Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to begin 2 months after Phase 2 draws to it's conclusion with next summer's Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film tasked with this is Ant Man, a project that has been in development since 2006. However, an extremely rare troubled pre production for Marvel is happening right now and it has lead many to believe that this movie could really suck. I really want a good Ant Man movie, but the odds are completely stacked against it..
1) He's an unknown
Obviously fans of Marvel comics will know who he is but do mainstream audiences? When I talk to my friends about the movies Marvel will be releasing, I tell them that Ant Man is coming out they all say the same thing: "Ant Man? "Who the f*** is that?!". However, one could say that before all these Marvel movies came out Iron Man, Thor and Captain America were relative unknowns, now they are pop culture icons. So there is that.
2) Changing the director
Edgar Wright, who helmed the Cornetto trilogy, has been linked to Ant Man since 2006 and had drawn up 3 versions of the script. He is quoted as saying that "The thing I like about Ant-Man is that it's not like a secret power, there's no supernatural element or it's not a genetic thing. There's no gamma rays. It's just like the suit and the gas, so in that sense, it really appealed to me in terms that we could do something high-concept, really visual, cross-genre, sort of an action and special effects bonanza, but funny as well." He is a talented director and the project was close to his heart. Hiring Peyton Reed in his place may turn out to be a huge mistake because let's face it... we all want to see Wright make a superhero movie after what he did with Scott Pilgrim.
3) Changing the writers
Screenwriters often tackle a film's script differently to others.This means that the Ant Man script has never really been settled on, which worries me. A solid script is the key to a kick-ass superhero movie (like the Dark Knight trilogy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past) and numerous re-writes won't help it. I mean they've jumped from Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and now 2 new writers have come in to write it. And that news is only a day old or so. They're re-writing a month before shooting supposedly starts in August!
4) The Release Date
Do you seriously believe that Ant Man will be filmed, edited, polished and ready for 17th July 2015, which is literally just over a year away? I don't. There is honestly no harm in them pushing the film back a while considering Age of Ultron comes out in the same year.
5) Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ok so maybe this isn't as big an issue as changing the writers or the director, but having a (relatively) unknown comic book movie come out 2 months after Avengers: Age of Ultron may also hurt the film financially. Although this may not be the case after all as Marvel do a great job at promoting their films before they're released. Hell look at what they've done with Guardians of the Galaxy! Mind you this is the first time an MCU film has undergone such a troublesome pre production, so maybe people won't go and see it if it turns out as bad as it could.
I really hope Ant Man proves me wrong but at the moment it is looking like a complete train wreck of a film. The odds are stacked against it, but I will go and see it regardless and I will pray Marvel can pull the rabbit out of the hat with this one, because if they can make this movie good they can do anything!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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