Sony Hack and Bloodshot

[Tannerman]

Undoubtedly, some of you are probably following the news/data dump coming out of the hacking of Sony Pictures. But did anyone happen to notice mention of our dear Bloodshot film in some of the leaked e-mails? For those interested, here's the full text of an e-mail with Valiant connections:



From this e-mail sent September 9, 2014, conversation revolves around Sony's lack of in-house intellectual property franchises to exploit. Mention of competitors with established franchisees is made (Marvel, DC/WB, Star Wars). Then the discussion moves to how Sony is trying to build out the franchises they do have control over, along with attempting to attract good talent to run them.

Towards the bottom of the e-mail, you'll see this reference:

"We are trying to expand the IP at our disposal with plans for Ghostbusters and Bloodshot..."

Later, our nanite-injected friend is mentioned again, this time with the idea of someone linking the franchise to Roland Emmerich's pending film, Singularity:

"We are investigating even tying Singularity into Bloodshot so we can do it all."

Here's a brief description about that film, pulled from Screen Rant:

“… ['Singularity'] takes place in the future 40 years from now. It’s like kind of this moment where computer technology is so advanced that we kind of – it’s the danger of losing control…”

Thoughts?

[David_Cody]

Very, very interesting and apropos at the same times.

[leonmallett]

Thoughts? Sony are scrabbling around in the dark. They want to ape Marvel without understanding that it was simply the right set of components for Marvel.

The author (DeLuca) throws out names they will try and tie down, but honestly, Marvel have locked Gunn, the Russos with apparently dream projects. As for the rest of the directors named, it is all desperate spit-balling.

That they are thinking of clumsy conflation of IP's into franchises also smacks of desperation.

Finally, what major component of Marvel's success is overlooked. The fact that Iron Man served as such a great catalyst. Marvel Studios have recognised RDJ's worth by giving him $50 million, but DeLuca does not even acknowledge this - as I said up front, Marvel fitted together the right set of components, and probably had some great fortune in the Favreau-RDJ-Feige trio that really gave them momentum to launch a multi-billion dollar interconnected universe. The Incredible Hulk was a modest success in comparison to Iron Man, released at a similar time, and with a similar budget - yet IM was the real catalyst of the two, as evidenced that IM2 was the link to the next couple of movies: Cap and Thor.

They want to be Marvel Studios, but are reaching around desperately to catch up, when MS are now years down the road.

[bygranddesign]

Thanks for posting this

I think its cool that he mentioned Bloodshot twice and they seemed to be invested in making it a big part of their plans

I hope it all comes together ... and we get a movie some day

[lorddunlow]

Thoughts? Sony are scrabbling around in the dark. They want to ape Marvel without understanding that it was simply the right set of components for Marvel.

The author (DeLuca) throws out names they will try and tie down, but honestly, Marvel have locked Gunn, the Russos with apparently dream projects. As for the rest of the directors named, it is all desperate spit-balling.

That they are thinking of clumsy conflation of IP's into franchises also smacks of desperation.

Finally, what major component of Marvel's success is overlooked. The fact that Iron Man served as such a great catalyst. Marvel Studios have recognised RDJ's worth by giving him $50 million, but DeLuca does not even acknowledge this - as I said up front, Marvel fitted together the right set of components, and probably had some great fortune in the Favreau-RDJ-Feige trio that really gave them momentum to launch a multi-billion dollar interconnected universe. The Incredible Hulk was a modest success in comparison to Iron Man, released at a similar time, and with a similar budget - yet IM was the real catalyst of the two, as evidenced that IM2 was the link to the next couple of movies: Cap and Thor.

They want to be Marvel Studios, but are reaching around desperately to catch up, when MS are now years down the road.

I'll reduce your thoughts on Marvel's success into a simple idiom: Lightning in a bottle.

Not reproducible. Probably not gonna happen again anytime soon, if ever.

[Sven the Returned]

Thoughts? Sony are scrabbling around in the dark. They want to ape Marvel without understanding that it was simply the right set of components for Marvel.

The author (DeLuca) throws out names they will try and tie down, but honestly, Marvel have locked Gunn, the Russos with apparently dream projects. As for the rest of the directors named, it is all desperate spit-balling.

That they are thinking of clumsy conflation of IP's into franchises also smacks of desperation.

Finally, what major component of Marvel's success is overlooked. The fact that Iron Man served as such a great catalyst. Marvel Studios have recognised RDJ's worth by giving him $50 million, but DeLuca does not even acknowledge this - as I said up front, Marvel fitted together the right set of components, and probably had some great fortune in the Favreau-RDJ-Feige trio that really gave them momentum to launch a multi-billion dollar interconnected universe. The Incredible Hulk was a modest success in comparison to Iron Man, released at a similar time, and with a similar budget - yet IM was the real catalyst of the two, as evidenced that IM2 was the link to the next couple of movies: Cap and Thor.

They want to be Marvel Studios, but are reaching around desperately to catch up, when MS are now years down the road.

I'll reduce your thoughts on Marvel's success into a simple idiom: Lightning in a bottle.

Not reproducible. Probably not gonna happen again anytime soon, if ever.

I agree. I want my Panther and after that the whole thing can collapse. Bloodshot could be made on the cheap and well if they go down the new Dredd route.

[Donovan]

I'm in the minority, but I don't ever want to see a Valiant movie. I'm extremely skeptical that it would be a) good, b) money making, and c) do more good than harm in terms of Valiant's reputation.

I just want good comics.

[bygranddesign]

I'm in the minority, but I don't ever want to see a Valiant movie. I'm extremely skeptical that it would be a) good, b) money making, and c) do more good than harm in terms of Valiant's reputation.

I just want good comics.

IMO, The only way the company is going to grow and thrive is with some sort of breakthrough mainstream success through movies or tv.

I really don't think we will see the line of comics grow ... And the quality I think will deteriorate as they will have to reboot titles more and more to try and keep sales up. The writers will be more and more compromised.

Right now, I think they are taking the slow and steady approach and I don't think writers have been compromised too much ... But a breakthrough to the mainstream means more freedom as a publisher.

They have great writers now but they will be able to afford even more respected writers and artists as they expand the line due to the mainstream success.

And from a personal note, I want to see Dinesh's hard work really pay off for him. I'm sure is happy with everything they have accomplished so far - but he deserves movie/tv success.

And quite frankly these characters that we all love deserve a chance to have mainstream success.

And I know Marvel / DC success is not realistic

I'm just talking a small slice of a huge superhero/scifi/fantasy pie would be really nice

[bygranddesign]

Thoughts? Sony are scrabbling around in the dark. They want to ape Marvel without understanding that it was simply the right set of components for Marvel.

The author (DeLuca) throws out names they will try and tie down, but honestly, Marvel have locked Gunn, the Russos with apparently dream projects. As for the rest of the directors named, it is all desperate spit-balling.

That they are thinking of clumsy conflation of IP's into franchises also smacks of desperation.

Finally, what major component of Marvel's success is overlooked. The fact that Iron Man served as such a great catalyst. Marvel Studios have recognised RDJ's worth by giving him $50 million, but DeLuca does not even acknowledge this - as I said up front, Marvel fitted together the right set of components, and probably had some great fortune in the Favreau-RDJ-Feige trio that really gave them momentum to launch a multi-billion dollar interconnected universe. The Incredible Hulk was a modest success in comparison to Iron Man, released at a similar time, and with a similar budget - yet IM was the real catalyst of the two, as evidenced that IM2 was the link to the next couple of movies: Cap and Thor.

They want to be Marvel Studios, but are reaching around desperately to catch up, when MS are now years down the road.

I'll reduce your thoughts on Marvel's success into a simple idiom: Lightning in a bottle.

Not reproducible. Probably not gonna happen again anytime soon, if ever.

if anything movies will become more and more about big franchises and blockbuster event entertainment. movies have become a pretty ridiculous concept - pay 13 bucks for 2-3 hours of entertainment when I have millions of programming to choose from at my home with my big HD television? That's nuts .... Unless it's blockbuster event entertainment it's hard to get me to go to the movies. Valiant has event blockbuster potential.

Peter Jackson turned one book The hobbit into 3 blockbuster movies.

Star Wars is going to have another trilogy with I'm sure multiple spin off movies.

YA novels are turned into franchise blockbuster hits every year - some more successful than others but overall pretty successful. They could probably make another 8 Harry Potter movies and they would be successful.

It's not just Marvel and DC creating hits

I don't think the guy in that email is crazy - that's the way you have to think to be successful.

there are so many shows and movies that have had success that no one knew were comic books.

There is room for something like Valiant to find a niche of success, IMO.

[jmatt]

I'm in the minority, but I don't ever want to see a Valiant movie. I'm extremely skeptical that it would be a) good, b) money making, and c) do more good than harm in terms of Valiant's reputation.

I just want good comics.

A good movie will mean great comics. More money to spend on talent and production value (heavier covers, etc). Plus, the possibility of more Valiant related movies will mean the company has a higher stake in producing knock-out material to fuel that fire.

But the movie has to be extremely well done, of course. And as Marvel related characters start to wear thinner with audiences looking for something new, Valiant is poised to be that IP engine.

[bygranddesign]

I'm in the minority, but I don't ever want to see a Valiant movie. I'm extremely skeptical that it would be a) good, b) money making, and c) do more good than harm in terms of Valiant's reputation.

I just want good comics.

A good movie will mean great comics. More money to spend on talent and production value (heavier covers, etc). Plus, the possibility of more Valiant related movies will mean the company has a higher stake in producing knock-out material to fuel that fire.

But the movie has to be extremely well done, of course. And as Marvel related characters start to wear thinner with audiences looking for something new, Valiant is poised to be that IP engine.

+1

[dornwolf]

I find it odd they mention tying another completely unrelated project into Bloodshot and yet not a single mention that Bloodshot is from a comic book universe that is ripe for the picking for a shared universe style set of movies. Neill Blonkamp on just about any Valiant related movie would be amazing.

[Sven the Returned]

Thoughts? Sony are scrabbling around in the dark. They want to ape Marvel without understanding that it was simply the right set of components for Marvel.

The author (DeLuca) throws out names they will try and tie down, but honestly, Marvel have locked Gunn, the Russos with apparently dream projects. As for the rest of the directors named, it is all desperate spit-balling.

That they are thinking of clumsy conflation of IP's into franchises also smacks of desperation.

Finally, what major component of Marvel's success is overlooked. The fact that Iron Man served as such a great catalyst. Marvel Studios have recognised RDJ's worth by giving him $50 million, but DeLuca does not even acknowledge this - as I said up front, Marvel fitted together the right set of components, and probably had some great fortune in the Favreau-RDJ-Feige trio that really gave them momentum to launch a multi-billion dollar interconnected universe. The Incredible Hulk was a modest success in comparison to Iron Man, released at a similar time, and with a similar budget - yet IM was the real catalyst of the two, as evidenced that IM2 was the link to the next couple of movies: Cap and Thor.

They want to be Marvel Studios, but are reaching around desperately to catch up, when MS are now years down the road.

I'll reduce your thoughts on Marvel's success into a simple idiom: Lightning in a bottle.

Not reproducible. Probably not gonna happen again anytime soon, if ever.

if anything movies will become more and more about big franchises and blockbuster event entertainment. movies have become a pretty ridiculous concept - pay 13 bucks for 2-3 hours of entertainment when I have millions of programming to choose from at my home with my big HD television? That's nuts .... Unless it's blockbuster event entertainment it's hard to get me to go to the movies. Valiant has event blockbuster potential.

Peter Jackson turned one book The hobbit into 3 blockbuster movies.

Star Wars is going to have another trilogy with I'm sure multiple spin off movies.

YA novels are turned into franchise blockbuster hits every year - some more successful than others but overall pretty successful. They could probably make another 8 Harry Potter movies and they would be successful.

It's not just Marvel and DC creating hits

I don't think the guy in that email is crazy - that's the way you have to think to be successful.

there are so many shows and movies that have had success that no one knew were comic books.

There is room for something like Valiant to find a niche of success, IMO.

I am still skeptical about DC. If something works temporarily Hollywoood will try to make it the new normal, we will see how sustainable it will be.

[leonmallett]

Thoughts? Sony are scrabbling around in the dark. They want to ape Marvel without understanding that it was simply the right set of components for Marvel.

The author (DeLuca) throws out names they will try and tie down, but honestly, Marvel have locked Gunn, the Russos with apparently dream projects. As for the rest of the directors named, it is all desperate spit-balling.

That they are thinking of clumsy conflation of IP's into franchises also smacks of desperation.

Finally, what major component of Marvel's success is overlooked. The fact that Iron Man served as such a great catalyst. Marvel Studios have recognised RDJ's worth by giving him $50 million, but DeLuca does not even acknowledge this - as I said up front, Marvel fitted together the right set of components, and probably had some great fortune in the Favreau-RDJ-Feige trio that really gave them momentum to launch a multi-billion dollar interconnected universe. The Incredible Hulk was a modest success in comparison to Iron Man, released at a similar time, and with a similar budget - yet IM was the real catalyst of the two, as evidenced that IM2 was the link to the next couple of movies: Cap and Thor.

They want to be Marvel Studios, but are reaching around desperately to catch up, when MS are now years down the road.

I'll reduce your thoughts on Marvel's success into a simple idiom: Lightning in a bottle.

Not reproducible. Probably not gonna happen again anytime soon, if ever.

Agreed.

[leonmallett]

I find it odd they mention tying another completely unrelated project into Bloodshot and yet not a single mention that Bloodshot is from a comic book universe that is ripe for the picking for a shared universe style set of movies.

It is that first part that suggests desperation to me. It seems as though DeLuca does not understand the Bloodshot property.

[leonmallett]

I'm in the minority, but I don't ever want to see a Valiant movie. I'm extremely skeptical that it would be a) good, b) money making, and c) do more good than harm in terms of Valiant's reputation.

I just want good comics.

A good movie will mean great comics. More money to spend on talent and production value (heavier covers, etc). Plus, the possibility of more Valiant related movies will mean the company has a higher stake in producing knock-out material to fuel that fire.

But the movie has to be extremely well done, of course. And as Marvel related characters start to wear thinner with audiences looking for something new, Valiant is poised to be that IP engine.

Not sure that follows. Currently the Marvel studios position is one of getting stronger, with increased ticket sales for Cap 2, Thor 2, IM 3 over the preceding movies for those characters. Avengers Age of Ultron will be telling of course, as will Ant-man, but Guardians of the Galaxy was wildly successful, 6 years and the tenth movie in to the plan.

[omega_override]

I mostly just glossed over the email, but it seems like Sony is only really interested in Bloodshot (compared to Bond and Spider-Man) as just a play toy worth having and doesn't really see it as something that will go over particularly well in the box office. They kind of come off as arrogant, which doesn't surprise me considering how big they are, but you'd think they'd have more courtesy and sense to treat every film project as a potential "million dollar box office smash"

[lorddunlow]

I mostly just glossed over the email, but it seems like Sony is only really interested in Bloodshot (compared to Bond and Spider-Man) as just a play toy worth having and doesn't really see it as something that will go over particularly well in the box office. They kind of come off as arrogant, which doesn't surprise me considering how big they are, but you'd think they'd have more courtesy and sense to treat every film project as a potential "million dollar box office smash"

Well, I think the issue is that email is talking about copying Marvel's strategy of a connected movie universe of properties. I don't know the specifics, but I think the movie rights to the VEI properties are spread around in different studios at the current time. I think Bloodshot is the only thing Sony has the rights to.

[Sven the Returned]

I mostly just glossed over the email, but it seems like Sony is only really interested in Bloodshot (compared to Bond and Spider-Man) as just a play toy worth having and doesn't really see it as something that will go over particularly well in the box office. They kind of come off as arrogant, which doesn't surprise me considering how big they are, but you'd think they'd have more courtesy and sense to treat every film project as a potential "million dollar box office smash"

Give it to a studio that did mostly direct to dvd action movies with high quality action and if it's well written if they willing to invest bigger buck it will look amazing.

[bygranddesign]

Well, I think the issue is that email is talking about copying Marvel's strategy of a connected movie universe of properties. I don't know the specifics, but I think the movie rights to the VEI properties are spread around in different studios at the current time. I think Bloodshot is the only thing Sony has the rights to.

In Dinesh I trust

But I feel like there would be better value in bundling all these IP's to one studio so they can create a cohesive interconnected universe. the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, IMO.

But I sort of understand that ... business is business ... and they are just trying to get the ball rolling and get something on the big screen with these characters.

I'm sort of intriqued and at the same time a little worried about them trying to tie in this Singularity project. The concept of Singularity does actually tie into Bloodshot really well .. but we know nothing about this project and who is attached to it.

[Sven the Returned]

Well, I think the issue is that email is talking about copying Marvel's strategy of a connected movie universe of properties. I don't know the specifics, but I think the movie rights to the VEI properties are spread around in different studios at the current time. I think Bloodshot is the only thing Sony has the rights to.

But I feel like there would be better value in bundling all these IP's to one studio so they can create a cohesive interconnected universe. the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, IMO.

I trust only Star Wars and Marvel in this regard. People have shorter attention spans than to be able to keep up with up with multiple universes.

[Bone-A-Fach-ee]

So, we are taking 1 solitary e-mail with no context and basing all our thoughts on it. I'm sure there's a lot more going on behind the scenes.
My thoughts on the e-mail. It's a shame that Sony has no original ideas. Only ideas to poach talent, and copy formula. I also found it funny that this e-mail is from a top executive at Sony. Very poorly written, and seemingly no vision.

It would seem to me that Dinesh and co. either have an uphill battle dealing with these people, or could hopefully have a lot of stroke in regards to the direction of their IP. We'll see how much control Sony tries to have, vs, relinquishing control to people who actually understand the IP. I pray for the latter.

[betterthanezra]

Sony has plans for Bloodshot that's for sure these leaks and other issues the company (Sony) are going through will probably set any movie plans back about a year IMO from what the original plan was...

Sony has a ton to mend with not only people who make there films but the people in those emails they talked about which is why I think this will be a longer process.

There are other emails that were leaked out about Valiant and plans...

-Brian

[dornwolf]

In my eyes as long as Valiant stays close to production like Marvel does and is able to retain some control any movies could be okay. That and no by god no "corporate synergy" crap. Don't make them look like the movies, don't make them act like the movies, just don't. It has never actually helped anyone.

[nycjadie]

I wonder what Dino and Fred think about the leaked email. Must be interesting for them. I know you're reading this thread!