Trying to Please Everyone: Or Converting multiple Pop Culture Utopias into a Timeline.
- Thread starter Marco Incognito
- Start date
I don’t want to discuss them necessarily less it makes you or the thread uncomfortable, but I'm curious if you have any plans in mind for films and other pieces of media like video games, books, and artwork considered “disturbing”, “shocking”, or “controversial.” Like the films that show up when you type in “most disturbing films of all time” into Google or something. I would understand if you just end up butterflying most of them away or just simply don’t want to focus or talk about them right now.
That might be better reserved for private messages. Though I have talked about adult entertainment at times just avoided outright describing anything explicit by focusing on the plot so I would probably take a similar approach as that like say “a surreal horror film about a couple staying in a cabin to recover from the loss of their child” when talking about Antichrist.
Yeah probably for the best. I might ask about creators known for creating such said works instead of certain works over DMs.
I thought I’d give a bit of a tease while I work on 1994 in anime but I felt I would be giving the best stuff away. So instead here’s a look at 2023 films and my plans for them. Though this quickly turned into more of a list of why they don’t exist or do exist. I’m going through the top ten films of the year so far. Slipping two released only in China.
The Super Mario Bros Movie(2023): probably wouldn’t exist. At least not the same. Likely there is instead a successful live action franchise in the 90’s(until it isn’t) and then Sony gets the rights(as they tried to before the Sony Hack) resulting in a Smash Bros Crossover Movie in the style of Spiderverse(imagine if you will all the characters are in different styles with different element from their home games carrying over).
Barbie: Likely directed by Alethea Jones and Anne Hathaway starring. Would probably not do as well without Greta Gerwig involved.
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3: unlikely, but not impossible. Marvel ITTL never sold the rights to their most popular characters, relying on a then unknown team. It’s possible they get around to them at some point. But you’d also possible have James Gunn directing Scooby Doo movies(as more leaning into horror as well as comedy. Good god imagine the Rocket-High Evolutionary scenes with Scooby Doo), Fantastic Four movies(possible but less likely as ITTL they had earlier films starting in the 90’s) and heck Gunn might also direct the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Fast X: Fast and Furious never becomes the mega franchise it did ITTL as Vin Diesel was barely convinced to be in the first film. Timothy Olyphant is there instead and he declined the sequels. They might have an equivalent as the Expendables are kind of the star studded franchise here though most of the stars appear in the Superhero cinematic universes as well.
Across the Spider-Verse: possible. Miles Morales would most likely appear in live action first(probably played by John Boyega). The alternate universe angle would be used to distinguish Sony’s films from Marvel’s while the animation would be used to depict the animated Spider-Men. Maybe Who Framed Roger Rabbit style.
Oppenheimer: released sometime between 2005 and 2023. Directed by Sam Mendes, who tried for years. Possibly named “American Prometheus”( fitting since Mendes directed American Beauty). Nolan never leaves Warner Bros as he did OTL over the film shifting to HBOMAX as there is no pandemic ITTL. He might still at least produce the film.
The Little Mermaid(2023): doesn’t exist as Disney isn’t as remake obsessed. They instead support Nimona. On its competitors: Elemental wouldn’t exist(though I’m thinking maybe the staff behind it work on an Avatar the Last Airbender sequel where the Avatar loops back around to being a fire bender). Ruby Gillman would likely have a different plot making it what can be described as “gay fish Romeo and Juliet”.
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning: honestly likely still happens. Tom Cruise was a fan of the 60’s TV Show since childhood so he’d try to get the rights. Though the films themselves would be different if he’s passionate for them and he seems to be there might be tons of sequels. Unlike Vin Diesel and the Fast and Furious projects where it became his darling over time. This was always his darling.
The Super Mario Bros Movie(2023): probably wouldn’t exist. At least not the same. Likely there is instead a successful live action franchise in the 90’s(until it isn’t) and then Sony gets the rights(as they tried to before the Sony Hack) resulting in a Smash Bros Crossover Movie in the style of Spiderverse(imagine if you will all the characters are in different styles with different element from their home games carrying over).
Barbie: Likely directed by Alethea Jones and Anne Hathaway starring. Would probably not do as well without Greta Gerwig involved.
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3: unlikely, but not impossible. Marvel ITTL never sold the rights to their most popular characters, relying on a then unknown team. It’s possible they get around to them at some point. But you’d also possible have James Gunn directing Scooby Doo movies(as more leaning into horror as well as comedy. Good god imagine the Rocket-High Evolutionary scenes with Scooby Doo), Fantastic Four movies(possible but less likely as ITTL they had earlier films starting in the 90’s) and heck Gunn might also direct the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Fast X: Fast and Furious never becomes the mega franchise it did ITTL as Vin Diesel was barely convinced to be in the first film. Timothy Olyphant is there instead and he declined the sequels. They might have an equivalent as the Expendables are kind of the star studded franchise here though most of the stars appear in the Superhero cinematic universes as well.
Across the Spider-Verse: possible. Miles Morales would most likely appear in live action first(probably played by John Boyega). The alternate universe angle would be used to distinguish Sony’s films from Marvel’s while the animation would be used to depict the animated Spider-Men. Maybe Who Framed Roger Rabbit style.
Oppenheimer: released sometime between 2005 and 2023. Directed by Sam Mendes, who tried for years. Possibly named “American Prometheus”( fitting since Mendes directed American Beauty). Nolan never leaves Warner Bros as he did OTL over the film shifting to HBOMAX as there is no pandemic ITTL. He might still at least produce the film.
The Little Mermaid(2023): doesn’t exist as Disney isn’t as remake obsessed. They instead support Nimona. On its competitors: Elemental wouldn’t exist(though I’m thinking maybe the staff behind it work on an Avatar the Last Airbender sequel where the Avatar loops back around to being a fire bender). Ruby Gillman would likely have a different plot making it what can be described as “gay fish Romeo and Juliet”.
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning: honestly likely still happens. Tom Cruise was a fan of the 60’s TV Show since childhood so he’d try to get the rights. Though the films themselves would be different if he’s passionate for them and he seems to be there might be tons of sequels. Unlike Vin Diesel and the Fast and Furious projects where it became his darling over time. This was always his darling.
Nice, so this is like the 2021 update.
I like the 1993 movie so this could be interesting. Also that Smash Bros. Movie idea sounds based.
Nice stuff. I presume “Barbenheimer” isn’t a thing ITTL?
James Gunn is always a win, and his Scooby Doo movies aren’t that bad, so I say that this is all good.
Atleast one popcorn-flick series is taken down a notch.
Nice. I loved Across The Spiderverse, I don’t think it’s better than the first film in the terms of say pacing or story, but it defiantly did stuff better than the first film (such as the animation) that I consider to be the new normal while some of the stuff from the previous film looks weird in comparison (I.e Gwen’s backstory).
That’s good and all with Disney not being as remake-crazy, and Nimona deserved the support more. I am disappointed by how Ruby Gillman turned out, I thought Dreamworks would have Chelsea be able to redeem herself from being a soldier in the Kraken-Mermaid conflict, but no she was just pure evil because all mermaids are evil apparently, very unlike Dreamworks IMO. A more progressive TL regarding LGBT representation having that be the movie would be interesting.
Nice stuff, again. I do like Tom Cruise so that’s good for him.
Probably not though when the Barbie movies does come out ITTL I’ll look into what the weirdest match up could be with it. Was thinking a G.I. Joe movie comes out and people ship the two but maybe not. Same thing with Oppenheimer/American Prometheus.
Changes regarding Ruby Gillman(possibly titled Meet the Gillmans) is the Krakens are similar to the Shadow over Innsmouth where they develop aquatic features at a certain age and can pose better as humans(their like octopuses and can change skin pigment and camouflage). This does lead to a scene of Ruby freaking out Teen Wolf style at her first transformation. Cut to them panicking and opening the door. Parents are casually standing there also transformed(insert maybe it’s a metaphor for puberty line here). Chelsea is more cool and laid back. A Deleted scene here for example:
In the H.P. Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos, Cthulhu and Poseidon do have beef. Poseidon sank R'yleh and Cthulhu sank Olympus in revenge. So the Kraken vs Mermaid conflict is tied through that. Chelsea ITTL is not lying about their mother being killed, in this case by Ruby's Mother. So this is where the conflict starts to kick in as Chelsea feels anger boiling up when she discovers this and Ruby's mother feeling guilty about it and leaving to live on land doesn't do much to help. Complete with an awkward family dinner scene where they get angry at leave at seeing Ruby's family happy. The final battle is Chelsea fighting back against hurting or killing Ruby with angry tears and bitter sarcasm while also trying to kill her mother.
He's pretty consistently been shown to be a good actor. Just need to reel in the ego and the Scientology.
Hell yeah. I love this rewritten story and like all of these other ideas too.
Yep, I do agree.
I'll finish Anime first. Would take a while but I find its better for keeping track of butterflies. Plus I don't know much about Professional Wrestling so a year by year play would help, but I have a few goals: Avert the Montreal Screwjob, remove McMahon as early as possible. WCW survives. Better treatment for Wrestlers.
I like most of this but how early will mcmahon be removed? I can see it somewhere between 2014 to 16 but what do you prefer?
Uh isn't mcmahon needed around those times to usher in the rock n wrestling and attitude era? How will pro wrestling get as big as it is without him?
McMahon absorbed many smaller wrestling groups across the country together. He’s also been shown several times to not care for the health of his wrestlers. Hence why many die young. So without a unities from there’s no monopoly and the wrestlers will get better health care. I think keeping several wrestlers like Gary Hart, King Kong Bundy and Randy Savage Alive is worth it.
Hey Marco, I know this may not really count as a pop culture-related question, but may I ask what is daily life like in this alternate timeline? Like what is the World like? How are things overall going in general as of the present day? How are things like culture, politics, the economy, the weather and climate, technology, and diplomatic relations in this timeline?
Okay then, well to switch to a more pop culture-related question, what are the plans for The Last of Us ITTL?