Cap2024
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2024
- Messages
- 262
- Reaction score
- 179
- Points
- 28
This is really the core of why this entire argument is nonsense.
Comic Book 'A list' - even if that did always describe the Avengers, which is debatable - has nothing to do with movie success.
Characters there were B list until they had a hit movie like Black Panther and especially GotG are indisputable proof that B list characters can hit big when handled well.
But most importantly:
There is no such thing as a B list character who can 'clearly' and 'obviously' become A list with the right treatment. There never has been. B list characters only become A list because someone takes a chance on them - and that's never guaranteed or easy. And there is also no such thing as an A list character who is 'guaranteed to do well and strike a chord with audiences'.
Even Batman still bombed once. The closest you will ever get to this ideal based on cinematic history is Spider-man - but while he has so far been seemingly insulated from financial consequences, people still largely hated ASM2 so much the studio was afraid of going ahead with ASM3. And even then, you can't go around chasing Spider-man with every new franchise under the sun because the vast majority of them simply can't be as successful as Spider-man is. There isn't room for that many franchises at the very top. The vast majority of them by definition will be lower down the ladder, where success is clearly never guaranteed even with a popular character.
I hold by the smartest business move being playing things safe for now with heroes audiences are known to love and gravitate to as to re-establish solid ground with the masses.
And then, once the dust is more settled, experiment.
I never said stop experimenting (which you somehow took from it). What I said was - play it safe and then take risks again.
There is a difference. What I’m proposing is actually - a very standard business practice:
Re-establish trust to remind audiences why they love the brand prior to taking risks. This way audiences are more likely to follow a company in taking those risks; and therefore risks have a higher chance at taking off.
This is why one of Iger’s first steps was to highlight old beloved classic franchises and to put those at the forefront when he returned.
Adding: there is an obvious business reason why Iger highlighted this soon after returning (doing so isn’t a popular notion to those who want to keep immediately experimenting, but there is a reason for it) -
‘Frozen’, ’Toy Story’ & ‘Zootopia’ Sequels In The Works, Disney CEO Bob Iger Says
Animated sequels to ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Frozen’ and ‘Zootopia ‘are in the works, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced on the February 8 Q1 earnings call.
deadline.com
Last edited: