Avi Arad vs. Tom Rothman - Who's Worse

[Gabe99]

Avi Arad Responds To Kevin Feige Businessweek Article

Last month, Businessweek published a cover story about Marvel President Kevin Feige entitled The Man who Saved Marvel. Apparently though, the story seems to be inaccurate and has producer Avi Arad highly upset. Specifically the following part...

Finally, Marvel decided to create its own studio. In 2005 it put up as collateral the film rights to characters it still controlled, such as Captain America and Nick Fury, and got $525 million in financing from Merrill Lynch. Arad, who had doubts about the strategy, resigned the following year. Feige was named studio chief in 2007.

Avi Arad sent the following email to Businessweek staff writer Devin Leonard as a response. The email comes to us via French film site Daily Mars run by documentary filmmaker Philippe Guedj who directed the recent French documentary about Marvel called Marvel Renaissance. Avi Arad appeared in the documentary and has granted permission to publish the email. Check it out.

Good morning Devin. As usual you manage to disappoint me with your false statements. I am sure you were told by Marvel that I resigned over the self-financing strategy. It is about time for a reporter like you to do your homework and check the facts. It will sound arrogant to you, but I single handedly put together the Marvel slate. Read it carefully and you will notice the natural progression of the character's design to get to where we are today. You should reach out to Merill Lynch and Ambac Insurance and to our international partners that came on board based on my track record. Our financial partners counted on my reputation. I had to work very hard to convert the doubters. They trusted me and without Iron Man this article would have not been written. Iron Man was not even in the original slate. I knew that we needed it so I set out to get it back from Newline and the rest is history. Our financing would have never happened without me reaching out to Brad Grey to make a distribution deal that will give you a corporate guarantee. Other people in Marvel worked for many months with Universal and could not reach a deal. I got tired of waiting and went to Brad. The deal was done in days, successful for both companies. The big presentation to financial institutions and insurance companies took place on the Paramount lot. I was the presenter and it worked. Does this sound to you like someone who disagreed with the strategy to make our own movies? I have forgiven Kevin for following orders and taking the credit, but he had no choice. Shame on you for kowtowing to your business gods. I have given up on journalistic integrity. You called me to talk about Kevin and I gave you the most true and glowing account on someone that I love and respect. Share your notes otherwise you just wasted my time. I will share this letter with other papers and your management to demonstrate the unprofessional self-serving work this reporter demonstrated.

 

[an_ewok]

Since Rothman isn't still around, Arad.

 

[Son of Coul]

Avi Arad Responds To Kevin Feige Businessweek Article

So basically, "I used my connections to make it happen" = "I created this entire thing myself"; definitely a producer. Nice condescension toward Feige there too, no thinly-veiled bitterness or anything.

 

[Doc Ock]

I loathe Avi Arad, more than I ever did Rothman. I don't even like hearing his voice lol. I pressed the eject button so fast when I heard his voice on the TASM Blu-ray commentary.

 

[EssayM]

Initially I gave Arad a pass because I assumed that English wasn't his native language and he just had trouble wording things (I've met and talked to a number of Israelis, so that would make sense to me).

Then I read his comments on Spider-Man possibly being Miles Morales or possibly joining the Avengers (and found out that he's lived in the US for 40 years and had plenty of time to get used to English). NOW I hate him.

 

[Chance Jackson]

Initially I gave Arad a pass because I assumed that English wasn't his native language and he just had trouble wording things (I've met and talked to a number of Israelis, so that would make sense to me).

Then I read his comments on Spider-Man possibly being Miles Morales or possibly joining the Avengers (and found out that he's lived in the US for 40 years and had plenty of time to get used to English). NOW I hate him.

What did he say about Miles Morales?

 

[Rorschach2012]

Tom Rothman by a mile...
but Avi needs to let Spidey come back home. His place is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe..

Neither TASM or TASM2 live up to Spidey's true potential. The closest they ever got was the Raimi films (which will probably become classics as time goes on...imo those rank up there with the Avengers, the Nolan films and Superman: The Movie)

 

[Hypestyle]

Lots of organizations go through transitions, some people are the best for a particular point in time, then another transition takes place.

Looking at the "total" history of Marvel on film (and TV I guess), the pre-Avi Arad history is pretty horrible. As a kid I dug Howard the Duck, but obviously, it did not set the world on fire for Marvel heroes. Much props to Stan Lee the Godfather for being Marvel's ambassador and de facto Film/TV development producer since the company bought out DePatie/Freleng animation studios in the late 1970s-- that said, I don't know how much genuine clout Lee carried with potential investors/studios, or how hard he pushed (or felt he could push) for creative control of the litany of announced-but-most-never-made projects over the years, including, but not limited to:

1989's Dolph Lundgren Punisher (straight to video, infamous for no skull icon)

Starting in 1985, Cannon Films "Spider-Man" (never made), which became CarolCo's to develop, then a huge mess, until sorted out in court under Arad's leadership in 1999.

A. Pyun's Captain America 1990 (straight to video, Italian Red Skull, but it did have a Deliverance mini-reunion with Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty)

Roger Corman's Fantastic Four (1994, buried)

Various other properties farmed out to assorted studios and production firms only to languish for years: Sub-Mariner, Blade, Black Panther, Power Man, Daredevil, X-Men/Wolverine

When Marvel was bought by New World Studios circa 1986 (not to be confused with New Line Cinema) there were a bunch of announcements but almost no actual product: The three Bixby/Ferrigno Incredible Hulk TV movies were kind of the only highlight of that era. Even Iron Man was announced.

When Arad stepped in (apparently from the Toy Biz division), his influence, fairly or unfairly, helped pull Marvel out of a rut and seemingly played hardball with producers/studios to actually make the films that were licensed, and not just sit on them and be able to say "we're in development mode" for 10+ years, like that really means anything to fans.

People can certainly debate the quality of the films that came out circa 1998 - 2007, but at least they finally came out and weren't just fan-fiction feature articles that we would see in Wizard, Comics Scene, Starlog and the like for years on end.

The special effects on the Generation X TV pilot show are dated, but hey, it happened, scarcely four years after the comics had first come out.

The first Blade movie gets little credit for kick-starting the "modern" era in superhero films (post-Schumacher's Batman & Robin).

The first X-Men movie took it further with an ensemble based film. This was before Avengers, and even the Justice League has yet to come out.

Daredevil, Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four continued the commercial momentum, wildly varying reviews notwithstanding.

So Mr. Arad deserves credit for helping to steward Marvel into their self-owned studio. I think it's for the best that he has a reduced role now (technically an outside consultant for the Spider-Man franchise at Sony). I just don't respect that he and Matt Tolmach have declared that almost anything that's not connected to the Lee/Ditko canon is heretical (i.e., Miles Morales, Miguel O'Hara, etc.) and therefore off the table for development.

 

[BETArayBill]

What a big baby his new film doesn't do as well as it should so he cries about not getting credit for the marvel mcu give me a break it was feige who gave the go ahead for rdj that's what set it on its path I can't stand this guy he clearly has no clue how to make a good movie let alone a good superhero movie anymore after this new spiderman movie debacle I think heads could roll at sony at hopefully his is one of them.

 

[EssayM]

What did he say about Miles Morales?

Garfield suggested in an interview that he would like to see Miles show up in the films when he was done, and Arad basically said that only Peter Parker would ever be Spider-Man on film, which makes sense, but I feel like he was kind of unfairly blunt.

And then, when there were rumors of Spider-Man showing up in an Avengers movie, Arad not only denied them, but said that the only way it would happen was if Spider-Man was the star of such a film. Translation: "You can only play with my toys if I get to be the good guy and win all the time, waaah!"

So yeah, not a fan of his.

 

[Slushy]

Rothman.

 

[kedrell]

While Rothman was worse, he ain't there directly messing stuff up anymore. Arad still is so my vote goes to Avi. The dude seems to be living 10 years ago with his comments on Spidey.

 

[Gabe99]

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura Talks the Possibility of a TRANSFORMERS/G.I. JOE Crossover Movie; Says They Don’t Yet See the Advantage of the Idea

 

[hippie_hunter]

Arad by far. He had a great start but he's clearly gone downhill in quality. Rothman on the other hand at least started correcting the ship quality-wise before he left 20th Century Fox.

 

[EssayM]

So I was browsing YouTube and, while looking through Doug Walker's eSults videos, I found the perfect one to respond to Avi Arad:

[YT]sWnEJQxieVQ[/YT]

Yeah, that about sums it up.

 

[Sardaukar]

Arad.

Not a fan of Rothman at all, but how the heck do you screw up Spider-Man?

 

[Gabe99]

Avi Arad & Bruno Wu Using Genghis Khan To Invade China


Collider:
Marc Webb Discusses SINISTER SIX Plans in the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Blu-ray Bonus Features

A video compilation from YouTube user Amazing Spider Man (via CinemaBlend) puts together some of the best bits from the “Something Sinister This Way Comes” disc, beginning with:

Spoiler

“Special projects is where we’re setting up the Sinister Six and all the different crazy technology from Oscorp that’s been developed sort of off the grid and this is our cryogenic – obviously this should be seen only after the movie – but this is our cryogenic head case for Norman Osborn so we can bring him back for the sequel.”

"The fans love Norman Osborn's Head. He is the fan favorite. All Spider-Man readers love Norman Osborn Head."
-Avi Arad

 

[Jason Kane]

They both suck

 

[Jason Kane]

Can we throw Emma Watts in as well seeing as the F4 reboot trainwreck is all on her watch?

 

[TeeKay]

Avi Arad & Bruno Wu Using Genghis Khan To Invade China


Collider:
Marc Webb Discusses SINISTER SIX Plans in the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Blu-ray Bonus Features


"The fans love Norman Osborn's Head. He is the fan favorite. All Spider-Man readers love Norman Osborn Head."
-Avi Arad

I chose Rothman. Like Wolverine said, he can go **** himself.

 

[EssayM]

Can we throw Emma Watts in as well seeing as the F4 reboot trainwreck is all on her watch?

Nah. We still don't know for sure if the F4 reboot will fail (hey, miracles happen), and the other franchises she's overseen (Apes, the last three X-Men movies) have done fairly well. Plus, her interviews aren't nearly as insufferable or ignorant as Arad's or Rothman's.

 

[psylockolussus]

Agreed!

 

[Hellion]

I'd say it's a tie between Rothman and Arad...for me at least.

 

[Gabe99]

Andrew Garfield On AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: “Blame Sony”
The studio gets the blame for the worst superhero movie of the year.

Everybody knows that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is terrible. Even the people who made it seem to have an idea that the movie is a load. But whose fault is it? For many of us we look at the script and say 'Oh, there's your problem.' Others look at the direction and say, 'Control your tone, guy.' But for Andrew Garfield, who plays Spidey himself, the true villain is Business Man.

I read a lot of the reactions from people and I had to stop because I could feel I was getting away from how I actually felt about it. For me, I read the script that Alex [Kurtzman] and Bob [Orci] wrote, and I genuinely loved it. There was this thread running through it. I think what happened was, through the pre-production, production, and post-production, when you have something that works as a whole, and then you start removing portions of it—because there was even more of it than was in the final cut, and everything was related. Once you start removing things and saying, “No, that doesn’t work,” then the thread is broken, and it’s hard to go with the flow of the story. Certain people at the studio had problems with certain parts of it, and ultimately the studio is the final say in those movies because they’re the tentpoles, so you have to answer to those people.

Having read one of the early drafts I have to disagree with Garfield on the script, but maybe he's talking about an even earlier draft.

It's interesting that he doesn't talk about Avi Arad, who is largely accepted to be the problem with the Spider-Man movies at this point; I'm sure Sony being all freaked out and not knowing what the hell to do with the property didn't help, but everyone I talk to keeps bringing up Arad's name. Again and again.

Garfield spins the whole thing back to positivity by saying that he really enjoyed the work, even if you didn't enjoy seeing his work.

But I’ll tell you this: Talking about the experience as opposed to how it was perceived, I got to work in deep scenes that you don’t usually see in comic book movies, and I got to explore this orphan boy—a lot of which was taken out, and which we’d explored more. It’s interesting to do a postmortem. I’m proud of a lot of it and had a good time, and was a bit taken aback by the response.

 

[Jason Kane]

Nah. We still don't know for sure if the F4 reboot will fail (hey, miracles happen), and the other franchises she's overseen (Apes, the last three X-Men movies) have done fairly well. Plus, her interviews aren't nearly as insufferable or ignorant as Arad's or Rothman's.

Too bad. I'm throwing her in anyway