Why early criticism is the worst

            One of the worst things some people do is criticize something that has not been released yet.  It is most noticeable when it comes to Marvel Studios and their movies.  Yes, it happens in all entertainment industries, and I will get to that later, but as a Marvel fan I see more criticism towards the movies than anything else.  The biggest criticisms towards the movies that I have seen are about how the movie is going to turn out.  The best example for this is the movie Ant-Man.  The movie itself has been in some kind of production for the last 10 years or so, with the director Edgar Wright involved with it for a good majority of the time.  Then the studio made the movie official in the beginning of 2014.  When he left the project that summer, Marvel Studios hired Peyton Reed to direct the movie.  When the hiring was announced, many people already wrote off the movie as a bust.  This was even before the movie had even started shooting.  Today, after its July 2015 release, according to Rotten Tomatoes, Ant-Man has an 80% approval rating from critics and a 90% rating from audiences.  The movie was so well liked that audiences are now asking for a sequel Ant-Man movie.

            Another good example would be the Guardians of the Galaxy.  When the movie was announced, people wrote off the movie only because it was not a well-known franchise.  This time, when the trailer came out, those same people were critical about the movie.  The movie has a 91% approval rating from critics and 92% approval from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes- some even claiming the movie the best of 2014. 

            With this in mind, being a Marvel fan, I have learned to trust Marvel.  They have yet to make a bad movie, so it is surprising that some people in this world have not been so trustworthy as well.  This brings me to the point of this post, which is to hold off all criticism until something is released.  The most criticized item now is the game Star Wars Battlefront.  The game will be released in November of this year.  The reason it is getting the criticism in the first place is that Electronic Arts is publishing and distributing the game.  EA is seen as a money first type of company to many players.  They also criticized the game after a report came out stating that EA would be taking outsome beloved game modes that appeared in previous Battlefront games.  There should be no worries in the first place, though, because Disney would not let just some random company publish a game based on one of their properties.  Any one intelligent would know Disney is working side by side with EA to develop a quality game for Star Wars fans.  Early criticism is nonsense.  The only time for criticism is when an item is actually available for purchase, not when it is being developed.

Angel Investors

Some of the most important individuals a small business can use to improve are angel investors.  According to author Jacoline Loewen, angel investors “fill the gap in seed funding between ‘friends and family.’” Angel investors typically use their own money to fund businesses, therefore expect high returns to their investments.  Two of the best angel investors today are Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway.

Reid Hoffman was born in Palo Alto, California in 1967.  In 1990, Reid graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelors in Symbolic Systems and Cognitive Science.  Reid then, in 1993, earned his Masters in Philosophy from Wolfson College, Oxford University.  His first company, SocialNet.com, opened in 1997, which focused on matchmaking people with similar interests, as well as dating.  He was also a member of Paypal’s founding board of directors.  In fact, Reid left his company to become Paypal’s COO in 2000.  His biggest invention was the website LinkedIn. His investment portfolio includes Flickr, Last.fm, Facebook and Zynga.

On inc.com, Reid gave five tips to “ace your investor pitch”:

1.     Prove your business

2.     Show one revenue stream

3.     Sidle up to another successful company

4.     Expose your risks early

5.     Every investor is not the right investor.

These tips are key because if you do not highlight your business or risks before an investor jumps on board, then it leads to investors either not agreeing to help the business or pulling out because the risk becomes too much to handle.

Ron Conway was born in San Francisco in 1951.  Ron graduated with a Bachelors in Political Science from San Jose State University.  Ron, according to Miller Gold Partners, “sees practically every startup deal and has used that power to his advantage, investing in many of the most important startups of the past decade, including Google, PayPal, Facebook, and Twitter.”

Techcrunch.com writer Kyle Russell did an interview with Ron, in which he gave the following tips to young business founders finding investors:

1.     “Idea has to be infectious enough to find a co-founder.”

2.     Background is not the motivating factor: it is the circumstances that led to the startup’s creation.

3.     Recognize and adapt to a product not finding a market.

These tips are critical because a business owner needs to be both comfortable with their co-workers and what the business as a whole is about.  If the owner does not follow the market their product is for, it could potentially lead to a loss of business, which is a huge risk in the eyes of investors.

For my business plan, I really relate to proving the business, exposing the risks, and recognizing and adapting to a product not finding a market.  Since my business is focuses on making videos and putting them on Youtube, I first need to find the market I want to watch my videos.  Once I recognize the market, I can adjust my business accordingly.  Proving the business is going to be the most important tip to follow.  The market for Youtube videos based on video games is already crowded, so I need to find a way to distinguishing this company from the rest.  I also need to prove that my company is better than the already established companies.

Important Casting Calls for Marvel Studios

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting bigger and bigger every time you look.  Within the past couple of months, they have signed incredible individuals to play either iconic characters that will be apart of the Cinematic Universe, or crewmembers to lead those movies.  These hirings effect the upcoming season of Daredevil as well as the Marvel Studios version of the Amazing Spider-Man.

For the upcoming Daredevil season, it was announced that the protagonist would be the Punisher.  The studio hired former The Walking Dead actor Jon Bernthal to lead that role.  In a simple world, that news would have been enough but the studio recently just announced that the Daredevil’s love interest/ work partner Elektra would also appear.  Elektra is going to be portrayed by Elodie Yung, who played a character in the 2013 film G.I. Joe: Retaliation that looks very similar to Elektra, red costume and all.  The best news is that they just started filming this week, which mean it will be coming out sometime next year.  Having the Punisher show up in the same universe as the Avengers is very exciting because it creates the potential of some awesome conflicts and/or team ups in upcoming films.

The most important signing comes with Tom Holland, who is set to portray Peter Parker/ Spider-Man in upcoming Marvel Studios films.  Unlike previous films, the studio, in conjunction with Sony Pictures, chose to go young with this rendition of Peter Parker.  This is a good move on their part since a Spider-Man movie was released last year and they need to do everything in their power to differentiate this new Spider-Man from the old one.  It was also announced that Jon Watts will be directing the movie.  This goes along with Marvel Studios hiring mostly independent directors for their blockbuster films.  There should be nothing to worry about because not well-known directors directed the best Marvel Studios films up until this point. 

In conclusion, in Marvel we trust.  Get excited ladies and gentleman.

James Bond Distribution

           James Bond is one of the most beloved franchises in the world.  Cumulatively, the 25 James Bond films make the franchise the third highest grossing franchise in the world.  The company that has distributed and produced the movies, Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, since buying United Artists in 1981 has not been doing well this decade.  In 2010, the film company filed for bankruptcy, leaving questions as to whether or not the company can even rebound.  Then, in 2011, MGM agreed with Sony for distribution rights to more than 4,000 films in the MGM catalog, and distribution for two new James Bond films.  The deal also calls for MGM to finance a handful of movie for Sony, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and 21 Jump Street.

            Those two James Bond movies ended up being the successful Skyfall and the upcoming Spectre.  After Spectre, the distribution rights for James Bond films are up for grabs.  The short-lived deal between Sony and MGM means than James Bond could be going to another studio.  In addition, since MGM is still rebounding from bankruptcy, they do not have the funds to go back to distributing movies themselves so they absolutely have to find a distributor.  According to variety.com writer Brent Lang, distribution rights could potentially go to Warner Brothers.  Both Warner Bros. and MGM have collaborated in the past, most recently with The Hobbit movies, so they do have history together.  Sony cannot afford to lose distribution rights to this franchise, because Skyfall made over one billion in the box office.  Sony themselves have not been doing well, seeing that the last Spider-Man movie did not meet their expectations, so in February announced a team up with Marvel Studios to boost sales.  Overall, the deal, which will happen sometimes next year, has the potential to change the industry.