Wonder Woman (2017)

[thecolorsblend]

She was 30 on the nose when she filmed the first Wonder Woman film. She looked 25.

To put it delicately, Gadot, um, doesn't exactly look 25 anymore these days. Hell, she doesn't even look 30, frankly.

Now, I like her portrayal of Wonder Woman as much as the next guy. But are we supposed to pretend like we're surprised that a ~40 year old woman has been disqualified from playing the character? Even if WW84 had been a masterpiece (which it wasn't), there would still be a VERY strong argument that Gadot has just plain aged out of playing an immortal/eternally young character.

On a more practical level, I just love Connie Nielsen's girl math. "Herpa derpa the first one made $800 million!" Apparently, the second one making (at best) -$30 million shouldn't matter to anyone.

Batman & Robin brought the franchise to a screeching halt... even tho it technically turned some kind profit at the box office. Nobody calls WB's decision to close out the old franchise and reboot with a new one a narcissistic business decision. On the contrary, their decision to do so is generally considered to be one of the greatest masterstrokes in the history of cinema.

[The Joker]

With Gal, I think she could have easily pulled off a Wonder Woman 3 with minimum fuss. Shazam 2 came out, when? Last year? Gal had a small cameo in that, and I don't know? She looked pretty good to me. Course, when you have a amplitude of positive goodwill from the GA/fans (which I think Gal has with the role), they are more willing to overlook a lot in suspending disbelief just to see the actor reprise the role again and again.

Unfortunately, CBM's are not the sure-thing hit nowadays, and there's just no appetite for a WW3. Audiences are just not going to show up for nearly anything Superhero related like they did in the past, and sequels to billion dollar films can very easily fall flat on their face at the box office. Since 2019, outside of some very select outliers, it's pretty much been a series of diminishing returns...