skip to main |
skip to sidebar
If Batman & Robin
signaled the death of the Comic Book Movie, then X-Men (2000) is undoubtedly its rebirth
- a reverent, star-studded extravaganza that rang the box office bell in ways
very few people expected. Sure, there were attempts to revive the genre in
between - Blade (1998) springs to
mind, starring Wesley Snipes, or Mystery
Men (1999), with Ben Stiller and William H. Macy. But those were low-key
adaptations of lesser-known characters, not the big-budget, big-name properties
fans took to heart.
Consider, too, how the biggest Comic Book films up to that point,
Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie
(1978) and Tim Burton's Batman
(1989), seemed to spawn only Batman and Superman sequels. X-Men opened the floodgates for future box office spectaculars
including Spider-Man (2002), Daredevil (2003), Hulk (2003), Fantastic Four
(2005), reboots of the Batman and Superman franchises, plus Marvel Comics'
Cinematic Universe, culminating in The
Avengers (2012) - currently the third highest-grossing film of all time. Superman '78 may have set the template
for comic book verisimilitude (Richard Donner was an executive producer on X-Men), but it was X-Men that permanently whet the public's appetite for cinematic
superheroics.
If you've never been acquainted with the Mondo Gallery in Austin, TX, then you'd do well to acquaint yourself. An offshoot of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain (est. 1997), the Gallery enlists world-class artists to re-create posters for movies old and new - and then sells them (if you can nab 'em) online, at $35 to $100 a pop. (Posters are created as one-offs and sell out fast, via Facebook and Twitter feeds; buyers often re- sell their purchases on eBay, but at three times the original cost.)
Styles range from comic book designs to collages. And each and every one is a knockout - clever re- imaginings of popular (and not-so popular) films, unburdened by studio mandates or movie star egos. For brevity's sake, I've decided to share some of my favorites below, but really, if you consider yourself a serious film buff, or at least have a moment to spare, then it's worth perusing their extensive back catalogue at www.mondoarchive.com. Click on each poster below to make bigger:
There's been a strange confluence of movie trailer releases over the past week, as if studios are already vying to one-up each other for Most Anticipated Film of 2013. I honestly can't remember the last time so many big-budget previews came out around the same time; has it now become like the Oscars, where you're forced to submit your entries before the new year rolls around in order to qualify? (FYI, you can expect most of these to debut in theaters along with The Hobbit today.)
That's not to say the movies themselves look like a waste; if anything, they're equally enticing in their own way, depending on your preference for genres. Thanks to The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises last summer, audiences are primed, I think, to accept nothing less than perfection from their next potential Hollywood blockbuster. And these latest don't look to disappoint.
Part Four of our Burton/Schumacher retrospective, in
which we take a visual tour of the 1989-97 series' special (and
not-so-special) pleasures.
One truism about comic books - or any serialized form of
entertainment - is that they're always in flux.
Readership dwindles, tastes splinter off and mature, and publishing houses find
themselves in a constant struggle to stay one step ahead of the public - to
remain pertinent, say, or keep current with the ever-changing media climate.
It's why we have so many iterations, spin-offs and incarnations of the same old
titles: to please any number of fans at any given moment.
Part Three of our Burton/Schumacher retrospective, in which we take a visual tour of the 1989-97 series' special (and not-so-special) pleasures.
The first thing you should know about Batman Forever is that Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher are friends. Or mutual acquaintances, at least, depending on the stories you read. So when Schumacher was handed the reins to Warner Bros' lucrative Bat-franchise, he immediately sought Burton's approval. Burton met with the director and screenwriters Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler to discuss the tone of the film, and while this may be the extent to which Burton was involved (he's listed as a "producer" in the credits), it's safe to say he gave them his blessing.
