Whither movies?
Ken
Sheesh, Marvel has had X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, as well as Hulk, X-Men
2, Fantastic Four and NAMOR reportedly in the chute! I mean come on! DC
Comics is affiliated part of AOL/Time-Warners. You know, it's the megacorp
that own Warner Brothers (aka Warner Bros. aka WB, not to be confused with
"The WB", the tv network), one of The major movie studios. Where on Earth is
the frelling synergy?!
I mean the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN is in the chute to debut this
or next summer. Come on!
Ok, sure, admittedly there are concerns about Superman and Batman, not
messing them up--further. But there are OTHER heroes who could easily make
the transistion to the silver screen:
FLASH: Wally West picks up the torch from his mentor and uncle, Barry Allen
(who died preventing a universal disaster) to try to live up to the legend
and out from under his shadow--and discovers he may actually be MORE
powerful than his predecessor.
GREEN LANTERN: Kyle Raynor picks up the baton from The universal legend, Hal
Jordan, a man without fear, and yet in a moment of crisis, devastated by
massive loss, tempted by power, he betrayed all he held dear destroying the
Corps in the process. How can Kyle succeed where a living legend fell?
WONDER WOMAN: Bullet-proof bracelets, lasso of truth, invisible jet,
superstrong Amazon from Paradise Island. For such a well-known hero, WW is
pretty much a blank slate in the mainstream. Try asking what her real name
is and odds are more people would say "Lynda Carter" than "Diana". I've been
a comic fan for 30 years and I couldn't name what she does in her private
life, what her current private name, if she has one, if she's still hooked
up with Steve Rogers (nor why he never let her see his nigh-indestructible
shield).
AQUAMAN: Breathes underwater, talks to / commands fish, has bright orange
and green suit. That's it. Again, another nearly blank slate to wow
audiences. Consider: he lives (or lived) on the ocean floor, he has to have
massive strength, incredible night vision (since sunlight can't penetrate to
the ocean floor), impervious to cold (oceans are cold; anyone see
TITANNIC?). and superspeed (water pressure at the ocean's floor is massive).
And that's before he loses his hand. Oh and he's been kicked out of
Atlantis. He's a classic fish out of water.
HAWKMAN: Hawk mask and wings. Another blank slate BEGGING to be filled in.
Oh and my personal suggestion if a movie is made about HM: The cover of THE
RETURN OF HAWKMAN, with shot from the back of Carter in a suit or maybe
simply a sports blazer opening a double-door wall cabinet with the Hawk-mask
and Hawk-wings, mace and other weapons was perfect.
GREEN ARROW: A modern-day Robin Hood (Prince of Thieves?), an aging one
who's <GASP> in his 40's, dealing with a long lost 20something son who
picked up his mantle while he was ... "indisposed" ... as heroes are wont to
be. To give it an extra edge, a movie might touch on his more liberal
leanings while avoiding being coddled by a more conservative son, while
trying to figure outt his place where the Cold War is over--and ironically
in ways more dangerous.
CATWOMAN: Again the way for her to star on her own, play her off more
serious villains. Sure she may be the occassional cat burglar and jewel
thief (a female Thomas Crown, from the THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR movie), but she's
not dealing drugs to kids, raping ot killing people. Of course being a
low(-er) level criminal, she's also in the position of finding out, and
maybe even preventing SERIOUS tragedies from major crime figures--provided
certain law enforcement ... "cooperate".
The Marvel and independent comics superhero movies (I didn't even mention
MEN IN BLACK from Malibu Comics or SPAWN from Image) show the mainstream
audience have a taste for superhero stories. SMALLVILE shows the mainstream
public has a taste DC Comics heroes. In short: get cracking. Come on, DC,
while superhero movies are doing striking it big and movie fx have finally
caught up to comic books, there's an audience out here. We're waiting.
-- Ken from Chicago
Anthony Abby
Ken said:
> Where the frell are DC Comics superhero movies?!
>
> Sheesh, Marvel has had X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, as well as Hulk,
> X-Men 2, Fantastic Four and NAMOR reportedly in the chute! I mean come
> on! DC Comics is affiliated part of AOL/Time-Warners. You know, it's the
> megacorp that own Warner Brothers (aka Warner Bros. aka WB, not to be
> confused with "The WB", the tv network), one of The major movie studios.
> Where on Earth is the frelling synergy?!
They had Blade and Blade II as well. But never fear, DC is indeed working
on licensing for movies. There are currently two in the works right now
that I'm aware of. Superman 5, and Batman/Superman. Originally
Batman/Superman was slated for production ahead of Superman5, but due to a
schedule conflict with the directors schedule, it was slid to a later
date. Superman 5 is in pre-production right now.
--
Anthony Abby
http://www.comicsnsuch | Comic Community News
http://www.aplusdata.com | System Consultation
Web Development
Magius
"Anthony Abby" <antho...@aplusdata.com> wrote in message
news:51074.163.2.30.245....@mail.aplusdata.com...
Superman was in pre when Burton and Cage were involved, they scouted
locations as I recall, and look how that ended up. Pre-production tends to
mean nothing these days and I wouldn't get my hopes up.
Lynley
Ken
"Ken" <kwicker_era...@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:u%I7a.2154$rM4.4...@newssrv26.news.prodigy.com...
> Where the frell are DC Comics superhero movies?!
>
> Sheesh, Marvel has had X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, as well as Hulk,
X-Men
> 2, Fantastic Four and NAMOR reportedly in the chute! I mean come on! DC
> Comics is affiliated part of AOL/Time-Warners. You know, it's the megacorp
> that own Warner Brothers (aka Warner Bros. aka WB, not to be confused with
> "The WB", the tv network), one of The major movie studios. Where on Earth
is
> the frelling synergy?!
>
> I mean the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN is in the chute to debut this
> or next summer. Come on!
>
> Ok, sure, admittedly there are concerns about Superman and Batman, not
> messing them up--further. But there are OTHER heroes who could easily make
> the transistion to the silver screen:
<snip>
> GREEN ARROW: A modern-day Robin Hood (Prince of Thieves?), an aging one
> who's <GASP> in his 40's, dealing with a long lost 20something son who
> picked up his mantle while he was ... "indisposed" ... as heroes are wont
to
> be. To give it an extra edge, a movie might touch on his more liberal
> leanings while avoiding being coddled by a more conservative son, while
> trying to figure outt his place where the Cold War is over--and ironically
> in ways more dangerous.
Minimal ... streamlining ... could be done to explain Green Arrow's presence
to a movie audience--the potential customers interested in the comic book
series--while not straying too far from the comic book series:
The FIRST Green Arrow movie could simply gloss over the time he was
"indisposed" and focus on him adjusting to his son and the world considering
his worldview.
The SECOND movie could focus more on Black Canary and dealing with
"sabbatical": GA could have been on a plane, in an explosion, but his
superpowered but nutty friend could have cloned him, but the cloning process
would take a few hours for the body to mature--and Oliver finds he is "drawn
FROM the light". Sure there's some metaphysical mumbo jumbo, but that could
be the gist--and maybe dealing with associates of those who set him up on
that booby-trapped plane in the first place.
For moviegoers who go from theater to comic book shop, the transistion shock
would be minimal.
<snip>
-- Ken from Chicago
Ken
"Anthony Abby" <antho...@aplusdata.com> wrote in message
news:51074.163.2.30.245....@mail.aplusdata.com...
>
>
> > Where the frell are DC Comics superhero movies?!
> >
> > Sheesh, Marvel has had X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, as well as Hulk,
> > X-Men 2, Fantastic Four and NAMOR reportedly in the chute! I mean come
> > on! DC Comics is affiliated part of AOL/Time-Warners. You know, it's the
> > megacorp that own Warner Brothers (aka Warner Bros. aka WB, not to be
> > confused with "The WB", the tv network), one of The major movie studios.
> > Where on Earth is the frelling synergy?!
>
> They had Blade and Blade II as well. But never fear, DC is indeed working
> on licensing for movies. There are currently two in the works right now
> that I'm aware of. Superman 5, and Batman/Superman. Originally
> Batman/Superman was slated for production ahead of Superman5, but due to a
> schedule conflict with the directors schedule, it was slid to a later
> date. Superman 5 is in pre-production right now.
Oh right, Superman has been "in production" for decades and Batman ... the
problem is that they are DC's flagship characters. Ironically those are the
HARDEST to do because of all the pre-conceptions. Their fame works against
them. Step away from those two, and you have characters famous enough for a
mainstream public to recognize, while still unknown enough for writers not
to feel hemmed in as much.
Besides if a SMALLVILLE week in and week out basically IS The Flash (except
he has superstrength and vision powers) fx-wise, the difficulty of has
typically been the main obstacle to superhero movies. How is it so difficult
for DC to have superhero movies in the works considering the relationship
with WB--especially after the success of BLADE, X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN.
Spider-Man was nearly a year ago. Why isn't there at least one confirmed DC
Comics movie in the works?
-- Ken from Chicago
Glenn Simpson
> problem is that they are DC's flagship characters. Ironically those are the
> HARDEST to do because of all the pre-conceptions.
Exactly. I think I read somewhere that one thing that's holding up
Batman projects now is the decision to make it "grown-up" a la
Daredevil or all-ages like Spider-Man.
With Birds of Prey, an "all-ages" version, tanking, it may go the
grown up route.
But then, how do you sell toys? We can't have a Batman movie without
10,000 merchandising elements for kids included...
Magius
>
> Oh right, Superman has been "in production" for decades and Batman ... the
> problem is that they are DC's flagship characters. Ironically those are
the
> HARDEST to do because of all the pre-conceptions. Their fame works against
> them. Step away from those two, and you have characters famous enough for
a
> mainstream public to recognize, while still unknown enough for writers not
> to feel hemmed in as much.
>
> Besides if a SMALLVILLE week in and week out basically IS The Flash
(except
> he has superstrength and vision powers) fx-wise, the difficulty of has
> typically been the main obstacle to superhero movies. How is it so
difficult
> for DC to have superhero movies in the works considering the relationship
> with WB--especially after the success of BLADE, X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN.
> Spider-Man was nearly a year ago. Why isn't there at least one confirmed
DC
> Comics movie in the works?
>
> -- Ken from Chicago
>
>
People have spoken here about the problems that DC movies have BECAUSE of
their relationship with WB. True there should be one movie in the works,
but I do not think that you can reasonably expect the same volume as Marvel
movies, because it would seem that WB owns the rights to all DC characters
and does not want to give them up. Marvel is in the enviable position to be
able to shop their characters around and DC is not. By the way which studio
is releasing LoEG? Technically there is a DC movie on teh way.
Additionally, I think that you may have hit upon a major problem with DC's
big two in that the public do have many preconceived ideas about them due to
their popularity and the movies based on these characters released over the
past 20 years. Most people in the world had never heard of Blade, DD and
the X-men until the films. These are huge obstacles and the properties need
to be handled with care, especially Batman after the last couple of movies..
Lynley
Ken
"Glenn Simpson" <gls36...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1287ea8f.03030...@posting.google.com...
Forget kids. *I* have movie ticket credit burning a hole in my bank account!
>=^> *I* wanna seem DC heroes on the silver screen. I wish DC would stop
being so hung up on Supes and Bats and realize they have OTHER heroes out
there, a whole universe, ya know, the "ORIGINAL" universe. Don't make me
have to spend my money elsewhere, like food or clothes or rent, nonsense
like that. >=^>
-- Ken from Chicago
P.S. Plus if LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS can sell toys or McFarlane
can sell toys on SPAWN, I doubt a "grown-up" DC superhero movie would have
trouble selling toys, not to mention, "collectibles".
Michael Pastor
Not to mention all of us overgrown children that wouldn't mind a few
figurines on top of our computer screens (as I look at my min bobble head
Winnie the Pooh that I got from Froot Loops).
michael j pastor
Magius
"Ken" <kwicker_era...@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:hoU8a.3724$3g.5...@newssrv26.news.prodigy.com...
>
Given that many toy collectors these days seem to be in their mid to late
20's and early 30's, toys from an adult themed movie should sell well. Many
people who take Transformers toys seriously seem to be adults who remember
the show from the 80's. Although based on the new show, I have no idea why
anyone would want the Robots in Disguise toys.
Lynley
Magius
"Michael Pastor" <michael...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b4187g$1rhfhp$2...@ID-174457.news.dfncis.de...
Heh, I have an Eeyore plush toy sitting on a shelf to my right ;O)
Lynley
Ken
"Magius" <mag...@netactive.co.za> wrote in message
news:3e648...@news1.mweb.co.za...
Ecological efficiency. They're not just toys, they're Robits ... in
disguise!
-- Ken from Chicago
Magius
I am really disappointed by the show, too Pokemoney.
Lynley