2008 Woodie Awards
Marvel and DC on the big screen
Ryan Rinchiuso/ staff writer
Issue date: 2/13/03 Section: The Verge
This Friday, "Daredevil," a movie based on rather obscure comic book hero, will be released nationwide. In the coming months "X-Men 2" and "The Hulk" will also be on the big screen. Both films will be disappointments if they're not big hits this summer. What do all of these movies have in common other than they are comic book movies? They are all Marvel superheroes, or more importantly, they are not DC superheroes.
Comic book movies are huge and pretty much have been since the first "Superman" movie was released in the late '70s. Combining well known characters from people's youth with huge sets and stunts are almost surefire ways to make a hit. Yet, until a few years ago, the only big movies released were the "Superman" and "Batman" movies.
Then the popularity of "X-Men" and more importantly "Spiderman" made all kinds of comic book movies popular. Still, the only ones being released are from the pages of Marvel and not DC. The reason for this is simple, DC is owned by AOL-Time Warner. Marvel can shop around at different studios because the company has no ties to any studios and have made deals with such companies as Fox, Universal, New Line and Columbia Tri-Star. Meanwhile DC only can be distributed by Warner Brothers, a company having difficulty bringing the heroes to screen. Warner Bros., throughout the '90s, was very consistent with the Batman films. While the quality of the films was not consistent, the release schedule was and fans could expect a new Batman adventure every three or four years. After the debacle of "Batman and Robin," Warner Bros. has been trying to bring the storied franchise back to popularity.
Warner Bros. has flirted with the idea of making a fifth Batman film, with a fresh start and title like "Batman Beyond" or "Batman: Year One" with director Darren Afronosky. These ideas were swept to the side when Wolfgang Peterson was hired to direct "Batman vs. Superman." This film was put on the shelf after Peterson decided to direct "Troy" first.
Comic book movies are huge and pretty much have been since the first "Superman" movie was released in the late '70s. Combining well known characters from people's youth with huge sets and stunts are almost surefire ways to make a hit. Yet, until a few years ago, the only big movies released were the "Superman" and "Batman" movies.
Then the popularity of "X-Men" and more importantly "Spiderman" made all kinds of comic book movies popular. Still, the only ones being released are from the pages of Marvel and not DC. The reason for this is simple, DC is owned by AOL-Time Warner. Marvel can shop around at different studios because the company has no ties to any studios and have made deals with such companies as Fox, Universal, New Line and Columbia Tri-Star. Meanwhile DC only can be distributed by Warner Brothers, a company having difficulty bringing the heroes to screen. Warner Bros., throughout the '90s, was very consistent with the Batman films. While the quality of the films was not consistent, the release schedule was and fans could expect a new Batman adventure every three or four years. After the debacle of "Batman and Robin," Warner Bros. has been trying to bring the storied franchise back to popularity.
Warner Bros. has flirted with the idea of making a fifth Batman film, with a fresh start and title like "Batman Beyond" or "Batman: Year One" with director Darren Afronosky. These ideas were swept to the side when Wolfgang Peterson was hired to direct "Batman vs. Superman." This film was put on the shelf after Peterson decided to direct "Troy" first.
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