The Big Picture: Wrongs & Rights

[irishda]

"...aside from Batman, Warner Bros. seems to really suck at this."

This just in, Bob has made a massive understatement. Film at 11.

And I sort of feel sorry for WB for only being able to make good Batman movies.

The gritty ones. Not the others.

See, I don't think that's very fair. With the exception of Batman, Batman Returns, and the first two Superman movies, WB is bad at making comic book movies, but they're very good at adapting comic books that are very...un-comic booky. WB is still responsible for Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The Losers, and Constantine (Constantine's not exactly the greatest but I'd still put it over a lot of the other Marvel fare).

In other words, all of their best stuff is taken from works that depart from the standard comic book plot: "My god, x is trying to take over the world by using the power of the y device!" Granted, that is the plot of Constantine, but the fact that the character is more of an amoral anti-hero saves the day.

 

[Scarim Coral]

So did Universal start kicking themselves with the reboot Incredible Hulk? Well it was for the best that they gave it back since it the Avengers film was of been very werid without him.

Sure Warners sucks with it come to live action superheroes films that isn't Batman but the one thing they got it right is the animated superheroes films which Marvel is the oppersite.

 

[Evilsanta]

Well that explains alot.

I guess Marvel really regrets having to have sold those rights now that the Avengers are a BIG succes.

And I sort of feel sorry for WB for only being able to make good Batman movies.

As good as they are, these Batman movie would never be able to work in a Justice League setup, I mean Nolan has stated that the Penguin doesn't fit in with the realistic feel this Batman is going for, so how would aliens fit in with it?

How the hell would I know? I am just some random guy on the internet.

Seriously though, I guess they will have to reboot the existing ones or just come with a Batman movie that fits overall with the Justice League. I guess they could make it work if they said the the Nolan movies took place in an alternate universe where magic/aliens doesn't exist.

Maybe some one that know more about this can help me out on this?

 

[Vausch]

So, here's a question: Why can't the studios collaborate? Y'know, like they all go "Okay we'll make the movie and divide the gross 3 ways and split the budget 3 ways. Each of us invests 60 to 100 million, each of us is almost guaranteed to get that back and then some".

Oversimplification is now done, let's see how I'm out of touch!

 

[iniudan]

Maybe Luke Cage

There is no maybe on Luke Cage, they got the Old Spice guy for him.

 

[Vausch]

Well that explains alot.

I guess Marvel really regrets having to have sold those rights now that the Avengers are a BIG succes.

And I sort of feel sorry for WB for only being able to make good Batman movies.

As good as they are, these Batman movie would never be able to work in a Justice League setup, I mean Nolan has stated that the Penguin doesn't fit in with the realistic feel this Batman is going for, so how would aliens fit in with it?

How the hell would I know? I am just some random guy on the internet.

Seriously though, I guess they will have to reboot the existing ones or just come with a Batman movie that fits overall with the Justice League. I guess they could make it work if they said the the Nolan movies took place in an alternate universe where magic/aliens doesn't exist.

Maybe some one that know more about this can help me out on this?

No, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Nolan has gone on record saying his Batman is essentially what he would be if he were to take place in our reality. Some liberties taken of course, but to be fair most of the more fantastic technology isn't that far off and with a billionaire funding it, it's not that hard to believe he could push it to be done here and now.

A reboot is going to be required, and if they are planning a JLA movie the first one in the series is likely to be Man of Steel. They may have tried it with Green Lantern but, well, make your own green turd joke.

 

[RJ Dalton]

"Warner Brothers seems to really suck at this."

Understatement of the year.

 

[AntiChrist]

'Comics are weird' vs. 'Movies are weird'.

Clash of the weird.

 

[Pat Hulse]

So, here's a question: Why can't the studios collaborate? Y'know, like they all go "Okay we'll make the movie and divide the gross 3 ways and split the budget 3 ways. Each of us invests 60 to 100 million, each of us is almost guaranteed to get that back and then some".

Oversimplification is now done, let's see how I'm out of touch!

Actually, there's not a whole lot of reason why they can't, other than general unwillingness. Sony doesn't want to have to submit to Marvel Studios' mandates regarding their continuity (and to share more of the profits in order to do so), and Marvel makes money whether or not they make the movie in-studio.

What we'll have to wait and see is whether or not Avengers has raised the expectations of movie-going audiences such that they won't want to see a Marvel movie that DOESN'T take place in the larger universe. In other words, if Amazing Spider-Man fails, we will either see Marvel Studios getting many of their rights back, or Sony and Fox will start actively collaborating.

Of course, there's a chance that Disney will discourage any such collaboration, seeing Sony and Fox as competitors.

So yeah. It's not just about money. It's about whether or not the studios can make MORE money through collaboration and whether or not that extra money is worth sharing IP's (something Disney has never been eager to do).

 

[Evilsanta]

Well that explains alot.

I guess Marvel really regrets having to have sold those rights now that the Avengers are a BIG succes.

And I sort of feel sorry for WB for only being able to make good Batman movies.

As good as they are, these Batman movie would never be able to work in a Justice League setup, I mean Nolan has stated that the Penguin doesn't fit in with the realistic feel this Batman is going for, so how would aliens fit in with it?

How the hell would I know? I am just some random guy on the internet.

Seriously though, I guess they will have to reboot the existing ones or just come with a Batman movie that fits overall with the Justice League. I guess they could make it work if they said the the Nolan movies took place in an alternate universe where magic/aliens doesn't exist.

Maybe some one that know more about this can help me out on this?

No, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Nolan has gone on record saying his Batman is essentially what he would be if he were to take place in our reality. Some liberties taken of course, but to be fair most of the more fantastic technology isn't that far off and with a billionaire funding it, it's not that hard to believe he could push it to be done here and now.

So all WB has to do is just come up with a Batman movie that fits with Justice League. Though the problem with that I guess is, Would people watch a non Nolan Batman movie? I guess with the right cast and directors and writers they could pull it off.

Also come up with a Green Lantern movie that doesn't suck.

 

[Alexchaser]

Wouldn't adding any of the superheroes from any of the other copyrighted movies basically be free advertising for those other films?

 

[BrotherRool]

You succeeded at making that interesting. I was actually hoping it would be for longer

 

[Redd the Sock]

Not much I didn't know beyond how deep the scope of IP went. I was surprised by the lack of someone reading the Daily Bugle about the Mutant Menace. Then again, I'm amazed no one dropped the name Pym or Cage. And in fairness, it's not like crossover is a physical impossibilty, just that the studios can't or won't negotiate and play nice with each other long enough to do so.

On future Avengers and crossovers, well, I suppose the most obvious ones will come from the spin off movies: She Hulk, Falcon, Hercules or Beta Ray Bill, then add new stuff of Doc Stange, Ant Man et al. But since they're doing Thanos, while Warlock is the obvious choice, the first on to stop his universal destruction was Captain Marvel: an honerary Avenger and probably a better fit with easier to deal with baggage (and gives us Ms. Marvel) so I say go that route.

And I do have renewed hope for that Runaways movie.

 

[Right Hook]

I've known all of this for a really long time but really appreciate Bob going over it. Whenever I hear things like "Dude, the after-credits scene in Spider-Man is totally gonna be him joining The Avengers!" It drives me crazy, yeah it would be super awesome to get a team like The New Avengers together but you need to realize that it is currently impossible! I just want all the non Marvel Studio's movies to fail miserably, so maybe everyone else will just give up and hand the characters back without ruining them further. It is why I was actually kinda sad when First Class was awesome, "Great! Now I have to wait at least five more years to see Wolverine fight the Hulk!"

Disney should just bite the bullet and use their giant piles of money to get the characters back, I think I would finally be able to fully accept them as the overlords of the Marvel Universe if they did that.

 

[Aureliano]

In summation: copyright law is insane. The moment studios get complete control over an IP and cut the original creator out of the loop, that's the moment it stops making sense to me why any court in the country would rule in favor of this crap. And this is why we get a Spiderman movie that no sane person would ever want to be made.

 

[keneth231742]

I know it's not a huge comic, fame wise, but could someone please make a Dr.strange Movie

 

[Amaror]

The new x-men was low budget? That movie was awesome. Seemes like you don't have to spent THAT much money for a movie to turn out awesome.

 

[AdamRBi]

I was really hoping for more of an assessment on how studios handled translating widespread comic narrative of characters into a massively more popular medium; what elements they decide to strengthen, pull back, add, or outright drop as to make it more accessible to the movie demographics; but I guess that's not what Bob's best at.

Still though this is interesting enough, I actually had no clue how messy the movie rights for the marvel universe were.

 

[GeorgW]

The trailer for Spider Man was playing right before Avengers, and I got the feeling that the only reason they were doing it was to have Spiderman in 3D, but I guess your reason is much more logical. I wonder if it'd be worth it for Marvel to buy the licences back...
I've seen a lot of people talking about Antman, why do people want an Antman movie?
I'm hoping for a Dr. Strange movie, personally. Deadpool would be a lot of fun, but that could be hard.

 

[Baldr]

Columbia Pictures is a sub-branch of Sony Pictures(same as New Line is Warner Bros.)

So that just leaves X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil with Fox Studios, and Spider-man and Ghostrider with Sony.