Tagged: film

ComicMix Six: The Worst Movies Adapted From Comic Books

It should come as no surprise that Hollywood studios often turn to the pages of comic books and graphic novels for source material — especially for action-packed summer releases like Iron Man.

Some of these films, such as Iron Man, Batman Begins, Spider-Man 2 or X-Men 2, achieve a great deal of commerical and critical success. In addition, they’re also embraced by comic book fans as great examples of what comic book movies should be.

Unfortunately, there are also those other comics-to-film adaptations that disappoint critics, mainstream audiences and comic book fans alike. These films, whether due to bad writing, inept direction, gross miscasting, or a combination of factors, are often not only bad comic book adaptations, but bad movies in general.

Yet, even with Iron Man‘s phenomenal success, it’s important to remember these bad films. These particular movies occupy a special place in the hierarchy of bad filmmaking and deserve to be highlighted — especially so you can avoid seeing them if you haven’t already.

Here then, in no particular order, is the ComicMix Six list of the Worst Movies Adapted From Comic Books.

 

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Update: ‘Iron Man 2’ Likely Thanks to Box Office Reports

Following up on the previous story that Iron Man placed 14th in the "highest grossing opening day," reports are now coming in that Marvel Studios’ first production brought in an estimated $104 million since Thursday here in the states and an estimated $96 million overseas.

This ranks Iron Man as the 10th highest grossing film on opening weekend, and easily the highest-grossing film for 2008 thus far. The film also produced the fourth highest-grossing opening weekend ever for a superhero movie.

This will no doubt provide the go-ahead for the proposed sequel, getting Robert Downey Jr. back into the suit in around five months for an expected May 2010 release.

We’ll be tracking the box office numbers for all of the big comics-related films this summer, so check back here at ComicMix for more to come!

 

Video: Iron Man and Batman in ‘Hi, I’m a Marvel… and I’m a DC’

A little while ago, we told you about the "ItsJustSomeRandomGuy" panel at New York Comic Con featuring the popular YouTube filmmaker and his series of action-figure films based on Marvel and DC characters.

Late last week, his latest film hit the InterWebs — just in time for the debut of Iron Man in theaters (you can read the ComicMix reviews of the film here and here). While RandomGuy’s series has been sort of hit-or-miss for me up to this point, this one’s a keeper.

This time around, Iron Man and Batman address some of the similarities between their origins and their upcoming films.

 


 

On a side note, here’s hoping ItsJustSomeRandomGuy can finally replace that weird "Thorbuster" Iron Man figure now that Ol’ Shellhead has line of movie-based figures hitting shelves.

Weekend Window-Closing Wrap-up

A bunch of things that have been open on my browser, but may not deserve a full post of their own…

  • I have no idea where this Power Girl image came from, but I’m thinking that there’s a fan film out there that I don’t know about. Can anybody help me out?
  • Digital drawing tutorials in a Lackadaisical style.
  • Bobby Crosby says it really wasn’t an April Fool’s joke: Last Blood, a story about vampires protecting the last humans on Earth from zombies, is being adapted for the screen.
  • Finally, you can scan your comics without cracking the spine! As somebody who occasionally has to do this when we don’t have the original film to reproduce from, this is a godsend. Now if only somebody had a cheap tabloid scanner for the Mac…
  • Neil Gaiman gets around– here’s an article by Yvette Tan about meeting him in a Phillipine magazine.
  • The ten sexiest cartoon women…? Uh, not quite. No animated Zatanna? (Might be NSFW, depending on your workplace.)
  • Ian Gibson! (For you young ones in the audience, he did Secret Invasion 20 years ago for DC.)
  • One of these panelists is not like the others… one’s wearing a hat.
  • Dan Grauman?
  • And finally, the comic movie premiere we were all waiting for this weekend– Super Ninja Bikini Babes! …what, there was another comic book movie premiering this weekend?

Box Office Report For ‘Iron Man’ Could Mean Sequel

It was an auspicious start for the Metal Marvel Hero, as Iron Man grossed an estimated $5.5 million at around 2,500 theaters during its Thursday night previews and made an estimated $32.5 million at 4,105 theaters on Friday, making it the 14th highest-grossing opening day on record. (You can read the ComicMix reviews of the film here and here.)

The Friday gross was comparable to X2: X-Men United, which debuted May 2 five years ago, bringing in $31.2.

Paramount big-wig Brad Grey went on record last week by saying that as long as the flick does "as well as expected", the studio wants to get a sequel in theaters for the same May weekend in 2010 — and with numbers like these, that could be more realistic than we imagined.

While this is actually a Marvel Studios-produced film, with Paramount distributing, it’s no surprise after these numbers that they will be rushing to get Downey Jr. back in the red-and-gold ASAP. Director Jon Favreau has already stated that he planned a loose structure for three movies, with the Mandarin presumably making an appearance somewhere down the line.

Keep your eye on ComicMix for more updates on how the first big blockbuster of the summer does in the box office!

The Comics-to-Film Review: How ‘Iron Man’ Matches Up

If you read fellow ComicMixologist Matt Raub’s review of Iron Man, you already know the new Marvel Studios movie is a relentless blast of entertainment. Even for those who’ve never picked up an [[[Iron Man]]] comic, it’s a top-rate summer film.

But there are also those of us who have picked up an issue (or a few hundred) of Iron Man over the years, and for us the movie is a different experience, as we can’t help but compare and contrast it to the comics that have come before. So, in that respect, how does the film hold up?

Tony Stark is the place to start, as he’s always been the real draw of any Iron Man tale (though the costume is plenty cool). In the comics, Stark is a calculating man both as a hero and in the business world. He enjoys his wealth at times, but is more taskmaster than playboy.

Robert Downey Jr.’s take on the character is much more like the raconteur persona that Bruce Wayne takes on, only for the movie version of Stark, it’s no act. Much like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, Downey Jr. offers a weird riff on his role that’s entirely new and impossible not to enjoy. Count that as a win for the film.

The film’s plot, meanwhile, is essentially an updating of the classic Iron Man origin story, and the modernization is handled quite well. There’s nothing directly lifted from the comics, and instead the comic references come in an array of winks and nods (S.H.I.E.L.D., War Machine, Nick Fury, Tony’s drinking, etc).

My main problem with the movie is a fault it shares with the comics, in how the plot tries to incorporate real-world issues without really delving into them. Comic books regularly feature stories set in vague, war-torn countries in the Middle East, and the Iron Man film follows suit with its shallow usage of terrorism and Afghanistan.

But those are forgivable defects, and Iron Man easily makes a successful transition from page to screen, thanks to a director and cast that know what elements to take from the books, and which to leave behind.

Robert Downey Jr. and the ‘Iron Man’ Review

First off, right out of the bullpen, I want to warn readers that this review of Iron Man, the first self-financed feature film from Marvel Studios, WILL HAVE SPOILERS. Normally, I try to keep any stories involving a new release free of them, but as you will read, this film is just chock full of little “fanboy delights” which enhance the experience and are an important part of the overall product.

With that said, this film should be labeled “FFBF”, meaning “For Fanboys, By Fanboys” because director Jon Favreau seems to know what the comic fans wanted to see. One gets the impression that if he were sitting in the seats, he’d want the same thing from this comics-famous tale of a millionaire, arms-manufacturing playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who decides to craft a supersuit and fight evil. Over the course of the film, anyone familiar with the character and the greater Marvel Universe will likely enjoy the references (sometimes subtle, but not always) to things ranging from War Machine to the Mandarin… even to S.H.I.E.L.D.

So make sure to pay attention, and most importantly, stay in the theater until after the credits! (more…)

Interview With Larry Fong, Cinematographer for ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • April 28, 2008

While much of the hubbub over the movie adaptation of Watchmen has related to director Zack Snyder’s thematic and narrative choices, questions also remain over how the movie will visually reflect Dave Gibbons’ work on the seminal comic.

In answering some of those questions, Larry Fong, who is the cinematographer on the film, spoke with ComicUS (scroll down for the English version). Fong, who also worked on 300, said Watchmen will use less green screen than that film and will try to hew closely to Gibbons’ art.

There isn’t an underlying template on the movie per se. In fact one of the most exciting things about it is that it’s kind of all over the place, visually. We had so many opportunities to explore different looks and there’s even a few scenes that pay homage to other films…I won’t give anything away just yet, of course. …

In Zack’s storyboards, there are frames that are very similar to those in the graphic novel. But photographically, it was more important for me to capture the spirit of Watchmen. That’s more of an intuitive process.

Fong also hinted at Snyder’s next project:

Zack is planning to make another film next year based on an original story he’s had in his head for a long time. It’s crazier and wilder than all his films put together… hopefully I’ll be working on it too!

Amos ‘n’ Andy ‘n’ Independents (sic), by Michael H. Price

  • News
  • April 27, 2008

andycalhoun-9466253An earlier installment of this column had examined a 1931 gorillas-at-large movie called Ingagi as an unlikely long-term influence upon the popular culture as a class. Ingagi, a chump-change production built largely around misappropriated African-safari footage and staged mock-jungle sequences, tapped a popular fascination with apes as a class even as it fostered a generalized anti-enlightenment toward natural history and racial politics.

Strange, then, that the film should have inspired a sequel (unofficial, of course, and certainly in-name-only) from a resolutely Afrocentric sector of the motion-picture industry. The production resources behind 1940’s Son of Ingagi stem from white-capitalist niche-market corporate interests – but the screenwriter and star player, and his supporting ensemble cast, all represent a trailblazing movement in black independent cinema.

From momentum that he had developed beginning with Son of Ingagi at Alfred Sack’s Texas-based Sack Amusement Enterprises, Spencer Williams, Jr., attained recognition that would lead him to a role-of-a-lifetime breakthrough in 1950, with his casting as Andrew Brown on a CBS-Television adaptation of a long-running radio serial called Amos ’n’ Andy. Though created by white-guy talents Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, Amos ’n’ Andy needed black artists for its on-screen representation. (Gosden and Correll had gotten away with blackface portrayals in 1930’s Check and Double Check – the tactic would not have borne repeating by 1950.) The partners hired a pioneering showman of the pre-Depression Harlem Renaissance period, Flournoy E. Miller, as casting director for the CBS-teevee project, and Miller came through with such memorable presences as Williams, Tim Moore as George “Kingfish” Stevens and Alvin Childress as Amos Jones, Andy Brown’s business partner. (more…)

NYCC: The New ‘Dark Knight’ Trailer

  • News
  • April 20, 2008

It was Day 2 at New York Comic Con and fans were practically jumping out of their seats with excitement as DC Comics Prez. Paul Levitz announced they would be getting to see, for the first time anywhere, the brand-spankin-new trailer for Batman: The Dark Knight. Unfortunately, Levitz told us we can’t tell you what happened in it, who appears in it or pretty much describe it in any way, shape or form on penalty of severe punishment.

However, here at ComicMix, we have no fear — plus, other sites like Wizard Online have already posted info on the trailer —  so we’re going to give you at least something to make you wish you’d been here at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York to see it.

What we can tell you is that it contained footage not seen before featuring several characters that have not appeared in past trailers for the film. Also, it has a lot of action, fights, bad guys, good guys, politicians and several things explode in extra cool ways. Plus, there’s a certain white-faced bad guy who makes several more appearances in this new trailer and we also get to hear him speak a lot more as well.

All in all, a very nice addition to the current lineup of trailers and other info for the movie.

As soon as we can give you more details about the film and the trailer itself — which is scheduled to be released in about two weeks — we’ll bring it to you.

Batman: The Dark Knight is set to hit theaters July 18.

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