Why I Think That It's Possible To Make A Successful Comic Book Movie With A Female Lead And Why It's The Perfect Time To Do It

Why I Think That It's Possible To Make A Successful Comic Book Movie With A Female Lead And Why It's The Perfect Time To Do It

Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl and more have been ignored for TOO long! Comic book fans know it and the producers and executives know it, now why don't they do something about it?

Editorial Opinion
By LittleDanglyThing - Sep 05, 2013 12:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Other




Well... first things first, remember that movie "Elektra"? Now that we have that fresh in our memory, how about I get started? I love when movies have strong female leads. Actually, I love when any story has a strong female lead. There are plenty of exciting stories with characters like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Supergirl, Squirrelgirl, and so on in comics, but we rarely ever see them in action on the big screen, why is that? Because Hollywood is oppressing women!? Hardly, actually it's money, and we all know that, but what we don't know is why. Why is it so hard to make money off a movie with a female lead? Let's take a look at Twilight and Hunger Games, those movies made money off teenagers and middle aged woman everywhere, even guys went to see it and the film version of those two franchises made a ridiculous amount of cash because of it. Now how did that happen? Because they were marketed as a romance/action/suspense/thrillers? Possible, it is how Titanic made all of its cash, after all didn't you see the Plinkett review? I'll make some points on how I think they can make money off a Comic Book Movie with known and loved characters. I'll use Captain Marvel as an example because out of the 3 heroes I mentioned, Mrs Marvel the hardest to make a sale with and Marvel has already spread their movie making wings. DC needs to realize a Wonder Woman pretty much sells itself, easily if they give it the same treatment as Man of Steel.





1. They would need a known actress with sex appeal that can carry her own weight in a movie, which there are PLENTY of, so it really doesn't matter who they cast, just dye her hair blonde.

2. Market the movie as a romance with action and suspense, like Titanic or Twilight except we'll call it a Super Hero Romance. The way the character was introduced in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a good narrative to draw from, obviously not verbatim but in a way that makes Captain Mar Vell a love interest who eventually goes missing or dies.

3. Literally GRAB Whedon and force him to direct or produce or even executive produce or anything that allows you to put his name in the trailers. "Joss Whedon, the man who gave you Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Avengers presents: Captain Marvel," sounds good don't it? Nerd girls dig Joss for 2 reasons: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and his portrayal of women in movies. The average audience will see that he made The Avengers and think "Captain Marvel? Idk wut dat iz but if itz by da guy who made da vengerz Im in!" Exaggeration, but you get the gist.

See, it's not exactly as hard as these producers think. Right now is the perfect time for a CBM with a female protagonist because it's actually something people will go see because of how big these movies have gotten. As much as the audience disliked Green Lantern it did make it's money back with a very little profit even with that awful advertising. Seriously it should have tanked, all they did was make a very bad trailer and market it as your usual campy super hero flick (i.e. Fantastic Four) when it should have been marketed as a Sci-fi but with the same treatment as Man of Steel and I barley saw any trailer for it when it came out. It's ALL about the marketing. I swear I loved the Avengers, it is one of the films that I never get tired of, but honestly if it wasn't marketed the way it was I don't think it would have surpassed the 1 billion mark, they shoved those TV Spots and footage down our throats and it had a super bowl trailer as well. It's all about marketing and advertisement and these days you can sell anything with the correct amount of product placement. In my honest opinion I don't think it should be that hard to make the Wonder Woman or Supergirl movie that everyone wants to see.


Thanks for reading, guys.
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marvel72
marvel72 - 9/5/2013, 12:50 PM
totally agree,we need something different then all the male dominance comic book movies.

we'll see ms.marvel aka captain marvel movie before wonder woman gets one.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 1:00 PM
At his point I think we will too.
WB really seems uninterested in Wonder Woman and every one says "it's tricky" when it's really not.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 1:33 PM
Hunger games was not marketed as romance. It was marketed as an action film with a girl leading. That's why boys saw it. The Titanic had a sinking ship, that's why me and my friends saw it.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 1:35 PM
And a girl has to be attractive like a man has to be strong, big, and still attractive. Thats just the way it is, we don't want a wimpy man in an action film, we don't want an ugly girl in an action film.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 1:40 PM
@dougieisrollingthejays EXACTLY thank you for that last comment. Sexism works BOTH ways in movies not just towards women.
Hunger Games was marketed the same way Twilight and Titanic were, a romance/action hybrid. Trailers say romance but you're really seeing action.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 9/5/2013, 1:41 PM
I picture a Wonder Woman film using King Kong as an influence. Here's what I mean. Have Steve Trevor be the main character and don't introduce Wonder Woman till the middle. I say this because you will be explaining her origin twice if you start with Diana then when she mets Steve she has to tell him it.

I know most fans may or may not like this but having Trevor as the main character and telling it from his POV is a great idea. Kind of like how Batman/Bruce Wayne parts in Batman 89 included and had Vale be important to it.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 1:57 PM
@Levitikuz That's definitely an interesting idea and pretty good one at that but it's too original we all know hollywood is the opposite of original especially WB. The more predictable "easy money" route would be Clash of the Titans meets Themyscira. The plot to Man of Steel would have better fitted for Wonder Woman. Flashbacks, becoming the hero, problems with the US government and all.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 2:01 PM
@levi it might work, but then again it could go so wrong. Thats why they are saying Wonder Women is hard. The character isn't to easy, throw on the top that its a women CBM... Not even Marvel has found a way to do it yet. Why? Because its harder to get right than a raccoon.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 9/5/2013, 2:06 PM
Hollywood's the opposite of original?

Every Fast & Furious movie is about the [frick]ing same.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 2:07 PM
Lol "harder to get right than a raccoon" that was funny.
I really don't think it would be that hard though, not now.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 2:09 PM
Yup just completely unoriginal and predictable, ever since Twilight they've been making movies based of obscure teenage love books that girls love for some reason.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 2:25 PM
City of Bones, Percy Jackson and Diary of a Wimpy kid were also books, the first one is a teenage love movie like Twilight and Hunger games and the last two were more popular than any of them in book form at one time and look how those movies turned out. Being a book first doesn't really mean it's going to be a hit, there needs to be some weight behind it.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 2:34 PM
IDK they COULD do it but its marketing thats the problem. the general people might just laugh at it. If they ever made a twilight version of a super heroine I would cry myself to sleep and shoot my pillow.
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 2:41 PM
LOL I would too I hate Twilight. I don't mean have it be like Twilight, just advertise it the same way. If anything I want Captain Marvel to be a mixture of Buffy and Iron Man 3. Not too dark but with a serious tone and good laughs not cheap Transformers toilet humor.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 2:46 PM
Vampires.... For some reason teenagers like vampire love now. Hunger games again was popular because of the story not the love portion of the story. The love portion was a very small amount of the story itself. We didn't really know if Gale even liked her, and besides the cave scenes? Nothing much.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 2:47 PM
true little
LittleDanglyThing
LittleDanglyThing - 9/5/2013, 2:58 PM
Teenagers love vampires because of Twilight. That's why shows like True Blood and all that nonsense came out.
Hunger Games definitely has a love story between her and Peeta.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/5/2013, 3:10 PM
@levitikuz - I know your hearts in the right place but having steve Trevor as the star of a wonder woman film is far from a good idea. The critics would have a field day first of all and even if its good it will get so many complaints by female critics and even normal critiics it may damage the movie. I think what would be better is if Steve is not WW equal in the movie but has some action chops himself and is a very big secondary character, WW origin needs to be told properly and you can do that in linear fashion and when steve comes in he´ll be a major part of why WW has to fight in mans world. Its a very difficult balance but it can be done.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 3:12 PM
Yes but its also halfway fake love story because at this point she's faking it.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/5/2013, 3:14 PM
in some ways your right but you can't say HG is on the same love story level of twilight.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 9/5/2013, 4:00 PM
aresww3

Is it really? The whole part of film is to let your audience be a part of the experience. It Star Wars we see it from the Rebels POV but not Vader's. In Batman, we see Joker and Vale's POV but really not Batman.

Steve would make a great fit. Steve represents us, represents the audience. The GA really has no [frick]ing idea of Wonder Woman and her foes. To the the film with Queen Hungry Hungry Hippo (ok that was a joke) making a baby out of sand seems odd and would lose people. Your going to need to explain her story twice in her origin alone. Once from WW from child to adult and once to Steve so he's not confused.

It would be better for the audience if we were in Trevor's shoes. What he sees, we see, what he finds out, we find out. Wonder Woman's origin has had so many changes over the years. It's not as simple to tell people as your parents got murdered or a spider bite. You could lose them.

Of course Wonder Woman is the main character and it would be her film, it's just through Steve's eyes and POV.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 9/5/2013, 4:01 PM
Also who cares for critics? Critics hated Boondock Saints. Critics aren't meant to form your opinion about the movie, just tell you what they think of it.
jaycr
jaycr - 9/5/2013, 4:04 PM
I like the topic. I think that you can make a GOOD movie with a female lead. It's a matter of talent.

However a SUCCESSFUL movie depends on the public, and let's face it, the public is sexist and stupid, both men and women.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 9/5/2013, 4:25 PM
grifdeadpoolteabag

I could give more examples. Like on Metacritic, Superman Returns is higher than Avengers.
third3ye
third3ye - 9/5/2013, 4:25 PM
I find the lack of the writer's understanding for movie economics to be disturbing. Marketing it like Twilight and Titanic is perhaps one of the worst marketing ideas I've heard in a while. There's enough creative talent in Hollywood and comic publishing to make a female lead CBM way better than the Elektra crapfest. The other (and much larger) side of the coin is us fans actually need to start paying money to see such movies, which Hollywood doesn't think we would.
third3ye
third3ye - 9/5/2013, 4:27 PM
If you guys really want to see a quality female lead CBM, then start buying their comic books. Easiest way to raise a flag to Hollywood execs that the mass market wants to see such a movie, cuz nobody in Hollywood sure as hell is gonna take the chance after well-known flops like Elektra and Catwoman.
CrimsonFlash
CrimsonFlash - 9/5/2013, 4:29 PM
I think Wonder Woman would be the easiest to do. I like Levitkuz's idea about seeing the adventure from Trevors POV. Though I think you could bring wonder woman in faster than half way trhough.

That said I'd like the overall story to look and feel like 300. Just make Wonderwoman and the amazons totally bad ass fighting off an army of monsters and at the end have WW come to the US somehow.
ComradeGrey
ComradeGrey - 9/5/2013, 4:33 PM
Dazzler: The Movie is practically wrapped and ready if someone with the right attitude approaches the material right.
PsyGuy
PsyGuy - 9/5/2013, 4:35 PM
I really like Levitikuz's idea too!

It's a great compromise to having a TRUE female superhero movie. Something like how Pixar's "Rapunzel" was retitled "Tangled" and was kind of told from Flynn's point of view.

If WW followed the formula of the animated movie and heavily featured Steve Trevor, it could be marketed towards men AND women.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 9/5/2013, 4:39 PM
The way I see Wonder Woman, you have to build up to her. You don't show her the first second. One thing Green Lantern [frick]ed up is they showed Oa too soon. It would have been better to so Oa when Hal first got his suit and introduced to Oa.

You build up to Wonder Woman revealed. As the great Terence Stamp once said:

learn to separate orgasm from ejaculation
TheManFromMars
TheManFromMars - 9/5/2013, 4:56 PM
Most female superheroes have shitty rogues galleries.

that's the biggest problem, in my opinion.
Gnyah123
Gnyah123 - 9/5/2013, 5:31 PM
so that WW script is true? joss did do a script for it
WTF is WB waiting for than?
marvel72
marvel72 - 9/5/2013, 5:32 PM
powergirl the movie would put bums in seats.
Gnyah123
Gnyah123 - 9/5/2013, 5:35 PM
doing a super hero movie with a female lead IS NOT! hard
ppl just dont think woman leads will sell!!
but wonder woman wud def. sell since shes like the queen of comic books
so its not about being hard...just sexist is all in my eyes
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