By Chris Kavan - 08/19/10 at 12:54 PM CT
One only has to look at the lackluster response this year to know that despite some good source material, the returns on these types of movies have been underwhelming to downright sucky.
Jonah Hex, Scott Pilgrim, The Losers, Kick-Ass (despite the low return, a sequel is in the works) have all suffered from lack of box office numbers despite having good critical reception.
Upcoming films Red and Green Hornet could skew either way - but even a big film such as Iron Man 2 didn't hold up as well as the original. Yet big names - including the upcoming Thor and The Avengers, have a much larger base. Something like Watchmen has a distinct fan base, but on a much smaller scale.
With the disappointing numbers, will Hollywood ignore smaller scale comics? Success has come - Wanted, 300, Sin City all had strong legs, but nothing has come very close since.
I personally enjoyed both Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim. Jonah Hex could have been good except whoever edited the thing made a complete mess of things. The Losers I haven't seen yet. Yet for every hit, there are five more like 30 Days of Night that just doesn't connect to a large group.
Even though many of these films make up sales on DVD/Blu-Ray, many think it's not enough to cover the loss at the box office. Hollywood tends to take losing money as sign of bad things to come, so I wouldn't be surprised if this market cools considerably. It goes to show that appealing to a small group - even one that is vocal and supportive - does not mean it will translate to mass appeal.
I don't want to see this market go, but I have a feeling that it might be a hard sell in the near future.
