Rebuttal: Boycotting Sony and Fox CBM's

my counterpoint to Romack's article

Editorial Opinion
By StuckInPanels - Jul 04, 2010 07:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Action

The following article is all my opinion. This should not sway anyone's judgment. Hey, guys and gals, this is a response to Romack's article about boycotting CBM's from Sony and Fox. I read the article and have posted a few comments. Now while he has made some good points, his overall message seems to be the ramblings of an angry fan boy longing to have masterpieces every time, rather than pieces of crap. I'm not bad mouthing him article in any way, but the way I read it seemed that way. So I'm gonna give my counter points to his article and hopefully clear some of the anger and tension amongst our community.

First, I would like to mention that we as a fan community are minority. Whereas the majority is the average movie-goer, kids and parents go to see these films for the general amusement of seeing something they never seen before. In terms of having a faithfully adapted comic book film, it is going to be hard when the majority supercedes the minority. Whenever a studio owns the rights to a comic license, they attempt to get it right not just for the general audience, but for the fans amongst the crowd. Studios work hard to incorporate the entire audience. They do what they can to serve fanboys and the majority. It is difficult for them to strike a balance, since siding with fanboys may alienate the majority. Now a few films have been able to be near perfect adaptations. Those were typically limited graphic novel series's like “Watchmen,”” 300,” and “A History of Violence." Another mention is that these teen based films are being aimed for their target audience. “X-Men: First Class” and the Spider-man reboot are aimed for bringing in the younger crowds, because they can be relate to the characters. Whereas we older people appreciate the films on a higher thought. For example, “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” were targeted for a more mature audience, yet parents brought in their kids thinking they were just action movies and not so character driven.

The next point I like to bring up is that having the rights belong to a single studio is a double edge sword. In the ROMACK article, IronBat made a comment about why shouldn't we all hope for the X-Men and Spider-Man Licenses go back to Disney. Now that’s a good idea. I said, how's that going to better the films? Disney has not always made big hits. They have made some flops and not every film is a hit. Also there’s another studio that owns all the movie licenses to a comic company...oh yeah WARNER BROTHERS! Remember they own ALL of DC’s comic movie licenses. Look at the recent movies they released: “Losers,” underwhelming, and “Jonah Hex,” a failure. They are totally fixated on Batman and Nolan while totally ignoring The Flash, Wonder Woman, Martian Man-hunter, Hawk-man, and tons of other BETTER titles out there. They have plans for a 3-D “Swamp Thing” and a “Sgt. Rock “movie set in the future. While “Green Lantern” may be their equivalent to “Iron Man,” it seems too little too late to bring these characters all together. That seems to be the one problem when one studio owns all the licenses, they tend to pick the more OBSCURE titles in the hopes they can make it big, rather than have the MAIN STREAM titles blend into one awesome film. So while Marvel is working hard to make a movie-verse, DC has barely come out of the gate.

Third point: Not the Studio's fault. It seems in this day and age, we are always trying to point the finger at someone to blame for the failure in our CBM's. We used to blame the actors, directors, and writers, but now it all goes straight to the top. I would like to remind you all that despite the recent films they released, 20th Century Fox has made GREAT MOVIES. What doesn't help is that they are the ones who are jumping on the remake/reboot bandwagon more than any other studio out there. While Sony has some titles under their belt, they own a bunch of smaller studios that they use to make their films. This sort of ties in to the previous point I mentioned. We immediately blamed WB for the failure of “Jonah Hex,” but we also had people attack the director, actors, and the film all together. So don't be quick to point fingers unless you have good reason.

Final point: Boycotting a film is just plain old silly. Saying you’re not going to see a film isn't going to stop the film from making lots of money here and overseas. No one tells you to go see these films anyway. If you don't like the product, you don't have to invest your money in it at all. I would like to boycott the Twilight films for being terrible to the decency of the youth and how sexist they are. But it would be like shooting a tank with a pea shooter: it would do no damage and you get steamrolled under its force of annoying twihards. In actuality, having any form of protest against such things seems a waste because it’s not going stop it from making money.

In closing, I respect ROMACKS article and while I don't agree with it, I still applaud him for speaking his mind when most of us tend to just go with the flow. So, be it a good or bad film, we must have some high hope when these films come out. We have a while before we even see a single press release picture or even a trailer. I always remain optimistic when a film is announced or shown. I would immediately have my reaction to it once I see it, but for now, lets’ try to remain in good faith. Until next time, Aki87 out!!

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jusme6
jusme6 - 7/4/2010, 8:24 AM
@Aki: You know, someone actually posted this argument already. If you want to continue the debate, I think you should continue the debate at the original. Otherwise, I think you should probably calm down. Go rub one out. Trust me, you'll feel better.
AverageCitizen99
AverageCitizen99 - 7/4/2010, 9:27 AM
Good work. (IMO) We need to remember that even though these studios screwed up before, they've made good to awesome adaptations: FOX (X-MEN, X2: X-MEN United) and Sony (Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2). Making a bad comic-adap is no different than when they make a bad film made from an original concept. I'm still looking forward to both the Spider reboot and First Class because unless more occurs to make me worried, I'll have to see then judge it for myself. Great article. :)
TANKGIRL
TANKGIRL - 7/4/2010, 12:24 PM
good article Aki87

i think fox made better movie than sony do i loved first two x-men movie but i hate spider man movie
grog
grog - 7/4/2010, 12:47 PM
As a manager of a movie theater for over 20 yrs, I can tell you who is coming to see the CBM's. The exact people that the movie is being made and marketed for. For the most part it is males between the ages of 16 and 24. That is why every CBM (with a few exceptions) are rated pg-13. Now with the target age of 16-24, unless they are a comic book reader their knowledge of the character came in the form of an animated series on tv. so we have to ask, "which fan base should they cater to?" The general public, the tv comic fan or the comic reader?
As for the Spiderman reboot, remake or whatever it is being called, I am actually looking forward to it. I feel that in Spiderman 1,2 and 3 They took the story line way to fast, and skimmed over or omitted some important points. From what I have read the plan is to take the story line slower and let the character develope. Deciding to boycott Spiderman is a bit early don't you think. I mean we just found out 2 days ago who was cast as Peter Parker/Spiderman. Other than the director we can only guess who the villian("s)are or what other character's they are going to cast.
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/4/2010, 1:41 PM
@ aki87 boycotting fony & fux films,could ruin the comic movie genre more then either company are currently doing their selfs.
if we don't go & see these movies,will they decide not to make them.
could workout alright,if marvel got all their comic rights back.
but i don't think we will ever see that day.
fony films top three
1.spider-man 2
2.spider-man
3.spider-man 3

fux films best comic films.
1.x-men 2
2.x-men
3.x-men 3
4.fantastic four rise of the silver surfer.
5.fantastic four.
6.x-men origins wolverine.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 7/4/2010, 3:10 PM
@deadpool72..as I said, it wouldn't do any damage if we as a community stopped seeing these films. they will keep making them for the general audience
ROMACK
ROMACK - 7/4/2010, 3:41 PM
Aki87@ Wow. I have got to admit you gave just exactly the argument I was looking for. You countered every point I made.....and ultimately.....you're right!

This is the answer I was looking for. I had heard so many people griping about these studios(and I have griped as well)that I decided to put the question out there for everyone with the ire in which they voiced it.

As a true Fanboy(& lover of all things X-Men) I don't think I could make myself stay away from these movies, but the argument had to be made.

This is an excellent article. Well said.
antonio
antonio - 7/4/2010, 5:32 PM
x-men origins had its small moments but i hated it.fantastic 4 films are ok.the thing was great and chris evans stole it.all x-men movies were really good,ESPECIALLY x2.spiderman was good,spiderman 2 is in my top ten and spiderman 3(ugh).
spiderman 2 went deeper with peter and mj's relationship and had alot more material from the comics.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 7/4/2010, 6:09 PM
@Romack... thanks.
marvelguy
marvelguy - 7/4/2010, 7:37 PM
@Romack,

I don't disagree with you. But what better protest is there other than not spending your money of said films? I don't think it's something you have to organize. I do it all the time by not watching anything produced by someone I do not like. Of course, find out where you can send fan mail, but the better idea is being part of the solution. If/when you write, send them ideas that would make things better while still appealing to an audience that doesn't know the characters to the level of comic book readers.
Paulley
Paulley - 7/5/2010, 11:22 AM
i wont boycott these films i do believe in Marvels case the better of there movies are done in house.. as Marvel Studios heavily rely on people in the industry and there parent company, Disney, is happy to allow them freedom to work on the way they like.

DC on the other hand has input but the decisions are made by WB.. Batman succeeded because they allowed Nolan the freedom to work on the film as he felt fit (due to his high grade on previous films). The same way the DCAU worked well because Bruce Timm and Co where allowed to work mostly unhindered.

Anyway that's my opinion, if you want a movie to be good let the people doing it work without hindering them.

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