Taking to the Millarworld forums, the comic book writer and creator has shared his thoughts on the future of superhero movies and why he thinks it's unlikely that we'll ever see the likes of Aquaman and The Flash hit the big screen. Having read this, I personally think it all makes a lot of sense and agree with Millar on many points. Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual place, and head on over to the site by clicking the link below to read the full version of the following.
I plan to focus solely on creator-owned for AT LEAST the next couple of years and so these trends are important. It's essential that nobody comes along and messes up the very successful system we've had for the last decade or so. But we have to keep things in perspective. Any Chicken Littles screeching about Green Lantern being a flop and ruining everything must look at the big picture and remember it's far rosier than any other genre. Our track record in comic book movies has been incredible since Goyer and Norrington changed the game with Blade, Singer carried it through with X-Men and Sam Raimi slam-dunked with Spidey. In the decade that followed we've had monster hits from almost unknown characters. Iron Man sells around 40,000 copies a month, but a combination of a fun script and very clever casting turned it into a $500 million grossing beast. Last year's sequel hit $650 million and these numbers don't even include DVD. The X-Men franchise has managed over 2 billion dollars in 5 movies and Spidey and Batman are the biggest of the lot. Check out www.boxofficemojo.com and it's very heartening to note that superhero and comic book adaptations have an incredible consistency for turning vast profits. There's the occasional dud like Catwoman and Jonah Hex, but these tend to be the exceptions rather than the norm and rare examples of unknown writers and directors being attached to characters traditionally coveted by the Hollywood A-list.
Three superhero movies have been out this summer and, bar GL, the others have done fine. Thor cost 150 mill and looks set to settle at around half a billion dollars. X-Men cost about the same and will probably sit around 350. Add in DVD and SPECIAL EDITION DVDs and these are in serious profit. Thor, we must remember, is another semi-unknown character in the mainstream and featured no bankable names. In this context, it's done INCREDIBLY well and X-Men had the disadvantage of no Wolverine (face it, nay-sayers, he's the best there is), a period piece and no actors recognised from the previous trilogy. Given these facts, it's another success as they're essentially starting from scratch with these prequels. The only genuine flop I think has been Green Lantern, which is a genuine shame and not for lack of love from the people involved. Nobody sets out to make a bad movie, but the non-Batman DC characters just don't seem to work in modern cinema and TV. I've loved these characters as far back as I remember, but whether it's Wonder Woman or Superman or the Aquaman pilot or Catwoman or Jonah Hex or Birds of Prey or whatever... they just don't seem to catch on in the modern world. I think it's hard to compete with the new characters (or even the more recent Marvel characters, created a full generation later). Batman works because he's more human for the big screen and more empathetic, but I fear The Flash and others would just meet the same fate as Green Lantern. They're just too outrageous to provide tension in a live action format and I'd love to see them done, Pixar style, as brilliant, theatrical animated movies. Aquaman talking underwater would have us wincing in live action. In a cartoon we wouldn't even blink. Some stuff just doesn't suit the format. Imagine instead Paul Dini and Bruce Timm getting 120 million to play with on a big Incredibles-style JLA movie!
In short, GL is a blip. It's registered because a 200 mill plus budget and 100 mill marketing campaign means they needed to make 600 mill to break even (after cinema costs are recouped) and will be lucky to crack 250 worldwide. But like I said we need to keep this in context and remember that even the Fantastic Four movies made a big profit. Hollywood is still very much in love with superheroes and will continue to be so until they consistently start losing cash. Next Summer? It's The Avengers, the sequel to the Dark Knight and a Spider-Man reboot I've heard nothing but great things about.