Will Fanboys Ever Learn?

[Doctor Jones]

Yea but is actually I living Manga and video game. I have not seen a recent comic book movie with scenes literally ripped from the book. Or Words the pop up when the phone rings or stat bars for characters etc.

It's style is definitely different which I like. But people seem to be acting like this is as original as District 9 or Inception. It's still based on a comic. The visuals are just about the only thing original.

 

[dark_b]

D9 is more original then SP?

 

[Doctor Jones]

Well, yeah. The entire story of D9 itself is original. It didn't exist already from a comic or book. I mean Scott Pilgram as a comic is original, but the film is an adaptation of it. The choosing of the visuals is original, but it's still from a comic.

 

[scifiwolf]

In Scott Pilgrim's defense, I think there is too much of a hangup between original and unique. Ignoring the source material, Scott Pilgrim is very original if by virtue of how different it is. I think where people may be having cause with it is two-fold: The first being it is too much of a comic book on big screen. If a mainstream audience wanted to view a comic, they'd read one. The second is that I'm getting a sense that Michael Cera's charm may be wearing off.

 

[Tron Bonne]

In Scott Pilgrim's defense, I think there is too much of a hangup between original and unique. Ignoring the source material, Scott Pilgrim is very original if by virtue of how different it is.

Yeah, thank you. People just want to get hung up on the semantics of the whole thing. I like how threads like these bashing 'delusional fanboys' always turns into either a defense of said fanboys or just a wankfest for 'enlightened fans' who think they're the only ones who knows what's going on.

 

[dark_b]

Well, yeah. The entire story of D9 itself is original. It didn't exist already from a comic or book. I mean Scott Pilgram as a comic is original, but the film is an adaptation of it. The choosing of the visuals is original, but it's still from a comic.

i think D9 is a fantastic movie. and the budget is insane low .

but this kind of concept that happened in D9 is not very original. sorry

 

[childeroland]

Films of every genre bomb. Why shouldn't some so-called fanboy films?

 

[dark_b]

Films of every genre bomb. Why shouldn't some so-called fanboy films?

this is the question that we are asking here. t:

Scott Pilgrim is maybe good but it looks like a modern batman 60's movie.

 

[childeroland]

I only mean SOME fanboy films, meaning that studios aren't necessarily overestimating their appeal, or that they are inherently niche, only that in the law of averages some of these are bound to fail just because.

 

[Evil Twin]

Perhaps people should hold their expectations in check for Del Toro's "At the Mountains of Madness" as far as box office goes. That's going to be a difficult sell; big budget, serious, R-rated horror, without a love interest or other easy hooks, no matter how terrific it may be.

But, I agree, there probably should be acknowledgement that many of these comic book / geek films are niche properties. Yes, things do break out occasionally, but it's not the general public's concern to try to figure out what movie geeks are excited for. Only, "what looks good Friday?"

 

[solidsnake86]

Its tough with movies that fans love but think that equates to a mega hit because they really are a niche market. I haven't read scott pilgrim, but just from a personal opinion I had no interest in watching it and from the previews it looked dumb, whether it is or not I would have to watch it, but I wouldnt spend that money to go watch it in theatres. I realize its an unfair opinion but I think many in the General Audience probably felt the same way. When you really look at comic sales, the biggest release are selling in the 100,000 range, and thats for the mainstream stuff, when you start getting into more of the indie titles I sure sales are far less. Studios probably greenlight these movies because they think there is a built in audience, but that doesn't equal millions in the box office.

 

[Tron Bonne]

EDIT: Nvm, it will just cause conflict anyway

 

[S.A.A.D.]

It's here to stay, but it has been here since 1941. The point is, genres go in and out of fashion. Superhero movies are incredibly popular at present. They will not be so for ever. Sooner or later, audiences will tire of them, and the studios will stop throwing money at anything based on a comicbook.

So what? I mean everything gets old at one point or another,and again I have to point out that the studios aren't always going to use lots of money to make comic book movies,just like it has always been. They will use different amounts of money for different comic book movies,I'm in the minority but I think that comic book movie genre is timeless,because it's been around for so long. It will be around as long as there are enough people who are fans of them.

And it's true,some fanboys will never learn,the purist ones. No one who isn't them can save them.

 

[Infinity9999x]

I honestly was fairly surprised that people thought Watchmen or Kick Ass would do big numbers. Yes, Watchmen is critically acclaimed...but pretty much nobody but comic nerds know anything about the graphic novel. And the graphic novel itself is something not everyone would like. It's a very dark, graphic, take on superheroes. That's not for everyone.

KickAss is similar. A dark, gritty satire on superheroes. Not your typical general public affair. Yeah, it's another Miller creation, but Wanted bared little to no resemblance to it's original source material.

TIH is the one example that I think is misused in this case. TIH had to fight against the very, VERY bad word of mouth spurned by the Hulk movie. That's an uphill battle that was pretty hard for it to win. And it had the unfortunate of being released close by Iron Man and Indy 4. Now, releasing it by Indy 4 was just stupid, because even if that movie had been worse it was going to be huge. Iron Man I don't blame them for, since nobody called that as being as big as it was.

 

[hippie_hunter]

The general public made original quality flicks like Inception and Despicable Me monster hits this summer.

But for every Inception and Despicable Me, there's a Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Splice.

The difference between those two and Scott Pilgrim was their superior marketing strategies. Can't blame John and Joe Doe Movie-Goer for saying Pilgrim looked stupid because the trailers/TV spots were horrible.

I'll give you that

 

[Tron Bonne]

I honestly was fairly surprised that people thought Watchmen or Kick Ass would do big numbers. Yes, Watchmen is critically acclaimed...but pretty much nobody but comic nerds know anything about the graphic novel. And the graphic novel itself is something not everyone would like. It's a very dark, graphic, take on superheroes. That's not for everyone.

That's really not true. Watchmen is often seen in a lot of mainstream book lists and such (If memory serves, it's the only 'graphic novel' to be on the Time's best books of all time list or something like that). It's got more mainstream recognition than just 'comic nerds'. Of all the stuff talked about in the original post, this is the definitely the one that had the most potential to go somewhere, in my opinion, and I think it would have if not for the bleak tone of the film, and if it had been a little better.

 

[Kurosawa]

I honestly was fairly surprised that people thought Watchmen or Kick Ass would do big numbers. Yes, Watchmen is critically acclaimed...but pretty much nobody but comic nerds know anything about the graphic novel. And the graphic novel itself is something not everyone would like. It's a very dark, graphic, take on superheroes. That's not for everyone.

KickAss is similar. A dark, gritty satire on superheroes. Not your typical general public affair. Yeah, it's another Miller creation, but Wanted bared little to no resemblance to it's original source material.

TIH is the one example that I think is misused in this case. TIH had to fight against the very, VERY bad word of mouth spurned by the Hulk movie. That's an uphill battle that was pretty hard for it to win. And it had the unfortunate of being released close by Iron Man and Indy 4. Now, releasing it by Indy 4 was just stupid, because even if that movie had been worse it was going to be huge. Iron Man I don't blame them for, since nobody called that as being as big as it was.

Exactly. Not even all superhero fans like the Watchmen comic. I have always had mixed feelings towards it myself. The main superhero movies that have underperformed that has surprised me to a degree are the Hulk movies. I think it was the weirdness of the Ang Lee one coupled with the Hulk as a CGI character which is a hurdle for a lot of people.

 

[Infinity9999x]

That's really not true. Watchmen is often seen in a lot of mainstream book lists and such (If memory serves, it's the only 'graphic novel' to be on the Time's best books of all time list or something like that). It's got more mainstream recognition than just 'comic nerds'. Of all the stuff talked about in the original post, this is the definitely the one that had the most potential to go somewhere, in my opinion, and I think it would have if not for the bleak tone of the film, and if it had been a little better.

It was. And that's my point. Superhero movies are generally most attended by the tween to mid 30's crowd. How many of them do you think read Time all that often?

Not only that, but Watchmen is highly regarded by critics, not by your average joe. The average person knows about Batman, Spider-man, and Superman. You don't hear about Watchmen until you actually start looking into comics. The general audience didn't know diddly about Watchmen.

And like I said above, it's not material that everyone is going to love. It's not the kind of story that everyone would be in to. Which is true of most critically acclaimed novels. I can recognize The Grapes of Wrath as good literature. But it doesn't mean I'm going to pick it up when I'm bored and want some light reading. Same with Watchmen.

 

[Tron Bonne]

It was. And that's my point. Superhero movies are generally most attended by the tween to mid 30's crowd. How many of them do you think read Time all that often?

Not only that, but Watchmen is highly regarded by critics, not by your average joe. The average person knows about Batman, Spider-man, and Superman. You don't hear about Watchmen until you actually start looking into comics. The general audience didn't know diddly about Watchmen.

And like I said above, it's not material that everyone is going to love. It's not the kind of story that everyone would be in to. Which is true of most critically acclaimed novels. I can recognize The Grapes of Wrath as good literature. But it doesn't mean I'm going to pick it up when I'm bored and want some light reading. Same with Watchmen.

I mostly agree with you, but I was just saying, there was more appeal to Watchmen than just 'comic book nerds', it's gotten more mainstream attention than stuff like Kick-Ass, for example. Just not the kind of the mainstream appeal as the big franchises to pull in money, though I still think it could have been really big if the story had been less bleak overall

 

[Anita18]

Fanboys feel it deserves the highest gross but can't help it if the general public have bad taste.

When will mainstream audiences learn?

You could say the same thing for almost every Oscar film any year. Sure, some of them are mediocre awards bait, but most of them are genuinely good. The last time the general public and the Academy agreed was Titanic back in 1997.

And not just Oscar films, you could say the same for A LOT of good films in general.

 

[Infinity9999x]

I mostly agree with you, but I was just saying, there was more appeal to Watchmen than just 'comic book nerds', it's gotten more mainstream attention than stuff like Kick-Ass, for example. Just not the kind of the mainstream appeal as the big franchises to pull in money, though I still think it could have been really big if the story had been less bleak overall

It has gotten a bit more, but nothing that really would have gotten to the main audience that would make up the movie. And the original story is very bleak, which is part of the reason why I never thought it would do all that well.

Exactly. Not even all superhero fans like the Watchmen comic. I have always had mixed feelings towards it myself. The main superhero movies that have underperformed that has surprised me to a degree are the Hulk movies. I think it was the weirdness of the Ang Lee one coupled with the Hulk as a CGI character which is a hurdle for a lot of people.

I don't think the CGI thing was too big of a hurdle. The gen. audience liked Golum fine. I think it was mostly Ang's movie. They needed to keep it closer in tone to the T.V. series, and add elements of the comics in there. Much like TIH did. I firmly believe that had TIH came out first, it would have been much more successful. Not huge, but better then it or Hulk did at the office originally.

 

[bullets]

You put both Avatar & Dances With Wolves side by side & watch them & the only difference is ones blue & the others are Native Americans...

I should of thought of this when I had to take my gf and her kids to see a big budget special effects epic in 3-d , we could of stayed home and fell asleep on
the couch , lol.

The reason originality suffers is because alot of people define it as weird , some people jus twant to turn their brain off and not think too much, the best thing to do is lure them in with something familiar.

 

[terry78]

And to be honest, we as a society are the reason Hollywood doesn't feel the need to take creative risks. If we make these movies number 1 so often, why work harder? It's not like anybody has a moral aversion to making money fast.

 

[Ajendo]

Plus opening the reboot days after Star Trek 2 and two weeks before Batman 3 is beyond foolish. It's going to get eaten alive.

Any spidey film that can stand up against and wipe the floor with a star wars movie can do just fine against star trek and batman 3. This new spidey flick will do surprisingly well, I guarantee you that with unwavering conviction.

 

[GhostPoet]

I think SP is too "different" for americans...it'll be much more appreciated overseas.