An Open Letter to the Producers of Comic Book Movies

An Open Letter to the Producers of Comic Book Movies

This is just an FYI to the producers to let them know what a lot of us fans would like to see in future CBMs. Feel free to add your thoughts in the commentary, but PLEASE do not get into specfics...

Editorial Opinion
By murdocksgirl - Aug 14, 2011 08:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Fan Fic

Dear Producers of Comic Book Based Movies,

As both a producer and fan of a lot of the source material that is out there, I do understand the task of trying to get decades worth of history/mythos narrowed down to a 2 hour film. It is overwhelming just thinking about it.

However to keep the genre alive I am asking (and my fellow CBM fans below) to keep in mind the following when making these films of characters that we love.


1) Please do not re-hase the orgin. I understand you are trying to include the mainstream audience who may have no clue who Batman or Spiderman are, but at this point, alot of these characters have become part of the culture zeitgiest. Even my grandmother, who at 80+ years old and from the "old country" knows the orgin of these characters. Stop it.

(The exception would be lesser known characters-a character that hasn't already been shown in a cartoon or previous film/tv show. Their orgin being brought to the big screen is alright!)

2) Can we have some new stuff? Please? Frankly I am tired of seeing some of the same villians used over and over and over again. You have DECADES of material to use. We don't need to see Joker or the Goblin AGAIN.

3)Please keep to the source material. I know in some cases this is extremely hard to ask, just from a production standpoint. However, taking the principle players out of the game and using characters that even some of us CB fans never heard of is just wrong. This also goes to inserting characters/effects just to have another cool VFX trick. We don't need "devil dogs" again.

4)When saying that a film is based off of X storyline or X book that is held in high regard to us CB fans, and is even popular in mainstream, ACTUALLY BASE THE MOVIE ON IT. Please do not call a move X and then NOT let us fans see the story that we know and love.

5) If you hire a director that is a fan of the industry- let him do what (s)he is suppose to do. Don't try to interject a love story just to gain a demographic or a character that has been used to much. These directors know the source material and know what us CB fans will like/hate and what would also work with the mainstream.

6)Think in other formats. Would this character work better on a tv show versus trying to make a film triology? Would this character even work in a format outside of comics? What about the storyline? Does it work better as serial in which you could keep building an audience over seasons of a television show?

7)To spin off of above- would the character/storyline not work with the mainstream? But us fans are demanding to see X or Y? Maybe instead of wasting millions of dollars on something that MAY NOT WORK why don't you test it as web series for mobile devices (cell phones, tablets etc)to see if there is an audience for it?

8)Marketing- don't limit! Make your marketing campgains for both Mac/PC or Iphone/Android users. Why eliminate a potential market and shoot yourself in the foot?


There are probably a million more ideas from us CB fans... just keep watching.

A loyal fan who understands.

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Minotauro
Minotauro - 8/14/2011, 8:59 PM
#4 and #5 isn't debatable with hollywood or even a realistic scenario to happen. Directors have visions. They follow their visions on how "they" see it, and how they want it to look. Nothing can ever be 100% to the CBM source material except costumes, and plots. 300 is an exception because Synder is respectful. But nice article.
murdocksgirl
murdocksgirl - 8/14/2011, 9:38 PM
That's not true.
Without getting into specifics, there have been a number of cases where studio executives and/or producers have had the directors go back and re-shoot or do pickups to add into the storyline because they want to get X demographic into the theater that more than likely would have seen the movie in the first place.
That makes bad storytelling and is not letting the director have the "vision" they want. I am actually arguing for the director to have the vision they want. If you hire the right person, you can have a great film. Just let them do the job that you hired them for.

In regards to point number 4- yes that can be done. If a director wants to do x storyline that is based off of x book let them do it. Just don't "borrow" the title of the book/storyline.

Example: Hypothetically speaking, lets say Faveru was going to to IM3 and went on twitter etc and said "Oh IM3 is "demon in a bottle" and that's what they are calling the film and they NEVER even remotely come to that story line? No... that's fair to us fans and an possible newcomer into the comic book fandom that watch that movie.

SigmaCenturion
SigmaCenturion - 8/14/2011, 10:02 PM
Quite dumbing down characters or try making them gritty or dark if that is not what the character is about. Stop with the love interest stories. sorry but we watch a cbm and have to deal with bitchy girlfriends in every single movie stop it really. not everyone wants a romance story tied into the movie. dont go overboard with special effects and cgi just to make a summer flick. all flash and no substance makes for a terrible movie. dont inject political statements into the movie.
SigmaCenturion
SigmaCenturion - 8/14/2011, 10:23 PM
oh yeah right hire some security. stop rewriting the scripts when they get leaked.
Jefferys
Jefferys - 8/15/2011, 2:35 AM
Just to add on from SignmaCenturion's statement, if you are going to throw a love story in, make sure it does not remind us of our girlfriends. Every time I watch Riami's Spider-man trilogy, all I see is my ex!
incrediblesuperbatspider
incrediblesuperbatspider - 8/15/2011, 2:37 AM
Spellcheck bro...It is so easy to proofread your articles man.

This was kind of hard to read because of what I mentioned above, but overall I get the point and it's a solid article, besides the erroneous spelling and grammar of course :)

I'm a Journalism Major, and it's just irritating to see grammar and spelling errors left and right, don't take it personal LOL.
bigshow2312
bigshow2312 - 8/15/2011, 3:29 AM


The exception would be lesser known character


You pretty much speak for ALL cbm fans, right? lol i dont think hollywood producers are reading this lol keep trying

I wish I had the power to give a fan the budget to do a CBM so they would see what Nolan or Spielberg have to face
Coldblood6
Coldblood6 - 8/15/2011, 7:52 AM
Nice article!
95
95 - 8/15/2011, 4:50 PM
Great points.

But I don't really care about changes as long as what the character represents is intact.

If I want to see something close to the comics I know where to go, the animated series, and they're awesome.

In the case of one shot stories [e.g. Watchmen], then I understand staying loyal.

Rckstr
Rckstr - 8/15/2011, 7:14 PM
excellently written and extremely concise!!
murdocksgirl
murdocksgirl - 8/15/2011, 8:35 PM
Thanks for the compliments!

Actually @Bigshow2312 I do know what the are facing. Adapting anything is tricky because you have to keep the org. fan base in mind plus also figure out all the practicals in making x story without people getting hurt etc.

I also thought of something else I would like to add. Can you please double check your storyline from film to film? I understand over the course of a good decade you might forget certain things (like- you have established X character creating something and now you contradict with a recent movie saying its actually Y person who created something).

It is not just us fans who catch this-- my own mother caught one!
jaysin420
jaysin420 - 8/16/2011, 7:52 PM
Cool article, I remember hearing that Marvel was going to do short films or something about the lesser known characters but I guess it never happened.

I'd love to see something like that, maybe even just a quick video on their website. It'd be great to have some more info on characters like Nick Fury and Hawkeye before the Avengers comes out. Maybe even an update on what the Hulk has been up to, stuff like that.
himynameisnik
himynameisnik - 8/17/2011, 5:34 AM
Really like this especially the bit about villains and when they say something is based on a comic. Like IM2 was said to be Demon in a Bottle but he was depressed yeah but it wasn't really it was it?

Wonder if you guys could check out my first article aswell?
http://comicbookmovie.com/fansites/himynameisnik/news/?a=44514
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