Your February 2013 Follow-Up Post

And we're back with another semi-regular Miss Media Junkie Blog follow-up post, to provide you with updates on topics I've previously written about, but that I don't believe require an entire new post to themselves. The original posts are linked below for your convenience.

Who Should Direct "Cinderella"? - Kenneth Branagh's name has come up as a likely contender for the director's chair. That's a perfectly good choice in light of Branagh's work on "Thor," but I have say it's still very strange to see Branagh helming such mainstream, commercial films. Then again, if "Cinderella" goes well, maybe he can convince Disney to pay for his next Shakespeare adaptation.

Goodbye to the Nostalgia Critic - Well that didn't last long. Doug Walker's new satirical web series "Demo Reel" premiered in October and lasted all of five episodes before Walker called it quits and decided to resurrect the Nostalgia Critic character and show. The rules have changed - no more date restrictions on what he'll review, and we only get a new episode every two weeks - but otherwise, he's back. One can argue about Walker's creative principles, but from a business standpoint this was probably the right decision. I meant to watch "Demo Reel" but I kept putting it off and putting it off. However, when I saw that the Nostalgia Critic was back, I didn't hesitate to click the link and watch the new episodes. The latest thrashing of Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor" was most enjoyable.

The Sleepers of December and Dreamworks Animation Gets Ambitious - At the time of writing, "Life of Pi" has brought in $111 million in the US and over half a billion worldwide. That makes it the highest grossing of the Best Picture Oscar nominees. "Rise of the Guardians," unfortunately, barely inched over the $100 million mark in the US and even with the additional $200 million from overseas, it's probably going to lose money. Dreamworks Animation hasn't been doing too well in the past few months, delaying "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" from November, 2013 to next spring, and pulling Me and My Shadow" from their slate entirely. Next up for them is going to be "The Croods," which has been getting overshadowed by marketing for the "Monsters Inc" prequel that's not coming out until summer.

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown - I haven't watched "House of Cards" yet since I've been so busy, but rest assured that you'll be getting a full report soon. The early word is that the series is a success for Netflix. Not only is it getting high marks from critics and viewers, but a survey of Netflix users appears to indicate that the availability of the show is helping to retain subscribers. But how long will that effect last? And without the traditional television ratings, can there be adequate comparison the performance of other shows? Currently there's no sign of one major indicator of success: a renewal. And I'm very interested in how the "House of Cards" will be treated at awards time.

About the New Fall TV Season - "666 Park Avenue"? Cancelled. "Last Resort"? Cancelled. "Elementary" and "Arrow" look like they're going to be around for the long term, and "Vegas" is still up in the air. It got a full season, but the ratings may not be good enough for a renewal. And "Revolution," inexplicably, has become a hit. On the comedy side, "Go On" and "The New Normal" on NBC both got full seasons, but only "Go On" is likely to be around next year. "The Mindy Project" has been getting better, both in content and ratings. And good grief, is "Beauty and the Beast" really still on the air?

The Unscheduled Contenders - You know, this is why I should refrain from trying to act like an entertainment reporter. A grand total of none of the movies that I talked about in that post ended up with a 2012 release date or were part of the awards conversation at all. Mike Newell's "Great Expectations" was released in the UK back in November to middling reviews, but there's no sign of an American release. The rest are all being released in 2013, though "Mr. Pip" doesn't have a date set yet, and "Imogene" has been retitled "Girl Most Likely."

Notes on the "Ninja Turtle" Situation - "Ninja Turtle" fans can't say they weren't warned. After the leaking of a lousy script, the project appeared to be quashed last year, but Michael Bay went and tweeted a few days ago that not only was the reboot still in the works, but that he planned to cast Megan Fox in it. The immediate assumption was that Fox was going to be playing April O'Neil, the plucky reporter that the Turtles were always saving from peril. Fans were not happy about this, and have been airing their grievances to the internet ever since.

6 More Upcoming Anime Adaptations to Worry About - I guess you could call this a non-update. I wrote this post sixteen months ago, and in that time none of the project mentioned has moved an inch. Even Starz's planned "Noir" series has been stalled for over a year. Fortunately "Akira" remains quite dead. I think it's safe to say that whatever interest Hollywood had in the anime audience has cooled enough that we don't really have to worry about any of them.
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