FalcFans Forums

The future looks grand for Super Hero movies in the next few years. Take a look and see what's on tap for moviegoers.


'Batman 3' Joins Packed Summer 2012 Season
by Matt McDaniel · May 4, 2009
According to the Mayan calendar -- or, more accurate, what ridiculous disaster movies have said about the Mayan calendar -- the world will end in December of 2012. And if that's the case, well, at least we'll get to see some awesome movies first.

It was announced last week that Warner Bros. Pictures had signed a new deal with IMAX to release 20 upcoming films over the next three years in the giant-sized format. That's big news on its own, but that wasn't the real bombshell: included on the lists of titles was "Batman 3," with a release date set for July 20, 2012.

Christopher Nolan, director of "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight," stated this past March that he was planning to finish his Bat-trilogy with a final movie. But this is the first time a release date has been established. After the last movie brought in just over $1 billion worldwide, anticipation for another movie has been sky high. Still, there are some other giant movies coming in the summer of 2012 to be plenty excited about as well.

More Comic Book Action
The summer '12 movie season will kick off with "The Avengers," the movie that will bring together Marvel Comics' biggest heroes. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk will team up in a massive movie opening the first weekend of May. Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson are definitely on board for the flick, which will reportedly be directed by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon.

If that's not enough comic book action for you, the Fourth of July weekend will bring Spider-Man back to the big screen. Directed by the appropriately named Marc Webb ("(500) Days of Summer"), the movie will be a franchise restart, sending Peter Parker back to high school. No casting announcements have been made for that movie yet, but it will be in 3D.

Of course, there will be sequels that summer, and leading the pack will be the next installment of "Star Trek." With J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot having earned 2 1/2 times more money than any previous "Trek" movie, it was inevitable that his young Enterprise crew would return for another mission. Abrams hasn't committed to directing yet, but the script is currently being written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman -- who wrote the first movie -- and "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof.

Next Year's Blockbusters
None of this is to say that the summer of 2011 won't have giant movies as well. It was just announced that the prequel "X-Men: First Class" will bring Marvel's mutants back to theaters. Thor and Captain America will get their own solo movies before joining "The Avengers." Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides." A third "Transformers" movie is planned for the July 4th holiday. Animation can't avoid sequels either, with Pixar's "Cars" and DreamWorks' "Kung Fu Panda" getting second movies. And the last half of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will mark the boy wizard's final big-screen adventure.

The Warner Bros./IMAX deal also includes other impressive movies that don't have release dates yet. They include "Gravity," a sci-fi drama with Robert Downey Jr., "Dark Shadows," with Johnny Depp as a vampire, "Fury Road," the revamp of the "Mad Max" series, and a new take on "Superman" that Christopher Nolan is also producing. But before any of that, Nolan's next film as a director, "Inception" with Leonardo DiCaprio, will unspool on IMAX and regular screens this July 16.

And if the Mayans were right about the world ending in December of 2012, let's hope it won't be until after the release of "The Hobbit." The prequel to "The Lord of the Rings" is set to roll out on IMAX screens that month. The apocalypse will be much easier to take if we get to see that movie first.

F**K Batman 3. It ain't gonna be better than the Dark Knight, thus extending the inescapable truth that the 2nd movie in a trilogy is the best, and the 3rd is always destined to disappoint.

And while I was psyched for the Avengers when I first heard of their plans 2 years ago, unless Thor and Captain America can deliver, there's no way that movie is going to be good.

And I can't believe they are bringing back Spider-Man. Definitely boycotting those movies.

This comic book frenzy is going to fizzle in a few years, and I think it may have already peaked. Although I'm sure Iron Man's returns this weekend will make things look otherwise.

Come now Pudge you love this Superhero frenzy.I think Spiderman 3 was put together badly and now they'll go back to their old formula. Hard to say on the Avengers you need the right cast and story.Batman Returns finally got it right when so many other Batman movies failed horribly.Remember the ones with Clooney,Scwartzenager just horrible. Superman got it right mostly the last film. I just think it takes awhile for the right formula to be found in these movies. That is not to say their won't be more failures but for the most part I look forward to them.

I keep waiting for Wonder Woman to be at the movies will see. I heard Sandra Bullock but don't know now. I am sure your waiting fiercely for that movie to come out also.

Superman 1 and 2 were good. 3 and 4 were horrible. And Superman Returns (the one that came out a few years ago) was horrible as well. Superman needs a good reboot, and they need to bring in Doomsday.

Spider-Man 2 is one of the greatest superhero movies ever. At this point, I would say only the Dark Knight is definitely better. They don't need to re-boot the franchise. Spider-Man 1 and 2 are excellent films, 3 was a disappointment, but it wasn't terrible. But that's not cause to reboot the franchise, especially since it's only been a few years since those movies came out. All I'm saying is that I'm definitely boycotting the Spider-Man movies. Spider-Man in high school? Sorry, I've seen that movie a hundred times. They did it in the 80s to perfection and it was called Teen Wolf. It also just came out a few weeks ago and it was called Kick-Ass, except the difference is Spider Man won't have Hit Girl in it, so it's going to suck.

But think about this in terms of Batman. If the Dark Knight was the last Batman movie you ever saw, would you really be disappointed? It's just like Terminator. Terminator 2 comes out and you're like, this is awesome. I must see more Terminator. But then you get Terminator 3 and Terminator Salvation, and you're like Ehh. Those movies weren't terrible, but they really added nothing to the franchise (just like the Alien Series). And ultimately you get half-assed movies that were made to make $$$ rather than really continuing a good series of movies. Can I blame Hollywood for that? But it doesn't mean I have to like it. And I'm definitely going to be much more selective with what movies I'm going to see in the future because of this.

So I'm not thrilled with all this Superhero movie frenzy, because soon it's going to be like it was in those movies, they are churning out OK movies for money rather than actually investing time and effort into making good movies.

Good points about the Super Hero Movies Pudge. I have to agree with your points for the following reason.

When a new super hero movie comes out or any movie for that matter and it blows the audience away you expect a sequel.The reasons moviegoers get blown away are they have never seen anything like the movie in terms of a new character, plot,special effects.You have the right actors/actresses and a good director to make the movie work. Avatar was special because of the special effects and the plot we have seen before in one form or another. I also am very leery of sequels seeing that many don't equal the first movie. Lord of the Rings the second movie was a disappointment compared to the first but the 3rd movie was the best. Sometimes it does pay to continue the trilogy like I think Avatar will and Iron Man. Some directors will put anything together sometimes just to make a buck.Few movies have the longetivity or appeal in presenting a trilogy where the public doesn't get tired of it.

I think the Fantastic 4 the first movie was good the 2nd a disappointment.It's possible they'll have another one and I hope the director has learned that the script must be good or it won't do well. I would say most but not all movie series the sequels won't be good as the first which is why you have to be careful on which movies to see.

Personally, I didn't like either of the Fantastic Fours. That's an example of a film IMO that got a sequel because it made money, not because the first movie was good enough to need a sequel. It probably didn't help that I was never a big fan of the comic, although I must admit I didn't really that many comics outside of X-Men when I was a kid.

Obviously, I'm not naive enough to think that even a good movie will get a sequel just because it's a good movie. Sequels are made because the studios believe they are worth the investment, and thus they only think that when the first film makes a certain amount of money.

There was a long time where comic books weren't lucrative to studios. Other than the Superman movies and the early 90s Batman movies, not a lot of material that was successful that was translated from comics. Then Blade (1998), X-Men (2000), and Spider-Man (2002) came out and were successful. And then Marvel got the idea that they were going to make all of their comics into movies. And because of the success of those movies, studios ate up those ideas and starting churning out Marvel-based movies ever since to mixed results:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fi ... vel_Comics

And I'm betting that going forward we're going to see more movies like Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and Fantastic Four, which IMHO are mediocre at best films, than we are movies like Iron Man 2, Spider-Man 2, X2, etc., which I'd probably argue are the best of the films produced so far. And notice those are all sequels, but IMO they are well-made sequels. But I think they are more about making money than they are pickign and choosing materials that can make really good movies.

I'm excited about the Avengers because it's unique in the sense that it will take the main characters from several major films and put them in one movie. But I'm not convinced that it will be a good movie, unless Thor and Captain America can produce likeable well-made movies so that we go into the Avengers with the 4 main characters: Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor are all likeable characters that we can root for and overcome whatever obstacle is thrown at them. We'll have to see with Captain America and Thor, because you wonder if they are movies that are being made just so they can make Avengers, or are they really good movies that can stand on their own legs. If it's the latter, then great. If it's the former, then we're all screwed.

Pudge, only you would be able to find a video like this. Well there is truth to the clip which we have talked about. Do we get water down versions of movies to make money and the public grows tired of them middle of the road movies or superior movies.Like any genre superior movies takes a number of factors to be a blockbuster it isnt only comic book/super hero movies.

Here are your 5 finalists for the Spider-Man reboot:

Josh Hutcherson:


Alden Ehrenreich:


Jamie Bell:


Frank Dillane:


Andrew Garfield:

Oh god interesting that no one really knows any of them that much. Well here's their chance to make a name for themselves. I guess Tobey Macguire got tired of Spidey?

The 3rd movie I didn't like since half way through the movie the story went haywire.

Based off what I've seen of these 4 candidates (I know nothing about the Alden guy), Hutcherson is the best choice for the role. He was good in Zathura and Bridge to Terabithia, and a franchise like this would certainly help his profile.

Not sure I could buy him as a nerd. But it really doesn't matter what I buy again because I'm boycotting these movies. Having to re-watch them try to do Spider-Man 1 and 2 all over again, and knowing that it's going to be inferior is just a waste of time.

I'm not against reboots. But I am against reboots that are done 8 years later to an already solid franchise. Imagine what you would think if next year you heard that the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie wasn't a sequel, but a reboot without Johnny Depp. That is exactly what this Spider-Man reboot is.

90% of critics liked the first Spider-Man, 94% of critics liked the 2nd one. Those are about the best ratings any live-action movie can get on Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, Spider-Man 2 is the 4th best Hollywood-produced Action/Adventure film of the past decade, and the first Spider-Man is 8th best per Rotten Tomatoes. You cannot remake those movies and think you can do it better.

Enjoy scout. Andrew Garfield has been chosen.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocom ... -sony.html

Hard to comment about an actor I don't know much about. Let me research him see if I can find out something.

Pudge, here is a good article on the new Spiderman. Another actor from Britain looks like. I don't know what the training is over there but Great Britiain produces alot of quality actors and actresses. The size of GB vs the United States pretty amazing how much quality comes from Great Britian.

I have no clue what it is that makes Brits such good actors, or at least have a very disproportionate population in Hollywood. It probably has something to do with it being the birthplace of Shakespeare, and probably any prospective actors and actresses from ages 15-18 are well-versed in Shakespearean acting. Here on this side of the pond, the only 15-18 year olds that go on to have success are pop stars.

Whoops forgot to post the article link.This isn't the one I first saw but just google it you'll find others. I don't know if more people are exposed in Great Britain or they have a better Arts Academy but it does seem odd so many high quality actors come from Great Britiain where their population isn't near the United States. More power to Great Britain they also churn out alot of high quality musicians.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/soni-pi ... pider-man/