So far this year, comic book movies have performed in a rather lackluster way. Not to say they haven't made money, but compared to years past, this year's selection has not been the year many thought it would be. However, looking forward to next year, we have three proven franchises and one dream film that have potential to bring in massive dollar amounts for Marvel Studios, Sony and Warner Bros. So which film will be the big money maker next year? Which major comic book franchise will be the box office boss? Let's take a look at past films in the franchises and see what we find. Before I go on, let me say that I am looking at Domestic Box Office numbers, this does not include and foreign box office numbers.
First up, let's take a look at the rebooted
Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield. The previous three films in the
Spider-Man franchise were hugely popular and brought in massive revenue for Sony. But, as the films progressed, the numbers actually decreased. I'd like to blame this on the quality of films, but that is not true, as most would agree that
Spider-Man 2 was easily the best of the three films. Did people get bored with the franchise? That's a possibility and when
The Amazing Spider-Man releases next year, it may give us an answer. Here are the numbers for the
Spider-Man films:
Spider-Man $403,706,375
Spider-Man 2 $373,585,825
Spider-Man 3 $336,530,303
Now, the decrease in each film was not huge, but it certainly was noticeable. What does this mean for the rebooted film? I'd suspect that not much changes here. The film will likely pull in a ton of money, as the character is popular with several demographic groups, including children, adults and possibly the younger women due to it's younger stars like Garfield and Stone.
Next up is another "rebooted" franchise in
Man of Steel. The last venture with Superman was controversial to say the least. While
Superman Returns gets its fair share of hate, the film had it's moments. Despite this, fans and critics alike were disappointed and asked for something better. How much did it make?
Superman Returns $200,081,192
Quality of the film aside? what happened here? Superman is arguably the most well known comic book character in history and one of the most recognizable "brands" in the world (FYI- Foreign box office numbers almost matched those of domestic). We now have a director that some would call a visionary in Zack Snyder; a popular up-and-coming actor in Henry Csvill; and an award winning actress in Amy Adams. Add to that a direction that seems to deviate from previous films and you may have a winner. We will have to wait until late 2012 to get an answer for this one, but my guess is this one will do just OK.
Man of Steel has a rumored budget of $175 million and I'd like to hope the film can at least make that much back at the box office. I think this one has a better chance to do so that the previous bomb.
The third film that has potential to dominate the box office, and in my eyes, the likely winner, is
The Dark Knight Rises the third and final film in Christopher Nolan's Batman series. Thanks to Joel Shumacher's Bat-films, many thought that another attempt at a Batman film was a big mistake, but those nay-sayers were proven wrong when Nolan released
Batman Begins. Not only de he re-invent the character, but he set a standard for comic book movies, which he did yet again with
The Dark Knight. Let's take a look at the numbers for these films:
Batman Begins $205,343,774
The Dark Knight $533,345,358
Needless to say, these films had huge numbers, with
TDK more than doubling those of its predecessor. Some would account this to the untimely death of Heath Ledger and the Oscar talk that preceded the film. Regardless, many feel that
The Dark Knight is the epitome of comic book films and is the standard by which all others should be judged. I'm not here to discuss that, but it certainly made a name for itself by becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time. Will
TDKR be able to repeat that feat? My guess is no, but it will probably be the highest grossing comic book movie of the year as well ask one of the top grossing films of the year.
Finally, a film that most fan-boys and girls have only dreamed of:
Avengers. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that I would likely never see this team up movie on the silver screen, but alas, Marvel Studios has heard the cries and wishes of fans around the world and created a film universe. IN this film, we will see Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Hulk and others team up in a new film franchise. Predicting the numbers for this film is a tricky one, and I honestly have no idea how it will play out.
To start things off, let me list the revenue of the films leading up to the
Avengers film next year:
Iron Man $318,412,101
Iron Man 2 $312,433,331
Thor $179,501,162 (to date)
The Incredible Hulk $134,806,913
Hulk $132,177,234 (included for perspective only. Not included in Marvel Film Universe)
Looking at these numbers, the only films to not make their budget bake at the box office are the two films based on the Hulk, although
Thor barely squeaked by, just barely getting the production money back. Obviously,
Captain America: The First Avenger has yet to release, and judging by the performances of the above mentioned films, it's hard to say how it will do at the box office. I'd suspect that is does just as well as
Thor, if not a little better. But how will these numbers effect
Avengers? My guess is that it will do fairly well. The film has a young, recognizable cast, as well as veteran actor power in Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey, Jr. This film will do well at the box office, I have no doubt, but because this film is not an established franchise, it will not fair as well as the others. However, the fact that the lead-in films will help establish this franchise and I know it the only direction it will go is up.
Regardless of how you look at it, 2012 will surely go down as one of the best years for comic book movies and the start of some great new film franchises. Now, if you look at some of the other films being released in 2012, I don't think a comic book movie will be the box office king next year. With such films as
Hunger Games and the final film in the
Twilight series, the young women of the country may have this one cornered. Only time will tell and let's hope that Bats is not taken down by a sparkly vampire once again.
But hey, I'm just a geek with fan page on ComicBookMovie.com, what the hell do I know?