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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker moved at breakneck pace towards its conclusion, dizzying viewers with shocking revelations, tragic losses (usually reversed in the following five minutes) and strange Space MacGuffins. It moved so fast through its tangled plot though that audiences almost immediately started noticing plot holes, and now one of the bigger ones is being thoroughly picked over by fans.
In disappointing news for fans of The Crown, Netflix's opulent drama about the life of Queen Elizabeth II, the show has failed to make the streaming giant's top 10 most-watched series list for 2019 in the UK. You would imagine that if any market would be the core audience it'd be the United Kingdom, so given the massive budget of the show, this is likely to raise some questions over its future direction.
Despite one being set in a medieval fantasy kingdom and the other in a galaxy far, far, away, it's easy to see similarities between The Mandalorian and The Witcher. Their protagonists are very similar to one another: highly skilled, stoic and deadpan warriors-for-hire in a futile battle eager not to get dragged into complex political situations. And another thing they have in common is that they're both huge successes: The Witcher is the most-watched show on Netflix and The Mandalorian has successfully launched Disney Plus with a bang.
After The Last Jedi caused an enormous controversy amongst longtime fans of the series, Disney played it safe with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Like The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams went in heavy on the fan service, bringing back Emperor Palpatine, revealing Rey as his granddaughter, giving Chewie a medal and bringing a ghost Han back for one last goodbye. This fan love-bombing tactic seems to have backfired though, with professional critics not particularly pleased at Abrams so obviously pandering to audience expectations.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be the first MCU property to introduce X-Men IP previously owned by Fox into the MCU. This looks as if it's going to be a subtle process, but we've already seen a glimpse of the S.W.O.R.D. organization in set pics from WandaVision and now we know that another X-Universe element is going to be used in TFATWS: the country of Madripoor.
The Mandalorian was designed to launch Disney Plus with a bang, and it certainly did that, providing a far superior Star Wars experience to its big screen cousin The Rise of Skywalker. I adored its Western and samurai-inspired aesthetic, beautiful cinematography, awesome cast and, of course, everyone's favorite pint-size puppet Baby Yoda. The finale of the first season didn't disappoint either, setting us up for an epic adventure that I hope will continue in the same vein as what we've already seen.
It’s safe to say Warner Bros. are pleased with Joker. Despite their initial misgivings about the project, going so far as to limit its budget in an attempt to dissuade the creators, it’s gone on to wild success, becoming the first R-rated movie to ever break $1 billion at the box office. Based on that alone, there will be sequels, but those potential sequels might have been very different if Todd Phillips had gone with this crazy alternate ending.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness promises to expand the horizons of the MCU at a crucial time. That's because, over the next decade or so, the MCU will have to stretch to accommodate a lot of new IP. Not only have Disney and Sony Pictures apparently inked a deal to allow their own Marvel universe to cross over with the MCU, but Marvel Studios are hard at work figuring out how to best incorporate the X-Men and Fantastic Four.
With the controversial final season of Game of Thrones now receding into memory, there's a sizeable gap in the schedule for an adult fantasy show. Amazon's big bet is their mega-budget Lord of the Rings and HBO is working on a Game of Thrones prequel, but Netflix is first out of the gate with The Witcher.