“Too Many Men in Tights? 5 Reasons the Superhero Summer Has Been a Bust”
From The Wrap:
Dropping more than 65 percent in its second weekend from an inauspicious $52.3 million premiere, Warner’s DC Comics-based “Green Lantern” proved that moviegoers’ appetites for superhero fare has mortal limits. (Though Warner is already developing a sequel.)
“Thor” fared much better, but it’s not the hit other Marvel properties have been. Same for the reboot of “X-Men.”
In fact, none of the superhero franchises this tentpole season have fared anything like the model that inspired them: the gargantuan hit that was “Iron Man,” whose sequel did even better.
First you have to accept the premise and their graph doesn’t exactly make the point:
On the one hand, they are factually correct: None of the three other movies cited have come anywhere near where the original Iron Man ended up with regard to box office.
On the other hand, I don’t think Paramount or Fox is upset with their respective ROI for Thor and X-Men: First Class. And as noted in the article, even with Green Lantern’s subpar performance, Warner Bros. is already talking sequel.
But there is something going on and I don’t expect Captain America to do anything but confirm the trendline: This summer’s slate of spandex superhero stories is leaving audiences with a pretty universal reaction of “Meh.”
Here are The Wrap’s 5 reasons why this “superhero summer has been a bust”:
TOO MANY MEN IN TIGHTS
NOT ENOUGH YOUNG DUDES GOING TO MOVIES
3D IS DRAGGING THE GENRE DOWN
RYAN REYNOLDS & CHRIS HEMSWORTH ARE NOT ROBERT DOWNEY JR.
THEY’RE CALLED SECOND-TIER SUPERHEROES FOR A REASON
Perky News Reporter: “Warner Bros. executives say the movie will remain faithful to the comic books, adapting a classic plot line in which the Green Lantern encounters a conflict and overcomes it using his Lantern powers! Of course, the film will also feature the Pink Character, who’s mad at the Green Lantern about something, and the other character with the big giant brain.”
Box Office Analyst: “It really is a story that unites all of us. A young man living his life, then boom — he’s the Green Lantern, and he’s forced… to… deal with something.”
See the problem? As a screenwriter, what the hell else can you do in this sub-genre of superhero movies that hasn’t already been done time and time and time before?
Doesn’t everything seem so played out in this arena?
As I Tweeted the other day in an exchange with The Bitter Script Reader: “”Rinse, repeat for all comic book movies / sequels? Mediocrity = The New Good?”?
What’s your take on the state of superhero movies?
For more of the Wrap article, go here.