Marvel: The Biggest Risk in Hollywood Part 1
It’s been stated that Marvel Studios does not
take risks and they only makes a series of safe generic popcorn
films. This idea is wrong. While the Marvel films are on the fun
side of storytelling, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is far from safe.
Marvel tapped into a market that comic fans have been clamoring for since
Richard Donner’s Superman (1978).
These connected universes existed in comics since
their rise to popularity in the early 20th century. The
comic universes became more defined in the 1980s by the more popular
publishers DC and Marvel. In the 70s/80s Superman gave us 3 films
and also made a guest appearance in a Richard Prior film. By 1989 it was
time for Tim Burton’s Batman which resulted in another 4 films until the franchise
became holy-bat-nippley stagnant.
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| If a Batman/Superman film was released mid 90s it would have been the biggest blockbuster of the decade....well after Titanic. |
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| We still like him better than Michael Bay |
Like clockwork 11 years later we got Bryan
Singer’s X-Men (2000) which kicked off the superhero film pandemic. From
there we got a slew of Marvel properties being produced by multiple film
studios. The main reason stated for this slew of comic movies was special
effects became more accessible and affordable with the use of digital
effects. In reality, Marvel was selling the film rights for almost all their
properties to anyone with sacks of money to help recover from a bankruptcy in
1996.
What we got were mediocre films like Daredevil
(2003), Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (some people love it, I think it’s just
a remake of Superman with webs), Ghost Rider (2007), and Ang Lee’s Hulk (2003).
After the initial appeal of comic movies started to die down in Hollywood due
to mixed reviews and poorly made films, Marvel with some help from producer and
hero to all nerds Kevin Feige convinced them they controlled film rights to
enough of their superheroes to produce their own films. Marvel also
decided to keep the rights to the any properties that reverted back to their
possession.
Thus they laid out their very simple plan.
Make five blockbuster hits! It couldn't be more simple. They would produce Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron
Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and then
combine them all into one huge movie called The Avengers (2012). What the
@#$%^&*!? Does that sound simple to you? Are there any studios
out there that can make 5 blockbuster films in a row? Most film
franchises of any nature teeter-out after the third installment. Marvel
did something no studio ever attempted.
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| Kevin Feige is the secretary treasurer of all nerds in the world. |
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| No one believed American could be the Russians in Hockey, no one believed Marvel could pull off an Avengers film. |
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| Somehow the simple stories resonate the loudest and leave the greatest impression. |
If any of those Phase 1 Marvel movies tanked it
would have spelled defeat for the possibility of an Avengers film. The
ultimate dream of any comic fan was seeing all of their heroes and villains
united together in one ultimate movie. Marvel delivered that in spades
when the first Avengers was released. It was such an ultimate megahit
that now all the film studios are trying to jump on the bandwagon without
understanding how Marvel did it.
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| Some films fail because a studio hires a Director that doesn't understand the core meaning of the film. |
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
