In the entertainment industry, the only way anything survives is if it delivers a fresh and original sense of creativity, rather than a repetitive delivery of something that has already been accomplished in the past. This is not a fact by any means, but is surely a common perception by the mass population of entertainment fans.
Early last week, I was scrolling my Facebook feed, when I came across a post by James Gunn, director of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” that expressed something I had felt strongly about for many years when it pertains to the entertainment industry, but more in particular, the business of superhero films. In the post, after sharing displeasure at an online article that praised the film “Deadpool” and took a shot at Marvel Studios for not being as creative as “Deadpool” in a comedic sense, which couldn’t be more far from the truth, Gunn said that he had become irritated with the superhero film genre in the last few years. He explained how he was irritated because of its copycat style that’s delivering the same type of movie to fans over and over, every year, which he believes is an issue. And if the first sentence of this article did not say it enough, let me just say once again that I agree with this statement.
Since the release of “Iron Man” in 2008, Marvel Studios, a film production studio owned by Walt Disney Studios, has taken the superhero genre to the next level every year by simply doing one thing, which is being original. Marvel Studios’ goal has always been to deliver a different type of movie with its own theme or tone to give fans something they had never seen before in every film. For example, in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the film was a political thriller, in “Ant-Man” the film was created as a heist project, and in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” we received a space odyssey. It was a genius idea by the heads of the studio to keep their product relevant, and is a major reason as to why they have experienced the most success in the film industry over the course of the last eight years.
Outside of Marvel Studios’ success, most studio companies had done well in creating their own original ideas until most recently. Now I won’t include 21st Century Fox as one of those companies, because they have consistently delivered their own type of films with the X-Men, which never felt like a copy of any Marvel Studios’ film, but was always felt repetitive in its style to me personally. Most recently, however, 21st Century Fox made its best decision to date, by finally taking a page out of Marvel Studios’ book, but not in a way that copied any of their films. The company released a Rated-R superhero film in “Deadpool,” which delivered a hilarious and refreshingly original type of movie we had never seen before, which is why it has received the praise and box-office numbers it has.
However, there still remains one studio, Warner Bros. Entertainment, who has refused to do the same, and ever since the conclusion of “The Dark Knight” trilogy, has done everything they can to copy Marvel Studios films to attempt at being as successful. After the release of “Man of Steel” in 2013, Warner Bros. announced that they would be quickly assembling a lineup of films that would lead to a Justice League movie that, whether they care to admit it or not, would compete with “The Avengers.” Included in that lineup, is a string of copycat films releasing this year, which include “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” much like the anticipated Marvel Studios film, “Captain America: Civil War,” and of course “Suicide Squad,” which brings us back to Mr. Gunn.
In his post on Facebook, Gunn said that “After every movie smashes records people here in Hollywood love to throw out the definitive reasons why the movie was a hit. I saw it happen with Guardians. It ‘wasn't afraid to be fun’ or it ‘was colorful and funny’ etc., etc., etc. And next thing I know I hear of a hundred film projects being set up ‘like Guardians,’ and I start seeing dozens of trailers exactly like the Guardians trailer with a big pop song and a bunch of quips.”
In this statement, Gunn is undoubtedly talking about “Suicide Squad,” which is about a team of bad people coming together to save the world against worse people, exactly like “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which is the exact same type of film that has its characters saving the universe instead. In the first trailer for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” the song “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede was thrown in rather than some serious backdrop music, delivering something fans weren’t use to but enjoyed. It also previewed the feeling and tone of what the film would be like. Unsurprisingly, with the release of the most recent “Suicide Squad” trailer also followed this same idea by including the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. Are you seeing where I am getting at with this?
Overall, I want all superhero films to succeed, because the success of one has the ripple effect of helping all others in the genre. I also wish Warner Bros. the best of luck in copying Marvel Studios’ ideas, but that still remains yet to be seen whether or not that will be a successful road to follow. It is a natural idea for a company that just wants to be successful, but at the same time they are ignoring what being original has done for films such as “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Deadpool.” It is what’s keeping the genre alive and still entertaining to moviegoers. But as I said earlier, despite my rant to explain why this is wrong, it may just succeed at the end of the day. Time will tell.
