Friday, June 30, 2006
The Summer Comic-Book Blockbuster
posted by RICK : 5:45 PM
I saw Superman Returns last night. It was good. It was good in the same way that Batman Begins was good and Spiderman 2 was good and X:2 was good and so on and so forth. While Hollywood has been drowning in comic-adaptations since 2000, every summer has given us a comic-hero (with the exception of The Hulk) that has proven to be THE BIG MOVIE of that summer. I suspect this is because those movies have attracted A-list directors, which in turn have produced a-list features.
The question then becomes, at what point will THE BIG SUMMER MOVIE not be based on a comic-hero? Next summer we're promised another Spiderman and another Batman will come a year later. And based on this weekend's release, I can only imagine that another Superman is two to three years away.
With seemingly endless comics to film (though limited characters with demographic-reaching name-power) it seems like this trend of hero-establishing/sequel-powering business could go on for the foreseeable future.
I'm okay with this.
The fact of the matter is these films make for great summer fare. The cater to enormous budgets and lots of effects and explosions and yet also provide enough character and emotion to keep critics at bay. More importantly, its exactly what a mainstream audience wants to see in the middle of the hot, hot summer.
Really, its surprising it took this long for Hollywood to realize the key to their success was being held in the hands of comic fanboys. Of course, there's enough crappy adaptations produced each year to suggest they really have no clue what the hell they're doing (Elektra? Catwoman?). None of that matters, like the music biz, a years worth of bombs can be offset by one HUGE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER-- and as long as the right directors are attatched to these projects, they're going to succeed.
X-Men 3 was a big hit, but I have no doubt that it could have been a bigger hit had Singer no left for Superman. At this point he seems to be the Orsen Wells of the genre, with Sam Raimi and now Christopher Nolan the prominent underclassmen.
I say let's keep it up. Who needs pirates and dinosaurs between May and August, when you can get spandex and capes?
I saw Superman Returns last night. It was good. It was good in the same way that Batman Begins was good and Spiderman 2 was good and X:2 was good and so on and so forth. While Hollywood has been drowning in comic-adaptations since 2000, every summer has given us a comic-hero (with the exception of The Hulk) that has proven to be THE BIG MOVIE of that summer. I suspect this is because those movies have attracted A-list directors, which in turn have produced a-list features.
The question then becomes, at what point will THE BIG SUMMER MOVIE not be based on a comic-hero? Next summer we're promised another Spiderman and another Batman will come a year later. And based on this weekend's release, I can only imagine that another Superman is two to three years away.
With seemingly endless comics to film (though limited characters with demographic-reaching name-power) it seems like this trend of hero-establishing/sequel-powering business could go on for the foreseeable future.
I'm okay with this.
The fact of the matter is these films make for great summer fare. The cater to enormous budgets and lots of effects and explosions and yet also provide enough character and emotion to keep critics at bay. More importantly, its exactly what a mainstream audience wants to see in the middle of the hot, hot summer.
Really, its surprising it took this long for Hollywood to realize the key to their success was being held in the hands of comic fanboys. Of course, there's enough crappy adaptations produced each year to suggest they really have no clue what the hell they're doing (Elektra? Catwoman?). None of that matters, like the music biz, a years worth of bombs can be offset by one HUGE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER-- and as long as the right directors are attatched to these projects, they're going to succeed.
X-Men 3 was a big hit, but I have no doubt that it could have been a bigger hit had Singer no left for Superman. At this point he seems to be the Orsen Wells of the genre, with Sam Raimi and now Christopher Nolan the prominent underclassmen.
I say let's keep it up. Who needs pirates and dinosaurs between May and August, when you can get spandex and capes?
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(co-creator)
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