Feeling under the weather, but that means that I can direct some much-deserved attention to the Scyptcomics blog where a rather interesting thoughts on the comic book movie as a genre are posed as well as its future. I agree with much of what is said over there and encourage readers to visit the blog and bookmark their site.
Some people have predicted that comic book movies will die out and become old, but I think otherwise, and this is why… The phrase “Comic Book Movie” will become a genre of its own. (my prediction of course)
The Avengers has set a standard, but what can it be categorized as? Thor was a fantasy movie, Iron Man was Science Fiction, Captain America was an action film, The Incredible Hulk was horror in a sense, and all of the post credits scenes were drama build ups. So if The Avengers is all of these in one, then what is it? That’s right, it is a Comic Book Movie, and there is no other way to say it.
So what do future CBMs have to do? They don’t need to follow what the Avengers did. That is when it will become old. We don’t need a Justice League movie that is built up in the same manner (which it won’t be, because the JL movie in the works will have solo films from it as planned, but it is an example). What we need is something fresh. With the CW network using its Television angle, they are producing live action events with Green Arrow and Wonder Woman. Those should cross over into the planned movie.
Whether it is on the big screen or small screen, it doesn’t matter. The universes established by the comic book companies are huge. They should utilize that to their advantages, instead of relying on 1 or 2 mainstream characters.
Since Spiderman 2 people have been saying comic book movies will die out. Prove it. The list of characters out there says that we have only scraped the surface, and we can appease to all genres of film lovers. So bring on more CBM’s and lets learn from our past mistakes.
The Daily P.O.P. 
That article still makes the classic mistake of trying to shoehorn “comic book movie” to only being super-hero movies.
Men in Black? Comic book movie.
Sin City? Comic book movie.
…and I could go on… but you might say “yeah, but those are still fantasy things and Sin City looked like a comic book…” to which I say:
Road to Perdition
There are others… but that movie, singularly (in my opinion) shatters the notion simultaneously of what can be a comic book AND what can be a comic book movie. Most people who like that movie still don’t know it came from a comic book… or “graphic novel” as some of the snooty might refer to it.
I think there is a place for all the super-hero stuff too… as part of the modern mythology similar to the Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Norse and so forth mythologies.
But there is also a larger place for the varied types of stories that can be told in serial form in a comic book. Manga (for comic books) and Anime (for animation and movie-making in general) were pioneers to a large extent… using forms traditionally reserved for “kids’ stuff” to tell adult tales… I think we are going to continue to see more non-super-hero comics and thus more comic book based movies.
And hopefully, we will still see the super-hero stuff.
Total Recall has been re-made… you can bet Terminator will one day be remade… and those are singular characters. Marvel and DC alone are filled with rich characters that if you made a couple of movies and reloaded every 10-20 years you could just about go indefinitely even if they don’t create another new character ever.
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SJV, you pointed out something that I have to agree with. You are right, my terminology made it seem as though comic book movies are ONLY superhero movies. There are many great graphic novels like the ones you have mentioned and Walking Dead for example, that would fall into that category as well. So perhaps I should reword into saying “Superhero Movies”. I want to see ALL graphic novel interpretations (if feasible) make it to the screen, but what caused me to write this article was a similar one stating the opposite.
There are people who say that “Superhero movies” will die out. That is where I disagree. Comics (whether superhero movie or not) will continue to be entertaining theaters for a very long time (at least I hope).
Daily Pop, thanks for the pingback, I’ll do the same!
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Thanks for the update and clarification. Knowing that your article was in response to something specific actually really explains why the focus was on superhero movies.
I always like to remind people that I talk to when they poo-poo a “comic movie” that they aren’t all super-heroes… but besides that… if we’re all being honest in evaluation… is there really a huge difference between a Batman movie and a Terminator movie? Terminator is a sci-fi action movie… Rambo is an action movie… but arguably they share a lot in common (sans the costumes) with a super-hero movie if you drill down.
That’s why I hate when a bad super-hero movie sours Hollywood to the whole genre for what seems like a decade… I always point out that a bad summer comedy doesn’t stop Hollywood from making comedies for years does it? OR a bad romantic movie doesn’t stop romance movies for years… and so forth.
So it’s a shame that super-heroes all get lumped together as if they somehow are all the same. I also think the movie-going public is smarter than Hollywood thinks. Green Lantern was not that good (it wasn’t awful though) but that didn’t sour people to the next Batman, Spider-Man, and certainly not the Avengers movie… and that is as it should be. Each movie has its own little bubble and failure should not result in a take down of the whole scene.
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I agree. One Batman & Robin somehow ruins the reputation of future movies, and I’m not sure how that works. As far as your Terminator thoughts, they are accurate as well. The term “Superhero” is a bad generalization, as scifi epics tend to fill in all of the requirements too. I mean if we are talking about spandex and cape wearing individuals as superheroes, then can the likes of The Punisher or Oracle be classified in the same category? Too many loop holes lol
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Great call, SJV, I thought exactly the same thing and wasn’t it nice of Scryptcomics to give you credit for that thinking in his response. What a decent guy.
Superhero movies will continue to be a boom sub-genre for at least a few years yet (for better and worse), in fact the studios are likely to continue (too far?) in this direction because of the particular audience they attract. There will be more Green Lanterns to come but as long as there are Avengers (Assemble) – and Dark Knight-type blockbusters “Hollywood” will keep aiming for that big brass ring.
The wider comic book medium will also be plundered by the industry (once again for better and worse) not just for the material but because the studios are averse to taking risks with original material (their, um, “Evil Corporation” (:)) owners don’t encourage anything more). So both superhero and other-genre (or non-genre, I suppose) comic book features are here to stay, it’s about money, honey as much as about the good movies.
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Absolutely… not because I need recognition and thanks and back-patting 🙂 It’s always cool when someone not only stands by what they wrote BUT also clarifies and incorporates additional thoughts that the article inspires. That’s good for all of us, since we certainly need people championing comic and super-hero movies whenever the tide turns and people want to lock those stories in a closet.
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