Hey all, This is a subject we are all familiar about in the recent years and coming up with comic book movies. The subject of today is the source material studios own and in some cases misuse, and how their actions have impacted on this film genre. The basic idea of a source material is simple, the source material are the basis for which comic's establish and follow throughout years of publications and various writers use to keep continuity in line with only minor deviation to create a new continuity for new writers to use. There are two types of source materials: the first is an Open Source Material, where the characters have been established through years of writers and changes but stay totally faithful to the creators vision and style. The Second is Limited Source Material, where the characters and universe they live aren't greatly established but are much more focused and follow a simple, straight, and narrow pathway, leaving little to no deviation. Since DC is owned by Warner Brothers and Disney now is the owner of Marvel, but some studios still own film rights but will eventually get them back, by some means.
So why and how do these two different means of sources greatly affect the studio's investment and overall box office success or failure, it's how the source is interpreted. Lets take a few examples of each type of source material and see the difference. Take a look at the Batman films, these were Box Office hits, except the 4th film we all want to forget, but the one thing they had was an open source, the 3 directors of these films took the materials from the comics and applied to into the films and gave us something unique and kept true to the characters. Another example of Open Source is the Iron Man Films, while only two films in, they remain true to who the characters are and the design of the suits are spot-on from the comic book counter parts. Other series like Hulk, Blade, X-men, Daredevil, Fantastic 4, and others tend to deviate from the comics but they remain faithful to the core concepts the comics have established. I made mention that the Singer X-men movies, while they totally deviate from the comic's, they remain true to the ideals the original concept of alienation, racism, prejudice, and belonging. It wasn't until Origins where things got lost in translation and now the film continuity is now split. The only true exception to the Open Source Material is the upcoming Avengers film. In this film we are following the combined film universe's and while it will may be a 50/50 effort combing both comics and films into an amalgamation of all the history this team of characters have been through. The films coming up like Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America, Ant-man, The Flash, Spider-man reboot, and many other ones coming out are most likely to follow to follow this type of material
Now the second type of source material is the Limited source material, where little to no deviation is allowed but studios tend to butcher this type greatly. We have seen many LSM being taken advantage of and sadly were never box office greats. Look at any Alan Moore works took into Live Action movies. Watchmen is probably done well but it took different turns than most expected. Others like this include V for Vendetta for adding and removing elements from the original comic, WANTED for totally altering it to the point of no return, and LXG, which was.....well lets keep away from that......Why do studios screw these up, which to me is a very easy source to pull from. It has a well structured story telling and can be told in just one movie. A comic like Scott Pilgrim had all the looks and promises of being a huge hit, fell short of its goals, why, it was a limited source material, had a well structured and unaltered world, interesting characters, awesome fight sequences. Aside from all the glowing reviews it barely hit big with the mainstream audience. Now it did in fact deviate but fans didn't mind because it stayed true to the source. KICK-ASS had the opposite effect, this was a film that while being limited was allowed to deviate and became a huge hit, a rare instance where the LSM didn't apply. We got a few LSM movies coming out soon, we are gonna see KICK-ASS 2, Superior, and NEMESIS being made into movies, and I'm sure all will deviate and be altered but people will still go see them and they will make lots of money.
Now I exclude video game movies in this because they totally deviate, these films just take the ideas and apply them in a totally different way and have little to no connection to the games. I call those fan service movies. Where they show off like one or two things from the games and that instantly makes them connect. Like I mentioned to a friend, the whole point behind of the Resident Evil games was the fear of containment with a dangerous threat, knowing that you have limited resources and trying to prevent the threat from escaping. The Resident Evil movies are total deviations from those ideas Capcom created. Video game's are huge stories that can't be abridged into 2 hours of film.
Getting off that track, Whether OSM or LSM, comic book films are always big investment for Hollywood studios. To them everything is a gamble. For the most part, they want the writer to create a simple 3 act structure that would allow them to set-up for sequels, because a studio can make greater amounts of money with a franchise rather than a single film. Now will these types die out and the genre create a new type, may be not, because the fan base is strong and doesn't allow the studios to alter or ruin their favorite characters. Will we see newly created super hero movies, of course, but they have to try twice as hard to create those universes where a Source Material has all the tools for the studio and writers to make it easy on them. Will we ever see a film that takes place in the comics, like Civil War or The Dark Knight returns, that remains in the air because of the various universes the studios created for their characters, but one day we will see the Marvel films under a single banner, and if WB ever gets off their butts and decide to do a REAL Justice League movie, then they will have plenty to work with, for now it's all up to the Studio's and their decisions, good or bad.
So in-closing, Studios are gonna keep creating these films, it's not just them but the Director to decide how to implement the use of the Source Material. There are many directors who are staying true to the material, while others allow the material to be altered. Hopefully now that Johns is head of Creative Entertainment he is keeping tabs on Green Lantern and has given us lots of great news. Same with Quesada and Fiege, who are making sure our Marvel Favorites get their Spotlight. Hope you all enjoy this exploration in comic movies, I will be posting my weekly comic reviews some time next Friday at the earliest or Saturday. Til than, ComicCritic87 OUT!!!!