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The real secret sauce: Kevin Feige of Marvel Studios, and his team including the top-tier casting director Sarah Halley Finn. Kevin Feige prevented Marvel movi

The real secret sauce: Kevin Feige of Marvel Studios, and his team including the top-tier casting director Sarah Halley Finn. Kevin Feige prevented Marvel movies from getting stale by completely switching the genre every single movie: eg, Winter Soldier (political thriller), Ant-Man (heist movie), Spider-Man Homecoming (high-school drama movie), Thor Ragnarok (Australia/New Zealand comedy), Shang-Chi (mythical Chinese martial arts movie). Feige has said if a character is ever successful enough to have a third movie, they will always take a very different approach from the prior two movies. Thor Ragnarok is the best example of this: a soft reboot of the personality of a previously dull Shakespearean character into a fan favorite. The success of that soft reboot was enough to give that C-level character his fourth solo movie -- something Marvel has not done before. None of Marvel's competitors have any producer of Kevin Feige's caliber. Not Warner Bros (DC comics), not Sony (Spiderman-villains universe) and not even Disney's LucasFilm (Star Wars). Kevin Feige is 48 years old and it's not clear whether he'll retire after the X-Men and Fantastic Four are integrated in the MCU. His magic touch and keen understanding of the characters have been a key part of the Marvel Studio's success, and it's not at all clear whether it will survive when he leaves. Marvel Studios could become like LucasFilm after George Lucas sold it. It's a shell of its former self that can barely produce anything passable: Mandalorian and Rogue One just make the cut as being acceptable Star Wars, but very little else.

toyg 5y ago
The Mandalorian is a bit more than "acceptable Star Wars" - they experimented with production techniques that are one step beyond anything attempted before, while resurrecting a side of SW (the 'western' one) that had been effectively lost since the end of the original trilogy. And the main guy behind it? Jon Favreau, the man who effectively invented the MCU formula (fights and laughs) with the first Iron Man. Feige is good, but I'd bet more on Favreau to deliver than on any producer. (also, Thor a "C-level" character? He's had a dedicated monthly comic-book basically uninterrupted for more than 50 years, and features an entire cast of dedicated supporting characters and locations in Asgard... He's definitely an A-lister. IronMan, on the other hand, could absolutely be called a B-lister, since he spent large parts of his publication history effectively as little more than support for the Captain America / Avengers ecosystem, with very bad stories and artists. I would absolutely call "C-listers" Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, or the Guardians of the Galaxy - definitely not Thor.)
- someperson 5y ago
  The Mandalorian episodes that Jon Favreau directed are definitely top tier Star Wars. Great writing, great acting, great storylines. But there are so many lower-quality episodes in that series from less experienced directors with bad acting and weaker storylines. I believe things like bringing back Ahsoka Tano weakens the storyline of the Star Wars original trilogy as much as bringing back Palpatine in the sequel trilogy did. It reduces the impact of sacrifices that were made and raises questions that may never be answered. I agree the new technique of using "virtual sets" with Unreal Engine rather than green screen [1] is great innovation that helps make way more immersive TV shows with less budget (the first time I saw reflections of CGI characters on Mando's metallic helmet I was awestruck). I just hope Mandalorian and the other Star Wars series maintain a high quality that we've seen brief flashes of. I'm disappointed when the franchise doesn't live up to my high expectations. Many episodes of Mandalorian are not quite there for me. Some definitely are "perfect Star Wars" though. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUI8uOsKTM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUI8uOsKTM
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > The Mandalorian episodes that Jon Favreau directed are definitely top tier Star Wars. Great writing, great acting, great storylines. > But there are so many lower-quality episodes in that series from less experienced directors with bad acting and weaker storylines. I feel the same way with “pre-Disney Star Wars films” in place of “Mandalorian” and “Irvin Kershner” in place of “Jon Favreau”.
- LegitShady 5y ago
  the writing on mandalorian is ultra bad. The characters are caricatures, the dialog stunted. Their ultra advanced production techniques just look like props with some CG. Rather than a show that would appeal to kids but have depth for adults, you get a mostly simple main character who does inexplicable things. Find the baby using locator, fly off with baby, forget about locator? Leave the baby every bounty hunter is looking for on the space truck with the local dockwoman and go do something else, etc. It was unbearable to watch from a story perspective so I stopped about 3/4 of the way through season 1. being "ok star wars" seems to be the very best it can aspire to. It's just a pastiche of star wars with some mixed in memberberries.
tssva 5y ago
LucasFilm was a shell if it's former self that could barely produce anything passable long before George Lucas sold it off to Disney.

toyg 5y ago

The Mandalorian is a bit more than "acceptable Star Wars" - they experimented with production techniques that are one step beyond anything attempted before, while resurrecting a side of SW (the 'western' one) that had been effectively lost since the end of the original trilogy. And the main guy behind it? Jon Favreau, the man who effectively invented the MCU formula (fights and laughs) with the first Iron Man. Feige is good, but I'd bet more on Favreau to deliver than on any producer. (also, Thor a "C-level" character? He's had a dedicated monthly comic-book basically uninterrupted for more than 50 years, and features an entire cast of dedicated supporting characters and locations in Asgard... He's definitely an A-lister. IronMan, on the other hand, could absolutely be called a B-lister, since he spent large parts of his publication history effectively as little more than support for the Captain America / Avengers ecosystem, with very bad stories and artists. I would absolutely call "C-listers" Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, or the Guardians of the Galaxy - definitely not Thor.)

someperson 5y ago
The Mandalorian episodes that Jon Favreau directed are definitely top tier Star Wars. Great writing, great acting, great storylines. But there are so many lower-quality episodes in that series from less experienced directors with bad acting and weaker storylines. I believe things like bringing back Ahsoka Tano weakens the storyline of the Star Wars original trilogy as much as bringing back Palpatine in the sequel trilogy did. It reduces the impact of sacrifices that were made and raises questions that may never be answered. I agree the new technique of using "virtual sets" with Unreal Engine rather than green screen [1] is great innovation that helps make way more immersive TV shows with less budget (the first time I saw reflections of CGI characters on Mando's metallic helmet I was awestruck). I just hope Mandalorian and the other Star Wars series maintain a high quality that we've seen brief flashes of. I'm disappointed when the franchise doesn't live up to my high expectations. Many episodes of Mandalorian are not quite there for me. Some definitely are "perfect Star Wars" though. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUI8uOsKTM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUI8uOsKTM
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > The Mandalorian episodes that Jon Favreau directed are definitely top tier Star Wars. Great writing, great acting, great storylines. > But there are so many lower-quality episodes in that series from less experienced directors with bad acting and weaker storylines. I feel the same way with “pre-Disney Star Wars films” in place of “Mandalorian” and “Irvin Kershner” in place of “Jon Favreau”.
LegitShady 5y ago
the writing on mandalorian is ultra bad. The characters are caricatures, the dialog stunted. Their ultra advanced production techniques just look like props with some CG. Rather than a show that would appeal to kids but have depth for adults, you get a mostly simple main character who does inexplicable things. Find the baby using locator, fly off with baby, forget about locator? Leave the baby every bounty hunter is looking for on the space truck with the local dockwoman and go do something else, etc. It was unbearable to watch from a story perspective so I stopped about 3/4 of the way through season 1. being "ok star wars" seems to be the very best it can aspire to. It's just a pastiche of star wars with some mixed in memberberries.

tssva 5y ago

LucasFilm was a shell if it's former self that could barely produce anything passable long before George Lucas sold it off to Disney.