Interesting Links for 15-04-2016

[andrewducker]

Capitalism excels at innovation but is failing at maintenance, and for most lives it is maintenance that matters more (tags: innovation capitalism viaFanf ) The researcher who claimed that you either "get" computers or don't has now retracted their claim. (tags: computers learning ) If traditional relationships were treated like alternative

Comments

[lil_shepherd]

I understand that 'Dr Strange' is one of Kevin Feige's pet projects, and Feige rules the MCU. Personally, I'm not sure how well he fits in with the well-grounded MCU (where even the Norse gods are just aliens, and I suspect that the Panther god doesn't exist either, but we shall see.) I don't like Cumberbatch as an actor but he will certainly put bums on seats. In this case I think he is too young to play Stephen Strange, but then RDJ was, objectively, too old to play Tony Stark - only it turned out he was a brilliant choice.

Marvel is getting too fond of stunt casting.

I doubt that any Cumberbatch or full blown MCU fans will boycott the film over the Tibet/Nepal issue. Nor is Disney the only major film studio to be crafting parts of its films so they will get a release in China. Right now it's the second biggest market in the world, and set to become the first. No studio wants to be blocked out of that, even if they only get a 25% return for each seat. Expect 'Ant-Man' or smaller numbers for 'Dr Strange'. I don't know what the budget is, but I suspect it is going to be reasonably modest.

[octopoid_horror]

I assume Benedict Cumberbatch is also not an expensive actor to cast, so if it works out then they get another character they can add to the roster and throw into the ensemble films if they want to mix it up without having spent a fortune or needing to throw a lot of money at him to get him back.

I imagine the standalone character MCU films and shows are like a focus group to see what works and for any that get popular, they'll end up turning up in the big ensemble films.