Lets Talk Marvel Movie Madness

[NinjaJack]

With X3 coming so fast you could swore it was a Canonball Special.
Spider-Man was ranked as one of the highest grossing films of all time and it has me wondeing, who or what is next?
Fantastic Four wasn`t the big blockbuster most folks were expecting. And lets not forget Elektra, then again, lets do that.
I think honestly Ghost Rider is looking at a decent run, but honestly I`m not expecting anything much higher than the Blade movies.
Marvel has got to make sure they keep their audiences or it`s likely DC or Dark Horse will take them away. I think these movies will loose their flare if they shell out too many heroes not many people care for or barely know.. So I doubt Avi is drooling over an Alpha Flight project.

But kidding aside there is also a risk of running franchises like X-Men straight into the pavement with spinoffs like Wolverine(who will likely get films after that) and Magneto coming so soon after the orginal. All the charcters in Marvel, isn`t there some folks who aren`t X-Men or big enough to get beyond a cult following?
Captain America comes to mind. Thor and Iron Man as well. But those three have been in development hell for eons.

I`d just like to see Marvel succeed rather than totally fail because I know they have some awesome characters that everyone who has never red a comic should get to know.

[The Penguin]

Fantastic Four wasn`t the big blockbuster most folks were expecting.Actually it was by at least some standards. On that weekend in July, Fantastic Four (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=144879) was credited with helping end the box office slump (http://my.aol.com/news/news_story.psp?type=4&cat=0805&id=2005071015340001227775) of the summer. It exceeded Fox's expectations by over 16 million and and even beat the first weekend returns of X-Men (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?threadid=61972).

Post features modified Penguin comments from Weekend Box Office: A 'Fantastic' start! (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=145045)

[NinjaJack]

Well, I see that I stand corrected on FF.

[Enrique]

Marvel has got to make sure they keep their audiences or it`s likely DC or Dark Horse will take them away.


In it's 20-some years, besides "The Mask" & "Alien vs. Predator", what other Dark Horse property put out a blockbuster? I can't think of anything.

Your concerns about Marvel oversaturating the market have already come true. You need to look up Marvel's list of upcoming movies, which include Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Deathlok, and Namor. I believe I heard something about Dr. Strange and Black Panther movies being in the works as well. Already released (straight to video) was Man-Thing.

Personally I think Ghost Rider's going to tank. The character is not mainstream, and it seems comic fans hate Nic Cage for trying to ruin both Superman and Iron Man (by being in them).

The only Marvel movies I'm looking forward to are X3 and Punisher 2. Maybe Hulk 2.

[NinjaJack]

Hellboy was pretty close.
All they need is something a bit more marketable.

[Robin2099]

In it's 20-some years, besides "The Mask" & "Alien vs. Predator", what other Dark Horse property put out a blockbuster? I can't think of anything. Timecop did pretty good business when it came out and also did really well on video, as well as Hellboy.

[Enrique]

Hellboy totally slipped my mind. I guess I figured it was too good to be a Dark Horse property :P j/k

Timecop ... I'd have to find out the budget on that before calling it a "success". According to both Box Office Mojo and IMDB it made around $44mil. I think for a 1994 movie that's a barely-slightly-above average gross. However IMDB shows it actually earned less in rentals than it did in theaters, like half... that's bad.

[wonderfly]

The only Marvel movies I'm looking forward to are X3 and Punisher 2. Maybe Hulk 2.

IS there a Hulk 2 movie in the works? I figured they would avoid making one since the 1st one has developed a bad reputation, (unfortunately)...

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,


IS there a Hulk 2 movie in the works? I figured they would avoid making one since the 1st one has developed a bad reputation, (unfortunately)...

The movie is indeed in the works, although Eric Bana is apparently hoping it won't happen (http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/01/superhero_film_watch_superman.html) before his contractual obligation to play Bruce Banner in a sequel expires. Regardless, the lack of success of the first movie and the usual grinding gears of the Hollywood meat grinder mean that the movie is essentially in limbo.

Given the audience of Marvel comics fans and the audience that saw Spider-Man, I think Marvel movies could afford to lose almost every single Marvel geek and not really notice the difference. And, given the anecdotes I've heard about X3, I'm thinking that the spinoffs aren't what's going to kill the franchise. The movie may do the job all by itself.

I'd be keen on seeing an Iron Man movie. I had a grand idea for a Dr. Strange movie, making the whole thing a mystic version of The Sting that would make Strange the guy smarter and one step ahead than everyone else in the room, with Clea as the moll and Dormammu as the Robert Shaw heavy. Never gonna happen, but Strange seems to be the one who could jump from page to screen pretty effectively as well.

I like a Cap movie in theory, but I still think that real people look like dorks in superhero costumes, and a real person in a Cap suit is just going to look ridiculous. There's also the inherent politicization of the character, meaning absolutely nobody is going to be happy with a script.

A Thor movie is something I just can't see happening.

-- Ed/Ace

[Mr.LethalWeapon]

Many people will hear the words "comic book" and decide that the movie isn't worth their time, whereas if it were just a movie like any other, they might not have any reservations about seeing it.

There are a great many fantasy/action movies that have no origins in comic books. RoboCop was excellent and IIRC it wasn't based on any comic book of the time, but by watching the movie, one could easily see how it could have been.

Whether I'm right or wrong about whether RoboCop originally came from a screenplay; my point is Thor or any number of other superheros could work if treated right.

Perhaps promoting it as a straight up action/fantasy movie as opposed to a "comic book movie" would help. Blade didn't have the Marvel logo appear before the credits. How many of the people who saw that movie already knew that the character had origins in the comics?

[randomguy]

In it's 20-some years, besides "The Mask" & "Alien vs. Predator", what other Dark Horse property put out a blockbuster? I can't think of anything.More to the point, Dark Horse properties are creator-owned, so they don't quite benefit Dark Horse themselves in the same way that a major blockbuster would for DC or Marvel. Sin City was a massive success, but other than driving up sales of the book collections, Dark Horse didn't see much of the profit.

While on the subject of Dark Horse, though, I wouldn't mind a Concrete movie.

Anyhow, if Marvel's smart I'd imagine they would try to play it somewhat conservatively. That means sticking to their major properties, and those minor properties which would work well as movies, Blade being an example. I think a lot of the projects they've been throwing out there thus far, such as Cloak and Dagger, Ant-Man, and Deathlok are perfectly decent characters but probably shouldn't get film installments. Similarly, Elektra should have never gotten her own movie.

Marvel's still got some great potential film franchises left, though. An Iron Man movie could be great, and I think there's lots of promise in a Black Widow or Nick Fury spy/espionage flick. I don't see Thor happening, but Dr. Strange isn't out of the question.


I like a Cap movie in theory, but I still think that real people look like dorks in superhero costumes, and a real person in a Cap suit is just going to look ridiculous. There's also the inherent politicization of the character, meaning absolutely nobody is going to be happy with a scriptI don't think Cap's costume is anymore of a problem than Spider-Man's, and they pulled that off with aplomb. I think Cap could work just fine with the right material and design sense, particularly if the suits were based on Bryan Hitch's designs for The Ultimates. Cap's WWII-era costume looks particularly snazzy. Hell, I'd go so far as to say with Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Men all out already, Captain America is probably Marvel's best bet for a big new franchise.

The politics issue is a fine point, though.

[Stu]

Captain America does seem to be the one franchise they have left that screams big bucks, but Marvel has always been oddly silent on his big screen treatment. Before they opened thier own studio, nobody even seem to be bothered to aquire the rights to the character. With Silver Surfer, Namor and Ant Man (Ant Man people) have thier options snapped up, one does wonder why Cap is sitting on the sidelines.

Interestingly enough, Cap, Iron Man, Thor and Hawkeye are all owned by Marvel/Paramount. Would Marvel risked an Avengers/Ultimates movie?

[Mr.LethalWeapon]

Interestingly enough, Cap, Iron Man, Thor and Hawkeye are all owned by Marvel/Paramount. Would Marvel risked an Avengers/Ultimates movie?

Lion's Gate is making an animated DTV movie based on the Ultimates. It'll be out next month.

[Enrique]

Captain America does seem to be the one franchise they have left that screams big bucks, but Marvel has always been oddly silent on his big screen treatment.

Speaking from a purely marketing point of view, the last 3-4 years would've been the best time to release a Captain America movie, given the war and all. You'd think that would've given the movie more of a push...

Is... is it possible... the studio was sensitive enough to NOT exploit the war??








nah.

[Jeff Harris]

So I doubt Avi is drooling over an Alpha Flight project. . . . nah.

I think that Iron Man should be the next "big" Marvel franchise to get a big-screen treatment that will succeed. Sure, Avengers would cause fanboys to orgasm for the first time, but it'll probably never happen. X-Men, yes, Avengers, probably never in live-action form, and it'll have a team lineup like Avengers: United (you know, with no Cap, Thor, nor Iron Man in the main cast). I think you'd see a Howard the Duck movie before you see an Avengers movie (oh wait, we did!).

And after that, Silver Surfer. There hasn't been a good space drama in, like, forever. But alas, these neopods need action, not philosophy, so Silver Surfer would be on a backburner for a long time.

But, I don't think that Marvel should forget about their youth-oriented properties.

Call me crazy, but I'd actually would like to see a Runaways movie or even a Power Pack movie. I would have said Young Avengers, but 1: it's too new and 2: it's a little controversial in some elements to middle America. Since Paramount Pictures is a partner in the movie endeavor, wouldn't it just make sense to get Viacom's The N and Nickelodeon involved in some way? Runaways is essentially a teen drama with more angst than The O.C. and with superpowers, and The N needs something other than DeGrassi to attach themselves to. And Power Pack, well, it's kids with powers. Nickelodeon would just eat that up in a heartbeat.

Then again, perhaps those particular titles could be more episodic in nature than the more "mainstream" titles. I think Runaways would probably fit as a weekly series than a movie, but Marvel isn't that smart, are they?