over Twitter statements...all in a hub-bub about....Twitter statements. He has gone past making his opinion known and has veered into insubordination territory. I know some are cheering him on because they really like what he is saying, but what he has now officially crossed the line to unprofessional and not something a future employer is going to want to risk happening to them (since it seems he has no interest in working for Disney past GotG3, regardless).

By saying the only reason he is coming back for GotG3 is because of his contract, I think he isn't realizing how highly replaceable he really is. Drax is funny because of the way he is written, specifically to be acted "badly". That's what makes people laugh. I like his portrayal and all, but he wasn't exactly chosen for his acting ability, either. If he really doesn't want to come back but feels obligated, I'm sure Disney would accommodate his wishes and replace him. I wonder if John Cena is available?

And lets not forget with owning Fox, Disney is going to own a LOT of the future employer business. Honestly GotG were far and away my least favorite MCU films anyways, but yeah, he's a small character in a franchise within the larger universe. He's WAY overplaying his hand here. He seems to think he is on the level of like Dwayne Johnson or Robert Downey Jr. (in the MCU).

 

[Nubs70]

Looks like Chinese box office returns for Winnie the Pooh will miss expectations.

 

[asianway]

Looks like Chinese box office returns for Winnie the Pooh will miss expectations.

I thought it was banned there

 

[Princess Leia]

I thought it was banned there

I think that was the point

 

[Nubs70]

I think that was the point

Anyone know if and how much DIS was anticipating from the Chinese box office?