X-Men Director: Superhero Movies Are Dying

[wildcard9]

You know, for the past few weeks I've been arguing that Superhero movies are the new Westerns. A film genre so very American that it transcends simple culture lines and becomes an essential part of the American identity. We've always identified with superheroes like we did western heroes, but putting them on film has opened superheroes up to the mainstream more than in previous years much like how the original pulp cowboy novels became Westerns.

Of course, with every great A-list film in the genre you get a bad B movie. Westerns were popular fodder for B-movies back in the day and most left something to be desired. Eventually it came to the breaking point where the traditional Western was deconstructed and the new conventions took hold, eventually signaling the beginning of the decline of Westerns. Superhero movies are in that transitional period right now: once venerated film series and heroes such as X-Men are now reduced to cash-in B movie fodder, and B-list films are even worse (See Jonah Hex...Megan Fox...Why?!). We're now seeing deconstructions starting with The Dark Knight which was less a straight-up superhero film and more a dark, Noir thriller. This carried on with Watchmen and Kick-Ass which portrayed the hard, brutal truths of why real-life vigilantism wouldn't work.

Another parallel worth comparing: the 90's Dark Age. Rather coincidentally, it's Batman and the Watchmen that are ushering a new age of grim and gritty superhero films with Kick-Ass and the announced Superman Rebot in tow. Only time will tell how bad of a fall it'll be, but it won't be pretty.

I'm convinced that the Age of Superhero Movies is born and dies by Batman. It started with Burton's Batman in the 90's and ended with Shumaker's Batman and Robin. Nolan's Batman 3 (tentatively titled "The Caped Crusader" or "Gotham City") will be the last great Superhero film of the current generation: the Seccond Golden Age.

Oh, well: just like my beloved Westerns, I'll just enjoy the ride in the sunset while it lasts.

 

[gamefreakbsp]

Once DC kicks it up a notch and we hear rumors about a Justice League movie, we will be hearing him sing a different tune I bet.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

I get what he's trying to say but really i don't think he's right. Even if your not into comics, superhero movies represent the most intresting and creative form of action film today and the current generation are that of people largely raised on comics and of course the animated shows of the 80's and 90's so as long as superhero movies continue to be decent then i imagine we will continue to see them.

I am curious what he means by "quality control isn't what it should be". Is he saying that superhero movies are being rushed out? If so this might explain god awful crap like the wolverien movie.

 

[Callate]

I'm not tired of seeing good superhero movies, but I'll tell you this much: after The Last Stand and Wolverine, I'm not exactly bursting with anticipation for First Class.

 

[GoGo_Boy]

I think he's wrong.

All we want are good movies. I thoroughly enjoyed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as well as the first Spiderman movies (the third one to a degree ;p). Those are simply good movies just as the first Iron Man or Watchmen.
I can't have enough of those.

However I do not wanna see another Hulk, Dare Devil or Transformers movie (even though that's no Super Hero film).

Really as long as the quality is reasonable high I won't get sick watching them

 

[SinisterGehe]

Ofc... they are dying if the keep making crap Superhero movies, something that is crap usually ignites hate and disgust amongst audience (discluding 4chan people). Good movies do the opposite.

 

[Plinglebob]

The question in my mind is will we continue to see A-list actors and directors or will we get another Hulk (2003)?

I liked that film!

I think the reason Superhero films have gotten to be popular is because they are continuing a trend of "Blokes being macho" films that started with the Westerns, continued into the 80s with the big budget action films.

Edit:

I think he's wrong.

All we want are good movies. I thoroughly enjoyed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as well as the first Spiderman movies (the third one to a degree ;p). Those are simply good movies just as the first Iron Man or Watchmen.
I can't have enough of those.

However I do not wanna see another Hulk, Dare Devil or Transformers movie (even though that's no Super Hero film).

I liked Daredevil as well

The big thing I found with recent Superhero moves (less Watchmen and Batman) is rather then necessarily being good, they are "Fun". A lot of the time it seems that cinema has forgotten its supposed to be entertaining and along the way it lost its sense of humour and decided it can't have fun anymore. The Superhero films (for me anyway) reminded me that it doesn't matter if you arn't learning anything or there's no big meaning as long as you had fun and leave the cinema smiling. For example, I recently went to see Inception and The A-Team and while Inception was definitely the better film, I wouldn't go see it again for a while, but if I got a call asking me to see A-Team again tonight, I'd be running out the door.

 

[Baldry]

I sort of agree, I since most superheroes are being made into films eventually we'll run out of superheroes and will have to make original superheroes and that's not going to happen in this dimension.
But I think it'll be awhile before we run out of superheroes.!

 

[RvLeshrac]

It's because they keep doing them like superhero movies. That's why The Dark Knight worked so well, because it WASN'T like all the others. Supposedly The Green Lantern is gonna be that way too, I really hope so. I'm also getting tired of Superhero moves, not because there's too many, but because most of them just aren't that great.

Im going to have disagree with you on your first point. The dark knight succeeded because it was an awesome movie. Watchmen had the same tone and i don't even think that turned a profit. I have to agree that hollywood has a follow the leader style of making movies. alien invasion movies were all the rage for awhile, then brooding anti-heroes, quirky scientists etc.

<a href=http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=watchmen.htm>Watchmen turned a pretty good profit, but not as good as, say, <a href=http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=darkknight.htm>The Dark Knight* is because Watchmen failed to uphold the first tenet of modern superhero films: Don't treat comic-book fans like they're mindless cash-machines.

There's always room for a good film, crafted by a good development crew, regardless of subject. The wall they're running into is the same wall that was hit when the first Superman films were made: the wall of crap, made of films like Spider-Man 3 and X-Men: TLS.

Vaughn definitely has a point; for the past ten years we have been beaten to death by superhero films and in 2012 we're going to have the final chapter in Nolan's Batman saga.

This is the other problem with superhero films: If this is the last Batman film from Nolan, then why the fuck should I, as someone with the money to pay for a film, care enough to go see it in a theatre? They'll just reboot it with another director later, and what I've invested in it will be lost.

There's a reason the most-read comic book franchises are "ancient," at least in film-years. They have massive living worlds. The same authors work on them for decades, and know their creations inside and out. With a film, Random McJackass walks in, craps out a script, and might never be heard from again. Even if the script is world-changing, it will be hacked to death by studio execs and other writers before it ever sees the light of a camera**.

When someone commits to making 30 X-Men films, from the top of the story, call me. Until then, I'll wait and watch things on Netflix.

*As Kevin Smith has pointed out, "Not turning much of a profit" doesn't mean anything in Hollywood. You either turn a profit, or you don't. If you make so much as $1, your film was a success.

**See: The Latest Superman

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Not 'till we get a Deadpool movie it isn't!

 

[Worgen]

how the hell do you have a thing about super hero movies dying and not mention iron man? as I understand both movies were pretty successful and they should be since they both kicked ass

 

[rayen020]

it's really gonna come down to how good the movies are. everytime there's a good comic book hero movie the intrest rises, everytime theres a bad one it wanes. if thor is good lots will see iron man 3 and captian america. if both those are good the avengers will be selling out. However if one of them flops then the successor will suffer for it. as far as DC goes i think green latern is getting put out to test the waters for some of their more obscure superheros. the ones people know about but aren't on par with batman or superman. if latern does well i expect to wonderwoman and flash before a JLA movie. DC is nothing if not dragging on marvels coat tails.

 

[wolf92]

Yeah I can see were he's coming from
Just think about how many superhero movies have come out within the last ten years. It's getting old

 

[FinalDream]

Is there something about superheroes that will turn people off even if all of the movies coming out are actually worth seeing? I personally don't think so, but then I actually read comic books, so I look forward to good comic book movies.

Um yeah, I am only interested in the mainstream superhero movies like Batman and X-Men. Obscure (to me) stuff like Thor and the Green Lantern are a no go. They sound, well, rather stupid.

 

[Altorin]

If they continue to make them engaging enough, the hardcore will always go. And the hardcore WILL bring their friends.

 

[lacktheknack]

Well, I passed on Spiderman 3 due to disinterest, so I'll go with him being right.

 

[RangerSERE]

True, but then again movie interest come in waves. This happens to be the super hero variety...of course what makes money changes in such a business, who is stupid enough to believe super hero movies will be popular forever?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Cheap shit cash-in films about superheroes will fall to the wayside, sure. Even the overpriced, overhyped (I'm lookin at you, original Spider Man trilogy and Hulk movies) titles will fall.
The truth of the matter is that it only takes one raving success to start the process up all over again though, no matter what genre.
Besides, we've had (arguably) worse superhero movies than the last "genre killer" Batman and Robin, and it hasn't died yet.

I'm in agreement about the Avengers movie though; I think it will do decently financially, but the story will spread itself too thin and the movie will suffer for it.
Iron Man 1 and 2 worked out well because in the midst of all that action and Stark-snark is this little known thing called Character Development. I'll even grant that the original Spider Man movie had decent character development.
Once you put all of those heroes into the same pot and stir however, you end up with the X-Men movies; too many heroes doing too many things for the audience to care.

 

[Smokescreen]

FTA:
"in some cases the quality control is not what it's supposed to be."

Yeah. That's how it works; you make shitty movies and we don't go to them.