Pitch Meeting 2020

Before J.J. Abrams took over the world of Star Wars with The Force Awakens and the Rise of Skywalker, he revived another classic sci-fi franchise with 2009’s Star Trek, a movie so filled with lens flares it was difficult to see. But from what people could make out, it seemed pretty good! Although the movie was a critical and financial success, it definitely raises a few questions. Like why didn’t Chris Hemsworth abandon ship if he was just setting it on a collision course? What was the point of the young Kirk scenes? How was Kirk qualified to be promoted? How did he happen to land on a remote planet and stumble upon the cave where Spock Prime was hanging out? What exactly do black holes and red matter do?!

Step inside the pitch meeting that led to Dolittle!

The Twilight Saga took theatres by storm when it premiered in 2008, with die-hard fans lining up to see Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and Jacob Black do super melodramatic vampire and werewolf stuff on the big screen. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will forever be associated with these roles. The movie definitely raises some questions. Like why are the Cullens even going to high school-- isn’t that a terrible way to blend in? What’s up with vampire baseball? What does everybody see in Bella? What’s so romantic about almost puking and awkwardly staring at her? Why is a 100 year old vampire so into a teenage girl? Why is she okay with him watching her sleep every night?!

In the early 1990’s, Mario and Luigi were all the rage. The Nintendo video game franchise had become a massive worldwide phenomenon, so it only made sense for Hollywood to try and cash in on it. The Super Mario Bros movie was the first movie based on a video game ever made, and it did not exactly inspire confidence in the genre. Starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper and Samantha Mathis, the movie is completely bonkers and raises a whole lot of questions. Like how did dinosaurs also evolve into humans? Why do none of the characters have anything to do with their video game counterparts? Why did they go all-in on the plumbing aspect? Why does President Koopa not just go through the portal? How did they think this would get a SEQUEL?!

Suicide Squad wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but most people can agree that Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was a standout. So it’s only natural that Hollywood wanted to feature her in another movie! Rather than a straight up solo movie, Warner Bros has delivered Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) which is… pretty much a Harley Quinn movie. The film raises a lot of questions. Like why don’t any of Harley’s enemies use their guns? Where is the Joker and all the other Gotham villains? Where’s Batman for that matter? How is this Roman Sionus guy running the show? Is this the first comic book movie in which the problem is solved via laxatives? Why is there a hyena?! What is going on?!

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most famous video game characters of all time, so it definitely makes sense that Hollywood wanted to cash in on this little blue guy by bringing him to the big screen. Voiced by Ben Schwartz, Sonic has now come to planet Earth and has to go up against the evil Doctor Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey. The movie definitely raises a lot of questions. Like why is there suddenly an owl here? Why does Sonic run into someone’s garage to use his portal ring? Why doesn’t he run to San Francisco to retrieve it, instead taking a slow-paced road trip when time is of the essence? Why does this little blue alien floss so often? Why did they want to give him so many teeth?

Indiana Jones is one of the most iconic movie characters of all time. Along with his role as Han Solo, playing Indy is one of the defining works of Harrison Ford’s long career. So, in an age of constant reboots and sequels, it was kind of inevitable that Hollywood wanted to bring Indiana Jones back to the big screen. And with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg both on board, this had the makings of something great! Unfortunately yeah no it didn’t work out that way. The movie definitely raises some questions. Like why are we focusing on aliens? Why do the good guys and the bad guys have the same goal? How did they think the nuke fridge scene was a good idea? How does Shia Laboeuf befriend monkeys so quickly and swing through the jungle faster than speeding vehicles? Why did the FBI decide to stop investigating Doctor Jones despite absolutely nothing changing from their perspective? What’s going on with Cate Blanchett’s voice?

With the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s understandable that every movie studio under the sun wanted to create cinematic universes of their very own. For Universal, that attempt came in the form of the Dark Universe. It didn’t work out. Even with a superstar like Tom Cruise in the forefront, the movie raises a ton of questions. Like why did Princess Ahmanet need help from Set, the god of death, to take out a baby and a sleeping dude? How are two known artifact thieves still in the military? What exactly are the Mummy’s powers? Why is Doctor Jekyll so reckless with his Mr Hyde medicine? Why does Prodigium make it so simple for people to escape? Why hasn’t anyone destroyed the dagger or the stone? To answer all these questions and more, step inside the pitch meeting that led to The Mummy! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

Disney and Pixar have put out a whole lot of classic animated films over the years-- but in the past decade the majority of them have been sequels, prequels or spinoffs of their most popular properties. With Onward, they’re making a return to the world of original concepts. They’re bringing us into a world of magic that’s lost its magic, featuring the vocal talents of Star-Lord himself Chris Pratt, as well Spider-Man himself Tom Holland. Onward does raise some questions though-- like how did the invention of planes lead to creatures not flying down the street, or to reach things on shelves? Why are all their technological inventions human-sized if the creatures are the ones that made them? Why doesn’t anyone consider how the mom character feels? Why does every single road trip movie need an encounter with a biker gang? Why are the Simpsons here?

James Bond is one of the most popular franchises of all time. In recent years with Daniel Craig in the titular role, it’s been kind of a mixed bag. Casino Royale was critically acclaimed for its gritty perspective on 007, but then Quantum of Solace seemingly dropped the ball. Then Skyfall picked the ball back up again, and Spectre… well it raises a lot of questions. Like what’s up with all the wardrobe changes? Where are they getting all these clothes? Why didn’t M tell James about the rogue mission while she was alive? Why is Q so nice to Bond? Why don’t any of the bad guys take the shot when they have it? How and when exactly did Madeleine fall deeply in love with James? When did Blofeld do so many arts and crafts?

The Matrix was one of the most popular and revolutionary movies of the 1990’s -- so it’s only natural that the early 2000’s gave us some sequels. The only problem is, it clearly wasn’t really designed to be a trilogy. The Matrix: Reloaded definitely raises some questions. Like how exactly is Agent Smith now free and able to copy paste himself? Why are we spending so much time in Zion talking about philosophy and politics? How is anything actually a problem, now that Neo is straight up Superman? How can Agent Smith travel through phone lines into the real world? How can Neo control machines in the real world? Why does the Architect use so many big words?!

John Krasinski, who made a name for himself as Jim Halpert on the hit comedy The Office, stepped into the director’s chair to bring us A Quiet Place in 2018. The movie, starring Krasinski and his real-life wife Emily Blunt, was a massive success and was one of the standout movies of the year. The movie does raise some questions though. Like why was the Abbott family so irresponsible in the opening scene? Why are the alien/monsters so inconsistent in what they can hear and how they attack? What’s up with that waterfall scene, and that nail scene on the stairs? Did Lee really have to sacrifice himself at the end? And what’s up with the happy quirky ending?

In these strange and uncertain times, the world has gathered their TV’s and smart devices to collectively watch the weird antics of eccentric zoo owner Joe Exotic in Netflix’s massive hit true crime series Tiger King. The series definitely raises a ton of questions. Like does Joe Exotic actually sing his songs? What made him think he could become President of the United States? How does he keep meeting new husbands? How does a tiger attack barely register as something of note in this show? How is literal Scarface one of the most relatable characters? Why does Jeff Lowe dress like that, and why does everyone call him Jeff Lowe? Did Carol Baskin feed her husband to some tigers? Why can’t we stop watching this show?!

Step inside the pitch meeting that led to Ghost Rider! Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe became a global phenomenon, certain Marvel characters were still getting one-off movies that were… not great. In 2007 Columbia Pictures decided that having Nicolas Cage star as Johnny Blaze AKA Ghost Rider would be a good idea. It… was not? The movie definitely raises some interesting questions. Like why does Johnny sometimes take damage from his Ghost Rider fights and other times doesn’t? Why can’t the devil deal with his son on Earth, why are his powers so weak? Why is Roxanne so obsessed with Johnny when he keeps ignoring her? What’s up with the Caretaker turning into a Ghost Rider and then not helping at all? Who does Blackheart scream at when he first appears? How did this get a sequel?

Jurassic Park from director Steven Spielberg is one of the most critically acclaimed movies of all time, so it’s only natural that Universal wanted to make a sequel. Making the beloved side character Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum in the main character seemed like a no-brainer. But The Lost World: Jurassic Park definitely raises some questions, other than the strangely structured title. Like why have we never heard of this secondary island before? What kind of a person secretly goes to a dinosaur island knowing the her boyfriend has lived through very significant dinosaur-related trauma? Why is there a little girl in this movie? What’s up with all the characters making insane decisions leading to death-by-dinosaur? Why are we in San Diego?

The Matrix was one of the most revolutionary movies of all time and influenced a whole generation of action movies with its awesome visual effects and storytelling. Naturally its massive success led to some sequels: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions… Which are also movies! The third film in the “trilogy” definitely raises some questions. Like did anyone actually want to see Neo, The Chosen One, stuck in a train station for 25 minutes? What’s up with all the real-world superpowers that Neo and Agent Smith have? How exactly do program make babies? Why are the machines using humans as batteries when the sun is accessible? Who are we supposed to care about in the Zion battle and why do both the machines and humans choose such impractical fighting styles?

Batman and Batman Returns, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, were big box office hits that brought the Dark Knight to a whole new level of popularity. Naturally Warner Bros wanted another film to follow them up, but had to do so with a new director, Joel Schumacher AND a new Batman, Val Kilmer. Batman Forever definitely raises a lot of questions. Like what’s up with the completely new visual style? Why does Batman adopt a fully grown man? What’s up with those… things on the batsuit? Why is Chase Meridian so obsessed with Batman? Why is the circus being broadcast on live TV? Why does Two Face want to kill Batman, exactly? Why the The Riddler pick the worst spot in the world for his showdown with Batman?

Keanu Reeves had a global hit with his action-packed movie The Matrix, and none of his movies since then really lived up to how amazing it was. That is, until John Wick rolled around in 2014. This action-packed shooter with a simple plot became a surprise hit and introduced the world to some awesome gun-fu action. The movie does raise a few questions though! Like how did they manage to get the producers to get off their back about worldbuilding details and love interests? How does anyone feel safe at the Continental Hotel? Why didn’t Viggo stick around to make sure his men took care of John Wick, and why did John make a deal with Viggo just moments later? Also, why didn’t anyone Google Baba Yaga?

Jurassic Park was one of the most critically acclaimed successful films of all time, so naturally the sequel wanted a couple of sequels. Jeff Goldblum returned as Ian Malcolm for The Lost World Jurassic Park as the second movie, which was followed by the return of Sam Neill as Alan Grant for Jurassic Park III (that’s roman numerals, by the way.) The movie definitely raises a lot of questions. Like why didn’t anyone check that Paul Kirby had any money before accepting his job offer? Why does anyone think that yelling into a megaphone on Dinosaur Island is a good idea? How are we supposed to be rooting for the Kirby couple? Why does this movie have a talking raptor dream sequence? How did Eric get a jar of T-Rex urine? Why did this movie introduce the Spinosaurus, and why is it a ninja? Why is everybody happy that the pteranodons have escaped?

From humble beginnings as a movie about underground street racing, The Fast and Furious franchise has evolved into what’s essentially a new series of superhero movies. With each passing film, the stakes get higher and the stunts get crazier. Many people think the turning point for that evolution was the fifth installment of the franchise - the bizarrely named Fast Five. The movie definitely raises a lot of questions. Like how did the good guys know they weren’t going to kill anyone when they got Dom off the prison bus? Why did they even care that some of the people on the train heist wanted a particular car? How did any of their associates get into Brazil? How did they buy a vault, steal police cars, participate in a street race and joyride cop cars around town without raising any flags? Why did we spend so much time watching them do stuff that ended up being meaningless to the plot? Why is this called Fast Five?

Back in 2010, with a couple of massive Batman movies under his belt, Christopher Nolan decided to take a break from superheroes before The Dark Knight Rises to blow everyone’s mind with the super popular movie Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio. With dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams, Inception definitely raises a lot of questions. Like why aren’t these dreams dream-like? Why doesn’t Michael Caine bring Cobb’s kids to visit sometimes? How did Mal frame Cobb for her death from a totally different building? What does that spinning top totem ending mean? Is it all a dream? Is THIS a dream?! What is going on?!!

2005’s Fantastic Four wasn’t loved by critics, but it made enough money that they kind of had no choice but to make a sequel. Marvel’s first family Sue Storm, Reed Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm made their way back to the big screen for Rise of the Silver Surfer. The movie does raise a couple of questions. Like why are we spending so much time on a wedding? What are the Silver Surfer’s powers exactly? Is Sue Storm focusing on her forehead pimple for the entire duration of the movie? How do Johnny’s new power-switching powers work? What’s Victor Von Doom’s plan exactly? Why would the military trust him on a mission like this? Why is Galactus a cloud?

The trend of YA novels being adapted into popular movie franchises hasn’t been popular in about a decade, but that doesn’t mean that studios are going to stop trying-- especially when they own the rights to a popular book franchise. The latest attempt at this is Artemis Fowl, based on the hugely successful book series of the same name. The movie adaptation definitely raises a lot of questions. Like did the writers actually read the books or just glance through a wikipedia page? Why is there so much exposition in this thing? Why does the whole thing take place in a house? Why isn’t Artemis an evil genius like he was in the books? What exactly is going on with all this magic stuff? Did we really need to see Josh Gad in Hagrid cosplay shoot a bunch of dirt out of his butt? Who is this movie for?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken over the global box office in the past decade, but Marvel wasn’t always the cinematic gold mine it is today. In fact the very first Marvel movie that got a theatrical release was so poorly received that they waited more than a decade to make another one. That first movie was Howard the Duck. The movie definitely raises a ton of questions… Like who is this movie for? Why are we seeing all these duck parts? Why is Beverly attracted to a duck? Why does Howard get a job in an adult spa? Why are there so many duck puns? What was George Lucas thinking? And once again, who is this movie for?! To answer all these questions and more, step inside the pitch meeting that led to Howard the Duck! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

For a brief moment in the early 2000’s, people were referring to M Night Shyamalan as “The Next Spielberg.” With popular hits like The Sixth Sense and Signs, it seemed like the director was going to churn out classic after classic. But then came The Village… Lady in the Water… The Happening… Opinions started to change. Then came “The Last Airbender” in 2010, which not only solidified the new, negative public opinion of Shyamalan, but also enraged fans of the animated series around the world. The Last Airbender definitely raises a lot of questions. Like why rush through twenty episodes in ninety minutes? Why is there so much narration and exposition? Why are everybody’s names being pronounced weird? Why doesn’t anyone have any personality? Why does bending look so weird? What was up with that Earth Tribe scene? Who thought this was a good idea?!

Roland Emmerich has made a ton of disaster movies over the years and has blown a bunch of buildings up (on the screen.) But the movie that really put him on the map and turned into a classic is the 1996 movie Independence Day starring Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. The movie was extremely popular, but definitely raises some questions. Like how did nobody spot a massive ship until it reached the moon? Why did aliens choose landmarks? Why is every single country relying on America to make a move? How hard did Will Smith punch that alien? What was the alien’s plan to escape that lab exactly? How do computers work?

After Godzilla and Kong Skull Island, Warner Bros keeps the Monsterverse rolling with Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which is leading up to a big monster showdown in Godzilla vs. Kong. The movie didn’t make as much money as the two previous movies and definitely raises some questions. Like what’s up with Emma’s change of heart? Why did she suddenly flip-flop from wanting to kill millions of people to thinking that’s too intense? Why was she so reckless with her daughter’s life? Why did everyone send the Godzilla expert to blow himself up? Why did that one pilot eject his seat directly into the mouth of a monster? Why is it always raining? Or snowing? Or smokey? Why do we keep cutting away to people staring blankly at the action?

Jaws is known as one of the best movies of all time. So if a studio upped the stakes by a million percent, that should be even better right? What if thousands of sharks were caught up in a tornado and started eating everyone? Sharknado raises a ton of questions. Like why does it exist? Who thought that such a high concept movie would work with such a low budget? Why is it alway sunny during this hurricane? How are these sharks alive? How will dropping bombs into tornadoes help at all? Why did that guy just dive inside a shark with a chainsaw? How is it possible that that’s the same exact shark that ate his friend in the middle of a tornado?

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy won a ton of Academy Awards and revolutionized the fantasy genre on the big screen. With an amazing cast and incredible special effects, the Fellowship of the Ring really took the world by storm when it came out in 2001. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring raises a few questions (aside from the question about how many times the word “the” appears in the title.) Like why did Sauron try to grab Isuldur instead of smashing him like everyone else? Why didn’t Elrond try a tiny bit harder to stop him? Why does Frodo keep getting stabbed? Why is everyone walking so much? Where did Gandalf go? How did they agree to shoot all three movie simultaneously? What about the eagles?

Dragon Ball is an incredibly popular anime, so it makes sense that Hollywood decided to take a crack at a live-action adaptation. Maybe it would have been helpful if the movie was actually BASED on Dragon Ball in ways other than just the character names. Dragonball Evolution raises a lot of questions. Like why did Goku fling a fly in his grandpa’s mouth. How did Piccolo escape? Why does Goku carry a Dragonball to a teenager party? Why does Piccolo go to Goku’s home if he can sense that the ball isn’t there? Why didn’t Goku just explain himself to Roshi instead of fighting him? Why did Roshi waste a bunch of time in the pit if he was perfectly capable of jumping out? How does digging through that pit lead them to the top of an open-sky volcano? How did anyone think this movie was a good idea?

The Lord of the Rings movies were incredibly successful and critically acclaimed, for good reason. With revolutionary special effects, costumes, make-up and more -- Peter Jackson’s movies became instant classics. But The Lords of the Rings: The Two Towers still raises a few questions. Like why is falling from high up an okay thing for good guys? How many fake-out deaths can they put in these things? Why does Saruman look like he lost a contact lens? Why would they let Wormtongue leave? Why do all the orcs have Cockney accents?

The first few movies based on video games didn’t exactly give a great reputation to the genre. However the fourth video game movie to ever be made was Mortal Kombat, and it didn’t do too poorly at the box office-- meaning that the FIFTH video game movie ever made was a sequel! It… it wasn’t great. Mortal Kombat Annihilation raises a ton of questions. Like why did a bunch of the original actors quit? Why were the events of the first movie undone in just a few seconds? Why are is there an underground hamster ball network all of a sudden? Who hired these actors? Why do all the dead characters have identical brothers? What’s with that mud wrestling scene? Did a cameraman just attack Liu Kang?!

The Lord of the Rings movies were incredibly successful and critically acclaimed, for good reason. With revolutionary special effects, costumes, make-up and more -- Peter Jackson’s movies became instant classics, and he wrapped up the trilogy with The Return of the King in which the king… returns. The movie was critically acclaimed and a massive success at the box office, but it still raises a few questions. Like what’s up with Frodo being the absolute worst? How does he always end up siding with Gollum? Why didn’t they include Saruman’s death in the theatrical cut? Why does Frodo keep getting stabbed? Why does Denethor eat tomatoes like that? What’s up with the sudden ghost deus ex machina? When is this movie actually going to end?

This pitch meeting certainly raises a lot of questions. Like who exactly is in that picture frame behind Producer Guy’s desk? What was Screenwriter Guy’s childhood like? What’s a phrase that each of these guys likes to say? Why are we cutting away to a montage of said phrases? Does Screenwriter Guy have a movie for Producer Guy today?!

Disney has had a lot of financial success in recent years by remaking their popular animated movies into live-action versions (or super realistic animated versions.) With billions of dollars made so far, it’s only natural that they’ve decided to keep moving through their catalog. And so… live-action Mulan is here! The remake lots of questions. Like why has all the fun been removed from this thing? Why is Mushu gone, only to be replaced with a whole bunch of other magical stuff? Why is this a superhero movie now? Why was Mulan born with superhuman abilities? What’s up with the witch character telling her where to go all the time? Why aren’t any of her army friends fun anymore? Did she just kick an arrow into that dude’s chest?!?

The Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer took the Young-Adult market by storm, and so naturally Hollywood dove headfirst into making movie adaptations! The first movie starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner was a worldwide phenomenon, so it was a no-brainer for them to follow it up with New Moon. New Moon raises lots of questions. Like what’s up with the Romeo & Juliet parallels? Why did Edward shove Bella into a wall and then abandon her in the woods? Why is Jacob always shirtless? What’s up with Edward wanting to undress in front of a crowd in Italy? Why would anyone want to watch Bella being an emotional mess for a whole movie? Why is a marriage proposal a cliffhanger for a girl that already agreed to be immortal and live with Edward forever?

The Lords of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson was one of the most popular, successful and critically acclaimed franchises in movie history, winning a whole bunch of awards including a lot of Oscars. Naturally, after waiting an appropriate (but still pretty short) period of time, Hollywood wanted to make some more money off the fandom. Enter The Hobbit, starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins! The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey raises lots of questions. Like why did they decide to try and squeeze three movies out of a single book? Why is Bilbo even going on this adventure? Are we supposed to care about these dwarves? Why does that one dwarf look so much like Aragorn? What happened to all the cool make-up? Why is everything now CGI? Why is so much of this movie spent talking about the fact that the Lord of the Rings might happen one day? Why does Radagast the Brown have bird poop on his face?!

Will Smith is one of the most popular and beloved actors of all time, with a huge list of blockbuster movies under his belt. It seems like he really wanted that same future for his son Jaden, because he and his wife handed him a starring role in a big budget M Night Shyamalan movie. Did he live up to the challenge? Um... After Earth raises lots of questions. Like why did anyone think it was a good idea to have Jaden lead a movie like this? Why have Will Smith in it if he’s going to be stone-faced and emotionless? How did everything on Earth evolve in one thousand years to kill humans, which didn’t even live there anymore? Why would aliens breed monsters specifically to kill humans, but only give them the ability to smell fear? Why did M Night Shyamalan direct this thing? To answer all these questions and more, step inside the Pitch Meeting that led to After Earth! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

Harry Potter carved out a market for popular young adult books being adapted into movies, and studios started scrambling for their piece of that pie. For Fox, that came in the form of Percy Jackson-- a book series following the demi-god son of Poseidon dealing with Ancient Greek stuff all over the place. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief raises lots of questions. Like why do Greek Gods hang out in the United States? Why does everyone think that Percy stole the lightning bolt? Why does Zeus pick such a specific time for war? Why keep Percy in Camp Half-Blood if Hades can just pop up in the campfire at any time? Why doesn’t Percy show any emotion when seeing his mom die or when chopping off Medusa’s head? What was Luke’s plan exactly? Why did he send them on a quest to collect things that would make his own plan fail?

The Twilight books were incredibly successful, so it’s only natural that Hollywood wanted to cash in. And cash in they certainly did. Eclipse is the third of the YA novels written by Stephanie Meyer, and in 2010 was adapted for the big screen. Like the other Twilight movies, Eclipse raises a ton of questions. Like why is literally everyone obsessed with Bella Swan? Why are people raising armies to track her down? Why are ancient monsters ignoring century-old conflicts just to help her out? What’s up with Victoria’s army of newborn vampires being so slow-moving? Why does Jasper suddenly have a southern accent in this movie? Why does Rosalie’s story sound more interesting than this entire vampire saga? Why are we still stuck on whether or not Bella is going to marry Edward, after she’s already agreed to be an immortal vampire with him for eternity?

After the massive success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hollywood understandably wanted to find another way to cash in on the works of JRR Tolkien. That came in the form of The Hobbit trilogy, starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. The only problem? While The Lord of the Rings trilogy was based on a trilogy of books, The Hobbit trilogy was based off a single one. So yeah-- there’s a lot of filler. The Desolation of Smaug definitely raises some questions. Like why do these dwarves keep getting captured every few minutes? Is Bilbo really going to have to use the ring every time to help them escape? Why does he keep removing it in key action scenes? Why is Legolas here? How did they think they’d be able to take down a dragon using heat? Why does this movie just kind of end?

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a classic movie that audiences still come back to today since its release in 1971. Starring Gene Wilder as the wacky (sometimes terrifying) factory owner Willy Wonka, the movie is full of yummy-looking candy and the occasional terrifying imagery. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory definitely raises lots of questions. Like what’s up with Grandpa Joe suddenly getting out of bed after being stuck there for twenty years? Why is that Candy Man just throwing candy at kids? Did Wonka know that one of the kids was going to fall into the chocolate river? What was up with that boat scene? Are these kids going to be okay? Why is Grandpa Joe such a sketchy guy? What’s Charlie going to do as the owner of a candy factory?!

The Twilight Saga took the world by storm and became an incredibly successful movie franchise. The “love story” between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan was one for the ages. Maybe. Probably not. Unwilling to give up on some extra cash, Hollywood actually decided to split up the final Twilight book into two movies: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2. Both movies raise a lot of questions. Like why was this made into two movies?! Like why didn’t Edward and Bella push their honeymoon back a little? How did Edward get Bella pregnant? Why is everybody so mad about this baby? How is Bella so good at being a newborn vampire? What’s going on with the baby’s face, and why did Jacob immediately fall in love with it? Was the only entertaining scene of this whole franchise really just a vision?

About a decade after the acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hollywood decided it was time for another trilogy set in Middle Earth. But this time, they only had one book to base it on. Well, with a lot of padding, they managed to make it work. Kind of. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies raises a lot of questions. Like why did they put the end of the Desolation of Smaug at the beginning of this movie? What’s up with Thorin suddenly being sick and a jerk? Why do the elves hold off on their attack when it’s literally thousands of them versus a dozen dwarves? Where did those worms come from and where did they go? Why are we spending so much time with Alfrid? What was the point of that whole Gandalf storyline? How is Legolas moving like that?

JJ Abrams’ 2009 reboot of Star Trek on the big screen was a massive blockbuster hit, and you know what that means… sequel! Star Trek Into Darkness was the follow-up movie that continued the adventures of the Starship Enterprise and brought along Benedict Cumberbatch for the ride-- who they tried very hard to pretend wasn’t playing Khan. Star Trek Into Darkness raises a lot of questions. Like why did both Marcus and Khan have such convoluted plans to get what they wanted? Why did Alice Eve’s character need to be shown in her underwear? Why did they decide to swap Spock’s sacrifice for a Kirk sacrifice? How does kicking a warp core a bunch of times fix it? Why would Khan think that torpodeos would be a safe place for his family? How are people beaming to other planets and beaming explosives to other ships? How is there any tension when SUPER-BLOOD exists?!

Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Llyod as Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown is an absolute cinematic classic and regarded as one of the best movies of all time. It spawned two sequels, countless memes, and remains an incredibly popular film to this day. Back to the Future does raise some questions though. Like how is Doc Brown so lovable while also being so sketchy (animal testing, dealing with terrorists...) Why is this movie so focused on Marty’s mom trying to seduce him? Is this really a family movie? How did Doc and Marty even meet? Why did Doc flip-flop on his passionate speech about not learning things about the future? What happened to the Marty from the new timeline that “our” Marty replaces?!

In the early 2000’s, years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe came into existence, superhero movies were starting to pick up steam. Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire was a massive success, and so it made sense to start tackling some other Marvel properties. However, studios didn’t exactly know what to do with comic book movies just yet. Thus was born Ang Lee’s slow-burn, slow-paced Hulk movie in 2003 with the weirdest editing transitions known to man. Ang Lee’s hulk definitely raises some questions. Like why does it take so long to see the Hulk? Why is a movie about a giant green monster that smashes things so slow-paced? What’s up with Hulk fighting dogs? Why is everybody surviving these catastrophic attacks from the Hulk? And seriously, what’s with this editing?

Fox’s X-Men franchise was one of the most beloved superhero properties in the world before it fizzled out and was ultimately purchased by Disney. In the midst of that big Disney-Fox merger though was one final movie set in that universe… The New Mutants. The New Mutants definitely raises some questions. Like why did this take three years to see the light of day? How is there only one person working at this facility? Is Dani’s power supposed to be a surprise? What’s actually going on in this movie? Why isn’t Illyana teleporting away? Why is Roberto doing dishes in every scene? Was this supposed to be a pilot for a TV show? What’s up with the bear ex machina?

Keanu Reeves has been killing it at the box office in recent years (and possibly in the video game world too if Cyberpunk 2077 stops glitching.) With franchises like The Matrix and John Wick under his belt, Reeves is an absolute action star. But thirty years ago, he was still trying to prove himself as a viable lead for those kinds of movies. And Point Break did just that! Point Break definitely does raise some questions though. Like why is the famous football star with a bad knee Johnny Utah chosen to go undercover, while ALSO using his real name? What were the odds of the very first person he encountered on the beach having a direct connection to the bank robbers he’s looking for? How many terrible decisions can Utah make in a single movie? Why are we suddenly skydiving?

Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors working today, and one of the few filmmakers who still makes high budget original movies. With movies like Inception, Dunkirk, Interstellar and more under his belt, he’s firmly established himself as one of the most visionary directors of our generation. That being said, TENET is super confusing. TENET is awesome to look at, but raises a lot of questions. Like what are the exact implications of moving backwards through time? Why is the music so much louder than the vocal tracks? What is going on? Why does The Protagonist spend an hour going from conversation to conversation? Who are those army guys shooting at? This movie makes sense, right?

Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks teaming up has been a recipe for box-office success, with collaborations like Forrest Gump and Cast Away receiving tons of awards and nominations. Critics seemed to change their tune a little when the pair brought “The Polar Express” to life, based on a short children’s picture book of the same name. The Polar Express movie definitely raises some questions. Like why did they think they could make a non-horrifying animated kids movie using entirely motion capture? What’s up with that hobo? Why does “Hero Boy” spend a bunch of time trying to give a girl her ticket back? What’s up with Tom Hanks playing all these characters? How does the kid still not believe while standing in the middle of the North Pole? Why is this all so unsettling and scary? To answer all these questions and more, step inside the Pitch Meeting that led to The Polar Express! It’ll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.