By
Leroy S. Douresseaux
June 22, 2008 - 03:58
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| You dirty wall-crawling bastard. (Teaser one-sheet for 2002's Spider-Man.) |
He’s back with Mr. Charlie #119:
The June 6, 2008 double-sized, Entertainment Weekly (#995/996) contained a rant offered as an opinion piece by EW writer, Chris Nashawaty. Entitled “Why I Hate Superheroes” [available online], the writer complains that superhero movies have not only ruined his summer movie going experience, but also the summer movie season in general. Nashawaty writes that he fell out of love with summer movies when Spider-Man debuted in theatres on May 3, 2002. Seeing that movie began the souring of summer at the movie theatre.
Does that sound like a personal problem? If the summer movie season has been ruined, it’s merely in his eyes. Superhero flicks are simply a way for Hollywood film studios to offer the summer blockbuster in yet another flavor.
Once upon a time, according to Nashawaty, the summer season meant the appearance of such screen jewels – released just in time for the Fourth of July holiday – as: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), and Independence Day (1996). However, the amazing box office success of Spider-Man, according to the writer, led to such sci-fi/action films no longer being the big events of the summer movie season. In a sense that is true. Neither Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines nor The Day After Tomorrow (from the director of Independence Day) dominated the box office like those earlier films did in the 90’s. Testosterone action movies like The Rock and Armageddon are also no longer the monsters that straddle the May to August box office period.
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However, tastes change, and thanks to CGI, Hollywood has been able to present films that would have been nearly impossible to film without looking goofy 20 years ago – especially films based upon superhero comic books. The most highly anticipated films of recent summers are indeed flicks like Spider-Man 2, Batman Begins, and X-Men: The Last Stand. 3D or computer animated flicks from DreamWorks Animation and Pixar have also attracted larger and broader audiences.
If superhero movies have ruined Nashawaty’s summer, he would be the one to know, but his article has an overall air that says Spider-Man and the X-Men have done us all wrong, not just the writer. Superhero movies really haven’t; they’re just part of an ever evolving marketplace that finds some subgenres of films simply going away and others attracting ticket buyers. Nashawaty even looks back 25 years ago to the summer of 1983, which offered films for a broad range of adult moviegoers ( Flashdance, Risky Business), younger audiences ( Return of the Jedi, WarGames), and even some prestige drama ( The Right Stuff). He claims that a summer like 1983 couldn’t exist anymore because of The Hulk. Markets and tastes change, however, so it’s doubtful that flicks like The Right Stuff and Mr. Mom would have had any box office traction if they’d been released in 1988, just 5 years after their initial release.
While Nashawaty may fondly remember Jurassic Park (a film that I adore), should we blame the CGI minions of Spielberg’s then-record setting flick for the death of sexy adult thrillers like Fatal Attraction or Basic Instinct? Maybe, or perhaps it’s that things change. In 1983, was anyone lamenting that the theatrical offerings of 25 years earlier (1958), summer films such as Gigi and King Creole, couldn’t exist in a box office where 1983 films like National Lampoon’s Vacation and Trading Places thrived? If someone was complaining, I’m sure no one was listening, and maybe we shouldn’t, now. Twenty five years later, Vacation’s Chevy Chase is no longer a box office draw and Eddie Murphy probably wouldn’t make an R-rated flick like Trading Places.
No, the rubber suits, the vinyl gear, secret hideouts, strange powers, weird origins, etc. that Hollywood has taken from the pages of comic books haven’t ruined the summer movie season anymore than dreck like The Rock and Con Air could just plain ruin a summer. Superhero movies are loud and they eat up a lot of the box office, and superhero movies offer the same escapism as most big budget SFX affairs. How could Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ruin anyone’s Summer 2007 when the same season offered The Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up, Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie, and Transformers? In the summer of 2006, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest sucked all on its own without any help from Superman Returns. And speaking of Spider-Man back in 2002: My Big Fat Greek Wedding debuted in the spring and didn’t miss a beat rolling into a summer that saw plenty of diversity including Lilo & Stitch, Signs, and new Star Wars and Austin Powers.
Spider-Man, Batman, the Hulk, the X-Men, Hellboy, etc. make the summer movie season better. If someone thinks any summer movie season sucks, it’s simply because he wants it that way.
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