One Battle After Another (General Thread)

[ono]

Batman Cross, I say!

[Find Your Magali]

Apropos of zilch, BaktanCross.com and BaktinCross.com are both available-to-buy URLs at the moment. First year is only a penny!

(BattleOfBaktanCross.com -- that's a mouthful -- is currently taken, though)

[Scrooby]

Old news.



"ancient Maya bak'tun < bak'-, apparently a multiplier (only attested in calendars) + tun period of 360 days."

"baktun typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English."



The Battle of Baktan Cross = How long, Lord? How long?

Hol ly wood !

[WorldForgot]

Salo theme playing while the cross comes up in H8teful Eight
Surely BC Project will have some Salo in it too

[Scrooby]

Just for yuks, since S/Z is visible in Magnolia :

Baktan recalls Mikhail Bakhtin, a darling of university English departments back in the early 1990s.

*

Coincidental congruence



Medieval French

tans : noun; oblique singular <tens, tans> time

Ancient Mayan

tun : period of 360 days

[Scrooby]

will have some Salo in it too

Line 14


Heures à l'usage de Rome
Paris : Par Philippe Pigouchet.
M.CCCC.iiii.vv.c.viiii.
Photo by Scrooby

[Achpi]

https://x.com/TheInSneider/status/1823752920271348047

sneider, who also broke the title, seems to have good sources on this one. and so it does seem the budget is at least 150m. who would have thought pta would ever get such a budget ? and for what kind of movie ? seems insane.

[RudyBlatnoyd]

Two possibilities, as far as I can see:

1. There's some sort of spectacular high concept and/or series of big action set-pieces that got Warner Bros thinking this will set the box office alight

2. Zaslav greenlit PTA's ambitious and expensive but uncommercial project (the equivalent of something like Alexander Payne's Downsizing) because he wants Warner Bros to look like a juicy acquisition to potential buyers, even though no one really expects it to be a runaway hit

I'm leaning towards option 2...

[Scrooby]

The Battle of . . .


Poitiers , 1356


La Rochelle , 1375


Rosebecque , 1382

Illuminated illustrations of Froissart
&
Illuminations From The Froissart In The Bibliotheque Royale, Paris
London : William Smith, 1844
Photos by Scrooby

*

Scrooby's PSA

1
This post conveys that the title of the upcoming PTA movie has (among whatever else) an historical, authoritative, antique air about it; in this sense the title is a dispassionate deictic to signify an historical account.

2
An earlier post explores the personal dimension of the title ("the dark night of the soul" : the endless wrestling with one's self).

3
Then there is the "coming to a head" air about the title : crossing paths. . . . e.g., Guy Haines : "Criss-cross."

[Scrooby]

[Find Your Magali]

Two possibilities, as far as I can see:

1. There's some sort of spectacular high concept and/or series of big action set-pieces that got Warner Bros thinking this will set the box office alight

2. Zaslav greenlit PTA's ambitious and expensive but uncommercial project (the equivalent of something like Alexander Payne's Downsizing) because he wants Warner Bros to look like a juicy acquisition to potential buyers, even though no one really expects it to be a runaway hit

I'm leaning towards option 2...

Uncommercial? Maybe. But I'm dubious.

PTA obviously has no Nolanesque or Fincheresque track record.
But I have no doubt that if he's spending $140M+ (setting aside Leo's salary), he's doing it in a way that's artistic and very entertaining.

PTA has too much talent and pride to spend that kind of money on Greaser's Palace II or The Return of O.C. and Stiggs.

And PTA, who I'm sure has ambitions beyond this film, knows that box office success will make it far, far easier to achieve those ambitions than if he makes a megamillion dud.

[pynchonikon]

There is always the third possibility that the industry still considers DiCaprio as a B.O. draw.
I dont think the tepid performance of KotFM, a heavy 3,5hr project with a ballooned budget, would be able to change that perspective.

[Find Your Magali]

The first trailer (months away), I'm sure, will lean heavily into Leo; he has to sell this thing. And while we've seen stills and his outfits, we know very little about what we're getting from him. Is it The Dude meets Three Days of the Condor? Is he funny? Grumpy? Angry at the world? Heartbroken? Determined to change the system? In love? A father on a mission? His charisma will (have to) drive the opening box office.

[Scrooby]

Fly the Friendly Skies with Scrooby

Around the year 1998 PTA tours the EWS set. Now : PTA is infixed in his own Kubrick Situation.—An unlimited budget and endless shooting schedule (so to speak). What shall eventuate from this magic Situation? It took Scroob five years to begin to understand Phantom Thread, so perhaps we'll come to understand Battle in, say, 2030. Best wishes.

[Scrooby]

On the night of Christ's Nativity

They came with no place to live, no common
hostel where all people go; thus, that night,
our blessed lady and mother of God
was delivered on the hay in a stable.

That night, a temple of peace, meant to stand
by word of Apollo, collapsed from its base;
which place is now Santa Maria Rotonda.
John Chrysostomos says a starre appeared,

which led the three kings toward Jerusalem;
while the prophetess informed the emperor,
The child is greater than thee; adore him.
Saint Austyn saith the vengeance of God
    shall be so cruél on the day of doom
    that the sonne shall not dare to beholde it.