Michael Kim offers his latest Hollywood Economics Report and offers stats on the performance of comic book movies. He also raises a good point about the future of Marvel properties in movies. Namely, can it really go on once the big names have been done? Captain America and Thor are the only recognizable characters not yet done:
Movies based on lesser known characters – for example The Punisher and Elektra – have been box office disappointments. Movies have already been made of the most popular characters, except for Captain America – who non-comic book fans may know through cartoons and live action TV shows. Marvel faces the problem of how many non-comic book fans will see a movie based on a character they are not familiar with in a marketplace already saturated with movies based on that genre.
In one sense, DC has a clear advantage here. Shazam!, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man, even Aquaman are very well-known name superheroes who have yet to hit the big screen. Added to that are any number of second-level characters who could conceivably head up a good movie; I’ve argued many times that Adam Strange is a concept just made for a good sci-fi movie. However, it seems like the last 20 years has seen little more than “development hell” for everything from Sgt. Rock (remember when Bruce Willis was going to play him?) to Deadman, and only Superman and Batman can make it to the screen. The only exceptions have been Catwoman and Steel, and while I was somewhat partial to Steel it certainly wasn’t a success.
If Warner Brothers could ever find a way to shore up their comic book character-to-movie system, they could start getting a bigger share of the pie. I remember when Marvel used to be the hallmark of direct-to-video bombs, yet they’ve been getting the lion’s share of good movie development for the last decade while DC movies (i.e. Batman) descended into autopilot blockbusters focused on toys and product placement.
4 responses to ““Ant-Man: The Motion Picture”?”
Aquaman would make a kick ass movie,(better than sub-mariner) all it needs is a good writer(David S. Goyer)and director(Christopher Nolan). With Keifer Sutherland in the title role
I was there! When Fantastic Four #1 was on the shelf for 10 cents. But my favorite comic book character was the short-lived Astonishing Ant Man.
He was not powerful like The Thing or The Hulk or The Mighty Thor. But Ant Man Was cool.I will see this movie time and time again.I hope he goes up against Egghead.
I wouldn’t exactly call Plastic Man “well-known”, at least not outside the States. But yeah, WB needs to get their act together.
“Movies based on lesser known characters – for example The Punisher and Elektra – have been box office disappointments.”
Blade Domestic: $70,087,718 + Overseas: $61,095,812 = Worldwide: $131,183,530
Blade II Domestic: $82,348,319 + Overseas: $72,661,713 = Worldwide: $155,010,032
Blade: Trinity Domestic: $52,411,906 + Overseas: $76,829,224 = Worldwide: $129,241,130
Blade was a gold mine. The third movie stank and killed the franchise, but the third and fourth Superman movies and the third and infamous fourth Batman movies did that too.
Hellboy and The Punisher (2004) were much better movies than Blade: Trinity, but could not surf off fans like me who had to see all three Blade movies. Hellboy and The Punisher (2004) did less well than the Blade franchise at the box office, but still made enough money on DVD to earn sequels.
Despite Jennifer Garner. Elektra had problems. It followed (and may have been hurt by) Catwoman, which I can’t comment on because I didn’t see it, even though I’ll normally see any comic book superhero movie once.
Comic book superhero movies based on less-famous characters can be profitable, but not if you make Catwoman or follow Catwoman with something that looks like it might be similar.
Big characters can reduce your risk, and give you rewards far beyond the (other) merits of your film. The theatrical release of Daredevil was cut and compressed so harshly it might have failed except that it was Daredevil. Fantastic Four would not have been the huge hit it was if not that it was … Fantastic Four!
With less-famous characters, you don’t have that safety net. But if you deliver the goods, as Blade and Blade II, you can hit the jackpot anyway.
Michael replies: In the case of Blade, where they mined a little-known comic for a good movie, I’d say it almost doesn’t count as a comic book property! Nobody pitched this as “let’s option this popular comic book”, they just saw a good story.
I mean, I LIKE that, that’s how it should work. I think Adam Strange and Wildcat would make for better movies than Wonder Woman or Aquaman…but that’s just not how studios think.