Slashdot Mirror


What Happens After the Super-Hero Movie Bubble?

mattnyc99 writes "In the wake of a not-that-exciting Comic-Con come some (perhaps premature) reports on the so-called "Death of Superheroes" — what one financial group calls "the top of the (comic book) character remonetization cycle." In response, Esquire.com's Paul Schrodt has an interesting look down Hollywood geek road. From the article: "What happens after The Avengers, or Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman movie — after we've seen all there is to see of the best comic-book blockbusters ever made?""

33 of 339 comments (clear)

  1. Reboot by SamSim · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They'll reboot the franchise and start again. Just like with Batman and Spider-Man.

    1. Re:Reboot by dmomo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's been working for the comic books themselves for the past 70 years, so I guess the movies are sort of being faithful in this respect.

    2. Re:Reboot by Artraze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. Super heroes stories are the modern mythology; they never die they just keep being told and retold just like people have been doing for thousands of years before. And, despite all the haters hating the lack of "originality", I personally think that's pretty cool.

      Sure the popularity will fade a bit and the more B+/A- movies (e.g. Green Hornet) will probably segue into B+/A- spy thrillers or whatever the next genre of the decade is (sci-fi please? hahaha), but I do expect that super hero movies are here to stay.

    3. Re:Reboot by Applekid · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Exactly. Super heroes stories are the modern mythology; they never die they just keep being told and retold just like people have been doing for thousands of years before. And, despite all the haters hating the lack of "originality", I personally think that's pretty cool.

      No hate here, but I've never seen a more succinct reason to outlaw perpetual copyright protections granted to our "modern mythology". What I hate is that only DC and Marvel and Hollywood moguls will profit indefinitely from what is OUR culture. Imagine how much more interesting culture would be if the everyday person was allowed to tell and retell these stories, too.

      --
      More Twoson than Cupertino
    4. Re:Reboot by Isaac-1 · · Score: 2

      Reboot, remake, etc. is all fine and good for older material (lets say 20+ years old), my problem is the recent trend to reboot too soon, see the recent Hulk movies, and now the NEW Spiderman reset.

    5. Re:Reboot by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 2

      I'm giving this comment the lowest grade imaginable...an A--

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    6. Re:Reboot by thesandtiger · · Score: 2

      While I, too, hate perpetual copyright, the average person *is* able to tell and retell their own versions of those stories, too.

      Look at an iconic character like Superman and then look around at various comics by various labels that all have a superman-like character.

      Superman=Hyperion=Invincible=Powers=you can keep going and going. Each version of that character, each label tells the story of that character in a different way.

      Superman is the ultimate boyscout with an impossibly good heart. Hyperion is a what-if superman was taken and raised by the government. Powers takes an entirely different approach to the idea of a walking god. Invincible is a retelling of the Superboy concept but with a more realistic (for very stretchy definitions of realistic) spin.

      Write your own - the name doesn't matter with these kinds of things. The greeks and romans and every other culture in the past felt fine renaming and modifying myths to their heart's content - so, too, should you.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    7. Re:Reboot by 1u3hr · · Score: 2

      What you've forgotten is that equally much was not so created. Grow the fuck up and stop insisting you have some kind of rights over other's creations.

      The "others" whose rights you are so vehemently defending ARE DEAD. The people who paid them ARE DEAD. And the "creations" in many, perhaps all cases, were themselves based on existing "media" (where "media includes folk tales, etc.). Most obvious: Disney and fairy tales. Warhol and just about anything. We're not talking about simply copying, it's about reinterpreting.

      Now? In a few decades

      Let me know when Disney lets go of anything from 90 years ago, and counting.

      Grow the fuck up and join the real world and create your own stuff rather than relying on spoon fed pablum.

      And be a little more polite, cocksucker. You're bringing the tone down.

  2. Super by m2vq · · Score: 2

    There is a recent movie called Super, which is really funny. It even has the "superhero" and his sidekick having sex with each other, true batman and robin style.

  3. duh, hollywood finds something else by alen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    we've had disaster movies, monster movies, historical, fantasy, sci-fi and others.hollywood will find another genre and milk it.

    plenty of books out there that haven't been made into movies or in need of a modern CGI refresh. Bible movies anyone?

    1. Re:duh, hollywood finds something else by Danse · · Score: 2

      Maybe a return to ninja movies, like in the 80s.

      --
      It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    2. Re:duh, hollywood finds something else by Baloroth · · Score: 2

      Video game movies, more likely. Space Invaders the movie, and Asteroids the movie are both being made. Will they be any good? No.

      On the other hand, there are still plenty of comic book movies. Man of Steel even looks kinda promising (Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder doing Superman). Ok, it looks very promising. So, no, the bubble isn't over yet.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    3. Re:duh, hollywood finds something else by The+Moof · · Score: 2

      To be honest, comic book movies have been getting churned out year after year for the past 30 or so years, possibly longer. It's not just some fad that was picked up in the late 90s/early 2000s, nor do I think it's some bubble effect.

      Superman was a household movie name back in the 80s, the early 90s was dominated by Batman remakes. Not to mention the plethora of comic-based movies that aren't your typical "super hero comics" (think along the lines of Sin City, From Hell, or Weird Science).

  4. We remake them all, of course by elrous0 · · Score: 2

    Remakes, Reimaginings, Reboots...who says it EVER has to end?

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  5. Oh noes! by pak9rabid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Heaven forbid they have to *gasp* come up with original material!

    1. Re:Oh noes! by Missing.Matter · · Score: 2

      This is because in most stories, conflict drives the plot. After all, If there were no conflict, the story would be pretty boring. English types have broken down pretty much every possible plot into 7 different categories of conflict:

      1. Man vs. Self
      2. Man vs. Man
      3. Man Vs. Society
      4. Man Vs. Nature
      5. Man vs. Supernatural
      6. Man Vs. Machine/Technology
      7. Man Vs. Destiny

      Where of course "Man" isn't literally a man, but whoever or whatever the protagonist is. The end result is we have thousands of stories that in the end boil down to these same seven conflicts or some combination thereof, which is why stories like Avatar, Fern Gully, and Pocahontas seem the same.

  6. Villians by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Galactus: a Tragedy of Universal Proportions.
    Dr. Doom vs Mephisto. Yo Mama Fight. ("Yo Mama was so dumb, I stole her soul and am keeping it in Hell!")
    Red Skull, an insightful look into the caring side of a Megalomaniac Nazi General.
    Solomon Grundy vs "The Zombie" crossover film. A new cult classic!
    The Osprey. What happens after the Osprey is rejected from the Frightful Four tryouts? It's a madcap whirlwind rush for a one page wonder from Marvel comics golden age!
    Mr. Mxyzptlk. Four hours of a stationary picture of Mr. Mxyzptlk, with a rumor that there's a cliffhanger scene after the credits. There is not.

  7. Re:Cowboy movies by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

    They already redid True Grit, which was better than the original. A remade Rio Bravo could be interesting, although the casting would be hard to do. And yes, I much prefer John Wayne westerns over Clint Eastwood westerns.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  8. More Comic Books Than You Think by eldavojohn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Although they most certainly will, they don't have to. I think that the comic book corpus is deeper than you think. Fables was highly enjoyable to me and The Sandman wasn't bad. Are they perfect for a movie adaptation? Maybe not. But I can think of many comics with great story lines that aren't common household names. I really wouldn't mind seeing more comic book movies like The Watchmen. I guess the primary problem with that is they would most certainly have to be rated R and that stunts your market. I can think of examples suitable for children like Percy Gloom that I think Pixar could really run with ... of course, these aren't traditional superhero constructs (neither was The Watchmen), they're more complex than that.

    I think that if Hollywood and the comic publishers had more fairly compensated the original artists that they wouldn't be facing a lack of material. Here's a research exercise I'll leave to the reader: Who personally profited more from Spiderman: ${Sony CEO} or co-creator Jack Kirby (and his estate)? If a large enough percentage of profit is pumped back into the creators, you'd see an explosion of people vying for that market with new and original ideas.

    More and more with the creative art that I consume I strive to make purchases directly from the artist themselves because we have the internet and the internet enables this so why not? Hollywood and their accounting methods are absolutely horrible about this so why should I worry that they're not going to have anymore comic books left to rape soon?

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:More Comic Books Than You Think by Hatta · · Score: 2

      But I can think of many comics with great story lines that aren't common household names.

      If they're not household names, why would the average household make a night of seeing them in a movie? The whole point of a super hero movie is a recognizable license. If you don't have that you might as well write a new story. That's why the Watchmen didn't live up to expectations. Nobody except for hard core comics nerds ever heard of it before.

      If a large enough percentage of profit is pumped back into the creators, you'd see an explosion of people vying for that market with new and original ideas.

      There are already too many people with movie ideas. Ideas are the easy part. Creative people are happy to create, nobody is eschewing hollywood for wall street.

      The problem is getting people to fund and market new and unique ideas. New ideas are scary and risky for investors.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  9. Okay, this is just sad. by Crash+Culligan · · Score: 2

    I have no doubt that Hollywood will lose its taste for the cash cow it's currently grinding into hamburger (note: not the mixed metaphor that it sounds like). But fretting over The Next Big Thing, simply because a clear winner hasn't emerged yet? That's pathetic.

    For one thing, take a look at the movie listings. There's currently a lot more out there beside the "superhero" movie. Some of it is older genres, some of it is niche new stuff that someone felt was good to throw against the wall, just to see if it stuck. If the superhero genre can be said to be "dominating," it's only because they're making more money, not because they're filling every theater and pushing the ordinary genres off the screen.

    Second, when their star finally does fade, who's to say it'll do so completely? Like I said, a lot of older genres are still being explored. Who's to say we won't get a satisfying drip of interesting empowered individual films in the future?

    And third, it's entirely possible that the reason that the superhero film has dominated Hollywood's rather Asperger's-like focus is that the Next Big Thing hasn't come along yet. I have every confidence that when it does, filmmakers will jump upon it with both feet and kick the Current Big Thing to the curb.

    --
    You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert until you read it in the original Klingon.
  10. Sequel Bubble by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Independence Day 2 and 3, Men in Black 3, Jurassic Park 4, Twister 2(Supposedly Bill Paxton is pushing for this), Ghostbusters 3, etc. Seems they want to pull out franchises that are at least a decade old(or at least a decade since their last good movie) and start again. Supposedly they're even looking at making another Evil Dead sequel.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  11. not many left by aahpandasrun · · Score: 2

    There's not too many more superheroes the can make movies out of. Once you have to make a movie about Thor, you know you're reaching the bottom of the barrel. I bet you we'll see Aquaman soon.

  12. Re:Put the internet on the screen by The+O+Rly+Factor · · Score: 2
  13. How about another question? by N0Man74 · · Score: 2

    What happens after the 'Bubble' bubble?

    Is anyone else tired of hearing the term 'bubble' being used so ubiquitously and loosely now?

    1. Re:How about another question? by mypalmike · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is anyone else tired of hearing the term 'bubble' being used so ubiquitously and loosely now?

      Yes, it's quite annoying.

      Also... bubble.

      --
      There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
  14. This will never end by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2

    Look, this has been going on since the early 1990s with the Michael Keaton Batman movie. Its been 20 solid years. I'm not sure why its suddenly going to end.

    Turns out audiences like simple-minded melodramas with clear-cut good guys and villains. They love fight scenes and over-the-top special effects. Comics fits perfectly with what most moviegoers want. Christ, Michael Bay can do this with something as worthless as a cartoon to sell toys. I think more well rounded characters are a shoo-in.

    Of course there are lots of stinkers. Most notably Ang Lee's Hulk (sounds like simpsons parody) and the weird stalkerish Superman Returns. Hollywood's economics are setup in a way for them to easily absorb bad movies as long as they have a handful of hits every year.

    1. Re:This will never end by Moby+Cock · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A friend and I were discussing the cyclic nature of comics the other day and how it relates to movies today. I was a big comics fan in the 80s and 90s 9less so today). Comics then were generally pretty formulaic until Watchmen and the Dark Knight Returns cast aside the status quo. The publisher's seemed to think that 'gritty' was what people wanted and the anti-hero was on the rise. Wolverine became huge as well as grim takes on Green Arrow and Daredevil among others. The grom stories were everywhere. The other big thing in comics then was the grand crossover event, starting with Secret Wars.

      Now, in movies, the success of the Dark Knight has forced reboots that are grittier and brooding -- like the new Spiderman and Man of Steel. The movie crossover is coming as The Avengers.

      I'm a little concerned about the moves in the film. Batman is compelling as a dark, moody prick. Spiderman is not. Some characters are just not suitable. The crossovers can be great, like Secret Wars, or awful, like any of the DC Crises (except Identity Crisis, that was ok).

      I fear that the rush for grittiness will wind up with some really bad movies and this will sour the studios on more super hero movies. They seem to think that if a movie does bad its because the genre is stale when often the movie was a huge misstep. If gritty Spiderman and Man of Steel don't work and the Avengers is a mess (which is a very likely scenario) then comic book movies are is for a rough ride.

  15. Take a page from fighting games by stubob · · Score: 2

    Who wouldn't watch "Superman Vs. Batman" or "Wolverine Vs. Spider-Man"?
    Now you have n! new movie "plots" to choose from.

    --
    Planning to be moderated ± 1: Bad Pun.
  16. Never fear! by Orleron · · Score: 2

    REBOOT Man is here!!

  17. All we have are Origin Stories by paulsnx2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is getting ridiculous. I have read comic books for 45 years, and hardly ever read an "origin" story. They are there, but THEN THEY MOVE ON!

    The movies can't seem to get past origin stories, and their direct aftermath.

    Why not do a Starwars? Just leap into the story, and let the audience figure it out? Maybe do a flash back here and there, and move on with the plot?

    We have the technology to tell the stories now. But we can't get to the meat of what it means to be Spiderman when every time we have to switch out an actor, we are forced to see the one plot we (comic fans) really know well, over and over again. We know these heros had an origin. We know they have to come to terms with their power. We know they have to find balance between being a hero and being a person. There are so many possible stories to tell! Tell one of them already!

    I would point out that if comic movies suffer the flaw of origin focus, fantasy suffers the flaw of world wide destruction. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Matrix (really, this is just a tech fantasy), The Mummy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars (really, another tech fantasy), etc. are all driven by the idea that unless the unlikely hero beats some terrible foe, the world will end.

    There are many films that escape the terrible gravity wells of these plot paths, so maybe I troll when I say "All we have are...", but I just wish sometimes there were more standout exceptions to the rule....

    1. Re:All we have are Origin Stories by _Quinn · · Score: 2

      Quite frankly, it's because the origin stories are always the best ones. From one perspective, it's because they include all the stages of the monomyth. From another, because it's far easier to identify, as a normal Joe, with Peter Parker than with Spider-Man. Origin stories are also explicitly about character development. In contrast, the usual superhero plot is episodic, because the next writer has to be able to take over -- and any change away from the status quo implies the possibility that the series might end. (Equally cynically, if I'm doing a movie without character development, why pay the licensing fees for a character?) The drama (in the technical sense) of character development helps the origin story appeal to a wider audience.

      Considering movie-making from the business point of view should answer your other question. If what makes your movie pitch attractive is a particular twist on, say, the concept of the responsible use of power, why not tell a real-world story which will attract a wider audience (and be cheaper to boot)? Spider-Man wants anonymity to avoid exposing Mary Jane to danger, but when J. Jonah Jameson publishes proof that Spider-Man killed a bunch of thugs by knocking them out on a beach below the high-tide line, what does he do when people rightfully demand some accountability? (Maybe the cops ignored it when he called them in. Maybe the tide was unusually high that night because SHIELD was experimenting with a new weapon. Maybe he just screwed up by the numbers. Maybe he was too busy disarming a terrorist nuke to get them. Who knows?) US Navy SEAL #17 wants anonymity to avoid exposing his wife to danger, too, but the New York Times publishes proof that he killed two dozen Americans that one night in Afghanistan, what does he do? (Maybe the embassy ignored him when he told them to come fetch their employees. Maybe they were hostages, killed by a freak mudslide while he was scouting the exfiltration route. (Maybe the mudslide was caused by SHIELD testing a new weapon. ;)) Maybe he just screwed up by the numbers. Maybe he was too busy disarming a terrorist nuke to get them. Who knows?) You may gain some sharper moral contrasts by using a super-hero (Spider-Man has never killed anyone, but that the SEAL's job), but that's about it.

      Likewise, the Bond movies provide a thin veneer of plausibility over the general trope of 'unlikely hero saves the world' -- but he's a trained super-spy! He's not unlikely! Everybody knows how good the British intelligence services are! Magic or the equivalent super-high tech just concentrate power in a visually-pleasing and obvious way, and let you "play for high stakes" with a very small and simple cast of characters. It's less a flaw of the genre and more a question of why Hollywood would ever bother to film anything in expensive genres that don't require that expense. (Aside from spectacle, the answer is usually aversion to political risk; consider Avatar.)

      --
      Reality Maintenance Group, Silver City Construction Co., Ltd.
    2. Re:All we have are Origin Stories by PRMan · · Score: 2

      I was telling my brother that I wasn't excited about the new Spider-Man. The actors look like they suck. My brother said that you can't keep having the same actor forever, look at James Bond. I said, "Yeah, but James Bond doesn't tell the same origin story over and over again. We get it! He got bit by a spider! Tell another story.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...