If one this is certain it’s that DC is good at animation, it’s the live action department they are suffering in. Now let us take a look at the history of DC animated projects. We can look way back starting with Max Fleischer Superman, this was made in the 1940s and far back as that goes, if you look at the detail in the animation you can really tell they put a lot of hard work into those short films. Max Fleischer’s Superman was done so well that if you compare it to modern day cartoons and you can clearly see which one is the superior animation, there were only a series of seventeen of these animated shorts made spanning from 1941-1943 from Fleischer Studios then to Famous Studios.
Max’s Superman proved that with a dynamic character like Superman you can really push the boundaries in animation and make something that is truly timeless.
It’s time we moved on to what Bruce Timm and his team have given us, from Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Justice League/Unlimited and the direct to DVD releases that they have been putting out. You look at a show like Batman TAS which is considered the best animated superhero cartoon to date; you’ll notice that the cartoon really got away with a lot of things especially if you listen to the commentaries on the DVDs. Even with their newer shows like Young Justice and the upcoming Green Lantern animated series they seem to be on the roll in the animation field.
Batman TAS along with the other Bruce Timm DC shows was able to make it appealing to children, teenagers, young adults and adults. These shows had a lot depth in them and you can watch them over and over again notice new things each time they are very re-watchable and timeless shows. Then Bruce took a step further with the direct to dvd releases, these releases are aimed at more mature audience with PG-13 ratings and other adult themes included.
These dvds are based off famous DC stories and adapted almost to a T, even with the sometimes limited runtime they put on these, usually they turn out good. With animation in America being seeing as mostly a children’s thing its good know that we have people like Bruce Timm who sees animation as just another way of telling story. Bruce understands that animation is a medium that can be just as artistic as live action movies, if not even more so than live action movies can be. Take into consideration a medium like Japanese animation and they’ve proven that you can tell great mature stories in animation and you wonder why can’t we over here in the west do more of that?
Year
Film Gross
(US sales) Units
(US sales) Ref.
2007 Superman: Doomsday $9,444,910 683,065 [53]
2008 Justice League: The New Frontier $5,233,554 300,606 [54]
2008 Batman: Gotham Knight $8,060,887 395,141 [55]
2009 Wonder Woman $7,113,911 456,023 [56]
2009 Green Lantern: First Flight $6,141,948 378,529 [57]
2009 Superman/Batman: Public Enemies $8,065,109 536,977 [58]
2010 Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths $5,249,260 355,015 [59]
2010 Batman: Under the Red Hood $6,723,890 498,459 [60]
2010 Superman/Batman: Apocalypse $5,954,908 361,290 [61]
2010 DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection $3,550,913 258,544 [62]
2011 All-Star Superman $4,071,633 240,924 [63]
2011 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights $2,376,324 164,978 [64]
Totals: $71,190,338 4,571,818
This brings me to my final point and the main squeeze of this topic. With the disappointment that was the Green Lantern live action motion picture this year and with the successful Marvel movies like Thor, X-men First Class and Captain America you have to wonder why can’t DC get it right? I think I might have solution to this problem and that is for DC Entertainment/Warner brothers to do what they do best, which is animation but on the big screen.
Batman Mask Of The Phantasm was released in theaters but it did poorly financially, not because it was a bad movie but because it was marketed poorly. Roger Ebert have no idea this movie existed but when he finally saw it he give the film a lot of praise and respect, now if a high rank critic like Ebert gives an animated movie this a high of score that says a lot about the DC animated movies.
Now I say DC should take s very close look at a successful Pixar movie, a superhero movie known as the Incredibles. The Incredibles was a big hit when it came out and is still considered the best Pixar movie next to the Toy Story franchise. The Incredibles took inspirations from Watchmen, Marvels Fantastic Four and the superhero genre in general and mixed it all up and gave us a wonderful piece of entertainment. So with the DC/WB track record in animation, I say why not try again and release another animated superhero movie on the big screen with a bigger budget and the right marketing.
So what are your thoughts on this? Should they try this strategy or just continue in live action and risk failing again? Oh and before anyone goes with animation you'll turn away half the audience, like I said take into the consideration the children and look at what Pixar has managed to do and even Dreamworks with some of their films lately, like How To Train Your Dragon.