Superhero movies have been dominating pop culture for the better part of two decades. Whether it’s Marvel, DC or anything in between, superhero related films have consistently dominated at the box office turning huge budgets into massive profits.
Despite this, there’s a noticeable decline that can be seen in the popularity of superhero movies and tv series over the past few years. For the first time in over 15 years, superhero movies aren’t being viewed as cash machines that’ll easily turn profits for whatever company may produce them.
“It’s all about money,” explained junior Grant Swing. “They’re trying to milk all the franchises as much as they can.”
Audiences are becoming more critical over the movies they decide to see in theaters. Rather than seeing any new Marvel or DC project opening weekend, people are becoming more selective about the superhero content they consume.
“They’re getting pretty bad,” added Swing. “I don’t plan to see any new superhero movies in theaters. Maybe, if there’s a good one. I have to wait for the reviews to come out.”
A perfect example of this hit theaters just a few weeks ago. “Madame Web” released Feb. 14 to overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and audiences alike. “Madame Web” garnered an abysmal 12 percent on the film and television review site Rotten Tomatoes.
“Bereft of ideas and invention, it’s a prime example of the laziness that has seen superhero movies descend into their seemingly terminal downward spiral,” expressed critic Victoria Luxford via City A.M.
“Madame Web” made a shockingly low $15 million in its opening weekend. For reference, a good opening weekend for a film is considered to be half or more of its production budget. Considering “Madame Web” had a budget of $80 million, it would have had to make $40 million to be considered a good opening weekend.
“I was working for the few weeks ‘Madame Web’ was in,” explained junior Brayden Bolger, an employee at AMC Theaters. “It was a little bit busy in the beginning, but it died down very fast. Some people are still going because they heard of how bad it is. But that’s it now.”
Even though “Madame Web” boasted a horrendous box office performance, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all newly releaased superhero movies are hated by critics and audiences. Just last year we saw the exact opposite.
2023 saw the release of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” which brought in $690 million worldwide at the box office and was adored by a majority of movie fans and critics, with many people considering it to be one of the greatest superhero films ever released
“‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is gloriously additive, and the result is the best comic book movie ever made,” wrote Brad Gullickson via Film School Rejects.
2024 will see the release of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” a film that millions of people are looking forward to.
“I’m excited to see ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’” noted Bolger.
It’s obvious that superhero movies aren’t completely dying. More superhero movies and tv shows are being made than ever.
However, if big studios want to keep audiences engaged and going back to theaters, they’ll have to be a lot more critical about what they decide to release to audiences. Marvel and DC can’t afford to keep releasing “filler” movies to cash in on their loyal supporters’ pockets.
We are finally seeing a time where superhero movies aren’t guaranteed to make huge money at the box office and are relying on quality over quantity more than ever. It’ll be interesting to see where the industry goes from here.
