Countdown to Negan's Debut on The Walking Dead

"Hi. I'm Negan"

Chilling words make a great preview. Rather than rush things, The Walking Dead established a slow build for the brilliant character of Negan. In the comics, Negan developed into an outstanding villain. Insane, unredeeming, unpredictable, and adherent to a bizarre code of honor, Negan kept the comic series intriguing.

Fans of the book are sure to help give the 90-minute season finale a major buzz. This outstanding preview sets up the arrival of a villain far worse (and more interesting) than the zombie hordes the characters have been dodging.

Batman v. Superman: Box Office Opening Analysis

Rottentomatoes is reflecting a "29% Rotten" rating for the film that was supposed to launch the DC Extended Universe. The film does launch the universe, but on a sour (and dour) note. The opening weekend box office is going to be good news, but the news is sure to be short-lived. The-Numbers.com has a smart analysis of the film.

Batman v. Superman is on the road to breaking tons of records at the box office for March and Easter weekend. $80+ million on Friday is absolutely a fantastic start. The film, however, won't have legs to earn the $1 billion or so Avengers: Age of Ultron, Furious 7, or Jurassic World earned. Batman v. Superman is going to cool heavily and become a "wait for the DVD" release. Not good for a movie that needs to pull in $800 million to break even. The box office disappointment becomes even more embarrassing when Deadpool earned $750 million worldwide on a much, much smaller budget and far less hype.

Poor Reviews for Batman v. Superman?

Not to cast cold water and kryptonite on a movie's debut, but Rotten Tomatoes has the worst possible news D.C Entertainment and Warner Bros. could ever want to hear. Critics are SAVAGING Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Right now, only 33% of the reviews are positive - and that includes more than a few lukewarm ones. Horrible reviews for a film designed to launch a massive series of interconnected sequels and spinoffs hardly bodes well for anyone involved with the project.

The Lobo Movie's Back's Back

"Lobo's Back's Back" was the offbeat (and grammatically confusing) name given to the trade paperback that collected the excellent 1990's mini-series "Lobo's Back". Looks like the Lobo movie is back, too. Considering how many times the film project has had its starts and stops over the years, you could say "The Lobo's Movie's Back's Back's Back's and Back's Some More".

Lobo bounced around development hell for years and years. Each time the project moved forward one step, it would get knocked back two steps with the same refrain. Lobo, you see, was a "B-grade" character. No one wanted to put tens of millions of dollars of money up on B-grade characters.

The success of Deadpool, $760 million worldwide as of this writing, has led the powers that be at Warner and D.C. to change their tune. Deadpool was a "B-grade" character, too. That is why Fox only spent $60 million on the budget. Quite a bit of the script was scrapped over budget concerns.

And Deadpool turned out to be a mega-hit exceeding all expectations.
Lobo, in a lot of ways, is D.C. Comics' Deadpool. Lobo is an over-the-top, violent, and extremely funny character. While it may have taken a lot of time for someone to hit the greenlight on a Lobo movie, the go-ahead is still welcome.