In the summer of 1989, a relatively obscure director named Tim Burton revitalized the comic book character known as Batman for a new generation of fans. Coming off the unexpected commercial success of “Beetlejuice” the year before, Burton was given an opportunity to recreate a legendary comic book character for a modern audience. This was a seminal moment in American film history, though few realized it at the time. It would also set the stage for the next 25 years of summer blockbusters. The hype that accompanied the release of “Batman” was unlike anything we had witnessed up until that point in time. For a good 6 months prior to its debut, the buzz surrounding this movie was off the charts. This was one of the first films to market itself across multiple platforms. There was a slew of merchandise released, all the cool kids were rocking Batman shirts, Prince did the movie soundtrack and MTV played the video for “Batdance” a few zillion times.
The irony is that the film itself wasn’t all that great, at least not in comparison to the hyped-up expectations. Yes, Jack Nicholson was awesome as the Joker. Aside from that character however, the movie was pretty forgettable. The plot wasn’t that exciting, the action was pretty lackluster by today’s standards and Michael Keaton wasn’t very convincing as Bruce Wayne. The poor quality of “Batman” was beside the point of course. The film was significant because it provided Hollywood with a winning formula: take an established character from a comic book and put them on the big screen. At the time that was a completely novel concept. The movie made a killing at the box office, it spawned 2 sequels, it was all anyone talked about that summer and more importantly, it ushered in the modern era of the comic book/superhero movie.
Fast forward some 26 years later and the comic book movie has evolved significantly. At some point Hollywood realized that not only were these films lucrative, they were also great vehicles for storytelling. The plots got better, more A-list actors signed on, and quality directors were brought on board. At the same time, advances in CGI technology have allowed filmmakers to create elaborate special effects sequences that were previously unimaginable. The result has been a slew of recent films that are not only good as far as comic book movies go, they are actually high-quality films that can stand toe to toe with anything at the box office. “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the first “Avengers” movie are all prime examples of this trend. These movies all feature deep character development, they employ witty dialogue, the plots are exciting and well-written and the acting is phenomenal.
The paradox is that while comic book movies have never been better, the excitement surrounding the genre seems to be waning. Last Friday saw the release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” By all critical accounts it is a great movie that features a well-known cast and a proven director in Joss Whedon. It was expected to break all kinds of domestic box office records on its opening weekend. Although it did quite nicely with ticket sales, it still fell about $20 million short of its predecessor. While some of that loss can be attributed to the Pacquiao/Mayweather fight, it is still a disturbing sign for a genre that has become the staple of the summer movie season.
The problem for comic book movies is essentially where do they go from here? Have they reached their zenith as far as mass appeal is concerned? Was “Avengers: the Age of Ultron” an aberration or is it the start of a trend? Has the genre been exhausted or does it just need to be recharged?
My theory is that perhaps the superhero film has become a victim of its own success. Take Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy for example. Those movies were so damned good that any future films featuring Batman will inevitably fall short. Just look at the recent outcry surrounding Ben Affleck’s casting as Bruce Wayne in the “Superman” sequel or Jared Leto taking on the role of the Joker in “Suicide Squad.” It just feels wrong if it’s not Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. It would be nice if Hollywood would do the honorable thing and retire those two characters for good. I’m not holding my breath……
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