Comments on: Discuss: How Much Is Too Much? 9 Major Superhero Movies Scheduled To Be Released In 2017

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

"The blockbuster comic book formula is pretty tired by now"

What, exactly, is this mysterious "formula"? Because Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men Days of Future Past, and Guardians of the Galaxy are three completely different movies. Tonally, thematically, structurally.

And "tired"? Those films also happen to be three of the best reviewed movies of the year, and commercially have exceeded their predecessors (Cap 2 doubled the gross of Cap 1, DOFP is the highest grossing X-Men movie) while Guardians is on pace to be the biggest domestic hit of the summer.

This anti-comic book film narrative is the only thing that's "tired".

By: Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

In some of these cases, they're not quite superhero material — the GotG film is squarely in real of a science fiction film. Yes, they are all adaptations of characters from the medium of comic books — but as novel adaptations have shown, there is room for many in a year's worth of movies.
I think it's possible that all nine of these movies could be successes in one calendar year — but like any grouping of nine movies, there's a high probability at least one of them won't match expectations.

I see the DC method of making superhero movies to be much more pricey– and risky. They hire more popular directors, predictably with a higher price tag, and spend more on the final budget — $225m for MAN OF STEEL, with the follow-up easily costing much more due to Affleck, more special effects, and the salaries of actors increasing with a second picture.

Much has been said about Marvel being tight on budgets, but it's worked; if you realize, THOR 2 had a lower budget than the first THOR. And IRON MAN 3 they managed to keep at the same budget as IRON MAN 2.

By: Timothy Miley

Timothy Miley — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

The Dumbing Down of America is alive and well for the majority of our population!!!

By: msr322

msr322 — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

Studios really need to recognize that "Superhero" and "Comic Book" aren't actually genres, as much as characters or source material. The only way the "Superhero Movie" craze is even remotely sustainable, is if the films begin to place these characters into different genres than just "Balls-out Action" or "Origin Story".

Cap2 did a pretty good job earlier this year with placing the characters into a "Spy Thriller". It came apart a bit at the end, but was Marvel's best example of expanding their character outside of the origin story. The inspiration of next year's Ant Man as a heist movie gives me a lot of hope for that one (even with the disaster of losing Edgar Wright).

I long for a time when Marvel (or any other studio for that matter) is comfortable enough to put together a medium budget "Comic Book" film in an interesting genre. Leaving everything as big-budget, genre-less productions gets old pretty quickly.

By: Lyn Jensen

Lyn Jensen — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

Instead of just focusing on DC and Marvel cross-marketing, studios also need to branch out and develop manga/anime properties.

By: XS

XS — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

Wolverine not so great? Playlist not great at research!

3d highest grossing movie in the Franchise, solid Ratings. Overall a great film!

By: Xian

Xian — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

I predict the general public, always fickle anyway, will turn away from the glut of super-hero and comic book movies, and the studios will be left holding the bag… budgets will be cut, quality will suffer (if it doesn't already: law of diminishing returns), and some of those actors will be itching to get out of ironclad contracts once they realize the movies don't have the same pull with audiences… eventually the studios will cut back on the slate, shelve movies and the cycle will thus be ended. Marvel, meet Hollywood Pictures (and Touchstone)… you'll be sharing the same dustheap of history.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

But…but….then what would everyone complain about to sound superior? I guess there's always YA adaptations

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

There are SO many films released every year. So 9 of them will be superhero films. What's the big deal? If you're not interested, don't watch them? I'm not watching all of them. Just the good ones. Stop whinning and be smart about how you want to spent your time.

By: Dante

Dante — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

I believe in Marvel's case they've already exhausted us. "Guardians" is a nice breath of fresh air, but it's a false hope. As more of a casual comic fan, future installments of Iron Man, Captain America and The Avengers do not excite me. I am much more interested in the style of the Sin Cities and the Dark Knights out there. Something with heavier tones. Even the X-Men franchise betrays solemnity. The three franchises mentioned at the beginning bore me to death. Marvel and the other comic flick studios need to tone it down, strip away the fluff, give me something to think about. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is a great recent example of a blockbuster popcorn flick that can be dark and still true to everything you'd say a blockbuster is. Because it's muted. I don't want my senses to be overstimulated so much at the movies that nothing stands out; I can't land on an aspect of the film firmly enough to care about any of it.

Less is more.

By: j

Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

I've never had any interest in any YA material, and haven't seen any of them other than the first Hunger Games, which I thought was rubbish… and yet, I'm quite interested to see the Maze Runner. It looks quite intriguing.

By: Bill Friedkin

Bill Friedkin — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

The superhero genre is destroying contemporary American cinema. Beyond Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy the genre is mostly cheesy money grabs and so called "pure entertainment". Well, NOT for me!

By: Washington

Washington — Mon, 23 May 2016 05:52:53 +0000

don't look at me I'm not the one paying to go see this shit