Disney's Raya And The Last Dragon

[Ben]

It's a bad sign when the audience begins to know a screenwriter by name...

There are plenty of "star" screenwriters. Netflix just made a movie about one of them.

Had anyone heard of Alex Kurtzman before Tom Cruise's "Mummy"?

Yes.

Would Joe Eszterhas have become a legend on "Showgirls" alone, if "Jade" hadn't opened the same month?

Jagged Edge and, especially Basic Instinct had already made him an infamous name.

Now those second story sketches really does look like Mulan!

In the good way.

Yes, of course in the good way!

[Daniel]

Showgirls and Jade did not open in the same month.

[EricJ]

It's a bad sign when the audience begins to know a screenwriter by name...

There are plenty of "star" screenwriters. Netflix just made a movie about one of them.

The rules are different for studio-era ones--
Nowadays, there's a difference between knowing that Ernest Lehmann wrote a script, and noticing that Michael Bay wrote one.

Would Joe Eszterhas have become a legend on "Showgirls" alone, if "Jade" hadn't opened the same month?

Jagged Edge and, especially Basic Instinct had already made him an infamous name.

Yes--After Edge and Instinct, execs thought Eszterhas was the greatest psychological-thriller writer in the world, and everyone wanted him to write scripts for them. (Prompting the great Bidding War that helped kill off screenwriters in 00's-10's Hollywood.)

Just like Disney was so impressed with Woolverton after their "Oscar nominated" Beauty & Beast, they wanted her to write all their scripts for them, not even suspecting what they were about to let out of its cage.
This is why it's not a good idea to hire writers based on one script.

[Farerb]

Yeah I'm sure Disney was really upset about The Lion King, Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent.

[EricJ]

Yeah I'm sure Disney was really upset about The Lion King, Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent.

They WEREN'T. That was the problem.
(Yeah, yeah, I know: "But look at all the money that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil made!". )

Now I have to go one page back and see which of the Anal Three derailed this one, before getting back to the question of when I can re-subscribe to D+ again...

[Ben]

The "rules" are...there are no rules.

And you do realize — although no, clearly you don’t — that lead times on not only animated but all films are so long that Woolverton would have been engaged on Homeward Bound and The Lion King for Disney long before B&TB even got its New York screening, let alone Oscar buzz and actual nominations...

[Daniel]

But don't let facts get in the way...

[Bill1978]

Guess there is something wrong with me because when I see Linda's name pop up in the opening credits as being involved in the story, it increases my interest in the movie due to my enjoyment of her story telling in Beauty and The Beast

In regards to Raya's new trailer, everything was going well until Awkafina's voice appeared. It is such a distinctive voice it pulled me out of the trailer and I think that's because I'm not sure her voice really matches the design of her character. But then I vaguely remember being out off my Eddie Murphy's voice with Mulan and I didn't have a problem with it when I viewed that movie. Still looking forward to this movie.

[Farerb]

How did you feel about Dwayne Johnson?

[Ben]

I didn’t notice Dwayne Johnson was in it?

[Bill1978]

How did you feel about Dwayne Johnson?

I had no issue with Dwayne's voice in Moana at any stage. And I'm sure by the time I see Raya I won't have an issue with Awkafina's part but in that short trailer it felt out of place after everything else that came before. But I feel the movie will probably be more tonally consistent so when her dragon appears it's not such an about face on the tone like it is in the trailer...I hope

[Daniel]

Couple of billboards:

[danieltruchsess]

They all look happy in the second billboard, don't they? I wonder towards what they are running...

[Ben]

Triumph.

[Daniel]

Couple of promotional images:





I'm liking that chubby monkey, looks so mellow.