2016 has been a huge year for everything. We have the most important and scary election in many years. We have clowns running around scaring people, and we have more celebrity deaths than the nation can handle. Through all that, there's other things that are happening. To nerds like me, this was the year of 6 different big budget comic book/superhero movies. The most ever in one year.
Throughout this year, Deadpool, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men: Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, and Doctor Strange all came out throughout the past 9 months. So much action and big budget special effects in such a short period of time. These movies all manage to show at least one iconic superhero/villain that people have been wanting to see, or have seen before. This was a year Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Deadpool, Wolverine, The Joker, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, the entire X-Men, most of the Justice Leage and The Avengers. It was incredible for any fan of comics to manage to see nearly ALL of their favoirte characters making their big screen debuts (Black Panther, Harley Quinn), some of them we've seen before (Captain America, Superman), some of them we've seen in different incarnations (Batman, Spider-Man).
All of the films were successful in SOME capacity. Deadpool managed to make more money than any R-Rated superhero film has done before, it even managed to outgross every other X-Men film. Captain America owned the Summer with Civil War, but that was always expected. Even Doctor Strange, a relatively unknown character to most mainstream audiences managed to make a really big splash at the box office this weekend. It's expected to do fantastic in the coming weeks. To top it all off, all of these films received great reviews and lots of love from fans. It was a very successful year in a time where movies were struggling.
But of course, due to laws of averages, not every movie can be great. In the case of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. Both filled with iconic characters that audiences want to see. Both of them managed to make a decent chunk of change. Both managing to make North of 320 million dollars domestically. But both of them were torn apart by critics and fans. Frankly because both movies were not very well made, studio meddling and general bad screenwriting are the blame. But that didn't stop them from still making money. What that means for the other TEN DC films currently being developed by Warner Bros. No one really knows, but one can bet they're worried.
X-Men: Apocalypse probably had the worst year out of all the films, both failing to make a real profit at the box office and lukewarm reception from fans and critics. This came off as a case of "been there, done that," It just got lost in the shuffle of all the films out this year. It made less than the "risky R-rated gamble" that was Deadpool, something no one was expecting.
So after a year of 6 superhero films, what comes next? The box office shows that there is still a big want out of these films. They make money, but the general audiences can only take so many bad films. Back in the 90's Batman and Robin buried the once unbeatable Batman franchise. 2017 will see the release of another 6 superhero films. If the average plays the same. Then that can smell trouble for some of these films. Only time will tell what happens next.
