Moviegoers in Superhero Fatigue

Enough is Enough. How many Superheros can Hollywood throw at us before we cry, "Uncle". It seems not enough as the studios are gaga over superhero inspired movies and there is no end in sight.

Superhero flix bring in the big bucks, provide franchise opportunities, and provide lucrative paydays for actors and directors.  Over the next five years, at minimum, 30 superheros movies are scheduled for release and that number could easily swell to 50. Disney, Warners, Fox and Sony are all poised to take full advantage of the superhero trend. For example, Marvel Studios (part of the Disney conglom)
has reported that it has a planning map of films out to 2028!

New heroes Black Panther and Captain Marvel are being added to the Marvel roster and would good reason. Since buying Marvel in 2008 for $4 billion, Disney has earned over $7 billion in return from movies and add-on products from the Marvel-based superheros.  Disney is not alone in the craze. Warners has Batman and Superman, Flash, the Fantastic Four and X-Men. Sony has Spiderman, and is adding Black Cat, Silver Sable, Spider-girl, and Silk to its super-line.

But can the trend be sustained.  Hollywood has a history of going overboard with movie concepts. Beating a trend until its dead and it could be (based on the dismal summer box office in the U.S.) that there may be an amount of superhero box office fatigue building.  But the studios are adamant, and don't see the reign of superhero movies ending any time soon, so long as they maintain their quality in special effects and character building.  Long live the superhero! And watch for the Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange, Glass Ceiling, Antman, and a host of other new supers joining the already bloated roster of supers at a cinema near you.

Black Panther

Oh, and least we forget. The other studios are betting on zombies, vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings. If you can't have superheros then go with the undead theme which hopefully comes with a series of novels each good for at least one movie in the hopes of building that most lucrative of movie trends - 'the franchise'.

All things come to an end and the superhero genre is no different.  It looks like its demise will be slow in coming but it will come none the less, hopefully in the meantime we'll be entertained with outstanding action-packed, high-impact movies.

Best
Jim