The comics industry needs to prioritze their films...

No, you are absolutely hitting it on the money, and no one knew what the hell they were doing for a good 20 years! For as much money as Hollywood throws around, they are some of the dumbest asses on the planet!!! (And that goes for the Comicbook/Hollywood in betweeners that couldn't sell their product)

I would cast aside Constantine as an exception to your list, however.

 

However, I really think they're getting on the right track after so many years in the pits. After all, we've now got Batman Begins, the X-franchise, Superman Returns, V for Vendetta, and others steamrolling out of the vault! Case in point, it's probably a good thing that it took so long b/c now effects are better and more cost efficient. The vision for a superhero project/adaptation can be more thorough.

 

I think the Vertigo titles have an easier time translating to film.

 

It's not a matter of prioritizing; they do the movies that are easiest to get made-in terms of budget, rights availability, getting the people they want on the project-things of that sort. Some movies have been in one stage of development or another for years, if not decades, & if something else gets greenlit first they're going to make that.

 

In a sense, Marvel's strategy isn't too bad. You have the big guns (Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk - Marvel hoped) have their series of films with smaller movies inbetween (Daredevil, Punisher, etc.), then after all of those have run their course, you come out with Cap, and Iron Man, etc. You basically have a 20-some-year cashcow, instead of, y'know, 10. That's just good business. And, honestly, as a fan, I'd much rather have my favorite characters' movies spread out over a while than have them frontloaded into a 10 year span, and be bored with the next 10-20 years of superhero films.

I also like what DC is currently doing with their Vertigo films; again smaller, small-scale stuff inbetween a yearly-released "big" movie (BB, SR, etc.). Obviously, however, they delayed inacting that (good, IMO) strategy until about 2004. Which is pretty unacceptable.

Obviously, the idea to make movies like Howard the Duck, Steel, Man-Thing, Catwoman (although, in WB's defense, CINO was only made to fill the slot in the release schedule vacated by Peterson's abandoned Batman vs Superman movie), were all tremendous mistakes, and should never have been done. Although, admittedly, if they were made correctly, and well, I doubt any of us would be complaining.

And on a side note, don't give me this B89 wasn't a "proper" Batman movie. It may not be as good as Batman Begins, you may not like it, but inarguably, IMO, it was, along with DKR and Year One, the thing that really let everyone know that Batman was a dark character, Batman was more than just the Adam West TV series. On top of that, it was the highest grossing superhero movie ever made for over a decade, and it had, and continues to have, quite positive critical and fan reaction. So to say that WB failed with that movie is a great mistake, I think. They may have failed with the series, but not with that film.

 

Um...

It was.

 

i have that in my spidey collection and I still think it's better than the movie we got in 2002.

 

To each his own.