10 Movies That Prove Fanboys Should Never Get What They Want

10. Fanboy Movies Are Often Financial Failures - Dredd (And Many, Many More)

Because they tend to be more vocal than the less-bothered casual viewer-base, it's easy to forget that fanboys in fact only account for a small part of any movie's target audience: the big bucks are always in hooking those who have little-to-no knowledge of, say, Dredd, Hellboy, Scott Pilgrim or Watchmen. Sadly, all of those movies were financial disappointments, and only Hellboy managed to (somehow) secure a sequel, albeit one which didn't light up the box office and as such has put to rest most discussions of a third film. The aforementioned movies are all quirky fanboy movies that have one major thing in common: they delivered what the fanboys wanted (in the case of Dredd and Watchmen, an R-rating), but at the expense of establishing an audience elsewhere. As a result, they made no money, and the prospect of a sequel to any of these films is grim-to-nonexistent. Another classic example is the geek-baiting Snakes on a Plane, a movie that amassed a gigantic horde of fanboys as soon as the title was announced, but when it came to the release date, most people interested in the movie (geeky fanboys with lots of tech knowledge, let's face it) just torrented the movie instead of supporting it, and it was only mildly successful as a result. So, fanboys might desperately cry out for a movie that reflects the vision of the comic book source material, but when it comes to crunch time, what they want doesn't always mesh with what general audiences are looking for, and sometimes, the fanboys just download the films instead.