Iron Man Did Iron Man revive a waning genre?

[TheVileOne]

I think what I want to address right now, is the affect that Iron Man will have on the industry within the next few years.

Now there was Blade in 1998. But Blade was not your typical comic book super hero movie. Blade was a hard R-rated action film with vampires. It was dark and violent, and it wasn't campy like Batman and Robin. It wasn't huge budget, but it did some good business.

X-men in 2000 is what really changed the playing field. Before X-men, the only real comic book super hero movies involved Batman and Superman. Which were at that point dead movie franchises. X-men proved that comic book super heroes, or even a team of super heroes were viable as big budget, blockbuster properties. And following X-men, everything started coming into place. The Hulk, Spider-man, Daredevil. All these projects started getting lined up, but they weren't cheap, low budget trash. They were big time movies with legitimate actors and filmmakers propping them up.

But the problem ended up being movies like Daredevil and The Hulk. Then the Fantastic Four films. The problem was ultimately that these movies were being over-produced. Despite Marvel taking a more active role in the development of these properties as movies, they still didn't have enough control. Licensing out all their properties to all these different studios killed something very important these movies could've had: synergy. Or more basically continuity. And its stupid that none of these movies could've have connections to the others. Even the movies that were produced under the same studios.

Ultimately the problem was, you had movies like The Hulk, Superman Returns, and the Fantastic Four films and they did not perform to expectations. They went too far to one extreme or the other and they ended up alienating the audience and potential viewers. Iron Man thankfully did not suffer this fate as it nearly did when it was under New Line. The Hulk, well I still think the jury is out, but now that the Hulk is Marvel it can be connected to Iron Man and any future efforts from Marvel Studios.

I think Iron Man definitely gives the genre of comic book super hero movies a much needed boost. It's doing marvelously. It's the best reviewed movie of the year so far. It's the highest grossing movie of the year so far (though that is possibly bound to change very soon).

I think what Iron Man does though, is that it gives a much needed shot in the arm to a genre that has been limping for a little while. Spider-man 3 and X-men 3 did well, but they were overall disappointing. At the very least they could've been improved upon. The Fantastic Four franchise seems to be in the exact same place Daredevil is right now, and right where the Hulk was after the first movie came out - development hell. Fox is not doing a darn thing with these characters, but they aren't letting them go. That is ridiculous.

Iron Man makes so much more possible though. This was a character everyone was saying wasn't mainstream enough, wasn't enough of an icon, or not enough of a household name, or not popular enough to have a high grossing movie. Well all that is bunk now.

So what does that mean? It is absolutely bunk that Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman cannot support their own movies, when WB thinks a JL film is the only hope for the future of DC comic book movies.

The prospect though of not just an Iron Man movie franchise, but a whole franchise of Marvel Universe movies that actually work with each other instead of separately has excellent potential.

 

[explode7]

^Well said dude. I am rather disappointed as well that GL, WW, Flash and other DC superheroes other than Batman and Superman aren't getting made.

 

[Iceman]

Iron Man has been a huge success in all departments. There's hardly any other superhero movies that can say the same. The synergy you mention that is hinted at in Iron Man is what gets me really excited, at a time when I was losing enthusiasm for superhero films. Some of the good series like X-Men & Spiderman seemed to have lost something as they went forward. Iron Man & the thought of a Marvel produced Avengers film linking multiple aspects of the MU together once again gives me hope for the future of superhero films.

 

[FireandIce213]

yea i think Iron Man is really saving the comic book/superhero film genre...Hopefully The Incredible Hulk and TDK follow the same trend.

 

[kakashi]

I didn't realized that the comicbook movies needs saving. Sure, there are bad comicbook movies every now and then, but that's a normal thing.happens in every movie genre.

I think the comicbook movies are in much better shape than let's say...the game adaptation movies.

 

[Docker2.0]

I didn't realized that the comicbook movies needs saving. Sure, there are bad comicbook movies every now and then, but that's a normal thing.happens in every movie genre.

I think the comicbook movies are in much better shape than let's say...the game adaptation movies.

Agreed! I don't see why people are saying the genre is in trouble. For all the heat the F4 receive, all their movies made over $100M as well as GR and DD. Truth is, superheroes are here to stay as much as horror movies. You just have to keep reinventing them in a good way and that can be done a million ways!

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Iron Man DEFINITELY gave the comic book movie industry a much needed kick in the ass.

With Hulk, Hellboy2 and TDK, this could potentially be the best Summer said industry has seen yet.

 

[TheVileOne]

I didn't realized that the comicbook movies needs saving. Sure, there are bad comicbook movies every now and then, but that's a normal thing.happens in every movie genre.

I think the comicbook movies are in much better shape than let's say...the game adaptation movies.

Not necessarily saving, but definitely rejuvenation.

Marvel comic book super hero movies were getting lame and stale. X-men 3, Fantastic Four 2, and Ghost Rider were crap films. Sure they made money, movies like X-men 3 and FF specifically could've done so much better. Iron Man reinforces that.

 

[Punisher RULES]

As far as the Marvel movies go, Iron Man really did re-enchant movie goers and fans alike, Spider-Man 3 left a bad taste in fans mouths and X-Men 3 will always seem like a false ending to the epic I was creating in my head as soon as I saw the Pheonix reflected on the lake at the end of X2. Just not what I had in mind to end a smart action packed series as great as X-Men. The Fantastic Four films are just sad in my opinion. FF2 hinted at much but never payed off and that pissed off many many people and because of it's bloated sense of "oh we'll just do it in FF3" will leave it to rot at Fox for years. Iron Man was indeed everything that the Marvel movies needed and hopefully it marks a new movement among the Marvel movies that have always had all the promise imaginable.

 

[kakashi]

Not necessarily saving, but definitely rejuvenation

You know what...reading that made me realized something.The 1st x-men move came out in 2000 and another couple of years, it will be a decade since this whole comic book movies trend started.

If you're a comicbook fan,there's no beter time than these last few years...and the best is yet to come! i mean...look what's still to come! the frikkin Avengers movie in 2011!fifteen years ago i would never dream that such thing is possible.

Twenty years from now, people will probably look at this period as the golden age of comicbook moviest: If you think about it, it kinda make the petty bickering between us comicmovies fans seems silly and pointless.

 

[Marvin]

Ultimately the problem was, you had movies like The Hulk, Superman Returns, and the Fantastic Four films and they did not perform to expectations. They went too far to one extreme or the other and they ended up alienating the audience and potential viewers. Iron Man thankfully did not suffer this fate as it nearly did when it was under New Line. The Hulk, well I still think the jury is out, but now that the Hulk is Marvel it can be connected to Iron Man and any future efforts from Marvel Studios.

they didn't go into any extremes is the problem

they were just lame of leg

 

[S.A.A.D.]

I think what I want to address right now, is the affect that Iron Man will have on the industry within the next few years.

Now there was Blade in 1998. But Blade was not your typical comic book super hero movie. Blade was a hard R-rated action film with vampires. It was dark and violent, and it wasn't campy like Batman and Robin. It wasn't huge budget, but it did some good business.

X-men in 2000 is what really changed the playing field. Before X-men, the only real comic book super hero movies involved Batman and Superman. Which were at that point dead movie franchises. X-men proved that comic book super heroes, or even a team of super heroes were viable as big budget, blockbuster properties. And following X-men, everything started coming into place. The Hulk, Spider-man, Daredevil. All these projects started getting lined up, but they weren't cheap, low budget trash. They were big time movies with legitimate actors and filmmakers propping them up.

But the problem ended up being movies like Daredevil and The Hulk. Then the Fantastic Four films. The problem was ultimately that these movies were being over-produced. Despite Marvel taking a more active role in the development of these properties as movies, they still didn't have enough control. Licensing out all their properties to all these different studios killed something very important these movies could've had: synergy. Or more basically continuity. And its stupid that none of these movies could've have connections to the others. Even the movies that were produced under the same studios.

Ultimately the problem was, you had movies like The Hulk, Superman Returns, and the Fantastic Four films and they did not perform to expectations. They went too far to one extreme or the other and they ended up alienating the audience and potential viewers. Iron Man thankfully did not suffer this fate as it nearly did when it was under New Line. The Hulk, well I still think the jury is out, but now that the Hulk is Marvel it can be connected to Iron Man and any future efforts from Marvel Studios.

I think Iron Man definitely gives the genre of comic book super hero movies a definite shot in the arm. It's doing marvelously. It's the best reviewed movie of the year so far. It's the highest grossing movie of the year so far (though that is possibly bound to change very soon).

I think what Iron Man does though, is that it gives a much needed shot in the arm to a genre that has been limping for a little while. Spider-man 3 and X-men 3 did well, but they were overall disappointing. At the very least they could've been improved upon. The Fantastic Four franchise seems to be in the exact same place Daredevil is right now, and right where the Hulk was after the first movie came out - development hell. Fox is not doing a darn thing with these characters, but they aren't letting them go. That is ridiculous.

Iron Man makes so much more possible though. This was a character everyone was saying wasn't mainstream enough, wasn't popular enough, or not enough of a household name, or not popular enough to have a high grossing movie. Well all that is bunk now.

So what does that mean? It is absolutely bunk that Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman cannot support their own movies, when WB thinks a JL film is the only hope for the future of DC comic book movies.

The prospect though of not just an Iron Man movie franchise, but a whole franchise of Marvel Universe movies that actually work with each other instead of separately has excellent potential.

For Pete's sake the comic book movie genre is like other movie genres sort of,no matter how many bad movies that are connected to them that are made,there will always be new movies that are made that are connected to them. As long as people are alive,the comic book movie genre will be around for a very very very very very very very very long time,it's not like we are going to see a limited amount of comic book characters hit the theater screens. V for Vendetta,Hellboy,etc have proven that. Watchmen,The Spirit(sort of),and other non mainstream comic book characters are on their way to the theater screens.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not talking about comic book type movies which have been around forever. I'm talking about comic book super heroes like DC and Marvel characters. I'm not counting V For Vendetta, Sin City, etc.

 

[S.A.A.D.]

I'm not talking about comic book type movies which have been around forever. I'm talking about comic book super heroes like DC and Marvel characters. I'm not counting V For Vendetta, Sin City, etc.

I know you were talking about DC and Marvel superheroes,I was just getting a point across by using new/non mainstream comic book characters when it comes to comic book movies being made. DC/Marvel or not.

 

[ultimatefan]

I say waning may be a bit harsh, I mean, there´s a lot of great buzz for TDK and even hype for TIH seems to be picking up. But it´s true that for the last couple years the genre had had bumps in the road, with the mixed reaction to X3, Spidey 3 and SR, and FF2 failing to impress at the box office and GR being, well, what it was... IM definitely proves there´s still a lot of juice in the genre, and it proves that, if making your superhero movies too slow and talky may not be a good idea - coughHulkcough -, it doesn´t mean you need to dumb them down to no end - coughFantasticFourcough - or to do "extreme" storyline concepts that may infuriate fans too much - coughSupermanReturnscough.

 

[FNSpidey]

You know what...reading that made me realized something.The 1st x-men move came out in 2000 and another couple of years, it will be a decade since this whole comic book movies trend started.

If you're a comicbook fan,there's no beter time than these last few years...and the best is yet to come! i mean...look what's still to come! the frikkin Avengers movie in 2011!fifteen years ago i would never dream that such thing is possible.

Twenty years from now, people will probably look at this period as the golden age of comicbook moviest: If you think about it, it kinda make the petty bickering between us comicmovies fans seems silly and pointless.

Very well said. More people here should realize that comic book films doing well in the BO should make all of us happy. No more stupid Iron Man vs Batman or DC vs Marvel arguments.

In that context, I'm happy Iron Man succeeded. With this, and hopefully TDK, Hellboy II and TIH, we should be able to see many more adaptations.

That said, I really don't want to see Iron Man become a template for future comic book films, as I thought it was too lighthearted, too happy-go-lucky for my tastes. These films should be taken seriously, not be all about fun. They don't all have to be moody,but a little true emotion here and there wouldn't hurt.

Closing, I'd like to add something to kakashi's post and TheVileOne's original thoughts. Not only is this a great time for comic book films (and comic book fans), but with Marvel's new initiative -provided it works out- we're entering a new era. Besides a comic book Marvel universe and an ill-fated animated Marvel universe, we can now have a live-action Marvel universe. A very few (generally poor) crossovers aside, this has never happened in the history of cinema.

So, I hope it'll be handled correctly and lead to great things.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Oh hell yeah it did... everyone is talking about Stark appearing in the Hulk and what not these days. Hulk will piggy back off of IM's success that it might pull in 2/3's of whatever that gross ends up being... and as long as Marvel studios doesn't have a flop on their hands, Avengers will be the highest grossing comic book film of all time IMO. As far as the other bigs... X-Mens and SPidey's of the world... I don't know if the interest will be there... but Spidey is still Spidey and these X-Men prequels sound pretty interesting.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Hopefully Hulk's a success, now that Iron Man revived people's intrest in the genre.

 

[kakashi]

Very well said. More people here should realize that comic book films doing well in the BO should make all of us happy. No more stupid Iron Man vs Batman or DC vs Marvel arguments.

In that context, I'm happy Iron Man succeeded. With this, and hopefully TDK, Hellboy II and TIH, we should be able to see many more adaptations.

That said, I really don't want to see Iron Man become a template for future comic book films, as I thought it was too lighthearted, too happy-go-lucky for my tastes. These films should be taken seriously, not be all about fun. They don't all have to be moody,but a little true emotion here and there wouldn't hurt.

Closing, I'd like to add something to kakashi's post and TheVileOne's original thoughts. Not only is this a great time for comic book films (and comic book fans), but with Marvel's new initiative -provided it works out- we're entering a new era. Besides a comic book Marvel universe and an ill-fated animated Marvel universe, we can now have a live-action Marvel universe. A very few (generally poor) crossovers aside, this has never happened in the history of cinema.
So, I hope it'll be handled correctly and lead to great things.

Agreed! we're entering the next stage of the comick movies genre.With Marvel movies crossover already planned,i expect that DC will do the same some years down the line...good times are comin'folks!

That said,i'm a bit dissapointed that with all the succes of comicbook adaptations...the comic industry itself is still in the same state as it was before this whole comic book movies craze started. I would have expected that with the succeses of movies such as Spidey , x-men and the batman movies, more people would have decided to check out the comics...but apparently, that's not the case.

 

[Donald Thomas]

Agreed! I don't see why people are saying the genre is in trouble. For all the heat the F4 receive, all their movies made over $100M as well as GR and DD. Truth is, superheroes are here to stay as much as horror movies. You just have to keep reinventing them in a good way and that can be done a million ways!

Aloha,
Great thread.
Here's a link to Boxofficemojo's. Super Hero movies.http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=superhero.htm
Despite some fan boys perceptions, Both FF movies did better than Blade. What we are now getting is a Marvel movie, made by Marvel, which in theory should always be a winner. No one can present their characters better than they can.Fan boys are so deep into the genre that they sometimes project their attitudes about a super hero movie onto the general public. The general public is not concerned with every minutae of the character. They want to be entertained.I'm hoping that the Hulk looks a little better in final release than he does in some of the trailers I've seen. So far, I prefer the Ang Lee Hulk ( only in appearance) over this one. That said, the Hulk is going to do big business beyond the movie. Toys,Crocs etc.
Spidey rules

 

[Theweepeople]

I think what Iron Man does though, is that it gives a much needed shot in the arm to a genre that has been limping for a little while. Spider-man 3 and X-men 3 did well, but they were overall disappointing. At the very least they could've been improved upon. The Fantastic Four franchise seems to be in the exact same place Daredevil is right now, and right where the Hulk was after the first movie came out - development hell. Fox is not doing a darn thing with these characters, but they aren't letting them go. That is ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure Fox loses the rights to Daredevil and Elektra if they don't make a film next year. They won't have the X-Men rights forever. Fox bought the rights for 25 years in 1995 so in 2020 Marvel gets them back permanently. If Fox doesn't make an X-Men film every 4 years Marvel get the rights back. Furthermore, if these X-Men and Fantastic four spinoffs flop I doubt Fox will continue to make comic book films that lose money. Marvel will get the rights back quickly unless Tom Rothman gets fired and Fox starts making quality films.

 

[TheBeastWithin]

I think Batman Begins really set the stage for the future of superhero films. Favreau referenced BB in many interviews as the benchmark he was shooting for with IM. I do think IM is carrying the torch at the moment though.

 

[TheVileOne]

Fox has a Wolverine movie coming out next year. That constitutes as an X-men film.

 

[Clark Kent]

yea i think Iron Man is really saving the comic book/superhero film genre...Hopefully The Incredible Hulk and TDK follow the same trend.

I'm somewhat worried about both of those. The Incredible Hulk has so far been very badly marketed, and what with the lack of an origin, the terrible CGI, and all the rumours about behind-the-scenes feuding, I'm not getting my hopes up. As far as The Dark Knight is concerned, the whole permawhite issue and the fact that Two-Face is actually gonna be a Punisher-type hero instead of a villain, with a face so gross that it might make you lose your popcorn, has me worried about what the fans will think, and how parents will react. I think the last thing anyone wants is another Batman Returns-type backlash.

they didn't go into any extremes is the problem

Well ... they did. Hulk and Superman Returns were extremely bland and boring, and the Fantastic Four movies were extremely campy and cheesy.

I like alliteration.

Watchmen,The Spirit(sort of),and other non mainstream comic book characters are on their way to the theater screens.

Sort of?

I would have expected that with the succeses of movies such as Spidey , x-men and the batman movies, more people would have decided to check out the comics...but apparently, that's not the case.

Well I for one have definitely become more interested in Iron Man. Soon as I can afford it, I'm gonna buy myself that omnibus that just came out.

I think Batman Begins really set the stage for the future of superhero films. Favreau referenced BB in many interviews as the benchmark he was shooting for with IM. I do think IM is carrying the torch at the moment though.

Which do you prefer? Batman Begins, or Iron Man?

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I absolutely agree. Aside from the Spider-Man franchise (debatable quality or not, Spider-Man 3 still put people in the seats) there hasn't been a sure fire hit superhero film in quite sometime. Fantastic Four disappointed, Superman disappointed, Ghost Rider was awful, Batman Begins did its job in rebuilding the Batman name but wasn't that big of a BO smash, etc. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the superhero genre was dying anytime soon or anything, but Iron Man is a huge boost and with Dark Knight looking like it could potentially be even bigger the genre could be back to its peak days in the early part of the decade when the first Spider-Man & X-Men movies were coming out.