Superhero Genre

After analysing and evaluating a number of superhero movies I have come up with a number of factors that contribute to a successful superhero movie. These are that the film is action paced so there is always an element of surprise and captures the viewers imagination. The film has to have an innocent individual who is the main character and can represent the people who have low self esteem. A common aspect is that the film has an attractive female who becomes partners with the hero. A MUST is that these films have; is a villain who is intimidating and who has different beliefs then the hero.

A film that shows these factors well is Spider-Man.

From www.boxofficemojo.com I have selected 5 superhero films that were deemed as successful. The films I have picked are The Dark Knight, The Incredibles , Spiderman1, Ironman and Hancock. I have chosen these films as there's a variety of reasons why they are successful.

The Dark Knight was made the number 1 superhero due to 3 main factors. The actors that play the main roles such as Christian Bale and Morgan Freeman. The fact that the previous film was a succession and the new film was a carry on and started with the same storyline. And finally the anticipation behind the character “joker”.

The Dark Knight was produced by Warner Bros so they had a large budget. This means that they could afford to get high paid actors in. having major Hollywood stars like Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart will attract the public as they know that ther performance will be of a high quality.

As I stated, Warner bros produced the film and also distributed it. So due to their large budget they are able to market the film successfully i.e. Trailers, campaigns. Also they can pay more for special effects and specialist equipment.

The storyline of The Dark Knight is partially based on the previous film “Batman Begins”. As the previous film was a blockbuster hit and a revelation in the Batman franchise, there was much hype and anticipation for the new film. This attracted people to go and see the film even more.

A major part of the film was that in this movie the villain was “the joker” played by heath ledger. Warner bros took the role of the joker to a more serious level and made his image more intimidating. After the film wasCreated and marketed the actor Heath

Ledger passed away. This also encouraged people to go and see the film as it was his last film.

The incredibles was such a major hit as it was so different to the other typical superhero films. I say this as it was aimed not at teenagers or adults but it was aimed at the younger generation (as portrayed by the animation). There was never a film like this before for the younger generation so this bought a new audience into the superhero genre. Young children always like to imagine themselves as a superhero so nearly every child would want to go and see this family superhero movie.

Most superhero films are based on a singular character who is a vigilante and probably only one person would know about their identity. However in this superhero movie there's a family of superheroes so instead of 1 or 2 main good characters, straight away there's 5 which the families can relate to.

Pixar is the main major animation company for films and it was set up by Steve Jobs after he had a break from his role at Apple. This is the first time that one of Pixars films highly concentrates on a human family. They have captured the stereotyped personalities of everyday people such as active young boy “dash”, the moody private teenager “violet” and the caring mother who is in charge of the household “elastagirl”. In previous films, pixar have put the human roles in the background (Toy Story, Nemo, Walle, ratatouille). So the fact that its their first time going for a more human role and they have got the personalities correct would reflect and relate onto the public audience.

Spiderman 3Spiderman 3 is seen as the most successful movie out of the whole franchise. The film was already going to be popular before the actual release as Spiderman was one of the original Marvel superheroes so there was always an anticipation by the audience about how good the performances and script would be. The film didn’t follow on from the previous movie such as Batman Begins to The Dark Knight. So the audience didn’t know what was going to happen as there were new villains and characters. As every poster that was revealed, it showed two key aspects. The original red side to the mysterious darker side so you could psychologically tell that this was going to be more of a serious movie and this caught the audiences eye.

Spiderman 3Compared to other superhero films; this film has a twist where the actual superhero becomes a villain. The fact that Spiderman becomes his own enemy catches the audiences eye and interreges them as it hasn’t been done before.

Going on to the villains; the previous two films included only one villain, whereas this film features spiderman as a villain, The Green Goblins Son, Sandman and Venom. The fact that threes 4 villains means that the audience will know that its going to be an action packed film. Spiderman as a villain adds a new twist, Green Goblins son will mean that the film includes revenge in which all superhero films is a common and popular aspect. Sand man relates to people who would do anything for their loved ones and Venom lets us see what spiderman would act like and look like if he has the actual main villain.

HancockHancock was successful because it didn’t apply to the typical stereotyped superhero factors such as a costume with a cape and mask. The main character doesn’t act like the hero. The character is played by Will smith who is seen as a major “person” in the celebrity industry as he's been in several big movies such as I Am Legend, I Robot and Men In Black. As he is also in the TV and music business he’s extremely popular and so audiences will be attracted to this film. The fact that the character images and reflects the average guy and isn’t based on any comic book makes it standout from the rest.

Upcoming ReleasesIn the next couple of years there are a dozen new superhero movies coming out. The audience for these films varies and they all have different aspects that individualize them. Teenage mutant ninja turtles is based on an animation and has a cartoon feel to it. The previous movies have been comical and either been in an animation form or as a puppet costume form. This gives a child like feel to it so the target audience would be the younger population.

The Avengers is due to be released in summer 2012 and combines several superheroes together in one movie. With this in mind its easy to tell the films going to be action packed. This will attract the male population and the younger people. The fact that there's a variation of classic superheroes will appeal to the older generation as they grew up with the avengers comics and TV programmes.

ArticlesThere are several key reasons why the article believes that these films will do well and they are that one film is the end of a trilogy, another combines more then one superhero in the film and the other is a remake of a classic superhero with a new cast and director.

Article – Dark Knight RisesThe key fact to the succession of this film is that it is the last in the franchise by this cast and director. The fist film batman Begins was popular but didn’t amaze the public. The second “the dark knight” took hundreds of millions of dollars gross profit due to the anticipation of the joker. The fact that its the last of the trilogy means that the production team have most likely done all they can to make this the film of the summer. The public want to see what’s new to the film and what the final movie has to offer. Another reason is due to the villains Although the joker isn’t part of the film there’s the return of Ra's al Ghul who was a key character in the first film. there’s also bane and cat-woman starring in the film. So with so many key characters is inevitable that the film will be action packed and this will attract the male population. The featuring of cat-woman will attract the female market as cat-woman is considered an icon in the superhero genre.

Article – The AvengersThe avengers is the most anticipated film this summer according to the article. The reasons why this film will be successful is down to the characters/actors and the idea of the film and the release date.Out of all these three films The Avengers is the one to be released first (at the start of summer) so the production and distribution team have a big advantage as there arent any other rival films out at this particular time. The idea about The Avengers is that there’s several marvel superheroes that have come together in a movie. So firstly if you don’t like Captain America, it doesn’t matter because there’s several other main characters so the audience is spoilt for choice. The fact that all the characters made blockbuster films suggests that this films going to be filled with action and intense scenes. Scarlett Johansson stars as Black Widow who is a key character, this will attract the female audience and also the male audience as she is seen as an attractive person.

Article – The Amazing Spiderman

Compared to the other two films in the article, this new spiderman film is seemed to be less successful. The fact that the first two movies in the franchise were a big success but the 3rd was lacking that spark means that there’s concern weather the new director and cast can come back up-to the original standard. As the release date is close to the release of the Dark knight, there might be a lack of people going to see the film as they would want to see the last batman in the franchise. However having a new cast and production team could benefit them comic superhero as we know the previous spiderman film wasnt such a hit, but the new crew might bring something new to the table so audiences will want to see whats there is to offer.

PRIMARY RESEARCH TASK 1

Primary Research Task 1I have now sat with a group of 4 people and analysed what the public like about the superhero genre, the storylines and the characters.In doing this I will be able to evaluate what contributes to the succession of a superhero film.

Superhero GenreAfter the group research, I have analysed my data and took the five average reasponss and they are:

Likes1) Action Packed2) Relates to all audiences3) The hero always starts off as an innocent individual4) different powers5) Captures the viewers imaginationDislikes1) Always American based2) villain never wins3)Gets predictable at times4) N/A5) N/A

Story LinesLikes1) Slowly gives clues about what’s going to happen next2)Storylines are always different3) always are action packed4) can become mysterious (E.g. Batman the dark knight)

Dislikes1) can become predictable.2) Themes are always repeated3) Typical that the main female always ends up in danger4) N/A5) N/A

Characters

LIKES1) Always an attractive female2) characters have believable human personalities. 3) villains are becoming more dark and mysterious4) Major actors are used

Dislikes1) Theme of hero being an unpopular student2) lack of sidekicks in recent years3) Typical Costume4) N/A5) N/A

Primary Research 2After having a deep discussion with two fellow people it is clear to me what makes a successful superhero and what doesn’t. The superhero genre will always capture the audiences eye as there filled with action and allow the viewer to visualize what it would be like to have different abilities and the films are always imaginative. The Characters can relate to the audience E.g. Spiderman was a regular student, Kick-Ass was also a student and The Incredibles had a normal family side to them. As there’s a variation of superheroes, the audience can relate to at least one of them and this gets them interested. The characters powers are what the audience are interested in. A superhero that can fly and shoot lasers is more interesting then a superhero that can change voices for example. A downside to the characters are that the costumes get abit too “cheesy”. (captain american with USA colours, Spiderman with a web print) .

Primary Research 2

And finally the main let down in the superhero genre is the story lines. The storylines are becoming abit too predictable in recentyears and mirror off each other. Such as the villians are now just trying to take over an area/ the world. there’s nothing new to superheroes that captures the viewer even more. The only film to of had a twist is Spiderman 3 where Spiderman actually becomes hes own enemy through greed. This is the only piece of creative story that has been introduced in the last decade.