This Week In Movie News - 12/22/2017

Here's your weekly round-up of the latest movie news, where this week we discuss: the Disney-Fox deal, the reception to The Last Jedi, 2019's Artemis Fowl cast, and Ben Affleck's return to Batman. Once you've had a look at what's been going on, let us know your thoughts on these stories in the comments below.

DISNEY CLOSE $54BN FOX ACQUISITION DEAL

The first story of the week - and perhaps one of the biggest stories Hollywood has ever seen - is that Disney have officially closed their rumoured deal with 21st Century Fox that will see the studio giant acquire a number of TV networks as well as the movie-studio 20th Century Fox, for $54bn dollars.

Now the reason this is such a huge deal is that Disney will now have a huge monopoly in the movie business and will be distributing a massive percentage of the new releases that we'll be able to see. The issues and changes that come from this are extensive, as for one it may be very hard for other studios to compete, but it could equally prove problematic for Disney as they may end up releasing movies in competition with each other thanks to the saturated nature of an already crowded movie-calendar.

Also, some of Fox's existing third-party providers risk bankruptcy if Disney centralise processes, and many questionable senior employees at Fox could secretly be looking for jobs high up at the mouse-house. Regardless, the big question on the lips of many movie​ fans is whether Disney will avoid affecting Fox's creative output, or whether they'll apply their family formula to their often successful and risky affairs.

Only time will tell how this develops, but what are your initial thoughts on the deal? Let us know in the comments below.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI RECEPTION

Next up is another Disney-related story, but this time it's all about Star Wars where this week everyone's been hotly debating their thoughts on the latest Episode in this long running saga - 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).' Yes whilst an exceedingly positive critical reaction initially built even higher expectations for the film leading up to its global release, there has since been many mutterings of distaste from fans as some criticized it for taking risks they didn't like and not living up to expectations.

Overall though, it's impossible to judge what percentage of the fan-base really disliked the film at this point (the heavily-quoted audience aggregator score from Rotten Tomatoes only reflects a very select pool of users) but there's certainly been enough of a reaction to build some concern, even if the film has received a very high A rating from audience-polling system Cinemascore.

In response to the supposed backlash, director Rian Johnson said that fans know what they want and don't want and that "you’re going to find very few fans out there whose lists line up," also stating that making a movie trying to appease all those different expectations would be impossible. The real test of the film will be its box office over the next few weeks where the number of repeat viewings will determine the film's financial longevity and the real reaction that fans are having around the world.

What are your thoughts on the supposed 'Last Jedi backlash,'? Let us know in the comments below.

ARTEMIS FOWL CAST ANNOUNCED

Also this week, Disney announced the principal cast members for Kenneth Branagh's 'Artemis Fowl (2019),' which adapts the young-adult fantasy novels by Eoin Colfer in a project that was initially in development with Harvey Weinstein. First on the cast list is Artemis himself who will be played by an unknown young Irish talent called Ferdia Shaw which is intriguing as it can be great to see a newcomer on screen.

He will luckily then be joined by the experienced Judi Dench as Commander Root and Josh Gad as Mulch Diggums, who both starred in Branagh's recent 'Murder on the Orient Express,' as well as Lara McDonnell and Nonso Anozie. It looks like a great cast, and with Branagh's usual collaborations on board, fans of the novels and even people who aren't, now have a good idea of what's in store as this great director returns to the fun fantasy realm yet again.

What are your thoughts on the cast of 'Artemis Fowl,'? Let us know in the comments below

BEN AFFLECK TALKS BATMAN

The final story of this week concerns the ever-controversial DCEU, where Batman actor Ben Affleck spoke to The Daily Sabah about the Batman solo movie that he dropped out of directing. The actor/director has previously spoke vaguely about not returning to the role at all after the recent failures within the franchise, and it seems he's still keeping the area grey to the public.

Regarding the solo movie, Affleck said "I want to direct a Batman movie, and I never got a script that I was happy with, so they are starting over and writing another script. And right now, I think a lot of different possibilities I think for the way the DC Universe could go, and I will just follow my interests in pursing that. And I know that I love working with this group of people."

Matt Reeves ('War for the Planet of the Apes,') is now attached and is developing a script for the Batman movie, but after this statement a question mark still remains over whether Affleck will return as the caped crusader or not. After all, the star's separate directorial career and the respect he earns at awards season could be greatly influenced by his role here going forward, whilst quitting could equally give him a bad name as studios may start to see him as a higher risk talent.

Do you think Affleck will return to the DCEU, or was his performance in 'Justice League,' the last of his in the franchise? Let us know below