Amph Superhero Overload?

Duran Duran

 

sirhan sirhan

 

Pizza pizza.

 

So with the recent success of Black Panther (which my son and I saw despite our rule about "no more superhero movies") and the approaching storm of Infinity War (which we'll also see), I started thinking again for the first time in quite a while about the superhero overload concept of this thread.

Everyone knows that Marvel has had a better run of success than DC, but I decided to check the numbers to really see the discrepancy. MCU movies are obviously highlighted in yellow, while DC movies are circled in red. I included Spider-Man Homecoming as MCU even though it was co-released with Sony, while the other Spider-Man movie on here is circled in blue as a superhero movie that is neither MCU or DC. It's interesting, because while my own general feeling of overload is still there, I am fine with those recent exceptions I mentioned above (and those are both for MCU movies). Marvel seem to be unimpacted by any sense of audience fatigue, while WB and DC seem unable to have great numbers recently no matter what they do.





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That list says more about the Disney takeover of global box office than it says about anything else. Half of the top 30 movies of all time. All but one released since 2010. 9 of them since 2015.

There's no sign of superhero fatigue, Star Wars fatigue or Disney fatigue, just an endless parade of sequels out to the horizon and beyond, with a vast global audience lined up to buy tickets.

 

A big concern for the current DCEU is that whatever the budget, from $100 milllion to $200 million+ they all perform fairly close together.

 

fixed

 

Right. Inflation and the growth of a consumer culture in Asia accounts almost entirely for the recency of movies at the top of the list, but Disney is still dominating that new landscape.

 

True. But they didn't like The Last Jedi, which had a character specifically made for them, so Disney hasn't found the perfect magic key yet. Luckily.

 

Just to revisit this point now that Infinity War has come out... Infinity War made more money in its opening weekend than Justice League did during its entire theatrical run.

 

By the end of the day yesterday, its 5th day of U.S. release, Infinity War made more money worldwide than the entire theatrical run of Wonder Woman.

 

That's pretty much. When you have something to market and people still like it, you keep putting it out. There's a demand. If original works were doing well and creative ideas were the way to go, then that's what studios would put out there. But they don't do well. People LOVE familiarity and, as it would seem, in this day and age where people want instant gratification, they don't seem willing to give other new properties a chance.

Marvel's intra-franchises (Iron Man, Avengers, Cap, Thor) keep rising with the third installments topping the first by a LONG shot. Why deviate from that.

 

Can we all die

 

Makes sense. It's been a world that's been built for a decade and now fans want to see the climax of all the stories that have been put in place over the last decade.

 

Right, I see why Marvel is successful with this movie, given the build-up and previous movies' success. But it's really just to point out how unsuccessful DC is lately, since they were trying to take a quick path to catch up with the MCU by trying to emulate the same "must-see combination of characters" in Justice League that worked for the Avengers movies.

 

I don't think DC/WB rushed Justice League into theaters, per se. What I mean by that is, the MCU had five movies that proceeded The Avengers with Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America: The First Avengers. The DCFU also had five films that proceeded Justice League in Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman. The biggest difference between the two franchises is Kevin Feige (or a Kevin Feige type figure head). And Justice League really didn't need films to set it up as the X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy have proven. Additionally, because of the cartoons like "Super Friends" and Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and even Aquaman being household names, the DCFU had that advantage with their characters for a Justice League film. It just needs to be well written and directed. If it weren't the the Writers' Strike ten years ago and subsequently, Christopher Nolan, DC would have produced George Miller's Justice League Mortal.

So, if the X-Men franchise could withstand movies like X3: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the DCFU could withstand the Snyderverse's deconstruction of its characters. I mean, we're not talking Fant4stic or Inhumans here.

As for superhero overload, I experienced it on the TV side of things as the CW's DCTV pretty much dominated this past TV season, with Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Black Lightning. Not to mention of super hero TV shows on the air like Legion, The Gifted, Gotham, Agents of SHIELD and Inhumans and of course there's Netflix's The Defenders, The Punisher and Jessica Jones (and Stranger Things). So, I missed out on The Runaways, Krypton and other shows. I plan to catch up on The Runaways and Krypton next month, along with checking out Cloak and Dagger.

 

I haven't seen any DC movies since Wonder Woman and have not yet seen Black Panther or Infinity War, but I still feel unclean. I'm told a real purge/cleanse takes about 18-24 months.

 

You'll never go that long without a relapse.

 

Yup. Just like these "I'm a Marvel and I'm a DC" YouTube videos that have been going on for years.

 

My first scheduled relapse is Incredibles 2.