Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

April 9, 2014

Good lord, will winter never end?

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4. Captain America - I really do believe that The Winter Soldier is his big break out party. The movie got great reviews, and great audience reception. The buzz isn't quite as big as Iron Man's in 2008, but it's close. You’d better believe that Marvel will get some mileage out of the "Biggest April Opening" record. I think if I had the benefit of knowing how well it would hold up, I might even place him a notch up on the list.

5. Superman - Superman will always be Superman and that is both a good and bad thing. A superman movie will always get some buzz but the fact is a lot of people see him as corny and outdated. He doesn't have the cool factor of Batman or the nerdy outsider thing that Spider man has. Yes, Clark is a nerd but he also works at a world renowned newspaper. Nerdy comic book readers don't see themselves in him the way they can with Spider Man. And I really do believe that despite the fact that it made a lot of money, Man of Steel was a disappointment. It opened really high because of the buzz it had going in but it quickly faded at the box office because people were not blown away by it. And again, I believe that the way the sequel is being handled says a lot about the amount of confidence DC/WB has in Superman as a box office draw. Man of Steel was supposed to be the foundation for a Justice League movie the way Iron Man was for The Avengers. But that wasn't the case and now he needs the help of not only Batman but also Wonder Woman to carry his own sequel.

6. Wolverine - I think in this case the numbers don't really tell the whole story because I believe that Hugh Jackman has created one of the most iconic performances in this genre. I don't care how tall he is...he IS Wolverine. (To me, and a whole lot of other people) But the box office performance of his solo movies makes it seem like he's less of a draw than he actually is. The first Wolverine movie followed The Last Stand, which was universally despised, and people were still really excited about it. It still opened to a huge $85 million. And if it didn't suck, it could have been huge. And I know that The Wolverine was the lowest grossing X-Men movie, but again I don't think that's because Wolverine isn't a huge draw. In that case I believe that Fox made the mistake of going too niche. They based the movie on a beloved comic book storyline but the fact is that general audiences had almost no knowledge of it. I think that they inadvertently limited its audience appeal. But I think that Wolverine is still a huge draw and the fact that he's headlining yet another X-Men movie says a lot about how much of a draw he is.




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7. The X-Men (not including Wolverine) - This one is a bit tricky because the first three X-Men movies were really just Wolverine movies. So I think we really only have one movie to base this on. And the performance of First Class was hindered by the fact that it followed two terrible movies (The Last Stand and The First Wolverine Movie.) And the next X-Men movie also features Wolverine. So I guess I would call them a second tier level draw.

8. Thor - I think that Chris Hemsworth's performance had a lot to do with making Thor a box office draw. The first movie had to introduce a character that most people had never even heard of and has silly premise and it still grossed almost $500 million worldwide. And the second movie turned him into a genuine worldwide star. Unfortunately, the movie didn't resonate as much domestically and still hasn't broken into the A list the way I believe Captain America has with The Winter Soldier.

9. The Hulk - He already had two chances and neither one connected with audiences. He did have a few great moments in The Avengers but I still don't see him as a big draw.

I don't worry about superhero fatigue at all. I think these characters are bigger than the creators, writers, artists and definitely bigger than the actors and directors. Maybe with over exposure they might have to go away for a while at one point but they will always have appeal.


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