5 Signs The Superhero Movie Bubble Is About To Burst
4. The Studios Have Started To Alienate The Original Fans
Part of what made many of the early superhero movies special was that they pleased both comic book fans and general audiences. Though many comic book aficionados nitpicked at some of the inconsistencies created during the popularisation of these franchises, the characters generally stayed true to the source material. The use of classic storylines, inside references and the joy of finally seeing their favourite heroes on the big screen, won many of the original comic fans over and for the early years they were the driving force behind the genre, and formed the core audience that always bought tickets and talked up the movies as much as possible. But recently that has all changed. When studio executives began to realise how much money they could squeeze out of superheroes, the target demographic changed. Instead of being written and produced with superhero fans in mind, films are now made to please the casual moviegoer. Focus has shifted from the story and characters to big action set pieces and commercialisation. With advertising in mind the emphasis has been placed on one-liners and moments that would look great in a teaser, instead of what works best within the movie. This has also led to studios abandoning the source material for the films, or changing it so completely that original fans can barely recognise it, opting for classic Hollywood tropes and storylines. Studios have tried to keep the comic-book fans in line but a couple of Easter eggs and the remnants of their favourite storylines isnt much of a reason to keep coming back. All this has served to push out a core fan-base that was a reliable audience, and in its place is the larger, more lucrative general audience. But the interest of the public is fickle. Sure the world loves superheroes now, but they also loved cowboys and spaceships. The mass will eventually move on whereas the original fans would have been there long after everyone else was gone. So far that decision to go after a larger audience has led to huge profits, but the long-term future of the genre is shaky at best.