Are superhero movies finally becoming less profitable among audiences?

[Mr. Smith]

It's not a "take." It's an objective fact that those films took zero effort to write, storyboard, produce, film, or act in. They're the dumbest things ever to infest the theaters and they are enjoyed almost exclusively by an army of neckbearded man-children who collect Funko Pop dolls and will watch literally anything that has their favorite brand logo on the poster. Rogue One is also one of the worst films ever made, if not the absolute worst (relative to its budget).

Wow! I doubt that even the most jaded Academy members and movie critics reek so much of elitism.
I guess your idea of a fun evening is watching social dramas from third world countries about the evils of post-colonialism and character studies about drug addicts who try to battle their inner demons.

There are plenty of great action movies. Why can’t Marvel neckbeards conceive of the fact that people just hate their movies, and it doesn’t have anything to do with “elitism?” It’s like they know there’s no artistic defense of these films and so they just call anyone who dislikes them “biased.” You don’t see this type of pathetic parasocial excuse-making from any other fan community.

Saying you don't like Marvel films is one thing. Angrily denouncing them as worse than Hitler is another.

I don't recall ever saying such a thing. Though to be fair, Triumph of the Will has more artistic merit than anything Marvel has ever produced.

𐐙𐐨𐑌𐐼  𐐖𐐩𐑆𐐮𐑆!

[Landslide Lyndon]

I don't recall ever saying such a thing. Though to be fair, Triumph of the Will has more artistic merit than anything Marvel has ever produced.

Did Kevin Feige steal your girlfriend or something like that?
That would explain your Marvel Derangement Syndrome.

[John Dule]

It's not a "take." It's an objective fact that those films took zero effort to write, storyboard, produce, film, or act in. They're the dumbest things ever to infest the theaters and they are enjoyed almost exclusively by an army of neckbearded man-children who collect Funko Pop dolls and will watch literally anything that has their favorite brand logo on the poster. Rogue One is also one of the worst films ever made, if not the absolute worst (relative to its budget).

Wow! I doubt that even the most jaded Academy members and movie critics reek so much of elitism.
I guess your idea of a fun evening is watching social dramas from third world countries about the evils of post-colonialism and character studies about drug addicts who try to battle their inner demons.

There are plenty of great action movies. Why can’t Marvel neckbeards conceive of the fact that people just hate their movies, and it doesn’t have anything to do with “elitism?” It’s like they know there’s no artistic defense of these films and so they just call anyone who dislikes them “biased.” You don’t see this type of pathetic parasocial excuse-making from any other fan community.

Saying you don't like Marvel films is one thing. Angrily denouncing them as worse than Hitler is another.

I don't recall ever saying such a thing. Though to be fair, Triumph of the Will has more artistic merit than anything Marvel has ever produced.

𐐙𐐨𐑌𐐼  𐐖𐐩𐑆𐐮𐑆!

𐐏𐐬𐑆𐐯𐑁 𐐝𐑋𐐮𐑃 𐐶𐐲𐑆 𐐩 𐑊𐐴𐐲𐑉

[John Dule]

I don't recall ever saying such a thing. Though to be fair, Triumph of the Will has more artistic merit than anything Marvel has ever produced.

Did Kevin Feige steal your girlfriend or something like that?
That would explain your Marvel Derangement Syndrome.

It's an objective fact. The camerawork in that film was innovative and it pushed the craft of filmmaking forward. Marvel has never done anything that cutting-edge. So in a way, yes, Marvel has been worse for cinema than Hitler was.

[Landslide Lyndon]

It's an objective fact.

There is no such thing if we are talking about art.
Your ignorance is showing.

[John Dule]

It's an objective fact.

There is no such thing if we are talking about art.
Your ignorance is showing.

But we're not talking about art. We're talking about comic book movies.

[Landslide Lyndon]

It's an objective fact.

There is no such thing if we are talking about art.
Your ignorance is showing.

But we're not talking about art. We're talking about comic book movies.

A kid making a doodle on a paper is art.
Your ignorance is really overwhelming.

[John Dule]

Why should I be surprised that talking to Lyndon about film is just as unproductive as talking to him about politics?

If you like those dumbass Marvel movies, defend them. Explain why you think they're examples of good storytelling and make cogent arguments. I understand that your posting ability is limited to uncreative ad-hominems, but at this point you're not even trying to justify your position.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Why should I be surprised that talking to Lyndon about film is just as unproductive as talking to him about politics?

If you like those dumbass Marvel movies, defend them. Explain why you think they're examples of good storytelling and make cogent arguments. I understand that your posting ability is limited to uncreative ad-hominems, but at this point you're not even trying to justify your position.

So much anger.

[John Dule]

Why should I be surprised that talking to Lyndon about film is just as unproductive as talking to him about politics?

If you like those dumbass Marvel movies, defend them. Explain why you think they're examples of good storytelling and make cogent arguments. I understand that your posting ability is limited to uncreative ad-hominems, but at this point you're not even trying to justify your position.

So much anger.

Just explain your opinion, dude. Is it really that hard?

[Comrade Funk]

Hopefully.

[Stockdale for Veep]

Marvel movies are like bumper bowling. It's fun to do every once and awhile. But, if you never have any real stakes/chance of losing, what's the point?

Also, they're 99% for kids, which is ok.

[Antonio the Sixth]

As every popculture fad in the past two decades, it's been milked to death by cynical studios churning out mediocre crap after mediocre crap until audiences got sick of it. It's a real shame too, because superheroes as a concept are a fantastic tool to critique society and human psychology. But that requires people putting actual thought into their stories rather than just looking for a quick cash grab. The current, increasingly oligopolistic studio system basically incentivizes playing it safe and putting as little creativity into a story as possible. We still have a few directors and screenwriters pushing bravely against the rising tide of mediocrity, but their fight is looking more and more desperate.

[THG]

The latest comic book movies underperformed because they were mediocre and featured B-level characters. If Guardians 3 is as good as expected then all this talk about comic book movie fatigue will look pretty silly, again.

That's the MCU's secret; they're always mediocre.

I'm frankly tired of all this snobbish criticism of the MCU. The same arrogant dismissal of genre movies has been the norm forever whether it was westerns and film noirs in the 40s and 50s, sci-fi and action movies in the 70's and 80's, or comic book movies in the 21st century.

Few considered Sergio Leone or John Wayne to be mediocre back in the day. And I don’t think that 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters, The Terminator, Alien, the original Predator, or even the original Star Wars (as overrated as that film is) were ever on the same level as the MCU.

And every film I named above was actually original. You know, as silly as something as the original Space Jam was (not the LeBeron one, the Jordan one from the 1990’s), atleast it was an original idea, albeit with existing characters and real life figures. That alone makes it better than most blockbusters released today. Such a movie would never be made today.

The worst thing about cinema since the 2010’s is the total lack of originality. Even the 2000’s had a great amount of original movies. But now? People are clamoring to watch Avatar and Top Gun sequels, that’s how un-original and derivative cinema is nowadays.

[VBM]

The latest comic book movies underperformed because they were mediocre and featured B-level characters. If Guardians 3 is as good as expected then all this talk about comic book movie fatigue will look pretty silly, again.

That's the MCU's secret; they're always mediocre.

I'm frankly tired of all this snobbish criticism of the MCU. The same arrogant dismissal of genre movies has been the norm forever whether it was westerns and film noirs in the 40s and 50s, sci-fi and action movies in the 70's and 80's, or comic book movies in the 21st century.

Few considered Sergio Leone or John Wayne to be mediocre back in the day. And I don’t think that 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters, The Terminator, Alien, the original Predator, or even the original Star Wars (as overrated as that film is) were ever on the same level as the MCU.

And every film I named above was actually original. You know, as silly as something as the original Space Jam was (not the LeBeron one, the Jordan one from the 1990’s), atleast it was an original idea, albeit with existing characters and real life figures. That alone makes it better than most blockbusters released today. Such a movie would never be made today.

The worst thing about cinema since the 2010’s is the total lack of originality. Even the 2000’s had a great amount of original movies. But now? People are clamoring to watch Avatar and Top Gun sequels, that’s how un-original and derivative cinema is nowadays.

As more and more movies are made, it becomes harder to find an original idea that could actually land with the audience. Not every movie needs to be original anyways. Sometimes it’s nice to know what to expect from a movie

[VBM]

We can only hope. But I still won't rest until every last copy of the MCU movies is tracked down and destroyed.

We can only hope! But can we spare the first Iron Man? I feel like that's probably the only MCU movie I'd rewatch willingly.

That film is responsible for the catastrophe that followed.

Yeah, but at least it feels like it's somewhat grounded in reality. It doesn't just throw Norse gods, space aliens, Russian spies, big green monsters, witches, mutants, WWII veterans, and magicians into one big disgusting melting pot. I honestly think it's impossible to like those Avengers movies unless you have some degree of ADHD.

Stop being a Marvel apologist.

Lol. I admit, while I don't hate that first Iron Man movie, I can't bring myself to watch it these days. It's become so tainted that I can't get anything out of it anymore.

I don't have a problem with it personally, but its impact on American culture has been so terrible that it isn't worth it. There are other good movies that have resulted in terrible things (Star Wars is a great example), but Iron Man ain't good enough in its own right to have been worth all that came later.

Lol, what terrible impact has it had on American culture?

[Landslide Lyndon]

As more and more movies are made, it becomes harder to find an original idea that could actually land with the audience. Not every movie needs to be original anyways. Sometimes it’s nice to know what to expect from a movie

Yeah, originality is good but not the be-all, end-all, in a movie. "Creed" was amazing despite the fact that it was the seventh chapter in the Rocky franchise.
And I doubt that the wider audiences crave for original films. If they were then perfectly good and entertaining movies like "The Nice Guys" or "Booksmart" wouldn't have bombed in the box office.

[THG]

The latest comic book movies underperformed because they were mediocre and featured B-level characters. If Guardians 3 is as good as expected then all this talk about comic book movie fatigue will look pretty silly, again.

That's the MCU's secret; they're always mediocre.

I'm frankly tired of all this snobbish criticism of the MCU. The same arrogant dismissal of genre movies has been the norm forever whether it was westerns and film noirs in the 40s and 50s, sci-fi and action movies in the 70's and 80's, or comic book movies in the 21st century.

Few considered Sergio Leone or John Wayne to be mediocre back in the day. And I don’t think that 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters, The Terminator, Alien, the original Predator, or even the original Star Wars (as overrated as that film is) were ever on the same level as the MCU.

And every film I named above was actually original. You know, as silly as something as the original Space Jam was (not the LeBeron one, the Jordan one from the 1990’s), atleast it was an original idea, albeit with existing characters and real life figures. That alone makes it better than most blockbusters released today. Such a movie would never be made today.

The worst thing about cinema since the 2010’s is the total lack of originality. Even the 2000’s had a great amount of original movies. But now? People are clamoring to watch Avatar and Top Gun sequels, that’s how un-original and derivative cinema is nowadays.

Not every movie needs to be original anyways.

I agree. The problem is that almost no movies are original nowadays, particularly big blockbusters. And I think that’s a shame.

[John Dule]

I'll just post this chart again, in case anyone seriously thinks the franchise film takeover isn't real:



X axis is years since 2000. Y axis is the percentage of weeks out of that given year in which the highest-grossing movie in America was an original film. Note the equilibrium up until the mid-to-late 2010s, followed by a rapid divergence as soon as the MCU kicked into full swing. 2020 is an anomaly because theaters were mostly shut down.

[DaleCooper]

We can only hope. But I still won't rest until every last copy of the MCU movies is tracked down and destroyed.

We can only hope! But can we spare the first Iron Man? I feel like that's probably the only MCU movie I'd rewatch willingly.

That film is responsible for the catastrophe that followed.

Yeah, but at least it feels like it's somewhat grounded in reality. It doesn't just throw Norse gods, space aliens, Russian spies, big green monsters, witches, mutants, WWII veterans, and magicians into one big disgusting melting pot. I honestly think it's impossible to like those Avengers movies unless you have some degree of ADHD.

Stop being a Marvel apologist.

Lol. I admit, while I don't hate that first Iron Man movie, I can't bring myself to watch it these days. It's become so tainted that I can't get anything out of it anymore.

I don't have a problem with it personally, but its impact on American culture has been so terrible that it isn't worth it. There are other good movies that have resulted in terrible things (Star Wars is a great example), but Iron Man ain't good enough in its own right to have been worth all that came later.

Lol, what terrible impact has it had on American culture?

The only cinema people enjoy now is crap associated with a recognizable brand. This is a direct result of the Marvel obsession.

[VBM]

We can only hope. But I still won't rest until every last copy of the MCU movies is tracked down and destroyed.

We can only hope! But can we spare the first Iron Man? I feel like that's probably the only MCU movie I'd rewatch willingly.

That film is responsible for the catastrophe that followed.

Yeah, but at least it feels like it's somewhat grounded in reality. It doesn't just throw Norse gods, space aliens, Russian spies, big green monsters, witches, mutants, WWII veterans, and magicians into one big disgusting melting pot. I honestly think it's impossible to like those Avengers movies unless you have some degree of ADHD.

Stop being a Marvel apologist.

Lol. I admit, while I don't hate that first Iron Man movie, I can't bring myself to watch it these days. It's become so tainted that I can't get anything out of it anymore.

I don't have a problem with it personally, but its impact on American culture has been so terrible that it isn't worth it. There are other good movies that have resulted in terrible things (Star Wars is a great example), but Iron Man ain't good enough in its own right to have been worth all that came later.

Lol, what terrible impact has it had on American culture?

The only cinema people enjoy now is crap associated with a recognizable brand. This is a direct result of the Marvel obsession.

Huh? People liking Marvel movies doesn't prevent them from liking good, original movies. No one's forcing you guys to watch Marvel movies, so I don't see why this is an issue. Just let people watch what they want to watch.

[Badger]

The Dungeons & Dragons movie is apparently selling out a huge time. Was supposed to go this evening with my wife, kids, and some friends, but the 6:45 showing was sold out. Going to go tomorrow and make sure to buy her tickets in advance.

Not Superhero by strictest definition, but at least the first cousin. Just saying

[Mr. Smith]

It's not a "take." It's an objective fact that those films took zero effort to write, storyboard, produce, film, or act in. They're the dumbest things ever to infest the theaters and they are enjoyed almost exclusively by an army of neckbearded man-children who collect Funko Pop dolls and will watch literally anything that has their favorite brand logo on the poster. Rogue One is also one of the worst films ever made, if not the absolute worst (relative to its budget).

Wow! I doubt that even the most jaded Academy members and movie critics reek so much of elitism.
I guess your idea of a fun evening is watching social dramas from third world countries about the evils of post-colonialism and character studies about drug addicts who try to battle their inner demons.

There are plenty of great action movies. Why can’t Marvel neckbeards conceive of the fact that people just hate their movies, and it doesn’t have anything to do with “elitism?” It’s like they know there’s no artistic defense of these films and so they just call anyone who dislikes them “biased.” You don’t see this type of pathetic parasocial excuse-making from any other fan community.

Saying you don't like Marvel films is one thing. Angrily denouncing them as worse than Hitler is another.

I don't recall ever saying such a thing. Though to be fair, Triumph of the Will has more artistic merit than anything Marvel has ever produced.

𐐙𐐨𐑌𐐼  𐐖𐐩𐑆𐐮𐑆!

𐐏𐐬𐑆𐐯𐑁 𐐝𐑋𐐮𐑃 𐐶𐐲𐑆 𐐩 𐑊𐐴𐐲𐑉

Not relevant here.  

The latest comic book movies underperformed because they were mediocre and featured B-level characters. If Guardians 3 is as good as expected then all this talk about comic book movie fatigue will look pretty silly, again.

That's the MCU's secret; they're always mediocre.

I'm frankly tired of all this snobbish criticism of the MCU. The same arrogant dismissal of genre movies has been the norm forever whether it was westerns and film noirs in the 40s and 50s, sci-fi and action movies in the 70's and 80's, or comic book movies in the 21st century.

Few considered Sergio Leone or John Wayne to be mediocre back in the day. And I don’t think that 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters, The Terminator, Alien, the original Predator, or even the original Star Wars (as overrated as that film is) were ever on the same level as the MCU.

And every film I named above was actually original. You know, as silly as something as the original Space Jam was (not the LeBeron one, the Jordan one from the 1990’s), atleast it was an original idea, albeit with existing characters and real life figures. That alone makes it better than most blockbusters released today. Such a movie would never be made today.

The worst thing about cinema since the 2010’s is the total lack of originality. Even the 2000’s had a great amount of original movies. But now? People are clamoring to watch Avatar and Top Gun sequels, that’s how un-original and derivative cinema is nowadays.

Half of those examples were literally book adaptations of some kind or another to begin with. They weren't original in the sense you want at all.  And don't try the rest of The Kubrick library, it's the same result.  The closest one to being truly "original" is Dr. Strangelove, but even that one still has some basis from the book. The true gem of the 70's, was just an adaptation of a tasteless smut novel that should embarrass Italians everywhere, and yet.

Meanwhile M. Night Shyamalan is still out and about with original things. So's Chris Nolan.

Perhaps then, "originality" is more than just "did it come from from the writer-director's a or did they adapt it from somewhere".

[Kleine Scheiße]

There is a very obvious difference between mass franchises and individual adapted works.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Robert Pattinson Batman is a hit, the villain is Clayface, Clayface is another version of Marvel Sandman but you can't make a 3hr movie Wakanda was so good because it was 3hrs Sonic was 2hrs