Speaker 1: Worrying.
Speaker 2: Today's episode contains general spoilers for Marvel movies and the
Speaker 2: X Men's stories and the Fox slash Disney slash Marvel Verse.
Speaker 2: Be warned. Hello, my name is Jascontepsio and on Rosday
Speaker 2: Night and welcome back to x Ray Vision of the
Speaker 2: podcast Will Dive Vivia to your favorite shows, movies, comments
Speaker 2: of pop culture coming to you from my heart Will.
Speaker 2: We're bringing you episodes every Tuesday and Thursday, plus the
Speaker 2: Summer Speakers movies on Friday, ned News on Saturday.
Speaker 3: In today's episode, we are pitching big Marvel our ideas
Speaker 3: for an X Men movie. Remember when everyone said, hey,
Speaker 3: don't post that online, save that till you pitch them. Well,
Speaker 3: guess what we're putting them in a podcast. We've had
Speaker 3: hints and teases of Marvel mutants, but it's time to
Speaker 3: share how we would like to bring them to the
Speaker 3: big screen and enter the MCU. But this is a business.
Speaker 3: It's not for fun, so we'll have to convince the
Speaker 3: studio heads. But our idea is the best way to
Speaker 3: bring the Xavier Institute to life. So Jason introduce the
Speaker 3: studio heads.
Speaker 2: Let's welcome our studio heads now to the dais. First up, Aboo,
Speaker 2: the CFO of Box Office returns a boo.
Speaker 3: Definitely a real job.
Speaker 4: Happy to be here, love a spreadsheet. Can't wait to
Speaker 4: see how much money we're going to make.
Speaker 2: Next up, Carmen, our head of Marketing and the Department
Speaker 2: of How it look, Carmen, how it look?
Speaker 5: I'm doing great. I'm here with my magnifying glass making
Speaker 5: sure that all the details are very precise and very
Speaker 5: looking good.
Speaker 2: Absolutely fantastic. Next up, Ian, Marvel's chief counsel and the
Speaker 2: Chief Nostalgia Officer, the CNO of Brand Restoration.
Speaker 6: Ian, welcome, happy to be here. You know we're in
Speaker 6: a little bit of a slump, so we need to
Speaker 6: bring that feeling back. Let's get back on track, baby.
Speaker 2: And then finally, our head of the Pauline Kale Department
Speaker 2: of Critical acclaim, Joel, Joel, Monique, how are you?
Speaker 7: This is the year the oscar has learned to respect
Speaker 7: the superhero film?
Speaker 2: Okay, game changing.
Speaker 3: Is what's happening. It's happening.
Speaker 2: And then finally we're delighted to have with us today
Speaker 2: and it's very pack. Schedule is made time for us.
Speaker 2: The head of X Ray Vision CEOs. It's Eric Kaufman
Speaker 2: CFO CEO CEO, the Big Huna, the Big Cheese l
Speaker 2: he himself eron, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm great, I'm fired up right now. I can tell
Speaker 1: I'm gonna love all your pitches and I cannot wait.
Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 3: He's been through a pitch, guys.
Speaker 1: So just so the two of you know, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have you each pitch a movie to us. You know,
Speaker 1: give us your cast, your director, storyline, you name it.
Speaker 1: And look, I can already tell that I'm gonna love
Speaker 1: all of these pitches and they're gonna be perfect. And
Speaker 1: I also know we're definitely gonna have a couple notes
Speaker 1: that we'll give you. So we're gonna give you a
Speaker 1: couple notes. You get a little bit of time to
Speaker 1: think about those, and then you let us know which
Speaker 1: one of those you're gonna adapt into your movie, and
Speaker 1: then our studio heads will convene, we'll vote on which
Speaker 1: of the pitches we think is the best direction for
Speaker 1: the MCU, and we will greenlight that and we'll be
Speaker 1: on our way.
Speaker 4: Al righty, Jason heads, Rosie tails and it's tales first.
Speaker 4: So Rosie, let's hear your pitch.
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks, so much, guys to taking the time. I
Speaker 3: know you guys are so busy. I appreciate you coming
Speaker 3: out here listening to the pitch of an x Men
Speaker 3: movie by me, somebody who's never written a movie before,
Speaker 3: So thank you. This is something I've been dreaming of
Speaker 3: to pitch an x Men movie. My x Men movie
Speaker 3: is called x Men Underground and the director is d Reese.
Speaker 3: It is not going to be a Netflix movie, so
Speaker 3: they will not fuck her shit up. If you've seen
Speaker 3: the incredible mud Bound, you'll know she's already a fantastic director.
Speaker 3: She has been longing to do sci fi. And the
Speaker 3: cast is Jody Turner Smith as Storm and Melissa Barrera
Speaker 3: as Callisto. Those are the two main characters in this movie,
Speaker 3: and essentially it is going to be a story about
Speaker 3: the underground community known as the Morlocks. They will be
Speaker 3: living under New Jersey Underground. This could easily tie into
Speaker 3: what was established with Molman's Underground universe in Fantastic Four,
Speaker 3: or could be a slight reboot if you guys are
Speaker 3: trying to move away from that storyline. It will be
Speaker 3: about Callisto losing control of the underworld of the Morlocks
Speaker 3: and Storm arriving and suggesting that instead of everybody just
Speaker 3: following one leader blindly, they create some kind kind of
Speaker 3: you know, class hierarchical system and perhaps even consider joining
Speaker 3: Charles Xavier's School for young Mutants. But there is an issue.
Speaker 3: The issue is that Moleman, though he began as a
Speaker 3: helpful person just trying to make more space more affordable
Speaker 3: living in New York City, has become crazed with power
Speaker 3: and only wants one gang to live underground, and begins
Speaker 3: to start trying to take over the surface world, causing
Speaker 3: the rift between humans and mutants that we have long
Speaker 3: questioned how it would exist in the MCU. And finally,
Speaker 3: you know, the Molocks will return alongside Storm and help
Speaker 3: fight Molman, joining the mutant surface world. Thank you, guys
Speaker 3: for my pitch.
Speaker 1: Amazing, amazing, Jodie Turner, Smith's so hot right now off
Speaker 1: Tron Love Sobrera, I love a connection to Moolman. I
Speaker 1: am so into this, Rosie. Jason, do you have a
Speaker 1: pitch for us as well? I do have a pitch, but.
Speaker 2: I want to stress beforehand that I'm going to leave
Speaker 2: the casting to you guys. I've come up with the outline,
Speaker 2: the log line the general arc of my story, and
Speaker 2: I hope and I think the power of that will
Speaker 2: carry my argument. My movie is called X Men Colan Insurgency.
Speaker 2: They came from a Doom world to stop ours from coming.
Speaker 2: In this movie will take place after Doomsday and Secret Wars,
Speaker 2: when the multiverse, we assume will collapse. A small group
Speaker 2: of mutants that were in the Doomsday world God Emperor
Speaker 2: Doom's enforcers, to a certain extent, find themselves stranded in
Speaker 2: the six one six main timeline of the MCU, in
Speaker 2: their new now from their world, the world from which
Speaker 2: they came. This is the Rachel Summer's sentence, a death
Speaker 2: world in which all mutants are hunted and herded into camps,
Speaker 2: exploited and exterminated. These mutants arrive in our world and
Speaker 2: they recognize all around them the early warning signs here,
Speaker 2: the laws against enhanced individuals, the military biotech programs, rising nationalism,
Speaker 2: the fact that Shield was a Nazi op. They see
Speaker 2: Sentinel technology looming and starting to come together. In their
Speaker 2: first mission, their suspicions are absolutely confirmed when they discover
Speaker 2: a experimental procedure that's designed to be the next step
Speaker 2: in the super Soldier program, and it is based on
Speaker 2: the powers and exploiting the powers of one mutant named
Speaker 2: Logan who's been allowed for centuries. He's at a Canadian
Speaker 2: American and they find him in a lab being experimented
Speaker 2: on ruthlessly. This to them is proof our insurgents are Cyclops,
Speaker 2: the leader of this covert resistance movement, Storm, the moral
Speaker 2: center of this group. Magic, the teleporter who can move
Speaker 2: them in and out of places that they need to be.
Speaker 2: This is how they get into the lab. Forge, the
Speaker 2: military engineer who is both dismantling Sentinel Tech and creating
Speaker 2: his own tech. Nightcrawler, the spiritual conscious consciousness behind the team,
Speaker 2: and the mystique, the shape shifter. Who is she good?
Speaker 2: Is she bad? What are her ethics? It's unclear, but
Speaker 2: we know that she's on the side of the mutants.
Speaker 2: They see direct action against the rising tide of the
Speaker 2: Sentinels and anti mutant fervor as absolutely necessary, and so
Speaker 2: they must strike first. This puts them on the radar
Speaker 2: of the Avengers the government, who are not sure are
Speaker 2: these heroes or are these bad guys? Are they freedom
Speaker 2: fighters or are they terrorists? What these new insurgent mutants
Speaker 2: discover is there our mutants in this world? Deep hidden
Speaker 2: in an underground school upstate, Charles Xavier and Eric Lencher
Speaker 2: aka Professor X and Magneto have been four years running
Speaker 2: a secret refuge for young mutants. The Xavier School is real,
Speaker 2: but it's an underground place, an invisible sanctuary, in which
Speaker 2: Xavier's philosophy is the main one, and he's basically saying, hey,
Speaker 2: we're very powerful, but with that power comes responsibility, and
Speaker 2: we have to hide our gifts and we have to
Speaker 2: live amongst humans undetected because we don't want to get
Speaker 2: everybody scared and have the humans rise against us and
Speaker 2: make war against us. Magneto sees Charles's way as imperfect,
Speaker 2: but kind of like the best option that they have
Speaker 2: right now. Until Magneto comes into contact with these insurgents,
Speaker 2: he comes to believe that they're right. The world that
Speaker 2: they come from is the world that we are headed towards.
Speaker 2: And in fact, look at what they did to this
Speaker 2: mutant logan. This is the beginning of the rift between
Speaker 2: Charles Xavier and Magneto. Not a clash between good and
Speaker 2: evil per se, but a clash between freedom and get
Speaker 2: along to go along, a battle between survival strategies. Magneto
Speaker 2: will say at one point, if peace is built on silence,
Speaker 2: is it really peace? This is my movie X Men Insurgency.
Speaker 1: Wow, love it, love it, Love the connections, and love
Speaker 1: having Charles and Eric here all along already and we
Speaker 1: can sort of explain away why they haven't been involved
Speaker 1: in previous things. A great connection. I'm sure Ian, our
Speaker 1: chief nostalgia officer, is gonna love that. We're gonna throw
Speaker 1: to break and when we get back, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: our first little studio head discussion and get back with
Speaker 1: some notes. All Right, we're back, and look, we loved
Speaker 1: both of these pitches. They were so perfect, but we
Speaker 1: do have a couple of notes that we'd like to
Speaker 1: call mutants mandated unnecessary talent and or narrative transformations that
Speaker 1: we'd like you to make to your pitches, because again
Speaker 1: they're so perfect, but we just have a couple of
Speaker 1: things we'd like. So the first option for you is
Speaker 1: kind of the indie route. We love your story, your direction,
Speaker 1: you get to keep your artistic vision, but you really
Speaker 1: only get seventy five million dollars for your budget. This
Speaker 1: will be the lowest budget MCU movie ever. For instance,
Speaker 1: ant Man had one hundred and thirty million dollar budget.
Speaker 1: You get less than that. You can cast one up
Speaker 1: and coming rising star as your lead, but the rest
Speaker 1: of the cast needs to be TV actors, and you
Speaker 1: can get You can assume you're gonna get probably one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty to two hundred million dollars in box office.
Speaker 1: So that's the indie route. Option one. Option two critically
Speaker 1: acclaimed talent. We are hungry for talent, receiving an Oscar
Speaker 1: buzz so hot off the heels of one battle after another.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have Paul Thomas Anderson direct, and you're somehow
Speaker 1: he is convinced Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn to star.
Speaker 1: The movie's gonna receive critical acclaim, but it will struggle
Speaker 1: to make more than two hundred million dollars domestically, which
Speaker 1: means you might lose money on this movie. The third
Speaker 1: choice you have is a standalone New Vision. Look here
Speaker 1: at Disney, we just really need a hit right now
Speaker 1: for the MCU, So we're gonna hand the reins over
Speaker 1: to one Christopher Nolan, and he's just gonna reboot the
Speaker 1: entire thing. So no multiverse, no Infinity Stones, no Doom, whatever,
Speaker 1: just Christopher Nolan and Michael Kine. That's where we're starting with. However,
Speaker 1: he's a little hesitant to sign on for more because
Speaker 1: he was really tired after doing the Batman trilogy. So
Speaker 1: we get him for one movie, but we're gonna make
Speaker 1: four hundred million dollars Option four. Youth mail audience is
Speaker 1: really important to our marketing, and so you have to
Speaker 1: cast Sidney Sweeney is Emma Frost, machine Gun, Kelly is
Speaker 1: Mister Sinister, and Jake and Logan Paul as Cyclops and Havoc. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: you've secured the youth mail audience. You are guaranteed at
Speaker 1: least five hundred million in domestic box office and the
Speaker 1: final option overseas is what really matters here. Okay, this
Speaker 1: story will be heavily, heavily curated and has to be
Speaker 1: very conservative culturally, but congratulations, this movie is playing in
Speaker 1: China and this is going to gross more than Deadpool
Speaker 1: and Wolverine. That means one point five to two billion
Speaker 1: dollars worldwide. This will easily become one of the top
Speaker 1: five MCU box office returns. Ever, so again you can
Speaker 1: have an indie Darling small budget seventy five million. You
Speaker 1: can have critically acclaimed talent but not great box office.
Speaker 1: You can have a standalone new vision, but it is
Speaker 1: entirely forgoing all of the previous MCU. You can go
Speaker 1: for the youth mail audience. I don't care what your
Speaker 1: story is, care what your director is. You just got
Speaker 1: to have the Paul Brothers in there, or five overseas markets.
Speaker 1: You gotta make it so that China is okay with it,
Speaker 1: but you are going to make bank, all right. So
Speaker 1: those are our five options for you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Aaron, Thank you head of too many options.
Speaker 2: Whenever we let you have the mic. This is a
Speaker 2: continuing theme with the head of the studio who is
Speaker 2: happy to carry a really cool conceit under multiple options
Speaker 2: that I forget the first one. By the time we
Speaker 2: get to the fifth one, I think, oh, thank you
Speaker 2: for pacing those in there. I'll go first. I'm going
Speaker 2: to reject all of these false choices, but kind of
Speaker 2: lean towards number one. Whatever happened to make a good movie.
Speaker 2: I know it's very interesting to hear to get the
Speaker 2: notes back from the studio, and none of them are hey,
Speaker 2: make a good movie. So I think my best. I
Speaker 2: think my best opportunity to make a good movie is
Speaker 2: Option one. I'm not going to get into the casting.
Speaker 2: I'll let the the casting director and the suits handle
Speaker 2: that I want to make. I want to have a
Speaker 2: great story, i want to have it executed well. And
Speaker 2: I'm want to put every single dollar that I can
Speaker 2: on the screen. So forget the talent, forget the I'm
Speaker 2: gonna write or direct this and I'll listen, I know,
Speaker 2: and in fact, i'll I will delay my fee until
Speaker 2: this movie makes money. So this movie doesn't I put
Speaker 2: I'm putting my reputation on the line. If the movie
Speaker 2: doesn't make money, I don't make money, I'll just take
Speaker 2: my day rate. I'm gonna reject the PTA option. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna reject the standalone. This is not you know, what
Speaker 2: is this two thousand and eight. This is not the
Speaker 2: you know, Batman begins world anymore. This doesn't exist the
Speaker 2: youth mail audience, you know, wrong, wrong superhero team, Like,
Speaker 2: we can try that with a different superhero team. And
Speaker 2: I'm gonna work with this one overseas markets. You know,
Speaker 2: good luck. I guess this is an avatar. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go with option one. Let's put all the money back
Speaker 2: into the thing. No money for me. I will survive
Speaker 2: on coupon's until this movie comes out and hopefully makes
Speaker 2: its money back on vod and rentals. Thank you very.
Speaker 1: Much, Jason. Love the pitch, love it. I love your
Speaker 1: reaction to our notes that the studio loves to hear it. Rosie,
Speaker 1: what about you will have those five options.
Speaker 3: So I'm basically gonna go I'm gonna pitch you, guys.
Speaker 3: There's two options here that you can take for my story.
Speaker 3: So one is also option one because I agree too
Speaker 3: many options and really the best option for making a
Speaker 3: good movie. I'm making sure that d gets paid well.
Speaker 3: Other than that, guess what, guys, I love TV actors,
Speaker 3: so I don't care like have Jody Taylor Smith as
Speaker 3: Storm and then have all the CW actors you need
Speaker 3: coming because guess what, if it's a good movie, good script,
Speaker 3: we could make more money than expected. We've seen it
Speaker 3: happen before. We've seen movies like The Invisible Man, The Monkey.
Speaker 3: We've seen these crazy movies that are seen as genre
Speaker 3: questions overplay. One of the best movies of all time
Speaker 3: is also one of the cheapest subero movies. Which is
Speaker 3: Birds of Prey. So I think number one is a
Speaker 3: good option. Now, I will say, look, man, I often
Speaker 3: think this overseas market conversation ignores the actual conservative nature
Speaker 3: of America and how often those conservative choices that are
Speaker 3: being made are claimed to be for outside of America,
Speaker 3: but really are also for inside America. So if I
Speaker 3: was making a supero movie, an X Men movie that
Speaker 3: was gonna play in China, that would be a different
Speaker 3: pitch because I would use different talent. I would have
Speaker 3: Michelle Yo come in and start working as a new
Speaker 3: head mistress. I would make sure that your mutants are
Speaker 3: played by incredible actors from all over I think that
Speaker 3: is a different movie, but I think I could make
Speaker 3: it that would play in China. Would America like it?
Speaker 3: Who knows. We've seen with Nija that doesn't always cross over.
Speaker 3: But I too would most likely go for the art
Speaker 3: over everything route, though I'm not a verse to trying
Speaker 3: to make a movie that plays well outside of America.
Speaker 3: I believe the X Men is a good space. It
Speaker 3: was always meant to be a global team from giant size,
Speaker 3: so I think there is a version of it that works.
Speaker 1: Rosie again, I'm blown away by all these pitches. These
Speaker 1: are so so good, and the studio is so excited
Speaker 1: that both of you came in today. We're going to
Speaker 1: reconvene just the studio heads really quickly and just talk
Speaker 1: through some of these pitches and our agents will get
Speaker 1: back to you as soon as we can. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Guys. All right, I'm going to bring in
Speaker 1: Joel aboo Ian and Carmen and we're gonna just quickly
Speaker 1: discuss these two different pitches for how these two creatives
Speaker 1: would like to bring the X Men into the MCU. So,
Speaker 1: first off, Joel, what are you thinking?
Speaker 7: Well as overseer for awards and Oscar recognition. I love
Speaker 7: the idea of Jason wanninglean to the writer director. We've
Speaker 7: seen that work before. Y'all remember Logan? That was really powerful?
Speaker 1: I am concerned, sorry, Logan Is that the one that
Speaker 1: started the character from Deadpool and Wolverine?
Speaker 7: Yes? Yes, but it was pretty and older audiences don't
Speaker 7: remember it. It's faded into non existence. But but it
Speaker 7: was powerful for its time, and I would like to
Speaker 7: circle back to that if we can. I think that's
Speaker 7: a great idea. I am concerned at the dismissal of
Speaker 7: the China box office, which by god do we need
Speaker 7: and our young guys. But now listen, here's where we
Speaker 7: really get into some trouble knowing X men as I do.
Speaker 2: This is my job, after all.
Speaker 7: I am concerned the fact that this is a group
Speaker 7: that is about that just diversity often represents queer stories.
Speaker 7: If we get a writer director in here who really
Speaker 7: wants to push that angle, I mean, he might be right.
Speaker 7: China might just be out. They might just be like
Speaker 7: not wanting to screen this film. So I think we're
Speaker 7: sort of I'm sort of I'm hesitant to lean into
Speaker 7: the Jason model because box office, we have to make money.
Speaker 7: I'm not going to launch an entire Awards campaign behind
Speaker 7: a flop. I don't have the energy for Rosie. Oh man,
Speaker 7: do I love d really love de Reese has had
Speaker 7: Oscar buzz before both The mud Bound and Pariah, so
Speaker 7: there's like already some good build there. I think we
Speaker 7: could really build off of that. I also think the
Speaker 7: integration into the current universe works really well, so we're
Speaker 7: not losing fans as we approach this Oscar space. So
Speaker 7: I think I'm leaning a little more Rosie right now.
Speaker 2: But a boo great.
Speaker 1: A boo. Yeah, from someone who knows a ton about
Speaker 1: X Men to someone who knows nothing about X Men
Speaker 1: but knows all about the dollars and cents? A boo.
Speaker 1: What are you thinking right now?
Speaker 4: Yeaheah, yeah, let me just finish up this spreadshirts crunching, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: go ahead.
Speaker 3: Great.
Speaker 4: It's looking like we're gonna lose money on these pitches.
Speaker 4: I've crunched the numbers. I've been crunching the numbers this
Speaker 4: whole time, and also frantically googling the words storm, Magic, Forged, Nightcrawler,
Speaker 4: and Mystique to try and figure out what they mean.
Speaker 4: Haven't been able to complete that part of the process yet,
Speaker 4: but the numbers are not looking good. I appreciate, actually,
Speaker 4: that both of our extremely talented artists have pitched making
Speaker 4: a good movie. First, I'm very much for good movies.
Speaker 4: Good movies make money as far as I know, and
Speaker 4: so I'm very much in favor of that. I'm a
Speaker 4: little concerned that neither of the pitches seem to have
Speaker 4: sold the average moviegoer, the average MCU fan of which
Speaker 4: I consider myself. There were a lot of terms thrown
Speaker 4: around in these pitches that went completely over my head.
Speaker 4: I'm still a little unclear how these movies connect to
Speaker 4: the MCU. Is RDJ in them or is he not
Speaker 4: in them? Because that is going to factor into the budget, right,
Speaker 4: He's got a huge at this point. I have to
Speaker 4: constantly negotiate with that guy's manager, I thought him, I know,
Speaker 4: I'm over here, like I have a whole spreadsheet dedicated
Speaker 4: to negotiating with that asshole. So it's like, I AFC
Speaker 4: in the movie or not. I'm a little confused on
Speaker 4: that front. So I was hoping for pitches that made
Speaker 4: a clearer connection to the MCU that I know and
Speaker 4: understand and have been, you know, very much a fan
Speaker 4: of since Endgame, my favorite movie of all time, Sweet
Speaker 4: Sweet Money. I'm a little worried about that. I think
Speaker 4: I would I would go back to our artists and
Speaker 4: ask them to sell me on how I'm going to
Speaker 4: sell this movie. I really like Jason's log line they
Speaker 4: came from a doomed world to stop ours from becoming one.
Speaker 4: I think that's very relevant to where we are today
Speaker 4: as a world and to a feeling that a lot
Speaker 4: of people are feeling. That's a log line I can sell.
Speaker 4: I can slap that on YouTube and TikTok ads and
Speaker 4: hopefully convince people to watch. I'm not so sure what
Speaker 4: a morlock is, and I don't know whether or not
Speaker 4: I can slap that onto ad and sell this movie.
Speaker 4: So at this point, I'm currently leaning more towards Jason's pitch,
Speaker 4: just because I recognized more of the words.
Speaker 3: In that pitch.
Speaker 1: Now, from someone who loved Endgame to someone else who
Speaker 1: loved Endgame, Ian, our chief nostalgia officer, what are you
Speaker 1: thinking about these pitches and how they relate to the
Speaker 1: current MCU and what you love about it.
Speaker 6: So, first of all, I'm just gonna say great pitches
Speaker 6: from both. I think some really interesting choices were made
Speaker 6: in both. So I'll start with Rosie's first. I think,
Speaker 6: you know, let's be real here, guys. We need a hit.
Speaker 6: We need to get some good will back with the fans.
Speaker 6: We've been in a little bit of a slump, and
Speaker 6: you know, Fantastic Four didn't perform the way we're expecting
Speaker 6: coming out of Doomsday and Secret Wars. We're expecting a
Speaker 6: little bit of a reset. We need a fresh crop
Speaker 6: and cast of characters to take us into the next
Speaker 6: generation of the MCU and so I think rosy story
Speaker 6: for what we're trying to do. If this is going
Speaker 6: to be the first official X Men movie, I think
Speaker 6: it's a little bit too small of a story. It's
Speaker 6: focused on a very specific storyline. Like don't get me wrong,
Speaker 6: the storyline with the Morlocks and Storm is a beautiful story,
Speaker 6: and I think that would be better serve for maybe
Speaker 6: a standalone Storm movie that we can do down the line.
Speaker 6: But as our first official foray with the X Men
Speaker 6: into this universe, I think it's just not gonna hit
Speaker 6: that core fan base the way we need it to.
Speaker 6: People want to see Cyclops, people want to see Professor X.
Speaker 6: We need a new Wolverine.
Speaker 3: Who would you cost this wolverine ian?
Speaker 6: You know, we gotta find some unknowns. We need some
Speaker 6: new young talent. So I need to sit on that
Speaker 6: for a little bit. But we need some people that
Speaker 6: we haven't seen in these in these kinds of Daniel.
Speaker 7: Radcliffe is available and overdue for an Oscar. I'm just saying, sure,
Speaker 7: our short Harry King could absolutely do this.
Speaker 1: Yes, I could have a pitch from someone named mister
Speaker 1: Beast to be Wolverine. I'm not sure where we stand
Speaker 1: as studio heads on that.
Speaker 6: We'll discus now. As as for Jason's pitch, I like,
Speaker 6: I like the premise. I like the story taking place
Speaker 6: in the aftermath of Secret Wars. We have some X
Speaker 6: Men maybe left over from Battle World, from the fallout
Speaker 6: of that film, and I think this is the opportunity
Speaker 6: to introduce that new fresh cast. So I think, you know,
Speaker 6: in Secret Wars, maybe we have some new fresh X
Speaker 6: Men and they're the ones that are left over in
Speaker 6: this new world and setting up a conflict with our
Speaker 6: Avengers in this post reset, putting them on a collision course,
Speaker 6: Avengers versus X Men. That's really what the fans want,
Speaker 6: and I think that's a smart path to chart down
Speaker 6: for the future of the MCU. I think that will
Speaker 6: put butts in seats aboo, that will that'll get us
Speaker 6: to that Billy that we're looking for. I agree, So
Speaker 6: I agree. You know, I think I'm leaning more towards
Speaker 6: Jason's option. And you know what, in terms of budget
Speaker 6: and doing it on a smaller scale, these films are
Speaker 6: gonna be cgi heavy. That's going to soak up a
Speaker 6: lot of money. But you know, Sinners they did that
Speaker 6: for ninety mil I'm sure maybe there's a way we
Speaker 6: can do this story for in a stripped down sense.
Speaker 6: You know, seventy five mil is gonna be tight. But
Speaker 6: I also trust my creatives to get it done. So
Speaker 6: I think, you know, if the story is strong, the
Speaker 6: plot is there, we're giving the fans what they want,
Speaker 6: we can make it happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Center's an incredible movie. Also had zero optic blasts
Speaker 1: or teleportation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to just get creative there.
Speaker 6: We're gonna have to do a little.
Speaker 1: Speaking of how the movie looks. Our last studio head here,
Speaker 1: Carmel Lauran, what do you think? What are these pitches
Speaker 1: hitting for you? And what are they not hitting for you? Yeah?
Speaker 5: You know, right away, I have to say I'm concerned
Speaker 5: with Underground, Underground. I immediately think, where is the lighting?
Speaker 5: What is the lighting situation? Like, you know, that seems
Speaker 5: seems a bit dark, and I think I think consumers
Speaker 5: we want to get butts in the seats. We got
Speaker 5: to make something that's colorful. We got to make something
Speaker 5: that is really eye catching. Right away, Space uh inserted
Speaker 5: X Men Insurgency sounds like it's in space. I think
Speaker 5: Space is pretty marketable. It looks good, it's bright, it's colorful,
Speaker 5: it inspires hope in people, whereas underground, you know, it's dark,
Speaker 5: it's dingy, it's you know. Uh, it's kind of not
Speaker 5: to bash Christopher Nolan, but yeah, I think we are.
Speaker 5: I do agree with Jason what we are kind of
Speaker 5: out of the Christopher Nolan era of dark fight scenes
Speaker 5: and no lighting and stuff like that. So it's my
Speaker 5: top concern.
Speaker 7: Also notoriously also very dark, as.
Speaker 5: You got me there. Actually, unless we're right next to
Speaker 5: the sun, you know, could be a son, you know.
Speaker 5: But I think of white, like bright white spaceships and
Speaker 5: things like that when I think of space. I also
Speaker 5: think Addison Ray could go somewhere in that movie, you know.
Speaker 5: And we really we really need the the young gen
Speaker 5: Z TikTok by in.
Speaker 1: We do need a little bit of.
Speaker 5: The gay dollars, you know, and so we gotta we
Speaker 5: gotta kind of pander a little bit there. So yeah,
Speaker 5: I think I'm feeling a little bit more hopeful in
Speaker 5: uh x Men Insurgency.
Speaker 1: All right, So I've heard all of all of your comments,
Speaker 1: and this is what I'm thinking. We go back to
Speaker 1: our creatives with I would like to make Rosie's movie
Speaker 1: as a Disney Plus show to introduce the X Men.
Speaker 1: We focus on the more locks and we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna allow it to be a little gritty.
Speaker 4: I can only pay for six episodes, by the.
Speaker 1: Way, all right, six episodes. We can do that. Do
Speaker 1: we have the market? Can market at isotic? Or can
Speaker 1: does it have to be binge dropped so.
Speaker 7: We're not marketing it? Let's be real, yes, all right,
Speaker 7: we'll put a trailer out the week before it drops.
Speaker 6: It'll be fine, Marvel Spotlight.
Speaker 7: Will still be really loved. Like, it'll be fine. The
Speaker 7: people who like it will find it.
Speaker 1: And I have to say one of my favorite parts
Speaker 1: of Jason's pitch. I loved both of these pitches, absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1: I loved all of them, but my favorite part of
Speaker 1: Jason's pitch was when he offered to do it himself
Speaker 1: and not get paid and I for no, for no
Speaker 1: other reason, I think we got to make Jason's movie
Speaker 1: here basically no risk. Would really love Maybe if we
Speaker 1: can get a little lean towards China and I, like
Speaker 1: you were saying, Karmen, a little gen Z influence in
Speaker 1: these Maybe maybe Addison Ray is dazz.
Speaker 2: The casting up to us too, So that's a yeah,
Speaker 2: that's a good woint.
Speaker 3: Casting is up to us.
Speaker 4: Yeah, can I can I maybe say something controversial?
Speaker 6: Of course?
Speaker 4: Could we go back to Jason and see if he
Speaker 4: could like turn this into like an and or thing
Speaker 4: like insurgency right like.
Speaker 3: And seeing it that was a big win for us.
Speaker 4: Maybe we can go back and ask a the workshop
Speaker 4: that needs more of a or and or type thing.
Speaker 7: Or season wise, it was really good for us. I
Speaker 7: mean noms were great, I which we had won a
Speaker 7: little bit more, but I could I could see us
Speaker 7: doing that in a an X men is kind of
Speaker 7: the perfect property for it.
Speaker 1: Aboo, I really see this all right? Actually I can
Speaker 1: get with this. So let's bring bring our two creatives
Speaker 1: back in Rosie and Jason. Rosie and Jason, we loved
Speaker 1: your pitches. What we as a studio have decided? What
Speaker 1: do you think about making and Or?
Speaker 3: Wow? I love it when the studio comes back with
Speaker 3: a unique, original suggestion and note I personally I love
Speaker 3: this idea. I think and Or is a great TV show.
Speaker 3: And I think the most important thing that we learned
Speaker 3: from and Or is that corporations are bad and capitalism
Speaker 3: is bad. And that is why in my bag, I
Speaker 3: actually have a gasoline tank and I'm gonna just bum
Speaker 3: down the studio. Okay, absolutely not, that's Tony Gilroy show. Guys,
Speaker 3: Come on, I can't do it.
Speaker 7: Like Jason, Are you going to be the next Tony Gilroy?
Speaker 2: I would want just to be just to be clear,
Speaker 2: what is the what's the ask? You're asking for? Eight episodes,
Speaker 2: two seasons a piece. What are you asking for? And this,
Speaker 2: of course I understand when I'm asking that that you know,
Speaker 2: with respect, I'm I'm talking to the brain trust that
Speaker 2: has presided over the successes of Fantastic four uh and
Speaker 2: and has gone through the s that we just went through,
Speaker 2: and went through that process with those filmmakers and creators
Speaker 2: to create those incredible, blockbusting, influential and you know, massively
Speaker 2: relevant mainstream hints. So I understand that I'm that I'm
Speaker 2: asking the best when I ask that, and you really are.
Speaker 2: What is what is the ask?
Speaker 7: We believe in Jason so much, so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we believe you can get us.
Speaker 7: An and or quality political takedown in an X Men
Speaker 7: series without the pandemic to pad out creative time. We're
Speaker 7: gonna need it by the end of the year, you know,
Speaker 7: into twenty twenty six. I need two seasons fully wrapped.
Speaker 2: But we believe it.
Speaker 7: You're great, Okay, totally have this bag.
Speaker 3: What's the before I get dragged out by security? What
Speaker 3: is the budget on Jason's and or Insurgency gonna Because
Speaker 3: if I'm not mistaken, and I had a seven hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty million dollar budget and was the most expensive
Speaker 3: Star Wars show of all time.
Speaker 1: So oh yeah much project much less? Okay, good, much less? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we.
Speaker 5: Lore gonna be seventy five thousand, yeah million, seventy an episode.
Speaker 3: Jason, we got cardcar. I think we can do it. Also,
Speaker 3: I would just say we have actually long time been
Speaker 3: pitching a exaber Is anthology show that could lead into
Speaker 3: the introduction of the X Man. So perhaps there's some
Speaker 3: kind of collaborative aspect to but I think for seventy
Speaker 3: five thousand dollars an episode, it's gonna be like a
Speaker 3: stage play about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hate listen not to again. I understand that
Speaker 2: you know your your track record of success, particularly in
Speaker 2: recent years, cannot be denied. Why think small time? You know,
Speaker 2: I look at you. You're thinking big time. You think
Speaker 2: a small time success. You think in China. You're thinking
Speaker 2: get the get the right wingers to like your movie.
Speaker 2: You think it big, you're thinking four quadrants. Okay, that's
Speaker 2: only possible on the big screen, not the small screen.
Speaker 2: And there's nothing against the small screen, but it is
Speaker 2: smaller than the big screen. Okay, so let's think bigger.
Speaker 2: And I know that you all are about.
Speaker 3: I know she's controversial, but you know what I didn't
Speaker 3: hate the Sydney Sweeney Emma Frost. I is so if
Speaker 3: you want to bring that ready my show.
Speaker 6: Now, that's putting butts in seats.
Speaker 4: You've got and also guess what it's putting young male
Speaker 4: buds and seats.
Speaker 3: Also Emma Frost famously known for having a boob window,
Speaker 3: Sidney Sweetey famously known only woman who has boobs.
Speaker 2: So we're design about to go absolutely crazyst Well, thank
Speaker 2: you both very much.
Speaker 1: Loved hearing these pitches, the different ways you would take
Speaker 1: the story both in and out of the universes. I
Speaker 1: love the idea of like the mutants coming through an insurgency,
Speaker 1: and then also there are already mutants here in the MCU,
Speaker 1: which really hits on Ian's focus of MCU focused and
Speaker 1: like connecting to what we've already built in this universe,
Speaker 1: Rosie with a nice rising star and Jody Turner Smith
Speaker 1: and like a really focused story still continuing to rise forever. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks again. Our studio heads are going to head back
Speaker 1: into our private jets and we all have to attend
Speaker 1: an award show somewhere for a movie we probably didn't make,
Speaker 1: but we'll be on the red carpet. We thank you
Speaker 1: both so much for being here and we can't wait
Speaker 1: to hear more from your agents in the coming weeks.
Speaker 1: Thank you, and we're back.
Speaker 2: Wow. That what an experience, Prosie, I understand now, you know,
Speaker 2: first of all, I again, what a humbling experience to
Speaker 2: be in that room with folks who have been making
Speaker 2: the big box office that we know. You know, I
Speaker 2: was really struck by a booze common touch of you know,
Speaker 2: it's such an interesting angle to come in knowing nothing and.
Speaker 3: It really really giving you a unique.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well let's talk, I mean, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2: I know this was kind of a jokey, very fun,
Speaker 2: but you know, we are two passionate lovers of the
Speaker 2: X Men. And in a no bullshit way. We both
Speaker 2: really believe in the in the approaches that we've laid out. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and so let's talk about it.
Speaker 3: I think that what was really great about that is, yeah,
Speaker 3: it is funny and it is silly, but when you
Speaker 3: are pitching on IP, you really are coming again up
Speaker 3: against often people who don't necessarily love it as much
Speaker 3: as you. So I think that was kind of a funny,
Speaker 3: a funny space to approach it from that was relatively realistic.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I do think I think that we're in
Speaker 3: a space where I love insurgency. I think that's such
Speaker 3: a great idea for that big post doomsday movie, and
Speaker 3: I think we need a big, action packed thing. But
Speaker 3: the thing that MCU has been struggling with is character
Speaker 3: as well. And I think that's why for me like
Speaker 3: the ability to do a cheaper movie or a TV
Speaker 3: show or something, even though the shows have not been
Speaker 3: cheap enough, there is some freedom in doing something lower budget.
Speaker 3: I mean, even Logan was like, you know, I near
Speaker 3: to one hundred and twenty million. They kind of never
Speaker 3: really revealed the true budget, but even that is incredibly
Speaker 3: low and arguably one of the best stories of all time.
Speaker 3: So I think the MCU is in a really unique
Speaker 3: and tough space where, yeah, it needs to make money,
Speaker 3: it needs to make a billion dollars, but that has
Speaker 3: stopped working for it. So I think we have to
Speaker 3: go back to the character, back to the stories. I
Speaker 3: think the x Men needs to be the success that
Speaker 3: the Fantastic Four wasn't. The x Men needs to be
Speaker 3: something that feels like it can lead us to a
Speaker 3: new era of the MCU that's probably not even called
Speaker 3: the MCU.
Speaker 2: I agree with you, and I think I think there
Speaker 2: are two things about an x Men movie potential x
Speaker 2: Men movie. One it is it is truly I think
Speaker 2: even beyond the upcoming Avengers crossovers, Doomsday and Secret Wars,
Speaker 2: it is a real opportunity to reach that Billy mark again.
Speaker 2: And because you're activating a fan base that has been waiting.
Speaker 3: And it's like an AE fan base, it's an intergenerational
Speaker 3: fan base.
Speaker 2: You're waiting to activate this fan base once again, and
Speaker 2: they are eager for their heroes to reappear back on
Speaker 2: the screen and be integrated into this kind of massive, sprawling,
Speaker 2: truly success ridden and industry changing, integrated universe. What difficulties
Speaker 2: does it face. I think it faces one crucial thing,
Speaker 2: and that is that the X Men are a parable
Speaker 2: of freedom against oppression, freedom of religion, freedom of diversity
Speaker 2: in race, freedom and expression.
Speaker 3: It's about and equality.
Speaker 2: It's about equity, and it's about power and I and
Speaker 2: the only thing that can really stymy this movie when
Speaker 2: it comes is some situation like the process which we
Speaker 2: just went through in this episode, which seeks to kind
Speaker 2: of sand down the sharp edges and the cool parts,
Speaker 2: the cutting edge parts of this metaphor, which you know,
Speaker 2: as a fan of the X Men, I think is
Speaker 2: more relevant today than at any point in the history
Speaker 2: of the X Men. One might argue, right, And so
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna take a really really talented filmmaker,
Speaker 2: and not talented in the way not talented in writing
Speaker 2: or directing or camera moves, but talented interpolitically in a
Speaker 2: way that allows this person to understand how to talk
Speaker 2: to studio. It's how to talk to Kevin Fie, how
Speaker 2: to talk to marketers, and how to keep that central
Speaker 2: vision alive while couching it in the language that doesn't
Speaker 2: scare off the four quadret marketing people who are like,
Speaker 2: oh god, white guys are going to hate this fucking movie,
Speaker 2: and so you've got to be able to deliver something
Speaker 2: that's subversive but looks mainstream, and that is I think
Speaker 2: going to be the difficulty in making this movie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's my opinion.
Speaker 2: What do you think.
Speaker 3: I think you're completely right. I also think the second
Speaker 3: you bring up the biggest issue, especially because right now
Speaker 3: certain studios are scared of projects that lean into that.
Speaker 3: But that is the core of The X Men. And
Speaker 3: I also just want to point out because I know
Speaker 3: some people will likely be like, well, was it more real? Well,
Speaker 3: the truth is that The X Men was reactive to
Speaker 3: the civil rights movement, but was not necessarily inspired by
Speaker 3: it as much as people may think it was. Stanley
Speaker 3: kind of took that take on afterwards, after readers had
Speaker 3: seen reflections that they felt with Malcolm Max and Magneto
Speaker 3: and Charles Xavier and Martin Luther King, those were not
Speaker 3: inherently in the text. It is now that we can
Speaker 3: see the stuff that then after that, especially in Giant
Speaker 3: Size X Men and onwards with Claremont's stuff, that became
Speaker 3: the real text text of the book. And I think
Speaker 3: that is why now we need an X memo movie.
Speaker 3: More than ever. Like you said, Jason, I think the
Speaker 3: secondary problem is that the MCU is not in a
Speaker 3: place where it feels like they are excited to make
Speaker 3: brave moves or support shows or TV or movies that
Speaker 3: for some reason, at some point they have lost belief in.
Speaker 3: I think that was something that, as funny as our
Speaker 3: producers always are, was actually like a real struggle. Right
Speaker 3: now is like the MCU is not the Jugger, not
Speaker 3: what it was. It is not seen as the trailblazer
Speaker 3: right now. And also the MCU part of its problem
Speaker 3: is it took a little bit too long to do
Speaker 3: stuff like Black Panther, like you know, Miss Marvel Captain
Speaker 3: Marvel being the first female character, but it was tenth
Speaker 3: lead character, but it was ten years after the MCU debuted. Luckily,
Speaker 3: because of the Black Panther delay, we did get Ryan
Speaker 3: Coogler's superior and singular vision. But I think that throughout
Speaker 3: the history of the MCU it's not been particularly progressive.
Speaker 3: If you look at it, there's plenty of brilliant artists
Speaker 3: and writers and people who have talked about that. I
Speaker 3: think this needs to be a radical, transgressive, subversive movie.
Speaker 3: I would love to see someone come in, Jason, who,
Speaker 3: like you said, knows how to say to execs, Hey,
Speaker 3: this is important, but doesn't it's a hit, but it's
Speaker 3: also a hit, a hit, you know. Yeah, Barbie was
Speaker 3: never meant to be a four quadrant movie, and it
Speaker 3: became a four quadrant movie. Maybe we need to bring
Speaker 3: Greta Gerwig in. I don't know, but like, let's bring
Speaker 3: I don't hate it because she did what I thought
Speaker 3: was impossible and made that into a four quadrant movie.
Speaker 3: But the real question is, guys, is it gonna yet made?
Speaker 3: It will get made? Is it gonna be good? We're
Speaker 3: still waiting. That's what I'm excited to see. I think
Speaker 3: we need more casting news. I think we need more understanding,
Speaker 3: you know. I think that them going to the writer
Speaker 3: director of The Thunderbolts was smart because it was relatively
Speaker 3: successful for them. But I don't necessarily think that is
Speaker 3: the person I would have chosen to tell the first
Speaker 3: X Men story in the MCU. But I'm interested to
Speaker 3: see where it goes, and I think, Jason, You're right.
Speaker 3: The biggest obstruction right now is the kind of, you know,
Speaker 3: non humorous version of the pitch we just went through,
Speaker 3: where people start saying, Oh, but you know, can we
Speaker 3: really have a black lead? Is Storm that popular? Or
Speaker 3: oh do we really want to make those civil rights
Speaker 3: analogies right now? Obviously, very big conversation about how to
Speaker 3: represent Magneto as a historically Jewish character without also trying
Speaker 3: to make him a time traveler because he's you know,
Speaker 3: there's longing conversations about how that would be reimagined, and
Speaker 3: right now, many of those conversations cannot even be had
Speaker 3: in a studio. So I think we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 3: But you know, I love the X Men, so I'm excited.
Speaker 3: I also believe Jason that that was a pitch that's
Speaker 3: good enough. That put that in your back pocket, because
Speaker 3: you never know if you're going to get that meeting,
Speaker 3: and that was a really good one. Obviously, I'll be
Speaker 3: here fighting for the Morlocks forever.
Speaker 2: Listen, I'm a humble guy. I actually believe my pitch
Speaker 2: is really good.
Speaker 3: It's really good. It's really good.
Speaker 2: I want to thank our studio heads Saboo, Carmen and
Speaker 2: Ian and Joe Well for just guiding us through this
Speaker 2: incredible process to make something truly great on the episodes
Speaker 2: of Extra Vision. It's another episode of XRGC the group
Speaker 2: Chat where we're discussing the Task finale and Queens of
Speaker 2: the Dead, featuring an interview with Tina Romero. That's it
Speaker 2: for this episode. Thanks all listing bye. X ray Vision
Speaker 2: is hosted by Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight and is
Speaker 2: a production of iHeart Podcast.
Speaker 3: Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Kaufman.
Speaker 2: Our supervising producer is Abu Safar.
Speaker 3: Our producers are Common, Laurent Dean Jonathan and Fay Wag.
Speaker 2: A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
Speaker 2: songs by Aaron Kauffman.
Speaker 3: Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman and
Speaker 3: Heidi our discord moderator.