Pim Razenberg on the role of the five stages of grief in Avengers: Endgame, following the tragic events of Avengers: Infinity War… Warning: If you have not seen Avengers: Endgame and want to avoid spoilers, do not read the following article. One of the fantastic ways in which Avengers: Endgame deals with the fallout of […]
Avengers: Endgame – Are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes now the MCU’s primary antagonists?
Pim Razenberg on the unconsidered consequences of Avengers: Endgame… Warning: If you have not seen Avengers: Endgame and want to avoid spoilers, do not read the following article. Did the Russo Brothers turn Earth’s Mightiest Heroes into Earth’s Greatest Foes with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame? After casting the Avengers in the role of […]
The History of the Multi-Part Film, Part I of I
Pim Razenberg on Multi-Part Film franchising… In the 2015 article The Future of Franchising: The Shared Universe, I discussed the development of franchising strategies within Hollywood. In the 2010s, these strategies cumulated in the dawn of interconnected franchising through “cinematic universes”, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. Today, as we […]
A World Without Cinema: How Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are paving the way to Box Office success in Saudi Arabia
Pim Razenberg on the changes in Saudi Arabia’s cinematic landscape… What was the first movie you ever watched in theatres? Was it a family friendly animated film, or the action-packed blockbuster your father really wanted to see? For me, it was most probably Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1991. At the […]
Questioning the Snap: How Thanos caused an extinction-level event and ruined yogurt
Pim Razenberg on the unconsidered consequences of Thanos’ finger snap… Warning: If you have not seen Avengers: Infinity War and want to avoid spoilers, do not read the following article. Intelligent, calculated and truly righteous in his own beliefs, Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, disintegrating half of all life […]
Avengers: Infinity War and the Marvel Marketing Machine
Pim Razenberg on Marvel’s well-oiled marketing machine, which hooked us all to the Marvel Cinematic Universe… Black Panther passed the $1 billion mark at the box office, Avengers: Infinity War is expected to have a $215 million opening debut in North America and Kevin Feige is starting to tease audiences around the world with what […]
Why Black Panther Shouldn’t Be Nominated for Best Picture
Pim Razenberg on the over-praising of Black Panther and the need for true equality… Over the course of the past month, we’ve heard them all: every critic and every columnist shared their opinion of Marvel Studio’s new smash hit, Black Panther. They shouted out that diversity finally rules the box office; that Black Panther is […]
Producer vs. Director: The Case of Zack Snyder
Pim Razenberg on the debate on creative differences between producers and directors… Creative differences. The clichéd answer to most break-ups between a studio and its directors. Recent examples of cases where “creative differences” were the cause of conflict are the departure of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the as-of-yet untitled Han Solo anthology film […]
Sexism and Racism in Hollywood: The Black Force Awakens
Pim Razenberg on sexism and racism in Hollywood… “Alright,” he sighted, the look on his face implying that a more serious tone was to follow. Squatting down next to the dead-still body of a man lying face-down in a puddle of mud, he paused a short moment to observe the seemingly beaten down individual’s shredded […]
Thanos: The Unproven Titan
Pim Razenberg on whether Thanos is the Avengers’ greatest foe, or just purple cookie-dough… Thanos. The Dark Lord. The Man Titan… The Great Bore? Introduced with a slight, grim smile in The Avengers, Marvel Comics’ powerful supervillain Thanos soon became Marvel Studio fans’ top 1 Google-search term. It didn’t take long before I started hearing […]