Wednesday, July 8, 2015

DC has the floor- Don't screw it up!




Competition is defined as the activity or condition of competing; or an event or contest where people compete.

Marvel and DC have been in competition for years.  Whether in comics and animated movies to competing to have certain artist and writers work exclusively for their company.  There has always been, a mostly friendly rivalry between the two comic book giants.

The shift has moved now to competing with their cinematic universe.  DC in the late 70's and early 80's was way out in front of this.  There are two very good Superman movies from that time and in the late 80's, DC gave us a Batman movie that we could all be proud of( speak not of any Bat sequels)


















At this time, Marvel was killing DC in comics but because of some shaky financial dealings, movie rights for their characters were all over the place and the attempts to make a movie, were few and far between- outside of terrible Hulk televised movies.  But we did get a Fantastic Four movie that no one will ever forget( but not in the good way) and a Captain America movie that we would also all like to forget!





















Then Marvel goes dormant in the movie making through the 1990's until Fox releases X-men in 2000 and then Sony releases Spider-Man in 2002 and ushers in this new era of superhero movies 
(even though Marvel has very little say in either of those movies).  



DC on the other hand, in the early 2000's is floundering.  The Superman franchise is dead after 2 horrible sequels in the 80's and being in developmental hell in the 1990's!  Batman is more successful but they run it into the ground with Batman and Robin and now they are playing catch up to Marvel( Sony and Fox, really).  And DC get stuck here for a while. In an attempt to restart their classic heroes, DC makes Batman Begins in Superman Returns in 2006. 





Batman is successful and spawns one hugely successful sequel and, depending upon who you ask, a competent 3rd movie.  Superman Returns is not well received or accepted and now one of DC's biggest heroes is back on the movie sidelines.Wonder Woman, the 3rd part of their super hero Trinity, is stuck in developmental and when  DC attempts to expand the universe with a Green Lantern movie in 2011, it fails miserably.

Within this same time frame in the late 1990's and  early 2000's, Marvel had reacquired many of the rights to their heroes and began putting out movies under the Marvel Studios banner ( with mixed results).  In 1998, they release Blade and its a surprise hit for the studio.   In 2003, we get the Hulk and Daredevil- both of which were not great movies.  Fox, releases a Fantastic Four movie in 2005 which is also not very good. This was followed by an Elektra movie, A Punisher movie, and Blade sequels. Marvel was making movies, but they were all over the place in terms of characters and success  Then  Marvel changes their structure to having one man oversee their movie franchises- his name is Kevin Feige and he organizes a plan for Marvel to create a Marvel Cinematic Universe that opens Marvel to using many of the characters to which they hold they hold movie rights.  The first hero to roll out is Iron-Man in 2008 and this opens the flood gates to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we know today- especially after Disney buys Marvel in 2009.

DC, after the Nolan Batman trilogy ends in 2012, sees how successful Marvel Cinematic is and reboots Superman again with Man of Steel in 2013( to mixed results). But this also starts the process of DC wanting to open their universe and characters to movie franchises.  The first movie under this new directive is Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.  This movie will have Wonder Woman in it, as well as ( if you believe rumors), many other heroes from the DC universe.  This comes on top of their announcements to make a Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg, and 2 Justice League movies. Of course, this was made AFTER Marvel announced their next phase of movies.... Its all competition.

This all leads to Comi-con in San Diego this week.  Marvel announced early they were not going to rent the "big room" to preview any of their movies.  This may be due to the fact that they have D23 expo coming up- Disney's own version of comic-con. Or they may not feel the need to present as they have built up enough fan trust over the last few years.  I am not sure.  Then word comes out, Star Wars( also owned by Disney) will not be presenting any new footage either at comi-con.

This leave DC the floor to present their footage and any and all information without Marvel( Disney) coming in to steal their thunder.  I hope DC knocks it out the park! I have my issues with DC and how I feel they are rushing this DC cinematic universe.  I think its too much too soon and it may cause serous damage to their franchises moving forward if they mess it up.  But lets say they don't and they handle this well and roll out a well done and well received Batman V Superman movie.  It changes the landscape for us as movie fans because Marvel( Disney) will be forced to see them as a legit rival( which they don't right now).  This new level of competing will force Marvel( Disney) to raise their level and to be honest, Marvel Cinematic has gotten lazy over the last few years. Guardians was a good movie but Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron were fat and bloated sequels that you could tell needed some work on scripts and acting.  DC performing well will force Marvel to step up their game and we all benefit from that!

So DC the floor is yours! Don't mess it up!

-The Producer

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