A Reel Opinion: What's Next?

Here in 2019, it is with a great mix of emotion, excitement, and melancholy to know that two of the biggest, popular, and most successful franchises in film history will be coming to end in the next eight months. Marvel Studios will be ending their run of superhero films with AVENGERS: ENDGAME at the end of April, and STAR WARS will wrap up the Skywalker saga in December with Episode IX, THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. While we know that there will undoubtedly be more films from these two mammoth money-makers, the ending of their primary storylines and final goodbyes to beloved characters; a journey that has taken decades to get to, begs the question of what could possibly be next. 

That question takes Reel Speak back to 2003. It was December, and this Blogger and his very own Fellowship had just screened Peter Jackson’s glorious and triumphant THE RETURN OF THE KING; the finale to THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The eventual box office monster and Oscar-gobbler was a wrap on a series of films that had dominated theatres and most of our film-talk for three years, and similar to 2019, it was sad to see such a great run end. During libations on that cold December day, this Blogger’s best friend and loyal reader of Reel Speak asked, “what’s next?”

The question not only asked what we had to look forward to, but also what could possibly come close to the heights of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The question was fair as blockbuster filmmaking then wasn’t at the level it is today. The STAR WARS Prequel trilogy would be ending in 2005, and in the superhero business…Marvel had their name on a few X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN films that ranged from okay-to-great, and DC Comics had absolutely nothing going on; perhaps still reeling from their disastrous BATMAN run in the 1990’s. 

But then a funny thing happened on the way to 2019. In 2005 Christopher Nolan re-imagined and re-invented Batman for the big screen, starting with BATMAN BEGINS, and peaking with his Oscar-winning THE DARK KNIGHT in 2008. It was a bold step forward for DC and for superheroes on film, showing that movies with capes and masks can be considered legit cinema. 

And then Marvel reorganized and launched a new franchise, beginning with IRON MAN in 2008. The new series would bring older and nearly-forgotten comic heroes to the big screen such as Captain America, Hulk, and Thor…and elevated even their lower-tier characters such as Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Rocket & Groot into household-name status. The franchise ignited a popularity in comic-books that had not been seen in decades, and made comic conventions (comic-cons), wide-reaching pop-culture events and a target for major movie studios. 

Four years after IRON MAN, the surprise of the millennium came when STAR WARS creator George Lucas handed over the reins to Disney, which immediately announced more films. Beginning with THE FORCE AWAKENS in 2015, the new storyline picked up after the events of THE RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983) and awoke a sleeping fanbase and recruited a new one. Long-time fans were re-united with old friends such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia, while new fans fell in love with new characters Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB-8. The films were box office monsters and brought STAR WARS back into everyday conversation. 

And this year, both Marvel and STAR WARS will be closing the curtain on their current run. So, what is next? Marvel may be saying goodbye to Iron Man and Cap but have plans with a new generation of heroes…and their recent re-acquisition of the famed X-MEN and FANTASTIC FOUR franchises (FOX studios had owned the rights), gives them a near-endless slate of characters to re-introduce to the world. STAR WARS will be taking a break from cinema for an undetermined amount of time, but more films will be arriving down the road, and they have plenty of TV projects to keep us star-crossed. On the DC side of things, they’ve been all over the map in terms of quality, but have recently found hope in WONDER WOMAN, AQUAMAN, and SHAZAM!. And besides all the blockbusters, the Academy has had a focus on smaller films which tell personal, character-driven stories…which provides us with a balance of the massive and the intimate in cinema. 

Cinema history, like any other history, tends to repeat itself. This December we may be asking “what’s next” once again; hopefully the answer will be just as satisfying as the last one.