Hey, you want to know what’s pretty sad? Think about the movies that I’m covering. That’s right. The ones that I wake up every day and decide to blog about. Ok, are you thinking about them? Here’s how they are selected: 1) I read things, receive tips or talk to people who have interesting things to say about a movie, 2) I ignore most e-mails from publicists, because they want me to review DVDs of children’s cartoons, 3) I look at the stats to the site and see that photos of attractive women, boobs or news that can be linked elsewhere are the B&U’s top performers, 4) If I can’t find one of those stories amongst the day’s info, I pick up things that interest me.
Ok, still thinking about the movies I cover? I’m guessing you’re thinking Harry Potter, Terminator, Transformers, Watchmen, comic book character movies, sequels, remakes and the off-hand few original films that I cover because they are insanely interesting or I get boffo promotional material from it. This summer, you and I are probably thinking about the same movies: Transformers, Terminator, Harry Potter and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
None of those are original properties. Even a movies as simple as Wall-E lured me in last year because it was a Pixar film and I trust the brand. Point being, when it comes to making art, you have films like Slumdog Millionaire that come late in the year and provide us all with some quality storytelling. But, the most popular blog topics are frequently summer movies, and those are all re-makes, re-boots, re-imaginings and adaptations. Why? Because it’s stupid to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in something that doesn’t have a built in audience one way or another (that’s why Avatar will remain James Cameron’s Avatar until it releases enough footage to stand on its own).
That being said, I can understand why Fantastic Four is going to get the reboot treatment. The two previous films both sucked, but people now know what to expect from the story. Not to mention you have the possibility of dealing with some crazy characters (The Thing should really be helped out more by CGI, I.M.H.O.).
The problem with all of this is that these will be post Dark Knight/Watchmen rebooting tactics, and The Fantastic Four were never meant to be gritty…
From IESB:
The franchise is looking to be “less bubble gum” this time round following the Iron Man template, which was a complete success in reviews and box office take but a bit darker when it came to its superhero. Iron Man was in no way as dark as The Dark Knight but was funny, action-y as well as a bit on the serious side.
Here is the thing with The Fantastic Four: Stan Lee created them as the more fantastical crew for Marvel. Hell, “Fantastic” is the hugest hint you’ll ever get.
When Marvel decided to re-launch it’s comic line under the “Ultimate” moniker, re-imaging their entire Universe and continuity, the Fantastic Four were still facing off against reptilian aliens and Mole Men.
Seriously, look through the history of the foursome, they were never meant to be serious or “less-bubble-gum.” Yeah, having Mr. Fantastic get a little tipsy and stretch dance before meeting The Silver Surfer was a misfire, but strangely fit with the character.
You remember when The Matrix came out and it changed the game as an original property? Where’s that movie this year? Next year?
Damn reboots.
