Has comic book movie fatigue finally set in?

[The Overlord]

Has comic book movie fatigue finally set in? Many comic book movies this year (the Flash, Blue Beetle, Ant-Man 3, Shazam 2, etc) have either bombed or underperformed. Two movies, Across the Spider Verse and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 did well, but they seem better recieved and better written than the other comic book movies released this year. There seems to be more articles about comic book movie fatigue nowadays:

'The Flash' and Other Mediocre Movies Won't Stop Superhero Fatigue - Variety

Arrowverse Creator Blames Bad Marvel & DC Movies for Superhero Fatigue

So if has comic book movie fatigue set in? If so, what is the solution? Less comic book movies released every years? Comic book movies that take more chances and not adhere to the old, tired MCU formula?

 

[Detective Conan]

Yes, but it’s not as severe as some are making it out to be and it’s mostly DC movies are the movie that are tanking and taking a brunt of the fatigue.

 

[psylockolussus]

Not to me.

 

[Mysteryman]

No.
More like, Mediocre Movie Fatigue.
And it's not like Potential Mega Hits are being ignored.
Blue Beetle is lucky to been in theaters, AT ALL!

 

[Bayne]

As was the case last year and the year before, this is mostly a storm in a teacup and a whole lot of jumping to conclusions.

Is there some plausible reason to suspect a change might be underway? Sure.

But realisitically, Marvel's 'fall' is far less dramatic than most online commenters want you to think: they're still doing about as well or better as they were in phase 2, and anyone who expected phase 4 or 5 to actually top or even match phase 3 in hype or box office was nuts to begin with.

DC has absolutely crashed and burned, but there are clear reasons for that that have nothing to do with superhero movies in general (just like there are clear reasons for Quantumania failing or Wakanda Forever not making a billion that have nothing to do with superhero movies in general).

Outside of Marvel and DC, Spider-verse is on fire, Sony live action remains a big question mark thanks to the pandemic confusing the issue of Venom 2's box office, but if Sony live action crashes and burns - those movies were trash from the start anyway. Beyond that, basically nothing else exists for us to include in the comparison.

There will ultimately be no 100% defensible argument that Superhero Fatigue is a proven thing until we get at least two clear examples of high profile superhero movies with *good* reviews and audience response that actually fail at the box office anyway, despite people liking them and without a clear overriding cause for their failure (like the current toxicity of DC as a brand).

So far, we have exactly zero examples of this. We have examples of bad movies failing, which bad movies often do regardless. We have examples of movies being sunk by toxic brands, which is what happens when your brand becomes toxic. And we have examples of good movies *arguably* underperforming, but the concept of 'underperforming' is by nature so speculative and subjective that its nearly impossible to come anywhere near proving its even true that a thing really underperformed, let alone prove *why* it supposedly underperformed.

 

[Babillygunn]

I’m more interested in why did Dead Reckoning underperform. That movie was fire and an experience that deserved to be seen at the theater. I cannot help but ask why that one didn’t take it in.

A lot of what we see now is goodwill having evaporated. Dial of Destiny was actually a pretty enjoyable film, but Crystal Skull ate up audience goodwill and people didn’t go see it. I think the same exists for Blue Beetle which is a pretty good film and deserves better than to tank, imho, but the DCEU was irreparably damaged by Snyder and his cult and then Miller’s criminal enterprises and Levi’s odd political takes, and The Rock’s ego-centric decisions. All of that tarnished the goodwill to where it was non existent. And Blue Beetle suffered the consequences. It was probably set up to fail by removing it from streaming anyway.

But none of that explains Dead Reckoning, which is a sequel to a popular franchise that has not suffered from any recent drops in quality (if anything it’s been getting better as it goes along) and which itself was a cinematic spectacle. But people chose not to go see it. And I don’t understand why.

 

[Drizzle]

I’m more interested in why did Dead Reckoning underperform. That movie was fire and an experience that deserved to be seen at the theater. I cannot help but ask why that one didn’t take it in.

A lot of what we see now is goodwill having evaporated. Dial of Destiny was actually a pretty enjoyable film, but Crystal Skull ate up audience goodwill and people didn’t go see it. I think the same exists for Blue Beetle which is a pretty good film and deserves better than to tank, imho, but the DCEU was irreparably damaged by Snyder and his cult and then Miller’s criminal enterprises and Levi’s odd political takes, and The Rock’s ego-centric decisions. All of that tarnished the goodwill to where it was non existent. And Blue Beetle suffered the consequences. It was probably set up to fail by removing it from streaming anyway.

But none of that explains Dead Reckoning, which is a sequel to a popular franchise that has not suffered from any recent drops in quality (if anything it’s been getting better as it goes along) and which itself was a cinematic spectacle. But people chose not to go see it. And I don’t understand why.

Dead Reckoning was more unfortunate timing than outright fatigue. It only had one weekend to itself before Oppenheimer and Barbie took all the attention and premium format screens away from it. In hindsight it probably would have done much better had it been released a month later.

I've also said it in other threads but I have a theory that the "Part 1" in the title didn't do it any favors either. Audiences have been tired of that for a while now and I think studios have caught on, which is why "Infinity War Part 2" became "Endgame" and "Across the Spider-Verse Part 2" became "Beyond the Spider-Verse". Not that it would have helped against Barbenheimer but they could have dropped the "Part 1" and just given each movie a different title.

 

[Mysteryman]

Dead Reckoning was more unfortunate timing than outright fatigue. It only had one weekend to itself before Oppenheimer and Barbie took all the attention and premium format screens away from it. In hindsight it probably would have done much better had it been released a month later.

I've also said it in other threads but I have a theory that the "Part 1" in the title didn't do it any favors either. Audiences have been tired of that for a while now and I think studios have caught on, which is why "Infinity War Part 2" became "Endgame" and "Across the Spider-Verse Part 2" became "Beyond the Spider-Verse". Not that it would have helped against Barbenheimer but they could have dropped the "Part 1" and just given each movie a different title.

That's it, EXACTLY! Dead Reckoning lost all their premium screens, ALL AT ONCE!

 

[Detective Conan]

Superhero Movie Fatigue Discussion - Are Audiences Getting Tired Of CBMS?

Don’t think it’s a good idea to have basically two threads discussing essentially the same thing. Mods @Spider-Fan @flickchick85 any suggestions?