‘The Avengers’: Seven lessons of Marvel’s box-office success

Although nobody may have predicted The Avengers would smash the record for opening weekend domestic B.O. with an eye-popping final total of $207M, one thing is always predictable: Whenever a movie does really, really well, or really, really poorly, we can expect to see articles like this one from 24 Frames [LAT]. The seven lessons?

The branding/superhero era isn’t ending anytime soon.

Television creators can rock too.

Geek-speak isn’t a turn-off.

Critics do matter.

The villain isn’t necessarily the thing.

Art house stars can cross over.

Sometimes Hollywood logic is actually logical.

The first one may be the most salient:

In the last year or two, a drumbeat has slowly started that maybe moviedom’s comic book era was winding down. Look at the critical and even commercial sag of several of last summer’s movies, said skeptics. “The Avengers” may be sui generis, but expect a reversal of that trend now. Every studio with a superhero license is, as of Monday morning, doubtless checking into how they can wring more out of it — or, if they have several such licenses, perhaps even rolling several characters into one movie.

Any other lessons you picked up from the success of The Avengers?

For more of the article, go here.

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