Mythic Messenger #20 - At least something "exceeded expectations" in 2020
WW84 streaming debut satisfies studio, benchmarks things to come
Given the talk around gender imbalance in Hollywood and the superhero genre, Wonder Woman 1984 was always destined to be “an important movie”. But as we've consistently reported over the last few months, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot’s neon-drenched sequel has also turned into a vital test case for how our consumption of film might change in 2021.
Denied what would have been one of last year’s most extravagant cinematic releases, Warner Bros. made the big call to have Diana of Themyscira’s sophomore outing debut on the HBO Max streaming service - and while it ticked the box with fans who got to enjoy their holiday blockbuster from home, executives had to be wincing at what this did to their box office return.
WW84 opened with an estimated box office of $85 million worldwide, with the bulk of that figure contributed by overseas markets where movie theaters have been quicker to recover from the pandemic. The domestic take was only $16.7 million, which factors in 2,151 US locations.
To put that in perspective, the first Jenkins/Gadot Wonder Woman opened to $103.2 million domestically in 2017; pre-pandemic forecasts for this film were over $200 million. It’s a dizzying decline, but at this point even Hollywood is accepting we’re in a new reality - Warner executives have been strictly positive about the release, doubling down on both the franchise and their new streaming emphasis.
Executive Vice President of WarnerMedia’s Direct-to-Consumer division Andy Forssell led the charge, declaring, “Wonder Woman 1984 broke records and exceeded our expectations across all of our key viewing and subscribing metrics.''
While the positivity was nice, it could be seen as a captive smile; the studio has already committed to simultaneous streaming premieres for its entire slate of 2021 releases. In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say - but fans who want the modern super-blockbuster to remain viable will hope they aren’t in for a pounding.
At the very least, Forssell and Warner Bros. did confirm they will fast-track the predicted Wonder Woman three-quel, likely Jenkins and Gadot’s last entry in the DCU. But it’s much harder to predict what the cinematic landscape will look like by the time we’ll be writing to you about it!
Anime megahit slays the demons of 2020 in record-breaking performance
Don’t worry, the news for movie lovers isn’t all doom and gloom - you just have to look overseas. In Japan, current anime darling Kimetsu no Yaiba - or Demon Slayer to western audiences - has claimed a tremendous victory as it closed out its 2020 theatrical run by setting the nation’s all-time box office record.
The breathtakingly beautiful sword-and-sorcery shōnen adaptation surpassed another animated classic, Hayao Miyazaki’s global hit Spirited Away, which grossed $305 million back in 2001. Despite adding a little to that total with some revival screenings this year, the Studio Ghibli masterpiece was unable to fend off the furious advance of Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, which closed out 2020 on a total $313.7 million (32.5 billion yen).
The shattering of the 20-year record was huge news for the Demon Slayer franchise, which was created by mangaka Gotōge Koyoharu in 2016. Concluding in May last year, the 205 chapter story extends far beyond the material adapted in Mugen Train and will only grow further as the second season of the TV series reaches an international audience.
But the huge box office made sense to those who had followed the film from its mid-October release. Mugen Train was already the fastest Japanese film to gross $100 million (which took just 10 days) and admitted over 24 million fans to cinemas across Japan, with screenings starting from 7 a.m. to accommodate outrageous demand.
So why was Demon Slayer the feature to outdo the formidable Studio Ghibli and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away? Plenty of credit belongs to animation studio Ufotable, whose artistic vision in bringing the show’s mystical sword duels to life leave even non-fans speechless. But there’s also a sense that Koyoharu-sensei’s story is something of a moral for our time; brother-sister protagonists Tanjiro and Nezuko are paragons of persistence, exhibiting the kind of proactive idealism audiences might hope to borrow as we collectively vow to bounce back from a historically rough year.
Fast fandom
As always, there is a ton going on in the interconnected world of pop culture and fan media. Here are a few of the stories that caught our eye:
DOTA2 announces new schedule for richest esports tournament ever
Fans of the world’s most valuable esports tournament rejoiced this week, as gaming giant Valve Software returned from months of silence to announce a new season of pro DOTA2. While the competitive DOTA circuit has existed with and without Valve’s direct support for nearly 15 years, the publisher’s annual world championship event, known as The International, is what drives the decision-making of top teams. With a history of breaking its own world record every year with crowdfunded cash prizes, the cancellation of the planned tenth International due to COVID-19 all but put the game on hiatus.
Now TI10 is back on for August, a year after its original proposed date, with a new season of qualifiers to get teams prepared. But a huge question mark remains over what Valve will do with the $40 million raised for last year’s prize - will they roll it over to this year for a truly unthinkable $80 million bounty? Or something less expected?
Funko pops up online event to replace cancelled toy fairs
Yes, despite reaching 2021 our favorite subcultures and communities are still navigating the effects of the pandemic on their event calendars; the latest announcement coming from pop culture kitsch-smiths Funko. The big-name brand had been destined to appear at the London and New York Toy Fairs, gala events which typically set the trends for the toy industry each year.
And we may still be seeing that forecast in their absence, as larger manufacturers like Funko move to create their own product announcement events online. The “Funko Fair 2021” will stretch out hundreds of new Funko Pop and other tie-in announcements over a fortnight of free streams and online content, with Warner Bros/DCU, Pokemon, Universal, Marvel and Star Wars confirmed to be participating.
Billionaire moguls move to capitalize on collectibles boom
Over the last few months, more and more mainstream media coverage has seized on pop-culture collectibles as a hot investment strategy. Sports cards in particular seem to have captured the public imagination ever since the success of Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance and its accompanying surge in Jordan-related auctions. Amid growing uncertainty in the stock market and real estate, even hard-nosed investors have been warming to the presence of an asset class which is historically resilient to dips in the market.
Now a coalition of trendsetting private funds and their billionaire leaders have stepped in to take ownership of key authentication service Collectors Universe. Steven A. Cohen, Dan Sundheim and entrepreneur/sports card devotee Nat Turner have dropped $700 million on the purchase, with rivals tipping Collectors Universe to push an expanded range of services for the growing collectibles market.