So, I just saw THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN trailer, for next Summer’s Spider-Man reboot.
Everything I see about this movie makes me care about it less and less. I’ve read or seen at least ten different iterations of Spider-Man’s origin since I was first introduced to the character on SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS in the early 80s. I am so totally over his origin story, and want to see the “with great power comes great responsibility” theme used in other tales, involving other characters.
But, this is not a movie made for me. I am not the target market for this movie. And, if you’re reading this, YOU probably aren’t, either.
This movie is made for kids, so that Sony and Disney and Marvel and Hasbro can sell a bunch of toys and backpacks and pajamas and skateboards and stuff. And kids will gobble up this movie’s merchandise, and the movie will be very successful, because, shit, dude. It’s fuckin’ Spidey.
But, let’s look at this movie for what it is: a political move by Sony.
From my understanding of the contracts Marvel signed (they’re not public domain, and I have not read them, so everything I have heard is all second-, third-, or eighteenth-hand), they state that as long as the studios who licensed the characters maintain something in production, the contract will not expire. Upon expiration, the rights to the character revert back to Marvel.
When Marvel worked up these contracts, they did not have a film studio, and were just barely coming out of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Plus, consider the previous Marvel movies: the made-for-TV DR. STRANGE, the two 80s CAPTAIN AMERICA movies where he has the motorcycle helmet, the Dolph Lundgren PUNISHER, the 1990 CAPTAIN AMERICA film that never got released in theaters, the made-for-TV GENERATION X and NICK FURY movies, and the 1993 FANTASTIC FOUR abortion. It’s not like Marvel expected Sony (or, in the case of the X-MEN, DAREDEVIL, ELEKTRA, GHOST RIDER, and FANTASTIC FOUR, Marvel never expected 20th Century Fox) to make movies that would be successful enough to warrant sequels. There were 20 years of god-awful Superhero movies.
And let’s look at what other comic-based movies had been released around that time. Sure, the 1989 BATMAN was great, but BATMAN RETURNS, BATMAN FOREVER, and BATMAN & ROBIN are all garbage (though, admittedly, RETURNS looks REALLY cool, and FOREVER isn’t as bad as & ROBIN). The 1978 SUPERMAN with Christopher Reeve was fantastic, and SUPERMAN II was even pretty good, despite being edited into a comedy, rather than a serious action movie. But SUPERMAN III and SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE were both crap. THE CROW was fantastic, but THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS was not. And pretty much any other comic-based movie (THE MASK, MEN IN BLACK, DICK TRACY, THE ROCKETEER, THE PHANTOM, etc.) were so far removed from the source material (or comics so obscure that only the most die-hard of comic fans knew they were even based on comics at all), that they barely even qualify.
So, of course Marvel was willing to sign a ridiculous contract that essentially gave Sony the license to Spider-Man films in perpetuity. Almost no comic movie that had come out by the time SPIDER-MAN was in development had been particularly good, or good enough to warrant a string of sequels.
And when Disney bought Marvel a couple of years ago, they maintained that all of Marvel’s license contracts would remain in effect until expiration. Which basically meant that as long as Sony had a SPIDER-MAN project in the works, the Spidey license would not revert back to Marvel Studios. And considering that all three SPIDER-MAN movies have amongst the biggest weekend opening box offices in history, making a SPIDER-MAN movie is like an excuse to print money.
From a business perspective? Sony is making an excellent move that I do not disagree with. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN may not break box office records, but it will do pretty damn well. And all the licensees for merchandising will basically have the same experience.
It’s just unfortunate for those of us who liked the previous SPIDER-MAN trilogy that we are no longer the target market, and it’s now the kids who are ten years younger than us.
Of course, it could be possible that this is just an absolutely terrible trailer, and the movie itself will be the best film ever made.
Schyeah…And monkeys might fly out of my butt.