A few weeks ago Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star rang me up to ask me if it was all over for the comic book movie. Now, I’ve had reporters calling me up with this question ever since my Comics2Film website caught fire in 1998. Trend-spotting in Hollywood is an ongoing game and as soon a trend starts its upward trajectory, somebody starts predicting the inevitable demise.
I have to say, this is the first time in a decade plus of writing Comics2Film where I’ve switched my answer from “nah” to “mmmmmaybe.”
Raju, who is covering the Toronto International Film Festival and it’s superhero entries Super and Griff the Invisible, was pointing to the weak box office generated by Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as the latest evidence.
Scott Pilgrim Gets Knocked Out
While I wouldn’t call Kick-Ass a failure of any kind, I’d definitely score Scott Pilgrim in the “bitter disappointment” column. And I mean that only in terms of the lack of reception for what is one of the liveliest, most enjoyable films of the year so far.
But as I told Raju, you can expand the window all the way back to the end of 2008 and what we have is now a fairly long string of comic book movie duds. That’s the time frame when Punisher: War Zone became the third failed attempt by Marvel to launch their film-friendly vigilante. Hot on the heels of that was Frank Miller’s under-appreciated The Spirit, which was too weird for the average moviegoer and too Frank Miller for fans of Will Eisner’s classic comic.
Then came 2009, and with it: Watchmen. Zack Snyder’s equally gallant and foolish attempt to bring the ground-breaking graphic novel to the big screen fell far short of the massive hype and anticipation that preceded it. 2009’s other comic book movies? Astro Boy, Whiteout, Dragonball Evolution and Surrogates.
It’s a pretty sad year for the comic book movie when the sole winner is the lackluster X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
This year? Throw Jonah Hex and The Losers on the compost heap along with the aforementioned indie darlings. Marvel wins again with Iron Man 2, a box-office titan, however unworthy of the original.
So is it the end for comic book movies? Mmmmmaybe, but nah. It’s a slump.
The mysterious shunning of Scott Pilgrim aside, Hollywood might do better to look beyond superhero fare to other comics that are out there. It could be that we’re having our fill of heroic action adventure but I think it’s more about quality than any trends.
If Green Lantern and Thor are great movies, then people will embrace them.
Check out the Toronto Star article for commentary from myself along with Cameron Stewart and Mark Askwith.