The Rise of Comic Book Movies

With the March release of 300, Hollywood has continued the recent trend of turning comic books into mega-budget films. The question is, why? What is it about comic books that has catapulted them into the forefront of mainstream Hollywood? To paraphrase Orwell, to understand the present, we must understand the past.

A Brief History of Comic Book Movies
Comic books have been around as long as motion pictures. The two grew up together. As the first comic strips such as The Yellow Kid were making their newspaper debuts, the Lumiere brothers were filming factory workers and trains pulling into stations. But as movies exploded in popularity, comic strips grew at a relatively slower pace. Comic books (as opposed to comic strips) began in the early 30s, and in 1934 Flash Gordon became one of the first comic books to capture the public's imagination. Universal, then one of the smaller of the major studios, turned Flash Gordon into a movie in 1936. Although there are other comic-based films that predate Flash, this is one of the first movies based on a comic book and not a comic strip. However, comic book movies were either low budget cheapies or even lower budget serials. Spaceships with strings and sparklers for engines would be the norm for the next 40 years until Ilya Salkind decided to make a comic book movie about a man who could fly without strings.

Superman
In 1978 producers Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler put their fingers to the wind in the post Star Wars era. Realizing that the marriage of pulp and state of the art special effects meant big bucks, they put together 55 million dollars to produce Superman, The (first stab at respectability for a comic book) Movie. With a credit sequence as long as some Flash Gordon serials, Superman single-handedly lifted comic book movies onto the A-list.

Return to Krypton
That status would be short-lived. A host of inferior comic book adaptations and big-budgeted flops, including a remake of Flash Gordon, returned comic book movies to their roots. However, Superman punched a hole through the barrier of respectability. It may have closed back behind him, but for a brief moment, it was there. It would take another superhero with some power to punch through again.

Black Capes and Turtles
In 1989 Tim Burton's Batman became Warner Brother's top grossing movie -- ever. This alone, would be enough to put comic book movies back into the big budget realm, but another adaptation the following year, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to the party from the lower budgeted end. The film cost $16 million and grossed over $200 million worldwide. This one-two punch was enough to convince Hollywood that comic books equal big box office.

A Billion Pixels Later
So why the sudden glut of comic book movies? Dollars not sense. Spiderman's 400 million dollar domestic gross didn't go unnoticed. Even minor comic book heroes pull in big money. Daredevil grossed over a hundred million. Even though money drives the ship, technology steers the rudder. CGI has finally made the comic book aesthetic possible to recreate on film. And as technology becomes sleeker, these films become easier to make. Unfortunately it doesn't mean that they are better films than their schlock-filled roots, it just means they are a lot better looking schlock.

Advantages of Comic Book Adaptations
Adaptations are all about familiarity. With built-in name recognition, comic books offer some guaranteed return on investment. With the film costs at all-time highs, this is one of the big reasons you will see a flood of comic movies this summer, and every summer until the fad dies out.

Novels used to be the chief source of adaptations, but they posses many pitfalls for filmmakers. With a novel, the film recreates the story. With comic books, filmmakers can get away with recreating a storyline. It's a subtle but huge difference. You still have to contend with comic book geeks saying that this detail or that was missed, but even that can be easily dismissed; after all, what do you expect from a movie based on a comic book?

Comics, with their fast stories and visuals, are much easier to adapt to the big screen than novels with their inner monologues and reliance on words. We are moving away from a society of words to a society of images and icons. And people wonder what has happened to reading scores over the years. Just take a look around and see how many words have been replaced by pictures.

Do You Remember?
There was a time when filmmakers wanted to be storytellers, but it seems that time has passed -- though few would admit it. Any film that tries to make a point risks alienating potential audience members, and Hollywood simply can't afford to offend anyone with a buck and a hot date. As movies become increasingly simplistic art forms, the abilities of the audience to understand the language of cinema fades as well, creating the need for more easily digestible stories. Comic books offer just that kind of fare. This is not a slam on comics -- I grew up on them, but Shakespeare they are not. As long as filmmakers are forced to focus on technical, effects-driven films, comic book movies will rule the day. At least until the next big thing comes along.