Comic book-type movies are now occupying the movie lineup each box office season. Could it be film executives are paying attention to geeks? And why is that?
Fans have to applaud the film industry for having the audacity to tackle the Watchmen, a comparatively obscure comic book which grossed a modest 55.7 million (according to Variety magazine) domestically, compared to 158.4 million for the Dark Knight (domestic).
I would think that having cross-over writers such as Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith has something to do with this. But of course, a large part is due to the fact film execs are were completely caught be surprise by some sleepers such as the Dark Knight and the Spiderman trilogy.
But are fans dictating what they want to see on the silver screen or are the producers doing the dictating? I think that Hollywood is yet to understand the fanbase and how to best reach them.
Despite their best efforts however, I doubt film people still see the comic book as a respectable format of story-telling and perhaps treat it as such. Fans can only hope that directors aren't looking at comics as just a bunch of elaborate storyboards and read the subtext and immerse themselves in the language of the medium to determine how best to translate it into theatrical format. Let's not look at it just for the sake of generating sizable box office figures.
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