Downsides to Success

Just a couple of random thoughts I had while watching stuff the last few weeks that have to do with sort of penalties for success.

First off I got a copy of Ant-Man and the Wasp on sale and was watching it and I thought how much it must suck for everyone involved that here they've had two successful movies and yet I don't think they're even on the docket for a third movie yet.  So it'd probably be 5 years (if ever) before those characters appear in anything except maybe a cameo or supporting role in another Marvel movie.

The good thing for Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor was they were pretty much the only game in town for Marvel when they came out.  But now the second and third waves--Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel--it's harder for them to get sequels because even with all of Disney/Marvel's resources they still aren't going to do more than 4 of those movies a year.  And they want to keep adding new properties.  Plus with the acquisition of Fox they can add the X-Men and Fantastic Four.  So that makes it even harder for them to get fit in.  So while Black Panther made a billion dollars, and Dr. Strange and Ant-Man and the Wasp both pulled respectable numbers, they still wind up with 3-4 years (or more) between sequels.

It's the sort of problem every movie studio would like to have, but for the actors, directors, producers, writers, etc it's got to be annoying that they've been successful and yet can't keep it rolling the way past franchises would.

Also recently I saw a commercial for HBO's Watchmen sequel series, which to me looks completely like garbage.  Another penalty for success is often that you don't get to control what happens to your property after you're gone.  I know if Alan Moore had his way there would be no sequels, prequels, or anything else.  There wouldn't have even been a movie.

Of course it's not just Watchmen but a lot of other properties like James Bond, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and so forth.  Sure some of the adaptations or attempts at sequels or whatever are good, but there also plenty of shitty ones, like that Holmes & Watson movie last year.  I guess the good thing about those other ones I mentioned is that their creators are dead and thus probably have no idea what's happened to the characters and stories they created.

If someone made a sequel to one of my books, as much as I'd appreciate getting a check, it'd still annoy me if it looks as bad as this HBO show does.  I'd probably go try to stop the filming Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back style.