TerryRL
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2001
- Messages
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We're now in an era where anything based on a comic book has a shot at becoming a major motion picture and/or mega-bucks franchise. Not since the days of the Hollywood Western has the industry been so obsessed with a certain type of genre entertainment. Comic book and graphic novel writers are now in positions where they have studios battling over their creations to snag the film rights to whatever it is they come up with.
Three movies basically sealed the deal for studio execs in terms of comic book features becoming a viable Hollywood commodity. 1978's "Superman: The Movie" was the first major motion picture to bring legitimacy to the genre, 1989's "Batman" showed how much merchandising money a superhero property could generate (on top of the massive hype), while 2002's "Spider-Man" showed that a movie based on a comic book could become one of the biggest worldwide hits in film history.
Nowadays, every studio is looking for its big comic book feature and/or franchise. The next several years will see film adaptations of "Captain America", "30 Days of Night", "Ronin", "Namor: The Sub-Mariner", "The Flash", "Shazam", "Wonder Woman", "The Spirit", "Iron Man", "Wolverine", "Ant-Man", "Magneto", "The Green Hornet", "Watchmen", "Justice League", "Green Arrow", "Priest", "Green Lantern", "Wanted", and "Y: The Last Man". Most of these properties are hoped to become mega-bucks franchises for their respective studios.
Here is a list of films based on comic books that have done very well for studios since 1978's "Superman: The Movie"...
(earned more than $70 million)
"Spider-Man" (Sony) $403.7 million
"Spider-Man 2" (Sony) $373.6 million
"Batman" (WB) $251.2 million
"Men in Black" (Sony) $250.7 million
"X-Men: The Last Stand" (Fox) $234.4 million
"X2: X-Men United" (Fox) $214.9 million
"300" (WB) $207.5 million
"Batman Begins" (WB) $205.3 million
"Superman Returns" (WB) $200.1 million
"Men in Black II" (Sony) $190.4 million
"Batman Forever" (WB) $184.0 million
"Batman Returns" (WB) $162.8 million
"X-Men" (Fox) $157.3 million
"Fantastic Four" (Fox) $154.7 million
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (New Line) $135.3 million
"Superman: The Movie" (WB) $134.2 million
"Hulk" (Universal) $132.2 million
"The Mask" (New Line) $119.9 million
"Ghost Rider" (Sony) $115.8 million
"Superman II" (WB) $108.2 million
"Batman & Robin" (WB) $107.3 million
"Road to Perdition" (DreamWorks) $104.4 million
"Dick Tracy" (Disney) $103.7 million
"Daredevil" (Fox) $102.5 million
"Casper" (Universal) $100.3 million
"Blade II" (New Line) $82.3 million
"Alien vs. Predator" (Fox) $80.3 million (though both were already separate film franchises, it was the popularity of the comic book title that prompted Fox to make this movie)
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" (New Line) $78.7 million
"Constantine" (WB) $76.0 million
"Sin City" (Dimention) $74.1 million
"V for Vendetta" (WB) $70.5 million
"Blade" (New Line) $70.1 million
"Spider-Man 3", "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer", and "Transformers" (though it technically began as a toyline before becoming a popular comic title) will be joining this list well before the end of this summer. Next year should also see "The Dark Knight", "Iron Man", "The Incredible Hulk", "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For", and "Watchmen" join this list.
With the studios mining so many comic book properties, is there a chance that they could run this genre into the ground? Or can they continually use comic books as "go to" material because they're all so different? Judging by how many of these things are being green lit every day, I think the studios could mine several years worth of profitable hits/franchises off of comics as long as the films themselves do more right than wrong.
With the big boom of comic titles turning into profitable studio franchises, we're also going to see sequels and/or "re-imaginings" of comic book films that weren't big hits upon their initial releases. These titles include a sequel to the 2004 film "Hellboy" ($59.6 million), a long-in-development new version of "Spawn" (the initial film earned $54.9 million back in 1997), an updated version of "Flash Gordon" (the campy 1980 version earned only $27 million upon its release), and a sequel to 2004's "The Punisher" ($33.8 million).
For more than 50 years the Hollywood Western was a staple of the film industry. I don't know if comic book movies will last nearly as long, but this is a genre that isn't going away anytime soon. Besides, for all his popularity, The Duke didn't sell nearly as many toys as Batman does.
Three movies basically sealed the deal for studio execs in terms of comic book features becoming a viable Hollywood commodity. 1978's "Superman: The Movie" was the first major motion picture to bring legitimacy to the genre, 1989's "Batman" showed how much merchandising money a superhero property could generate (on top of the massive hype), while 2002's "Spider-Man" showed that a movie based on a comic book could become one of the biggest worldwide hits in film history.
Nowadays, every studio is looking for its big comic book feature and/or franchise. The next several years will see film adaptations of "Captain America", "30 Days of Night", "Ronin", "Namor: The Sub-Mariner", "The Flash", "Shazam", "Wonder Woman", "The Spirit", "Iron Man", "Wolverine", "Ant-Man", "Magneto", "The Green Hornet", "Watchmen", "Justice League", "Green Arrow", "Priest", "Green Lantern", "Wanted", and "Y: The Last Man". Most of these properties are hoped to become mega-bucks franchises for their respective studios.
Here is a list of films based on comic books that have done very well for studios since 1978's "Superman: The Movie"...
(earned more than $70 million)
"Spider-Man" (Sony) $403.7 million
"Spider-Man 2" (Sony) $373.6 million
"Batman" (WB) $251.2 million
"Men in Black" (Sony) $250.7 million
"X-Men: The Last Stand" (Fox) $234.4 million
"X2: X-Men United" (Fox) $214.9 million
"300" (WB) $207.5 million
"Batman Begins" (WB) $205.3 million
"Superman Returns" (WB) $200.1 million
"Men in Black II" (Sony) $190.4 million
"Batman Forever" (WB) $184.0 million
"Batman Returns" (WB) $162.8 million
"X-Men" (Fox) $157.3 million
"Fantastic Four" (Fox) $154.7 million
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (New Line) $135.3 million
"Superman: The Movie" (WB) $134.2 million
"Hulk" (Universal) $132.2 million
"The Mask" (New Line) $119.9 million
"Ghost Rider" (Sony) $115.8 million
"Superman II" (WB) $108.2 million
"Batman & Robin" (WB) $107.3 million
"Road to Perdition" (DreamWorks) $104.4 million
"Dick Tracy" (Disney) $103.7 million
"Daredevil" (Fox) $102.5 million
"Casper" (Universal) $100.3 million
"Blade II" (New Line) $82.3 million
"Alien vs. Predator" (Fox) $80.3 million (though both were already separate film franchises, it was the popularity of the comic book title that prompted Fox to make this movie)
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" (New Line) $78.7 million
"Constantine" (WB) $76.0 million
"Sin City" (Dimention) $74.1 million
"V for Vendetta" (WB) $70.5 million
"Blade" (New Line) $70.1 million
"Spider-Man 3", "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer", and "Transformers" (though it technically began as a toyline before becoming a popular comic title) will be joining this list well before the end of this summer. Next year should also see "The Dark Knight", "Iron Man", "The Incredible Hulk", "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For", and "Watchmen" join this list.
With the studios mining so many comic book properties, is there a chance that they could run this genre into the ground? Or can they continually use comic books as "go to" material because they're all so different? Judging by how many of these things are being green lit every day, I think the studios could mine several years worth of profitable hits/franchises off of comics as long as the films themselves do more right than wrong.
With the big boom of comic titles turning into profitable studio franchises, we're also going to see sequels and/or "re-imaginings" of comic book films that weren't big hits upon their initial releases. These titles include a sequel to the 2004 film "Hellboy" ($59.6 million), a long-in-development new version of "Spawn" (the initial film earned $54.9 million back in 1997), an updated version of "Flash Gordon" (the campy 1980 version earned only $27 million upon its release), and a sequel to 2004's "The Punisher" ($33.8 million).
For more than 50 years the Hollywood Western was a staple of the film industry. I don't know if comic book movies will last nearly as long, but this is a genre that isn't going away anytime soon. Besides, for all his popularity, The Duke didn't sell nearly as many toys as Batman does.