How Did Science Fiction and Fantasy Become the Most Beloved Forms of Cinema?

[Erzengel]

Theaters are expensive. Dropping that much money to go see a bunch of people have conversations and do relatively normal things on a big screen is not nearly as worth it as seeing superheroess, wizards, robots, and dinosaurs explode all over the place on a big screen.

Years ago I was seeing every mainstream CBM that's come out. Now they actually have to be good.

 

[terry78]

Haha, somebody did say "if I wanted to see people talk I'd go the **** outside." Explosions or nothing.

 

[Tequilla]

Publicity.

 

[Heretic]

Years ago I was seeing every mainstream CBM that's come out. Now they actually have to be good.

I used to be the same way...paying for crap I knew would be awful just to support the genre...but now I wait for the DVD on most of the comic book films that come out. Heck, some of them (like RIPD) I don't even bother with on Netflix.

 

[Airwings]

I have no idea what you mean. Imagine this, but with Burt Reynolds as Tony Stark and Bruce Jenner as Thor.

Great suggestion there, with Burt But I would have replaced Jenner with Nick Nolte.
I guess Robert Redford would have been Steve Rogers back then.
Why not Clint Eastwood as Hawkeye, as well?

With the same budget and scope as Star Wars, they could have pulled of a decent film. I'm sure it could have been done.

 

[sueb1863]

If you want to get people to theaters, you've got to give them something they can't have at home. Big spectacular sf/ fantasy movies really give them an experience on the big screen that even a 60" TV can't match.

 

[The Guard]

Special effects took a leap forward a few decades ago.

There's your answer.

Granted, sci-fi and fantasy were always pretty popular. Even when it was mostly B movies and serials and such.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

There's two major components that make sci-fi and fantasy so dominant:

1) Amazing visuals - film is a visual experience and sci-fi /fantasy is the best opportunity to show off Hollywood's eye candy.

2) Interesting themes - the same way Greek myth kept people enthralled thousands of years ago so do the sci-fi/fantasy movies of today. But instead of normal people endowed with the power of gods, normal people are endowed with advanced technology or mystical magic abilities. Add some social commentary and you have compelling and timeless stories.

Other genres simply lack the potency of this one-two punch (powerful visuals and themes).

 

[DA_Champion]

Now that this is out there, let's stop with the following kinds of posts:

1) Guardians of the Galaxy is an incredibly courageous and risky movie for Marvel to make, there are aliens in it.
2) Jupiter Ascending will flop, the public can't buy into scifi.
3) John Carter flopped because the public can't buy into scifi.

etc.

 

[Deserana]

Yeah the main reason I watch films and why my favorites are the genres mentioned here it's because of escapism. I like gritty dramas like everyone else but sometimes I just want to be immersed in a world for a few hours and the experiences when you watch a film like that can stick with you for life. It's why many people's favorite films are Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or, for me, The Dark Knight Trilogy.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I don't consider sci-fi escapism.

Usually it has subtext that directly relates to life and society.

 

[DA_Champion]

I don't consider sci-fi escapism.

Usually it has subtext that directly relates to life and society.

There's both, but I'd say high-grossing scifi is more escapism than social subtext.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Examples?

 

[DA_Champion]

Examples?

The Avengers.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The Avengers.

That has sci-fi in it but I wouldn't consider it a sci-fi movie.

 

[StarkTheProdigy]

Escapism. I go to the movie theatre to escape a busy life and my own responsibilities. The only type of movies I see in a theatre is science fiction or epic tale, allowing me to take a breather from my problems to sit on the sidelines and watch the protagonist(s) overcome their issues or threat. Any movie can do that, but it being a science fiction or fantasy film makes it so much easier and enjoyable taking one in another world. How many of us wish we could have been in a Disney movie when we were a child? Flying through space, destroying the Death Star? Raid the halls of Hogwarts? Fight alongside the Avengers or fly beside Superman, let alone be one of them? It is this genre of film that truly makes a great experice for me when viewing them. To be able to jump in these characters worlds, not only being entertained, but escaping.

 

[DA_Champion]

That has sci-fi in it but I wouldn't consider it a sci-fi movie.

Avengers is definitely a scifi/fantasy film, as much as Star Wars. They're both soft science fiction.

 

[Drz]

Lol Avengers has an alien invasion, how is it not sci-fi? Loki and Thor are both aliens as well.

"we are not gods" - Odin, Thor 2.

 

[Doc Ock]

As a sci-fi/fantasy fan who has started to ignore the other genres more and more as I've gotten older I think it's wonderful how they seem to dominate the box office (I only wish they had the same success in the TV area and more movies weren't of the mindless popcorn variety). I think people want to simply escape the awfulness of reality and escape to new worlds and adventures.

That has sci-fi in it but I wouldn't consider it a sci-fi movie.

Uh, but it is a sci-fi movie? Much of the Marvel universe is science fiction with slices of fantasy here and there. Just as Transformers is science fiction, it's about a race of sentient robotic ALIENS in a civil war. The Avengers is about a alien invasion caused by a alien from another world whose brother has a hammer that can cause him to summon lightning and fly, a man in a very high tech robotic suit, a super soldier from the 1940s, and a man who turns into a green monster when angry due to a fictional form of radiation. Not too much all the sci-fi gadgets that SHIELD. Usually I think something with sci-fi in it is a sci-fi movie.

 

[SuperFerret]

MessiahDecoy's probably referring to the old philosophy that "true" sci-fi has to explore the ramifications of such fantastic things like aliens and high technology in the world in order to be science fiction. This confuses me greatly because while it's a valid opinion on its own, you often see it spouted by the same people who will call Star Wars sci-fi while saying Jurassic Park isn't.

 

[Doc Ock]

MessiahDecoy's probably referring to the old philosophy that "true" sci-fi has to explore the ramifications of such fantastic things like aliens and high technology in the world in order to be science fiction. This confuses me greatly because while it's a valid opinion on its own, you often see it spouted by the same people who will call Star Wars sci-fi while saying Jurassic Park isn't.

I can understand that, but I don't follow that philosophy because I don't think it's actually true because science fiction is so much more than that, I've been called crazy because I consider something like The Walking Dead to be sci-fi while being a drama at the same time (even vampires and werewolves can be sci-fi depending on how they exist in the world). (And Star Wars can be considered to not even be sci-fi but "space fantasy" ) I've been told Jurassic Park isn't sci-fi, arguments were had...

 

[Octoberist]

MessiahDecoy's probably referring to the old philosophy that "true" sci-fi has to explore the ramifications of such fantastic things like aliens and high technology in the world in order to be science fiction. This confuses me greatly because while it's a valid opinion on its own, you often see it spouted by the same people who will call Star Wars sci-fi while saying Jurassic Park isn't.

Yeah, I'm with you. I wouldn't call it 'true science fiction' but rather, just traditional sci-fi; or maybe, hard sci-fi. But I really think the term sci-fi has transcended its' original purpose. People considered Flash Gordon sci-fi and it doesn't have social commentaries, or political parallels.

But I do think the ones (not Messiah) who tout traditional/hard sci-fi tend to be sometimes, kinda pretentious in a classic Star Trek/Dungeons and Dragons geek way.

"That's not sci-fi, this is sci-fi!"

 

[Octoberist]

I can understand that, but I don't follow that philosophy because I don't think it's actually true because science fiction is so much more than that, I've been called crazy because I consider something like The Walking Dead to be sci-fi while being a drama at the same time (even vampires and werewolves can be sci-fi depending on how they exist in the world). (And Star Wars can be considered to not even be sci-fi but "space fantasy" ) I've been told Jurassic Park isn't sci-fi, arguments were had...

People who call 'Star Wars' space fantasy are the ones who are resentful at the fact that it's the most accessible form of science fiction in the world and not an Isaac Asimov novel. It changed how people viewed sci-fi in the 70's. When Lucas pitched SW around town, no one bought into it because suits thought sci-fi was for just children. There was a stigma.

 

[Victarion]

If a movie take a discipline of science and add some fictionalized element, it's science fiction. There's actually two divisions of science fiction literature: your traditional science fiction, which does explore concepts such as time travel, aliens, super computers etc; there's also what was called the "new wave", in which the aforementioned concepts weren't really explored in depth nor made the central focus. Rather, the focus was on how these preset concepts affected human characters. Harlan Ellison and Michael Moorcock are among the writers of the "new wave."

 

[terry78]

I even call things like Hunger Games and Divergent SciFi because it's pretty much in the realm of dystopia.