Can Comics Save The Movies?

[payne_n_diaz]

Batman Begins debut this weekend was a little short of the expectations of Movie Execs by bringing in only $71 Milliom since Wednesday. Bummer for them... Personally, I think it did pretty damned good for a relaunch of a movie franchise that has sucked ass with the last two films - Joel Shumacher should be ashamed for those travesties. Still, it brings about a good idea for discussion. Can comic book based material be profitable in the face of declining ticket sales?

Personally, I think that it can as long as producers remain true to the core material without taking too much artistic license that alienates the comic fan. TV shows like Smallville have shown how good material can be molded from years of historical cannon to make something fresh and exciting. Movies like Spiderman, X-Men and Fantastic 4 are breathing new life into the Marvel franchises and are generating interesting in properties from the big publishers and even the indies. Me personally, I will make it a point to check out a comic based movie because I am a fan and I like to see the pages brought to life on the screen. Some films I have avoided, simply because I felt it strayed too far from the base material - Constantine being the most recent film that comes to mind.

What do you think?

Comments

[stooge.livejournal.com]

Good points. Unfortunately it's $. As long as suckers like me who DID go see Constantine line up, they will continue to make more movies and money. It's all about money for the studios. I collected back in the day, and from that angle, there is nothing on the planet that could ever top Sin City's jump from page to screen. This is the only one I question whether Miller, Rodriguez, and Tarantino cared about the money. But now that it made money despite the "R" rating we have Sin City 2 (2006) on the way. The one thing that scares me is that I have never seen such saturation of superhero movies. They are just pumping them out. But I think in a nutshell that answers your question. With rare exceptions, the studios make a killing off superhero movies, and they will continue to do so until people catch on, much like what happened to the Batman franchise under Schumacher.

[sipperphoto.livejournal.com]

I agree with you there... I've never been a big comic book guy, but I agree that if the directors hold tru to the core story, then it can be really good. I have heard nothing but good things about Batman Returns, and I loved the 1st two Burton films. I thnk as a trio they will probably hold truest to the original material. At least as far as showing Bruce Wayne as a dark character.

Fantastic 4 looks to be interesting... I might just wait for video though.

Jeff