Superhero film

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (June 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Superhero film is a fantasy, science fiction or horror genre film that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, who 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 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 Later years 1.3 The new golden era 2 Upcoming projects 3 Parody 4 Attractions of the genre 5 See also 6 Notes and citations 7 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

The neutrality or factuality of this article or section may be compromised by unattributed statements. You can help Wikipedia by removing weasel worded statements.

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.^{[citation needed]} Serials featuring The Phantom, Batman, Superman and Captain America followed. These films were successful despite their limited budgets, primitive special effects, silly plotlines, and often ridiculous dialogue.

In the coming decades, the decline of Saturday serials and turmoil in the comic book industry put an end to superhero motion pictures, with the exception of episodes of the television series Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, which had been compiled for theatrical release, and 1966's Batman, a big-screen extension of the television series starring Adam West.

A new era of superhero films began in 1978 with director Richard Donner's Superman. 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/Clark Kent, and John Williams's majestic and often-imitated film score. The 1980 sequel Superman II was also extraordinarily successful, and set a new artistic standard for the genre.

The Superman film series began to decline in profitability and critical respect with 1983's Superman III, reaching its nadir in 1987's Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, signalling the end of the franchise for nearly two decades. The same year, however, also saw the debut of RoboCop, a highly successful original superhero film inspired by Toei's Metal Hero Series, and Uchuu Keiji Gavan. Despite its graphic violence, it was praised for its intelligent satire, exciting action, and a touching feel of humanity in the title character.

[edit] 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, the last in the series 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 series^{[citation needed]}. 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 neither was 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 before it, the Batman series also began to decline; despite a massive budget and several popular stars, 1997's Batman and Robin became a critical and commercial failure. Nonetheless, many consider it influential since its failure discredited the mocking tone of the 1960s Batman television series and encouraged film makers to treat the source material more seriously. In the short term, however, 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 reticent about investing in more superhero movies.

[edit] 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 its 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. 2007 saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchise successfully revive 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. The 2008 summer blockbuster season was started by the Jon Favreau and Marvel Studios film Iron Man, which received near-universal praise and made $100 million in its first weekend.

[edit] Upcoming projects

Many superhero films are currently in development. Upcoming reboots of the Hulk and The Punisher franchises include The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone from Marvel Comics' roster. There are also two prequels to the X-Men trilogy in the works: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, featuring Wolverine, is currently shooting and is scheduled for a May 1, 2009 release, while a a film about Magneto, tentatively titled simply Magneto, is currently scripting. Upcoming sequels include The Dark Knight, scheduled for American release on July 18, 2008, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, scheduled for a July 11, 2008 release. A possible Superman Returns sequel^[1] is currently in pre-production stages.

New franchises include the eponymous adaptations of The Spirit and Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is 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, perhaps best known to Western audiences for the edited Battle of the Planets series, is in production for an animated feature film adaptation. The Will Smith vehicle Hancock, featuring an original superhero character, is slated for a July 2, 2008 release.

Numerous other relatively obscure properties such as the Doom Patrol are also 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.

[edit] 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 every comic property they could get their dirty little hands on". Mark Hamill'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 directed the more direct parody Superhero Movie, which was released in 2008, and parodied several superhero films.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

• List of films based on comics
• List of films based on DC Comics
• List of films based on Marvel Comics
• Fantasy film
• Horror film
• Science fiction film
• Superhero live-action television series

[edit] Notes and citations

[edit] External links

• 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
• ComicScreen : Les super héros crèvent l'écran superheroes movies database.
• Reviews of Comic book adaptations at the Stop Button