Studio heads should have learned years ago that just because a project is based on a comic book property doesn’t mean it’s going to be a hit. Take, for the most recent example, Kraven the Hunter, which may be based on a Marvel comic but has proven to be a late-calendar flop for Sony. And so who’s the blame for that? Why, the critics, of course – if Sony’s CEO is to be believed…

Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who took over his position in 2017, says he hasn’t faced a dud as big as Kraven the Hunter since stepping in. For numbers, it opened at #3 with just $11 million before falling more than 70%, an indication it will be out of the top 10 soon enough. As of publication, it has taken in only $18.5 million domestically off of a budget reported to be north of $130 million.

With that, Vinciquerra thinks the critics are the ones who buried Kraven the Hunter before it even hit theaters. To back up his claim, he also cited Madame Web, Sony’s other monumental 2024 flop that couldn’t recoup its budget. “Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”

Whether or not you want to blame critics (or internet culture) as playing crucial roles in both Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web doing terrible numbers at the box office, Vinciquerra is also hitting on a more telling point, one which seems to be going over his head. Venom did better because people know who Venom is and there was something firm established. Really, outside of the die-hards, who cares about Kraven enough to think he warrants his own $100+ million movie? But to his credit, Vinciquerra did at least say that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe needs an overhaul because of both Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web.

What do you make of both Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web’s poor box office performances?

The post Sony CEO blames critics for Kraven the Hunter & Madame Web flopping; denies they were bad movies appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: In the small town of Clover Falls, Abbie’s father, Roger Bladecut, has built an infamous legacy by capturing real-life killings on tape and selling them to eager customers, but as Abbie delves deeper into the grisly family business, she begins to wonder if it’s time to take the family tradition in a new direction. 

REVIEW: Ever since Scream, one of the only ways to really do an interesting slasher is to break it down to its simplest elements and subvert them. Most of the standard tales have been done before so adding a little creativity is really the only way to stand out. But there’s a balance that must be struck in order to stick out and not fall into common pitfalls. Bloody Axe Wound does a great job of paying homage to the 80s while still providing a modern take. Does it come together in the end or does the knife only go surface level? Well…

Bloody Axe Wound follows Abbie Bladecut, the adopted daughter of a killer who wants to take after her old man. They exist in this world where not only are slasher villains real, their exploits are filmed and then sold/rented to the public. Don’t think too hard on it, as it goes more for a satirical bend than anything else. There’s even a bit of unexplained magic  But she starts to question whether she has a place in the family business when she starts to develop empathy for her would-be victims. Sari Arambulo has been impressive since AP Bio so it’s great to see her flourish in a lead role. It’s not easy to walk this tight rope of satirical violence, and she does a great job with it. Abbie wants to follow in her father’s footsteps while simultaneously making friends with his would be victims. While I don’t think that element entirely works because of the disposable nature of all the friends, it’s interesting to see the moral dilemma.

High School romance is hard to pull off but they do a good job of setting up Abbie and Sam in a believable way. It’s nice to see a gay romance not treated as some kind of “gotcha” moment. I don’t tend to like characters like Sam because they feel overly written to be cool, having the exact opposite effect. Molly Brown is affable, even with the “too cool for school” quality to her. She and Sari have good chemistry and make the underdeveloped relationship on the page, really live on the screen.

Billy Burke is great as the surprisingly understated Roger Bladecut. He’s in full makeup and makes the most of it, getting his annoyance conveyed through the makeup. The design of the killer feels very Town That Dreaded Sundown and it works well enough. I liked Abbie’s Werewolf mask more as, oddly enough, it felt more original and unexpected. And despite it being a very brief cameo, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is having an absolute blast as one of the town’s other killers. If anything, I wanted more of a glimpse at some of the other killers that exist in this world, with some overlap in victims or territory or something. It was a little odd how he drops out of the narrative entirely and we don’t see more crossover killers.

This features the greatest hits of slasher settings with a high school, suburban house, and cabin, among others. The budget shows a little bit when it comes to populating the world, but it works for the story. The school feels very light on people but this could easily be attributed to the many teenage deaths that the town is known for. Speaking of kills, it’s honestly shocking how BLOODY the kills can get. They get into “how does a human body hold so much blood” territory, but if anything, that just makes it more fun. This can conflict a bit with the moments that it’s trying to go for an emotional gut punch so it can feel a bit unbalanced.

I won’t lie, the narrative didn’t come together quite how I wanted. The film feels hastily wrapped up and elements are glossed over that I felt needed more attention. If you’re not into slashers then Bloody Axe Wound is going to be a tough sell because it’s still firmly a slasher. Characters are killed unceremoniously and there’s a lot of blood. But I also see a lot of heart here too. The messaging could have been a bit better (the revelation of “they’re just like us!” falls a bit flat) but that’s not really the point of a film like this. At a light 82 minutes, it’s easy to recommend to those who are even on the fence. Because this is a smart and fun slasher.

BLOODY AXE WOUND RELEASES IN SELECT THEATERS ON DECEMBER 27TH, 2024.

Bloody Axe Wound

GOOD

7

The post Bloody Axe Wound Review: A Fun Tribute to Classic Slashers appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: In the small town of Clover Falls, Abbie’s father, Roger Bladecut, has built an infamous legacy by capturing real-life killings on tape and selling them to eager customers, but as Abbie delves deeper into the grisly family business, she begins to wonder if it’s time to take the family tradition in a new direction. 

REVIEW: Ever since Scream, one of the only ways to really do an interesting slasher is to break it down to its simplest elements and subvert them. Most of the standard tales have been done before so adding a little creativity is really the only way to stand out. But there’s a balance that must be struck in order to stick out and not fall into common pitfalls. Bloody Axe Wound does a great job of paying homage to the 80s while still providing a modern take. Does it come together in the end or does the knife only go surface level? Well…

Bloody Axe Wound follows Abbie Bladecut, the adopted daughter of a killer who wants to take after her old man. They exist in this world where not only are slasher villains real, their exploits are filmed and then sold/rented to the public. Don’t think too hard on it, as it goes more for a satirical bend than anything else. There’s even a bit of unexplained magic  But she starts to question whether she has a place in the family business when she starts to develop empathy for her would-be victims. Sari Arambulo has been impressive since AP Bio so it’s great to see her flourish in a lead role. It’s not easy to walk this tight rope of satirical violence, and she does a great job with it. Abbie wants to follow in her father’s footsteps while simultaneously making friends with his would be victims. While I don’t think that element entirely works because of the disposable nature of all the friends, it’s interesting to see the moral dilemma.

High School romance is hard to pull off but they do a good job of setting up Abbie and Sam in a believable way. It’s nice to see a gay romance not treated as some kind of “gotcha” moment. I don’t tend to like characters like Sam because they feel overly written to be cool, having the exact opposite effect. Molly Brown is affable, even with the “too cool for school” quality to her. She and Sari have good chemistry and make the underdeveloped relationship on the page, really live on the screen.

Billy Burke is great as the surprisingly understated Roger Bladecut. He’s in full makeup and makes the most of it, getting his annoyance conveyed through the makeup. The design of the killer feels very Town That Dreaded Sundown and it works well enough. I liked Abbie’s Werewolf mask more as, oddly enough, it felt more original and unexpected. And despite it being a very brief cameo, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is having an absolute blast as one of the town’s other killers. If anything, I wanted more of a glimpse at some of the other killers that exist in this world, with some overlap in victims or territory or something. It was a little odd how he drops out of the narrative entirely and we don’t see more crossover killers.

This features the greatest hits of slasher settings with a high school, suburban house, and cabin, among others. The budget shows a little bit when it comes to populating the world, but it works for the story. The school feels very light on people but this could easily be attributed to the many teenage deaths that the town is known for. Speaking of kills, it’s honestly shocking how BLOODY the kills can get. They get into “how does a human body hold so much blood” territory, but if anything, that just makes it more fun. This can conflict a bit with the moments that it’s trying to go for an emotional gut punch so it can feel a bit unbalanced.

I won’t lie, the narrative didn’t come together quite how I wanted. The film feels hastily wrapped up and elements are glossed over that I felt needed more attention. If you’re not into slashers then Bloody Axe Wound is going to be a tough sell because it’s still firmly a slasher. Characters are killed unceremoniously and there’s a lot of blood. But I also see a lot of heart here too. The messaging could have been a bit better (the revelation of “they’re just like us!” falls a bit flat) but that’s not really the point of a film like this. At a light 82 minutes, it’s easy to recommend to those who are even on the fence. Because this is a smart and fun slasher

BLOODY AXE WOUND RELEASES IN SELECT THEATERS ON DECEMBER 27TH, 2024.

Bloody Axe Wound

GOOD

7

The post Bloody Axe Wound Review: A Fun Tribute to Classic Slashers appeared first on JoBlo.

Frank Grillo played Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the actor has made the leap to DC to play Rick Flag Sr. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Grillo explained why he prefers playing in the DCU over the MCU.

“They’re very different,” Grillo said. “Marvel’s a different machine, and it’s great in its own right, but the thing I love about James’ and Peter’s DC is that it’s much more contained. It’s so much more personal and I really enjoy it better. I just love being part of something in the embryonic stage and being able to grow with it and watch it and flourish.” Crossbones was never utilized in the way fans (or Grillo) expected, so I can’t say I blame him for being more excited about his DC role.

Grillo made his DCU debut in the animated Creature Commandos series but will be making the leap to live-action with Superman and the second season of Peacemaker. “With Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, Flag is a prominent figure in the stories,” Grillo said. “With Superman, he kind of just drops in.“

The actor added that although his character sports some intense white hair in the animated series, they weren’t able to do the same thing for Superman or Peacemaker as he happened to be shooting the second season of Tulsa King at the same time. “Unfortunately, we shot some of the Peacemaker and Superman while I was in the middle of shooting Tulsa King, so we were limited to what we could do with my hair,” Grillo said. “I had to just use what I had and try to make it as interesting as I could. I had every intention of dying it white and slicing it up, but I just couldn’t do it.“

In addition to Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Creature Commandos features the voices of David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Indira Varma as The Bride, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorus, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, and Steve Agee as John Economos, and Sean Gunn as Weasel. The series tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. DC has already renewed Creature Commandos for a second season.

The post Creature Commandos star Frank Grillo on why he prefers DC over Marvel appeared first on JoBlo.

Earlier this month, an anonymous Reddit user popped up with claims of having seen a Switch 2 model firsthand. The Verge and others found him to be a potentially credible source, but fans eager for morsels of information about Nintendo’s long-awaited next console had to settle for mere written descriptions. Now that…

Read more…

Earlier this month, an anonymous Reddit user popped up with claims of having seen a Switch 2 model firsthand. The Verge and others found him to be a potentially credible source, but fans eager for morsels of information about Nintendo’s long-awaited next console had to settle for mere written descriptions. Now that…

Read more…

My life changed when I first played Final Fantasy VII in the late ‘90s. The narrative-focused RPG chronicling the struggle of misfit adventurers on a quest to save the world held my attention like little else. Its slow-burn story told through text boxes on pre-rendered backgrounds, all backed by a soaring melodic…

Read more…

My life changed when I first played Final Fantasy VII in the late ‘90s. The narrative-focused RPG chronicling the struggle of misfit adventurers on a quest to save the world held my attention like little else. Its slow-burn story told through text boxes on pre-rendered backgrounds, all backed by a soaring melodic…

Read more…

After more than three years of waiting, today the new season of Squid Game is finally on Netflix for our masochistic viewing pleasure. After season one ended with Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), also known as Player 456, choosing to search for the people behind the game instead of boarding a flight to Los Angeles to reconnect…

Read more…

After more than three years of waiting, today the new season of Squid Game is finally on Netflix for our masochistic viewing pleasure. After season one ended with Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), also known as Player 456, choosing to search for the people behind the game instead of boarding a flight to Los Angeles to reconnect…

Read more…