Superhero film
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Superhero film is a fantasy, science fiction or horror genre film that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, which are individuals, who possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person. These films are almost always action-oriented, and the first film of a particular character often includes a focus on the origin of the special powers including the first fight against the character's most famous supervillain enemy. The plot typically revolves the efforts of the superheroes to thwart some dire peril of significant consequence.
Although the majority of superhero movies are adapted from comic books, there are a number of notable exceptions like RoboCop.
Contents |
History
Early years
Almost immediately after superheroes rose to prominence in comic books, they were adapted into Saturday movie serials aimed at children, starting with 1941's The Adventures of Captain Marvel, which has been hailed as the best example of the film format.Template:Fact Serials featuring The Phantom, Batman, Superman and Captain America followed. These films were successful despite their limited budgets, primitive special effects, silly plotlines and dialogues.
In the coming decades, the decline of Saturday serials and turmoil in the comic book industry put an end to superhero motion pictures, with exception of edited together episodes of the television series Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves that were released theatrically and 1966's Batman, a big-screen extension of the television series.
In 1978, Richard Donner directed Superman, which is considered the first modern superhero film. The film won praise for its lavish production values with state-of-the-art special effects that enhanced Christopher Reeve's sincere performance as Superman and John Williams's majestic and often imitated film score. The film was followed soon after by 1980's Superman II, which was extraordinarily successful and set a new artistic standard for the genre. The Superman movies had begun a new era of superhero films.
The Superman film series continued with 1983's Superman III, but began to decline in profitability and critical respect until 1987's Superman IV: The Quest For Peace flopped. However, that year also saw the debut of RoboCop, a highly successful original superhero film inspired by Toei's Metal Hero Series, and Uchuu Keiji Gavan. It was praised for its intelligent satire, exciting action and a touching feel of humanity in the title character.
Later years
In 1989, the film Batman directed by Tim Burton, was the first attempt to create a superhero film with the darker mood of recent comic books. Praised set designs by Anton Furst, and acclaimed performances from Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker made the film a model for later superhero movies. It was then followed by 1992's Batman Returns, though it was the last one to be directed by Tim Burton and to star Michael Keaton as Batman. Another immediate influence was 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It surpassed comic book fans' expectations with a story based more on the original comics than the animated television seriesTemplate:Fact. It would be followed by 1991's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and 1993's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, though both were not as critically successful as the original.
The Batman film series continued, under Joel Schumacher's direction, with 1995's Batman Forever grossing millions and drawing several star actors, though like the Superman film series, began to decline in critical success, until 1997's Batman and Robin became a critical and commercial failure. However, many consider it influential since its failure discredited the mocking tone of the 1960s television series and encouraged film makers to treat the source material more seriously. Nevertheless, in the short term, the underperformance of this film, along with unsuccessful movies based on The Shadow, The Phantom and The Rocketeer (all three period pieces, inspired by the sense of fun and adventure from the Indiana Jones movies), made movie studios nervous about superhero movies.
The new golden era
Several movies based on Marvel Comics characters began production in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The company had a minor success with 1998's Blade, (which was styled more along the lines of a horror or martial arts film than a full superhero film), but 2000's blockbuster X-Men opened the door once again to highly successful superhero movies and 2002's Spider-Man broke the record for money grossed in a film's opening five days.
X-Men and Spider-Man led to a widespread revival, which included 2003's Daredevil and it's spin-off Elektra, Hulk and X2: X-Men United; 2004's Punisher, Hellboy and Spider-Man 2; and 2005’s Batman Begins (a reboot of the Batman franchise) and Fantastic Four, which met with varying degrees of critical and commercial success.
Some original films took an unusual look at the superhero genre. 2000’s Unbreakable is a dark tale about a man who learns from a mysterious comic book dealer that he is destined to become a modern day superhero. Pixar's digitally-animated The Incredibles combined a more comedic, but affectionate approach with commentary on the superhero genre and its history, while Sky High successfully created a fusion of the superhero and teen comedy genres.
In 2006, the success of the genre continued with X-Men: The Last Stand, the third installment of the X-Men films, opening with tremendous financial, if mixed critical success while Superman Returns, a follow-up to Superman II (retconning films three and four) was more critically successful, although not as financially successful. Likewise, the 2007 success of the film adaptation of Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage, despite critical dismissal, has led to suggestions that the numerous minor superhero properties could have similar commercial potential if presented and marketed skillfully while the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchise was successfully revived with the release of TMNT. Spider-Man 3 was released in May 2007, toppling box-office records, but just like the third film of the X-Men film series, received a critical response much less warm than the previous two films while Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was considered marginally better than its predecessor.
Upcoming projects
As of 2007, many superhero films are in development. Upcoming Reboots of the Hulk and The Punisher franchises include The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone from Marvel Comics' roster; Batman will be returning in the highly anticipated Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight, and a possible Superman Returns sequel is in pre-production stages.
There are two prequels to the X-Men trilogy in the works/ X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film about the background of Wolverine, is currently shooting and is scheduled for a May 1, 2009 release. Also, a film about Magneto, tentatively titled simply Magneto is currently scripting.
New franchises include the eponymous adaptations of Iron Man – Iron Man – and Wonder Woman – Wonder Woman, to be produced by Joel Silver – as well as new adaptations of The Phantom, The Shadow and Mandrake the Magician. Meanwhile, the classic Japanese superhero franchise, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (best known for its heavily edited version, Battle of the Planets) is in production for an animated feature film adaptation.
Numerous other relatively obscure properties such as the Doom Patrol are also in undergoing adaptation. There have been rumors of film adaptations of characters such as Iron Fist (said to star Ray Park) and Deadpool (in which David S. Goyer and, according to Goyer, Christopher Nolan are interested), although they have not been confirmed.
Parody
As superhero films have increasingly become more prevalent in the film industry, they have become targets for parody. Kevin Smith's 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, parodies film companies' seemingly compulsive purchase of comic book film rights, like the fictional comic book Bluntman and Chronic. In the film, the character Brodie Bruce rather accurately, if bluntly, describes the process: "After X-Men hit at the box office, the movie companies started buying out all the comic books they could get their dirty little hands on". Mark Hammil's 2004 parody Comic Book: The Movie, about a comic book fan and a film adaptation of his favorite character, was released direct-to-video and achieved mild success, garnering a cult following among comic book readers. Craig Mazin is directing the more direct parody Superhero Movie, set for release in 2008, which will parody several superhero films.
Attractions of the genre
Despite critics' and fans' complaints about Hollywood milking an idea dry, the comic book superhero has become a promising subject for blockbuster filmmaking. Even without highly expensive stars, the film is likely to get some level of attention with its distinctive visual style. Furthermore the serial nature of their source material makes story material for sequels easy to come by with major characters often having decades of stories to use for adaptations. The producers of the Daredevil and Sin City film adaptations took that source further and used the pages themselves as preliminary storyboards to help establish the films' visuals and action.
See also
- List of films based on comics
- List of films based on DC Comics
- List of films based on Marvel Comics
- Superhero live-action television series
Notes and citations
External links
- Superhero movies on DVD
- Comic Book Movie, a news website devoted to movies adapted from comics
- Superhero Hype, a news website devoted to any media adapted from superheroes
- Agent DVD, Contains a discussion about superhero movies with comic book creators, and a poll to choose the best film.
- Superheroes Lives, Live-action movies based on comics characters or just superheroes movies. The most complete database of every superhero film made in the whole world with a lot of screenshots
- Superheroes Lives, Live action movies based on international superheroes movies database.
