Meanwhile we have a bunch of Batman movies already. I think, even though Batman Begins is a strong movie with a quality cast, director, and story, it’s way too close to the last Batman movie to overcome public attention span. And since the non-Burton Batman movies were generally poor, I think the general public is wary, afraid they’re going to end up with another awful Batman movie – and I’m talking the Average Joe who doesn’t read reviews and tends to just go to theatres and pick movies to see without much thought beforehand.
And as has been stated, Batman Begins is not exactly kid-friendly, while the Spider-Man character is young, thus having more kid appeal.
Am I the only one that thought Spiderman I was truly awful?
Spiderman does does Power Rangers.
Good first half, awful second half. Green Goblin was laughable.
Batman was good the whole way through.
The way I see it, it’s the same as the music charts, anything the kids like ain’t worth watching. See Binks for reference. Demographics have a lot to do with it.
There’s something else in there. Spider-Man has a girl. Batman doesn’t.
Oh, sure, Batman had the ‘Bond chick’ syndrome where every film they tried to set him up with some eye candy, but that’s not really as appealing to your date-movie crowd as a hero who really wants the girl, but who can’t have her or doesn’t get her, or whatever.
In fact, I’d warrant that it’s partly because he didn’t get the girl in the first film that some of that date-movie crowd and romance-loving demographic came back to the sequel to see [del]what went down[/del] if they got together.
Beats the heck out of me. But it’s not the only movie where that happened. Serendipity ruined not one, but two imminent weddings, and that was certainly more of a romance-oriented … okay, I’ll say it, “chick flick” than Spider-Man.
Whether it’s romantic or not, it’s Hollywood’s version of ratcheting up the tension. Procrastinate all major decisions until they reach crisis proportions and a decision must be made. That’s why leaving somebody at the altar is so formulaic. That’s why Frodo and the Ring got dragged all the way to Osgiliath.
Maybe that’s a question for IMHO: is leaving somebody at the altar for someone else romantic or just unreliable?
Oh be fair, that was Schumacher’s bomb the whole way. I don’t think anyone could act well if they were being directed by a guy who was unsuccessfully trying to ape the 60’s tv series.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who found this puzzling. In fact, the way the whole scene was shot, I was convinced it was going to end up being a dream/fantasy sequence from Peter’s POV. You know, he’s sitting on his bed, knowing that MJ is marrying another man, and can’t help but wonder *what if * . . .
Then we find out no, she really DID leave her hubbie-to-be at the altar. I felt sorry for the guy myself. He seemed like a decent fellow, and quite undeserving of such humiliation.
And, ummm, somewhat more on topic, I’ll add that *Batman Begins * is now facing a somewhat unexpected challenge from Marvel with Fantastic Four. According to CNN, the latter raked in a lot more cash than anyone expected, despite being ripped apart by critics. One wonders if FF will overtake the more critic-friendly BB?
The short answer about why Batman Begins isn’t as popular as the Spider-Man movies is that it just wasn’t anywhere near as good as they were.
BB was good, but it was really plodding in parts, didn’t have very memorable villains (the actors were good, very competent, just not real exciting as the driving force of the story), got painfully formulaic in parts (like how Bruce or Alfred would repeat back the same line said earlier in the movie for repeated dramatic emphasis, not once, but several time) and the action was kind of on the sidelines for most of the film.
Spider-Man is about entertainment, people you can relate to as humans, colorful villains, in your face conflict, and some very memorable comedic bits.