Lmao.... Still clueless why these films are trash... Yeah breh, people just aren't excited for big budget films anymore.. Hahahaha, I wonder what else cooooould it be??????
Against overtly feminist themes, definitely. The vast majority of 'girl power' type movies hit you over the head with the message. And even I don't enjoy it even though I wholeheartedly support strong, independent women. The first Captain Marvel movie is a good example - there's a line where she literally says to Jude Law's character, "I don't have to listen to you any more!" and punches him or whatever. Why not just punch him? Be strong without bragging about it. That movie was a hit but it was during Marvel's peak and people would watch anything they put out. We've had the blueprint for strong lead female characters since 1979's Alien. I thought the original Wonder Woman movie did a good job of this, although it was sort of dumb otherwise. Fury Road was a good example. Lots of recent horror movies have strong female leads. That Wicked movie was a big hit. Barbie was massive and the top movie of 2023. There are movies out there with female leads that aren't bombing. I don't think this movie bombed expressly because it had a female lead. It whiffed for a variety of reasons that I outlined earlier in this thread.
Odysesey should still do well at the box office despite being abysmally casted, its like they want to be hated before anyone even sees the film..... Not sure I can expect anything good from a film so poorly managed......
Both of you are wrong AF and this is why these films keep getting rolled out and losing millions..... The inability to even try to figure it out, it has nothing to do with women roles...
So then it seems that quality is out the window for superhero movies unless it has Tom Holland as Spider-man. If Marvel whiffs on Avengers: Doomsday, RIP.
I hope they stop 99% of this superhero bullshit formulaic slop . Everyone is so done maybe come up with innovative plots and storylines like before. That’s why a 700K budget film like obsession made more dough
I don't disagree with you to an extent. It's not just superhero movies, it's big-budget movies in general and what Hollywood execs think sells rather than looking at data. The braintrust there is stale. The reason Obsession and Backrooms cleaned up is because they appealed to a younger audience. Look at the demographics of who paid for tickets. Something like 75% of the audience was under 35. Old people aren't going to the movies as much, and guess who's running Hollywood? Old farts. They need to gtfo and let the new blood in.
I saw it and it was fine. I never got the impression that it was a feminist manifesto. I think the actress they picked is conventionally attractive and I like the vibe of her wanting to get away from the superhero spotlight and all of her trauma and stuff. I'm definitely a believer that a Superman story is more interesting if they are vulnerable and not just about a god-like person flying around like a messiah. Having said all of that, I thought this movie was okay at best. I liked the Superman movie last year, but this one didn't have the same charm. I didn't really like Jason Mamoa's Lobo very much. It was too cartoony for me. I also didn't really like the girl sidekick much. There was a lot of plot convenience stuff. So ironically, while I think all of the cultual dialogue about this movie is pretty stupid and mostly coming from people who didn't watch the movie, often for dumb political reasons, I do think that it's probably the weakest summer movie I've seen this year. (y'all should go watch Masters of the Universe, which was way better than I thought it was going to be)
This is pretty much true, but there're also a lot more variables ... 1) There's been talk for years about movie quality in general being worse nowadays - not just superhero movies. 2) Comics aren't as popular with kids as they used to be when you and I were growing up. This is a conversation that shows up in the collectibles industry, as well. 3) Even if comics were popular, there are people out there who don't want to take their 8 year olds to see a movie with alcohol in the plotline. I don't care one way or the other, but just saying - this ain't your daddy's Supergirl. A lot of modern superheroes and their story arcs are probably a bit too mature for little kids unlike when their parents were kids. 4) The superheroes of our youth aren't the superheroes of today. The storylines aren't what they used to be, the characters aren't the same, their behaviors are different, etc. Some of them have been retconned, debuffed, powered up, etc. Then there''re multiple versions of every hero in comics vs. the MCU, so before you go watch a movie you almost have to say "which version of this hero am I about to watch, and will I like it?" You have to take the "no way she's that powerful in the comics" mentality out. Which is tough to do. 5) Pokemon collecting is far, far, far, far -----------------------------------------------------------> FAR! more popular than superhero and sports memorabilia collecting. I'm talking about things like cards. It's not even close. A lot of superhero money has gone to things like Pokemon, manga, etc. after COVID. They've gotten way more popular since that time. 6) The Deadpool & Wolverine movie did well at the box office from what I recall. Make of that what you will. Probably a lot of underlying themes there including character popularity. lol. 7) A lot of families have home theaters now. I know upper middle income and middle income families with with 85"-150" tv's and projector screens in their homes. They don't want to go to movie theaters. They'll watch something like Supergirl, but they won't do it in a movie theater. The last time I stepped into a movie theater I think was for the original Avatar (lol). I'm guessing these people aren't included in "box office numbers" but may be in some kind of digital or bluray sales down the road (?). Not sure. I'm among those. 8) Times are tough for a lot of people, people don't have a lot of money to waste, and the money they do have is going elsewhere because it doesn't go as far. Anyhoo - random thoughts.
I dunno…. I just think the simple fact is we live in a media/entertainment culture where social media buzz drives people to feel like they NEED to go see what all the fuss is about as soon as they can so then they can come back and join the discussion. Disney tentpole movies continue to do well because of this and especially because Disney has such a robust social media influencer world that builds intrigue. Just look at how well Disney Parks continue to do. It’s because new attractions and buzz get rumored and there are updates and there are “insider videos” etc and this is social media also accessible to kids. Backrooms cleaned house because it tapped into social media and had intrigue with kids because of the games they play like Roadblox, etc. My 11 year old was begging me to go see that movie (I of course said no… not winning dad of the year but not that bad). But I think Supergirl really just didn’t do anything to create buzz, and doesn’t really have a big social media following. Even the nerd/MCU YouTubers barely were hyping it and those guys LOVE James Gunn. If you are wondering which comic book character story you want to make into a profitable movie the first thing you need to ask yourself is what character out there already has internet discussions going and what about that story is going to build speculation, and intrigue for months leading up to it…. That just ain’t supergirl.
