RANT: Have comic movies jumped the Shark?
Yes that is from the Watchmen set that we found…
So I was out with William S. and we rambled comic book movies (of course) and I mentioned how Kevin Smith mentioned at the EW Visionaries panel @ SDCC that, “Now that the Watchmen movie is done, I can watch it and then just die!” so I ask…
After the Watchmen movie will comic book movies have then jumped the shark? Does it matter if Iron Man II is good? The Hulk 3 decent? An Avengers movie (I mean the Marvel Avengers, not the Brit telly show) , Justice League movie? Or the next Batman movie?
For the Love of Comics has a great article about news about The Dark Knight and the next Batman movie here:
http://www.fortheloveofcomics.com/2008/08/01/for-the-love-of-quickies-obsessed-with-batman-edition/
Maybe they could make a better movie and actually HAVE Batman in the movie and not just a supporting character like in Dark Knight. Seems that the rumors are hot and heavy with who is going to be in the next Bat movie, more here from blog@newsarama.com with some thoughts like maybe Black Mask or Hugo Strange:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/08/06/wholl-face-batman-in-next-film-eh/
My vote for the next Bat movie is to have BATMAN in the movie like he was in the first movie please! Oh and if they do Black Mask, they need to hear William’s version!
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(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
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August 9th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I don’t think they’ll have jumped the shark, but that may be the pinnacle of comic movies for awhile.
Iron Man II, The Avengers, Green Lantern, and so on will still be anticipated and still be good (I hope), but Watchmen will likely be one of those classics. They didn’t stop making mafia movies after Godfather or Scarface, for instance.
August 9th, 2008 at 9:24 am
It’s really tough to say - the movie industry seems to be more reliant on “The Next Big Thing” than they are waiting for a certain sub-genre of movie to peter out and die (now the television industry on the other hand… they bleed every drop out of those stones).
In order for Hollywood to move on one of two things have to happen:
a) A movie of a different style comes out that makes tons of money. It will then be the preferred format of movie until another movie supplants it in like fashion.
b) A string of comic book movies come out that are just lame and scare investors into trying to find something else.
Notes on the above:
- Comic book movies have had a breath of fresh life (not that they were really suffering all that bad) due to that Joker Movie. That should keep the momentum together for another season or two.
- If another block buster came out after Spiderman 3 that was as disastrous as Spiderman 3 then I’m sure the movie gods would have looked elsewhere. Two bad movies back to back can tole the death knell for a movie type. I honestly think that the level of writing and heart in comic book movies is too high for a serious catastrophe that could tank the genre though. Comic Book writers have been experts on what is badass ™ for quite some time, even if they overplay it with stunning frequency.
- I’m still not convinced that Watchmen can even work as a film or be even remotely well received by the “Typical American Audience”. It could very well herald the end of days for comic book movies as writers just agree that it’s all been done and they’re done. Or on the other hand it could be another notch on the bed for Hollywood; the producers of the world will then look to the number 2 best selling graphic novel… no matter how ludicrous it will be to stage on film… and soon all of Vertigo will become a ludicrous cash cow of unparallelled proportions for the studios.
- The curse of Three is strong. Sooner or later the “A” material will be gone through and then people will just move on. I mean other than Mindy who would want to pay to see “Hawkman: The Movie”?
Prognosis:
Shark jumping or not we’re going to keep getting more comic book movies until the next fuzzy Titanic style movie comes out and comic movies become a distant afterthought… now if only reality TV could grab a clue and do the same.
Food for thought, anyways.
DR
August 11th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
For the most part I’m in the “What DR said” camp. Although I would have written my piece with more cuss words. I will add that Comic book movies are not going to go away anytime soon. Crackerbob’s Godfather statement sums that up beautifully.
Having had this conversation with Robert over 2 hours and half a pack of my cigarettes, which is why I didn’t post right away, I can say that the initial question came out of a worry that after the Joker movie and Watchman (cross fingers) none of the superhero movies that come out later will be any ‘good’. That in comparison they’ll just suck and be Hollywood going in for one more kick of the can. That’s the shark jumping part. Personally I think there are still good things to come. Although the only person whose going to top Nolan is going to be Nolan, but it is nice to think he’s thrown his gloves to the ice and there might be a few directors out there who will be want to take him on at his game.