This is a poll for non-comic book reader people
There have been movies (good and bad) based on comic book characters before, (Superman, Batman) but X-Men and Spider-Man really opened the flood gates in the next few months, we are getting a movies about Hellboy, Punisher, Catwoman and another Spider-Man movie.
My question to the average non-comic book movie-goer is: is it getting to over-saturated with movies based on comic book characters? Or does it come down to how good of a movie it is?
This is nothing new:
Slasher movies were big in the 80’s and teen comedies were big in the 90’s.
I do believe that there are too many comic movies being made, but you should blame Bill Jemas, the former CEO of Marvel, for that.
I think it’s great because i grew up reading those comic books. Now i get to see them in all their glory on the big screen.
But I think they’ve proven to be quite good so far. I liked X-Men 1 &2. Spiderman was just wonderful. I liked Daredevil a lot, and Hulk was great drama. Punisher looks promising.
Don’t forget Constantine (based on the comic Hellblazer) and Man-Thing!
But I have to ask, are you just referring to superhero movies, stuff with powers and costumes? Because several excellent comic book-based movies have come out in the last few years that didn’t have anything to do with superheroes, and most people never even realized they were based on comics: From Hell, the gothic horror movie with Johnny Depp, Ghost World, the coming-of age atory with Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansen, Road To Perdition, the '30s gangster movie with Tom Hanks, and the heartfelt, autobiographical American Splendor, with Paul Giamatti as cartoonist Harvey Pekar. Of course, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was also based on a comic book, but the movie was a major disappointment compared to the excellent comic series.
You know, you never hear anyone complain about the number of movies based on books or plays. Like Voodoo points out, there are tons of different genres of comics, most of which have gone untapped since until recently, comics have been regarded as kids’ fare. I think bringing them to the big screen is actually helping open people’s eyes to the variety of styles there are in comics.
A good movie is a good movie.
I like a good swahbuckling action movie as much as the next guy, and if those action stories happen to come from a comic book, how is that a bad thing? And while I don’t have high hopes for the Catwoman movie, and I was very disappointed with The Hulk, I thought that the other recent Marvel movies were very good. If they can keep putting them out at that quality, then certainly I think they should.