How is it a polarised fan-base? They are simply movie fans who voted on this thing, not comic book fans or fans of that particular genre, but movie fans. The fact that SR got in ahead of so many high-profile movies and the fact that people took the time and effort to vote it in their top 10 movies ever says somthing, and also counters your argument that it didnt have a widely satisfying effect.
That vote was by Empire readers, who are a specific niche. I have no problem with that readership and their vote but they are not the majority.
I meant the polarised fan-base of comicbook/superhero fans online (on sites such as this), plus the fact the Superman franchise is being rebooted, are indications that it was not widely satisfying. The studio says it wasn't, many people here say it wasn't, so it's no use pretending it was fabulous when clearly it wasn't.
If the Empire readers liked it (and it was only moderately, if it scraped in at 496), and yet there is a mixed reaction online, and a modest box office, then clearly the film had faults of some kind or it wouldn't have had a mixed reaction online and wouldn't have had only a modest box office.
Iron Man has beaten many more well known and high profile names than just Superman, so that is just a poor excuse IMO, especially since that movie was nothing special IMO, and I am more of a Marvel fan than a DC one.
Well, for a B/C-list hero like Iron Man to beat an icon like Superman does say something. It means the Iron Man character was treated with respect, and expectations were met.
And quality doesnt always mean financial success, The Thing, Blade Runner, Braveheart, Fight Club, Memento, Dark City, The Fifth Element, both Hellboy movies, Pan's Labyrinth, The Shawshank Redemption, I could go on, there are a wide demographic of movies in different genres that are generally considered quality, yet for whatever reason, that didnt turn into financial success.
Well, Pan's Labyrinth was on limited release, as it was a subtitled movie, so that's something of an exception in your list.
Both Hellboy movies were also lacking in areas, that was obvious - visual craft and imaginative sets/FX do not make an awesome movie. The second Hellboy was better than the first but still flawed in terms of lack of clear themes, meaning, dramatic suspense and emotion.
In some cases, quality doesn't equal success, but it SHOULD equal success unless there are deficiencies somewhere along the line.
Throw in the fact that, as I said before, the likes of Big Momma's House, Rush Hour (twice!), the _insert here_movie movies have had sequels, and they were all garbage, so your argument is completely flawed.
Yep, money also talks and makes studios want sequels, hence ridiculous ideas for an I Am Legend prequel and a 300 prequel/sequel. There is of course a financial factor as well, it's not all clear-cut and simple.
But I would say most true quality is reflected in film-making excellence AND box office success, like The Dark Knight. Otherwise we can disregard TDK's box office altogether and say it means nothing. Which clearly isn't the case.
There WAS craft in parts of Superman Returns but flawed storytelling brought it down (a movie that was the director's personal labour of love rather than a fair representation of the character and a vision for modern times). TDK ignored all previous incarnations of Batman in TV and film and went back to basics to create a Batman for our times. Any Wonder Woman movie will have to do the same - discard the Lynda Carter 70s TV show and get back to basics. That's what Singer should have done with Superman.
. Its nice to see that it made it in though, especially above some other high profile movies as you can see at this link:
Nice. I'm sure that with time, the film will be higher in those types of lists. It deserves it. It's such a beautiful and heartfelt Superman film.
