Last week I talked about an article by Scott Mendelson of Forbes about the death of small movies in theaters. Mendelson also linked to another article recently about how Batman in 1989 was the template for the current blockbuster that will ruin Hollywood.
Like last week I don't disagree with the whole thing. I think that movie probably did establish some trends not just for comic book movies but blockbuster movies in general.
Where I disagree is that the current trend of big property movies will necessarily ruin Hollywood. And the reason why can also be found with Batman. And James Bond. And Spider-Man. And the X-Men. How many reboots have those franchises had? How many different lead actors? And people still go see them.
James Bond is probably the leader in this. They switched from Connery to Lazenby for one movie, then back to Connery for one, and then for almost the next 15 years it was Roger Moore. Then came the sort of soft reboot with Timothy Dalton that got sidetracked more by studio issues than grosses before yet another soft reboot with Pierce Brosnan for another decade before a full reboot with Daniel Craig which has been going for over a decade now.
And the thing is as I mentioned people keep going to see the movies. Nearly 60 years and 6 actors and it's still around. Since 1989 there have been 5 Batman actors and in a couple of years there will be a sixth. Since 1978 there have been 3 Superman actors and eventually there will be another. Since 2002 there have been 3 Spider-Man actors in live action and then more in the animated Into the Spider-Verse. Since 2000 there have been two different sets of X-Men including when they overlapped in Days of Future Past. And now that Disney/Marvel has the rights, you can bet there will be a third iteration, including finally a new Wolverine.
So the reason the current trend can go on for a while is that a lot of these franchises aren't one shot deals. They can be rebooted over and over again, sometimes a soft reboot or other times a full reboot. The reason I think is that these properties are versatile. It'd be hard to reboot Harry Potter or Twilight or The Hunger Games because those are based on books. They're essentially static. Even Star Wars Disney found was problematic with Solo last year; they couldn't just run anyone out there as Han Solo and make a billion dollars.
James Bond was also based on books but only in the loosest fashion; by the end of the 60s the only thing the books and movies had in common was the main character's name and profession. I mean read Moonraker the book and then watch the movie; they're two completely different stories. In the book Bond never even gets airborne let alone goes into space to fuck beautiful women and fire laser guns.
Comic book characters are even more versatile than Bond. They can be whatever the artist (and by extension the audience) want them to be. We've had campy Adam West Batman. We've had mostly serious neo-Gothic Michael Keaton Batman. We've had pretty boy Batman Val Kilmer. We had another campy Batman with George Clooney. We've had a straight, modern Batman with Christian Bale. And we've had the over-the-top dark, violent Batman with Ben Affleck. And who knows what we'll have with Robert Pattinson. And just like Batman there have been different takes on some of his enemies, especially the Joker.
Of course there have been failures like Superman Returns or Amazing Spider-Man 2 so it's not a slam-dunk with rebooting franchises. It can be hit or miss. In those cases I think it was in large part because of the story more than anything. In the former case it was a confusing sorta-sequel that didn't really grab people. In the latter case it was Sony too aggressively trying to create a cinematic universe to rival the MCU. (And a couple of years later WB repeated Sony's mistake and ruined Superman a second time with BvS followed by Justice League.)
Still, I don't think this gravy train has run its course by a long shot because it's the characters not the actors playing them that's important. Eventually I'm sure we'll have another Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Will they be as successful as Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans? Time will tell.
1 comment:
As long as they make good movies people will keep watching. One of the hallmarks of the MCU is quality. They have very tight quality control over the movies and casting. They’ve built a good track record and have been rewarded. When studios get lazy and assume people are going because of a franchise they flop. Good movies never go out of style. Will there be another Stark or Rogers? I doubt it. After ten years they’ve managed to built enough good faith and loyalty they won’t compromise it by recasting. They’ll just bring in a new hero to take their place. That’s why Phase 4 is so risky. As for James Bond, he hadn’t been relevant since the 80s.
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