Here's a Superhero to Root For - A Hollywod Exec With Own Idea
Given that one out of every three big budget movies this year seems to be based on a comic book, and there are some 20 films currently in production with comic book roots and that even questionable successes such as Hellboy (which only turned a profit on DVD sales) seem to warrant sequels ... I am invoking a CALL TO ARMS!
The call is two-fold -
1) to the hollywood exec - open your eyes. We just went through 19 weeks of the box office not living up to the prior year's totals... ya ever think that hey maybe its the fact that you are making crap movies? A movie should lift us out of our world and take us on a journey - something unpredictable which makes us think or atleast experience the new and vivid. There is nothing more predictable that the average superhero pic a) normal person b) encounters either supernatural or psychological turmail that c) turns them into something more powerful than a normal person. They then d) learn how to use their powers, e) face conflict as to whether they really want to live a life different from everyone else, f) and finally realize that they are the only one who defeat the evil, which they do, but g) leave the door open for a sequel either by allowing the villian to live or meeting another villian right before the end of a movie. COME ON!!! tell a story we don't already know. THere must be a hundred scripts sitting on your desk with more interesting characters (and less cgi)
2) to the movie goer - stop going to these films! Just because something is declared a blockbuster doesn't mean that it is and you should go to see it. The more these films break even on DVD sales the more they will continue to be made. The next time you look to see a film, don't go on the recommendation of a friend that said Superhero 4 was 'pretty good,' read the fricking reveiws and head out to an Art House and see a solid independent film. If you want a recommendation for this weekend, see the excellent KONTROLL, a Hungarian thriller about ticket checkers on the subway in pursuit of a mysterious killer. Great flick, it's a definite A -. If you want to see a hollywood film, see the thoroughly satisfying MR. AND MRS. SMITH - which is far better than any of the previews made me believe it would be.
The call is two-fold -
1) to the hollywood exec - open your eyes. We just went through 19 weeks of the box office not living up to the prior year's totals... ya ever think that hey maybe its the fact that you are making crap movies? A movie should lift us out of our world and take us on a journey - something unpredictable which makes us think or atleast experience the new and vivid. There is nothing more predictable that the average superhero pic a) normal person b) encounters either supernatural or psychological turmail that c) turns them into something more powerful than a normal person. They then d) learn how to use their powers, e) face conflict as to whether they really want to live a life different from everyone else, f) and finally realize that they are the only one who defeat the evil, which they do, but g) leave the door open for a sequel either by allowing the villian to live or meeting another villian right before the end of a movie. COME ON!!! tell a story we don't already know. THere must be a hundred scripts sitting on your desk with more interesting characters (and less cgi)
2) to the movie goer - stop going to these films! Just because something is declared a blockbuster doesn't mean that it is and you should go to see it. The more these films break even on DVD sales the more they will continue to be made. The next time you look to see a film, don't go on the recommendation of a friend that said Superhero 4 was 'pretty good,' read the fricking reveiws and head out to an Art House and see a solid independent film. If you want a recommendation for this weekend, see the excellent KONTROLL, a Hungarian thriller about ticket checkers on the subway in pursuit of a mysterious killer. Great flick, it's a definite A -. If you want to see a hollywood film, see the thoroughly satisfying MR. AND MRS. SMITH - which is far better than any of the previews made me believe it would be.
posted by Bears Fonte @ 1:11 PM
2 Comments:
At 12:37 PM,
Our Man In Chicago said…
To be fair, those figures are compared with last year when you had sleeper hits like Passion of the Christ and Fahrenheit 9/11. Late winter and spring are the times when execs usually dump crap films that no one will see and last year was an anamoly. I wrote about it here:
I absolutely agree with you on Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was really clever and I think part of the credit has to go to director Doug ("Go", "Swingers") Liman.
At 10:16 AM,
Bears Fonte said…
Agreed OMIC, but sleeper hits can happen every year ... I mean both of those films have built in audiences ... it seems to me that Hollywood has ignored the fact that there are audiences out there who want to go to the movies - they just have to make a movie they want to see. And not everyone is male, 18-25 (ahem...anymore).
And yes, Doug Liman seems to be able to do no wrong...
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