Trouble, Trouble, Trouble!

Trouble, Trouble, Trouble!

Comic Book Movies their own genre? Over saturation? With dozens of movies coming out in the next couple or years, can this new genre last or will it die out before it is too late?

Editorial Opinion
By LMFA0 - Aug 01, 2011 08:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Other

Yes, another article about this annoying subject. But is it be because doom may be coming to this new genre or are we just freaking out. This is my favorite website, period. My girl friend hates this site due to the fact that I have a smart phone and check this place dozens of times a day. Yes, I need help. But over the past few months dozens of articles have been written about the same thing over and over and over, quite possibly over saturating this editorial page with articles about, well, over saturation. Now, why might so many people be worried about the same thing? Is there really a problem in the quantity in which the four main companies in this genre are producing these Comic Book/ Superhero movies?

Honestly, yes. In my opinion and based of basic economics, the rate and quality of these movies being produced is killing this genre. Basic economics says that there is a limit in which, no matter the quality of product, the consumer will not want the product. I will oddly compare this to food. say you are eating a meal, no matter how good the food is, at some point you will get full. If you continue eating, you will feel sick. The enjoyment of the once amazing food is now much lowered to the point that you don't want anymore for a while.

You might find this comparison ludicrous but in all actuality this is almost inevitable. But, by now most of the people reading this article have written me off as some sort of idiot for coming to a site dedicated to CBM's and saying that they don't like the amount of movies coming out now-a-days. This is not entirely true, though. I love these movies but I disagree in the way that the major companies are releasing and marketing them. They are bleeding the genre dry and getting as much as they can before the general population becomes disinterested. Honestly, it does not matter how "fresh" the characters are they are marketing or how different they are from another character, people are not stupid. Once people stop demanding these movies, they will be gone. And i mean gone. Yes, there may be a couple a year afterward but the majority of those made will be characters or properties that have already been established.

You may argue that there have only been a few Comic Book related movies this year released and this is true. But what is wrong with this year, and some in the past, is that the major four companies have all placed them in the Summer months. That's right. Every Comic Book related movie out this year besides Green Hornet was released in a small chunk of the year in which most Blockbuster movies are released. Thor, Xmen, Captain America, Transformers, Green Lantern, and Cowboys and Aliens were all summer movies. I'm very sorry but by the end of the summer, even I started to get tired of the constant commercials of the various CBMs this summer.

With two more years, at least, planned to the brim with CBMs marketed in the same manner, how much longer will people keep caring? I will even argue that it isn't even because the companies keep doing "origin" films either because the general public like this format because they dont know anything about these characters for the most part and the build up of the movie is simple and easy to follow. "Stand alone" movies based on single stories from a Comic Book would not work either, unless the character is well known enough to get people to come.

I will have a lot of people that disagree with almost everything I have written and even now my girl friend is being pissy because I have spent too much time writing this, but I feel like this is an actual problem that many of the people here try to ignore. The Amazing Spider Man, Superman, Batman, Avengers, Ghost rider, Preacher, Judge Dredd, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and now Dr. Strange have all been confirmed for the next two years. With even more possible like Daredevil, Wolverine, Flash, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Green Lantern 2, Deadpool, AntMan, Xmen FC 2 and many others have either been rumored or are in preproduction.


You tell me, how many do we need in a two year period? Let me know how you feel

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SCOURGE
SCOURGE - 8/1/2011, 9:34 PM
It's not about the number of movies, but about the quality. This year's crop is pretty weak: The Green Hornet and Lantern were terrible, early word on Tin Tin isn't promising, Thor and Captain America were OK, and X-Men:First Class aond Cowboys and Aliens may end up fighting it out for movie of the year, I mean really? Ugh...
LMFA0
LMFA0 - 8/1/2011, 9:59 PM
I still think it is about quantity though. If ever CBM that comes out in the next 2 years in Godfather quality, the amount of them would still be overwhelming. And the law of averages says that not only will they all not be that great but most of them will suck even if they are better than previously viewed as good movies. The bar keeps getting raised and next year may be the peak.
ironpool007
ironpool007 - 8/1/2011, 11:05 PM
I never get tired of getting these movies come out, but i do agree with you. At the rate these movies are coming out, the genre is going to burned out really fast. Look at the Universal Studios and Hammer monster movies from the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's. They put out monster movie after monster moviefor years and now the only movies we get with these characters are the shitty Twighlight Saga movies and the Underworld franchise. True classic monster movies are pretty much dead. CBMs could face a similar fate too if Hollywood is not carefull.
TheQuestion
TheQuestion - 8/2/2011, 8:08 AM
I have to disagree with you. Comic book movies are a genre just like any other. There has always been horror, mysteries, romantic comedies, and so on because the genres have a built in fan base that assures financial viability on some level. We've had some weak movies in recent years, sure, but how many other terrible films were released in other genres? I'm sure they largely out number a few CBMs.

The problem is that us fans are so protective over these properties we feel that the genre should be perfect and infallible, and that's just not realistic. There will always be bad adaptations. No genre has a 100% success rate. The market isn't over saturated because people are still watching these movies and making them successful. We should be happy about that. A little known property like Thor made $450 million in the box office. A tired franchise like X-Men still did fairly well with a prequel that had none of the established actors from the previous films. Captain America is doing well, already making a profit one week after its release.

This is probably the third time this feeling has swept the CBM community in the modern era of these movies. Every time people were wrong. We still have 3 blockbuster titles in The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man coming out next year. That will pump tons of interest (and revenue) in to the genre and rejuvenate it for another 4 years, at the least.

So, take a breath. Relax. Everything will be ok.
ScionStorm
ScionStorm - 8/3/2011, 2:14 AM
Comic Books are a MEDIUM. NOT a genre. End of story. CBMs are movies that are being adapted from comics.
ScionStorm
ScionStorm - 8/3/2011, 2:21 AM
And if your talking about superhero movies, it depends on how the hero is portrayed and the diversity of them. Thor was a scifi that explored how mythology might be real. Captain America was a WW2 period piece. One was a god, the other doesn't actually have super powers. Green Lantern . . . should have been a space opera. Green Hornet was a laughing stock and I wanted to punch Seth everytime he appeared on screen (although I enjoyed most every scene that he wasn't in oddly).
ScionStorm
ScionStorm - 8/3/2011, 11:12 AM
Now what would be interesting would be if hollywood decided to make an epic action-packed adventure film based on a cook book.
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