Comics = Movies??

nightcrawler30 · Post by **nightcrawler30** » Fri Jan 23, 2004 10:36 pm

gaz pointed something out in the Hellboy thread. and it got me wondering. should hollywood producers keep making comicbook movies? voice your thought here.

Gaz · Post by **Gaz** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 1:23 am

I don't think they shouldn't. I just don't think that they should do every comic that ever existed, no matter how low the quality of the film.

Warbird · Post by **Warbird** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 2:09 am

I think that if they make too many more movies the market will become saturated and there will be a huge decline even in the most popular ones ie. Spiderman and X-Men. I think that they need to stop making them at this pace. All the ones set to come out over the next few years should be spaced over the next 10 to prevent a jading of the audience. I want the movies, but I want them to stay anticipated by the public so they do well. If they do well, they'll be made better and for a longer time.

scheherazade · Post by **scheherazade** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 3:28 am

They're definately flooding the market, and, with a neat little exponential decline, I'm predicting Hellboy won't go over well at all, nor the Punisher movie that's in production now (i think?)

InterNutter · Post by **InterNutter** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 6:41 am

I don't reckon they *should*, but they probably will regardless of what *I* reckon

Northstars Love · Post by **Northstars Love** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 7:17 am

Yes and no. I've enjoyed several comics to movies and visa versa. I believe Spiderman 2 and Predator vs. Alien will do very well. As for Hellboy. I don't know since I never read the book. Punisher? No comment.

This decade maybe remembered as the Comic to Screen Decade

Post by **Slarti** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:00 am

Originally posted by Gaz
I don't think they shouldn't.

Whaaa? *suffers in double negative hell* You do think they should? You think they dare don't?

I think this current comic movie trend will die, just as it has in the past. Think Superman 20 years ago. Think Batman 10. It's the same cycle over again, It will be over soon.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 4:33 pm

it's not that they are making the comics into movies that's bad, it's that SOME of those movies don't turn out so well. do you really want to say they should never make the X-Men or Spider-Man movies just becuase LXG sucked? I am not willing to make some stupid blanket statement that they should never make another comic movie jsut because a few of them have been below my expectations. yeah they're making a lot, but you know? the general public probably has NO IDEA that they are watching films based on comic books with the exception of the big name iconic properties. i doubt most people knew The Mask, MIB, Ghost World, From Hell or even LXG were based on comics. the fact of the matter is no one TRIES to make a bad movie. they make them because they think they will be good and/or sell. if the public doesn't agree that it was as good as they first thought it would be... well, it wasn't as if the studio tried to make a sub-par movie. they tried their best, it just didn't succeed. it doesn't mean they should stop trying with different comics/directors/writers. etc.

kurtlover · Post by **kurtlover** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 4:43 pm

Well, i think its a good idea to make movies based in comics, we need more comic readers, and sometimes a movie turns people into new comic readers, which is good for the industry.

Some movies can be seen as bad for us, because we are comic fans and our expectations are a big higher than the average movie viewers, but for them the movie might seem great, they got interested into the whole subject and they start to visit comic stores to see what's going on.

Even when its a small percentage of people than actually gets hooked up into comics after the movie, it stills being good.

nightcrawler30 · Post by **nightcrawler30** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 7:44 pm

if they do keep making comic movies what would t be. alot of the comic movies out today have already been made in the past like spiderman and punisher. if they keep making comic movies like they do, we will have a swimmming pool full. some comic movies would be kinda cool, but others we just don't need. like x-men they have done really good with that. and i hope they don't make the punisher movie has bad as the ine they made in the 90's. this dicussion can go any ways.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 9:12 pm

see, but that's the argument i don't get. who are YOU (or me) to say which ones we do or do not need? what you think will make a lame movie, someone else will love.

yeah, they've covered most of the main characters... but there are a whole lot of indy books that they may want to make. though i wasn't overly impressed with the comic (didn't get to know the characters at all, or their motivations) 30 Days of Night could make an awesome movie, i think... just for instance.

Crawler · Post by **Crawler** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 9:34 pm

Originally posted by nightcrawler30
if they keep making comic movies like they do, we will have a swimmming pool full. some comic movies would be kinda cool, but others we just don't need.

That can be said about ALL movies, though. And really, no movie really falls into the NEED category. I don't thnk there are many people out there that just *HAVE* to see every comic movie just because they're comic movies.

The reason that I will say Yes to this question is that it pumps money into the comics industry.

nightcrawler30 · Post by **nightcrawler30** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:25 pm

Originally posted by Crawler
The reason that I will say Yes to this question is that it pumps money into the comics industry.

that is true that the money is going to the comics indrustry and that is a very good thing, but on an interview with Stan Lee said all the money made from daredevil hulk, and spiderman are not going to him and jack kirby.

Bamfette · Post by **Bamfette** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:29 pm

yeah, and nor should they get the money. it's not like Marvel hasn't compensated Stan Lee in particular in other ways.

they don't own the characters. Marvel does. they are company owned properties. when Stan Lee etc. created characters for them, they were doing so as work for hire. they got payed a per-page rate, and Marvel retained ownership.

ah hell. i ranted about this already: http://nightscrawlers.com/forum/viewthr ... id33597767

SheCat · Post by **SheCat** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:45 pm

Quite honestly, I didn't even know X-Men was a comic book until I surfed the net after X2 and found the X-Men Next Dimension game. Then it took me three weeks to figure out it wasn't based on the movie because there were new characters, new stuff and they didn't correspond with the movie. Well, so sue, me, I am a bit slow. Duh to me.

I think they should, since it does pump money into the industry and the fairly-good ones are quite enjoyable, even to those who don't always know the comics.

Siona · Post by **Siona** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 7:10 pm

I think it's half and half; the Batman movies, no matter what you say, stunk. But the X-Men movies are great! And yet Batman has been around longer and used to be ten times more popular. And I think that just about everyone knows who Batman, Joker, Robin, and his whole group are, while most people still don't know who the heck Wolverine is.

So, to me, it really depends on a few factors:

1) The comics they're basing it on.
2) The actors, producer, director, etc.
3) Storyline.

It can come out in so many ways; a good comic being ruined by bad stories, actors, etc. A bad comic turning out to be a better movie than it was a comic! Or a good comic becoming even more popular due to a huge movie ((I.E., X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, etc.)). So many possibilities.

But I think that they're already tiring this out; Catwoman with Halle Berry is coming out sometime this or next year. Fantastic Four is already in line. There's an X3, Hellboy, LoEG sequel, and Spiderman 2 already in the works. I think it's going to end by at least 2006.

~Siona

nightcrawler30 · Post by **nightcrawler30** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 11:59 pm

Originally posted by Siona
Catwoman with Halle Berry is coming out sometime this or next year. Fantastic Four is already in line.
~Siona

whoa! i didn't expect a Catwoman movie. But i did know there was going to be a Fantastic Four movie. there was an old Fantastic four movie a little bit ago. than should the new FF movie be called Fantastic Four 2, just like the old spiderman movies?

Crawler · Post by **Crawler** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 12:50 am

You guys also should realize that there are a lot of movies that started as comics that aren't so obvious.

Road to Perdition, for example.

scheherazade · Post by **scheherazade** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 3:02 am

Ok, reading over the posts here, especially one Bamfette wrote, and i'm too lazy to find and quote, I was trying to think of a way to clarify my earlier statement. I said that there was a downword trend in comic book movies, and I was trying to think of a reason. I came upon this realization.

First off, All Batman movies (except for the last one, which wasn't directed by Tim Burton, so was not as good) And all the Superman movies were great. Well, maybe not all the Superman movies, but you get my drift. (oh, and for the person who said they hated the batman movies, Watch the first one again... I recently re-watched it for the first time in a long time, and was stunned by how good and disturbing it was) Batman 5 is in production (or pre-production) and, when it comes out, it will undoubtably do well.

Spiderman - Huge sucess
X-men - Huge sucess

Daredevil - ok
Hulk - Sunk

So, thinking about why I saw X-men and Spiderman gave me inspiration. I was excited when I heard about them because I, then not a comic reader, remembered the animated series from when I was little(er).

I think that has a lot to do with it, because the generation that grew up with these animated series are now the late teens-thirties (i think, I can't remember how long the shows ran, but batman/superman had gone on for a while) And that's the core audience for the movies.

Batman, superman, and spiderman, all have running cartoons that have been going on before the big burst of comic movies (Evo came out after the movie, right?) So the second target audience of kids wants to see the movies.

Hulk was a live action series. Evidently it's fan base was not nostalgic enough to boost up the sales.

The more I think about it, the more I think the existance of an animated series would help a movie. Example. Anyone here watch "Captain Planet" When they were young (admit it! you know you love the theme song!) Anyway. Cheesy cartoon. Cheesy premise. Goes along with all that super-moralistic kids' show stuff. If they came out with a movie of it tomorrow, I'd stand in line for tickets.

Damnit, now I have that stupid song stuck in my head.

I think it's a bad idea to make comics like Daredevil and Fantastic Four into movies because they don't have a mainstream, non-comic reading fanbase, and they are hard to get away from their superhero comic-book look and feel. (I take back what I said about Punisher, It could probably do well if it didn't seem comic-booky)

Well, that's enought making up terms for one day...

Dark Rose Siren · Post by **Dark Rose Siren** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 1:22 pm

i agree any movie, based on a comic, novel or other,really depends on the script,director,actors etc.
there are some directors who dont care about the characters, they want to do what they want.
the Batman movies are a good example- the 1st one was pretty good, but (i believe) 3 & 4 were not directed by Tim Burton-

SmoothBamf · Post by **SmoothBamf** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 12:08 am

I say yes

comic movies are like any ather movie some are good and some are bad

Tracker · Post by **Tracker** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 6:19 am

I said yes, only because some comics lend themselves well to being translated into a movie format. That being said, it also depends on who is involved in that process.

If you have a screewriter, director, producer and actors that genuinly(sp?) want to make a good film that can stand on its own, then by all means...keep making those movies.

However, I get sick and tired of Hollywood trying to make money off a badly done movie, relying on the comic's fan base to pick up the bill for production costs.

I guess what I'm saying, is while I cheer and applaude the X-mens, Spidermans, and Hellboys of Hollywood....I wince when we are subjected to the Hulks.