Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why 'Batman,' Not 'Star Wars,' Was The Box Office Blockbuster That Ruined Hollywood
Forbes ^ | June 23, 2019 | Scott Mendelson

Posted on 06/23/2019 6:26:45 PM PDT by EdnaMode

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-45 next last
To: EdnaMode
So he doesn't like a Batman movie. Okay, it wasn't that good a movie. But the "blockbuster" thing goes back well before that - to Jaws, Superman, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark. People were lining up around the block to see those pictures.

If I recall correctly, Tim Burton's Batman wasn't even very popular, though it had to have done better than the George Clooney Batman flick. The '80s were the decade of blockbusters, and Batman didn't come along until the end of the decade.

Now, we're in the age of the comic book movie. The Superman and Batman pictures were only a foretaste of that. Superman and Batman were already cult figures, familiar even to the older generation, and didn't rely on a movie to make them familiar. But this isn't the first batsh_t theory about the movie. Does anybody remember the "Batman anti-Semitic" controversy?

21 posted on 06/23/2019 7:55:00 PM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
Hollywood has always taken material from other media and it's foolish to think that it could survive without doing so. What marks the current era is all the sequels and the close connection between the comic books and the movies. I don't think you can lay that at the door of one crummy movie.

But that really doesn't matter. The person who wrote the article wants to get clicks and start a controversy, not to actually prove anything, and the author has probably succeeded at making waves and calling attention to himself and his magazine.

22 posted on 06/23/2019 8:01:42 PM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Magnum44

Holy HR!
Blnk
23 posted on 06/23/2019 8:03:51 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: minnesota_bound

HA!!
I had to watch a couple times :)


24 posted on 06/23/2019 8:25:26 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck ( Keep the change, you filthy animal! ,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

>> Globalism is what ruined the blockbuster. <<

This needs to be shouted from the rooftops. So many movies were bombs in the U.S., but were funded again and again because no matter how bad they were, as long as they had enough explosions, they were monster hits overseas. Turns out the European movie-goers had all the sophistication of a toddler. As the 1990s drew to a close, movie companies learned to avoid risky movies like Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense, Home Alone, Ghost, Dances with Wolves, and stick with noisy crap, like Independence Day, Water World, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (2), Gidzilla (1998), etc.


25 posted on 06/23/2019 8:40:05 PM PDT by dangus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

No big-budget movie could fail, if marketed to un-American tastes.

Every big-budget, legendary crap sandwich made killer money overseas.

Terminator 3 made $283 million.
The Matrix Revolutions made $460 million.
The Fantastic 4 made $128 million.
Waterworld made $176 million.
Alexander made $133 million.
Troy made $364 million.
War of the Worlds made $357 million.
Mission Impossible 3 made $267 million.
Transformers 3 made $771 million.
2012 made $663 million.
Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides made $804 million.


26 posted on 06/23/2019 9:00:40 PM PDT by dangus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: minnesota_bound

In one of the the 40’s Batman serials Alfred is catching Batman’s girlfriend Vicki as she collapses and it’s pretty much the same as that gif.


27 posted on 06/23/2019 9:19:45 PM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: escapefromboston

This. Attending an ‘American’ movie in Asia is a unique experience...


28 posted on 06/23/2019 9:25:32 PM PDT by Thunder 6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode
It also showed that you could make the absolutely worst casting decisions and people would still go see it.
29 posted on 06/23/2019 9:48:39 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

Ultimately, yes. Leftism, politucal correctness, etc.


30 posted on 06/23/2019 9:52:57 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: YogicCowboy

= political.


31 posted on 06/23/2019 9:53:32 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Jumper

Excellent point. No one connects solidly that many times, and no one could possibly survive it.


32 posted on 06/23/2019 9:54:54 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

This year is especially bad. Last movie I saw at the theater was The Mule and that’s only because Clint Eastwood is in it. Marvel movies......getting old now, just my humble opinion.


33 posted on 06/23/2019 9:57:13 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: x

“So he doesn’t like a Batman movie”

Did you actually read it? He said it’s one of his favorite movies of all time. He just happens to think that’s it’s the blueprint for every blockbuster movie that’s come since (by taking recognisable kid’s material and making it’s edgy for older nostalgic audiences. I can’t say I disagree with him on that... well... other than the fact that I actually do hate Batman.


34 posted on 06/24/2019 4:50:38 AM PDT by Lurker51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: x

“If I recall correctly, Tim Burton’s Batman wasn’t even very popular”

P.S. You do not recall correctly.


35 posted on 06/24/2019 4:52:00 AM PDT by Lurker51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

What ruined Hollywood was, in part, the ruination of our educational system that dumbed down our population and their level of cultural interests and discourse.


36 posted on 06/24/2019 4:59:23 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: John Milner

Hollywood lost it way when...it became committed to using its powers to the further the fundamental transformation of the United States of America.


37 posted on 06/24/2019 5:05:21 AM PDT by Jim Noble (1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: KarlInOhio
Some days you just can't get rid of a bimb
38 posted on 06/24/2019 5:06:11 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

Bomb. This is Batman, not the Pink Panther.


39 posted on 06/24/2019 5:06:52 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: EdnaMode

Going leftist is what ruined Hollyweird.


40 posted on 06/24/2019 5:11:40 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-45 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson