Superhero Movies (Secondary

Research)

By: Gurvinder Summan

What is my secondary research?

• This part of the task involves viewing

statistics which have been supplied by the

following website:

http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=

superhero.htm

• This presents a list of movies since 1978

and numerically orders them in terms of

success.

Top 5 superhero Movies

• The picture above shows the

five most successful films to

date; these statistics involve

superhero genre films since

1978 and how much they

made in the box office.

No.5 Iron man

Iron Man

• The fifth best selling superhero film of all time is Iron man.

• Reasons as to why this film was so successful was because of the big name actors in the film, the film stars Robert Downey Jr who is a big name actor and has starred in many blockbuster films.

• Similar to the dark knight, iron man managed to retain some sort of reality in the character, this would make the film more appealing and puts it into a more niche market compared to other super hero movies such as Spiderman.

Iron man (Continued)

• In terms of development, the writer for Iron man tried to make a unique story line which didn’t get too repetitive and “dull” it turned out to be a huge success in the box office

• I think that this film will appeal to all audiences from children to adults, the character is diverse and the story is action packed which is required for any successful movie

• Iron man is a marvel production, marvel is one of if not the largest superhero movie producers, they originate from comic books and have progressed to work with film companies, in iron mans’ case it was produced by “Paramount Pictures” which allowed them to have a large budget.

Iron man (continued)

• In every good superhero

film you need a villain, the

producers had a tough

time picking the villain,

but it was eventually

revealed that the villain

was “obdiah stane”

• This added binary

opposition in the film

which is fundamental in

any super hero film.

Spiderman 3

Spiderman 3

• Spiderman 3 is the last of the trilogy and

comes in at number 4 in the all time list of

superhero movies, the Spiderman trilogy

was an extremely successful franchise,

which appealed to a large audience.

• This film actually took in the most of the

trilogy in the opening week but made the

least overall in terms of gross profit.

Spiderman 3

• Arguably Spiderman 3 was the worst of

the trilogy, it received some harsh reviews

and was ranked the lowest of the three by

far on the IMDB website, but still it

managed to generate a large amount of

sales, there are many reasons as to why

Spiderman 3 will have generated so much

from a film that was heavily criticised.

Success from bad reviews

• Some reasons as to why Spiderman 3 grossed so much:

• It’s a marvel based film, marvel generates a lot of money just through their name, it will attract fans from all across the globe.

• It was also distributed by Sony, another worldwide franchise.

• The storyline included a variety of Spiderman’s big name enemies such as “sandman” and “venom”, these would be big selling points for fans of the Spiderman comics.

Binary opposition

• As Spiderman is a superhero

movie, it needs some sort of

binary opposition to keep the

film interesting, there is bucket

loads of this in the film and it

appeals to the audience

• The choice of the binary

opposition was really wise and

attracted loads of attention

• Also Spiderman 3 was a

success in the video game

department which would also

generate large amounts of

profit.

Spiderman 3 (Continued)

• Spiderman 3 had a large budget which

was $258 million, this would also allow the

producers to advertise and make other

products to maximise their profits.

No.3 Spiderman 2

Spiderman 2

• No.3 is Spiderman 2, this will have

generated a lot of excitement from the

original Spiderman film being released

• This was the second film in the trilogy and

it was rated as a 7.8 by IMDB, this is a tiny

improvement from the rating that was

given to Spiderman in the first film, so this

film can be seen as a success.

Spiderman 2

• Spiderman 2 was made in to a large

franchise, with a videogame release which

was extremely popular and released

around the time of the film, this allowed

there to be some excitement about the film

and this will have generated a younger

audience, and also generated a “second

wind” for viewings for the film.

Spiderman 2 (continued)

• The director looked to make an enthralling film and included a bundle of binary opposition, allowing the film to be a free flowing action sequence

• Unlike a typical superhero film it has a few twists and turns which will appeal to the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats.

Spiderman 2

• Spiderman had a large budget of $200

million which made it a large blockbuster,

this would also have generated a large

audience.

No 2. Spiderman

Spiderman

• Spiderman is the second best grossing

film from 1978 – present, this film was long

awaited and highly anticipated

• It generated a lot of word-of-mouth and

had large take ins on its opening weekend

• This was the first ever blockbuster

Spiderman movie and therefore was a

massive success

Spiderman

• Sam Raimi wanted a traditional feel to this movie, and therefore had to have Spidermans biggest enemy for this which is the green goblin, this alone would attract many fans

• Many fans of the marvel comic would’ve been queuing up to see this film and it managed to get nearly $115 million on its opening weekend

Spiderman

• As with the rest of the trilogy it was made

into a large franchise which included a

video game which would also attract a

younger audience.

• Introduction of the green goblin I felt was

key in this movie, he is arguably

spidermans arch nemesis and it was a

good decision to put him in this film

Binary opposition

• The choice of binary

opposition for this film

was fairly obvious, but

also a good business

idea.

• This character

attracted many fans

from across the

globe.

No.1 The Dark

Knight

The Dark Knight

• The dark knight is the most successful film to date, it was made famous for many reasons but also because of the tragic death of heath ledger who played the joker

• The film was made in memory of heath ledger and that alone will have made people want to watch the film.

• The film had been rated 8.9 by IMDB which is the highest rating out of all the other four films which consist in the top five.

The Dark Knight

• The sequel to this film was highly

anticipated and appealed to everyone, it

managed to gross $533,453,58 which is

the highest grossing film which is the

eleventh highest grossing film of all time.

• This film was a huge success and grossed

much more than the previous “batman

begins”

The Dark Knight

• The Dark knight had loads of binary opposition with the arrival of “The Joker” and later on in the film “Harvey Dent (Two Face)”

• The Joker had an award winning role as acted by Heath Ledger, and with the death of this star shortly after the films release generated more publicity.

The Dark Knight

• The Dark Knight also had been filled with big

named actors, such as Christian Bale, Michael

Caine and Morgan Freeman, this will also have

added more anticipation and attracted more

people to watch it on the big screen.

• Merchandise was released to make the film

generate more popularity and attracted more

people from across the world.

Upcoming Releases

Films in the near future

• Three superhero films coming soon are

highly anticipated and are big blockbuster

movies, these three movies are “The

Avengers”, “The Amazing Spiderman” and

“The Dark Knight Rises”

• Two of these films are Marvel productions

and “The Dark Knight Rises” is DC

Comics.

The Avengers

• The Avengers is a Action filled superhero movie

and consists of a consortium of marvel based

superheroes

• This film is expected to be really successful in

the box office as it stars many marvel

superheroes which has never really been done

before.

• The film is being released on the weekend of the

4th of may 2012 and is set for a grand opening.

The Amazing Spiderman

• The Amazing Spiderman is a totally new concept to the Sam Raimi Trilogy

• With Sam Raimi’s film setting the bar, this film has already got a little publicity from the previous films also it is completely different compared to the previous films, this will be a big selling point as it will be fresh and modern.

• There are however a few floors in this film, it is being released shortly before “The Dark Knight Rises” and may face some competition, which might just affect box office sales.

The Dark Knight Rises

• This is expected to be a massive hit in the box

office, as it is the sequel to “The Dark Knight”

which is the highest grossing superhero film of

all time, trailers of this film have been circulating

for a while in cinemas in an attempt to attract

audiences and generate excitement.

• There will be no Heath Ledger influence on this

film so it may lose some interest but the director

has cast some more actors to try and fill the big

gap that was left by Heath Ledger.

Big Influences

Star Actors

• Star actors can be massively influential to any film being a success, if a film is filled with big name actors then it will attract more fans

• This was key in “The Dark Knight” being so successful, as it had many blockbuster actors along with extra publicity with Heath Ledger.

• Star Actors can also promote your film as they have millions of followers across the globe and they instantly become an attraction. They will also add their “X Factor” to their role which will want to make people see their portrayal of the role.

Star Directors

• Star Directors can also have as much of an impact as a star actor would.

• A prime example of this would be James Cameron, who directed the Titanic who then spent many years working on a revolutionary film know as “avatar” which is the best grossing film of all time

• James Cameron had a huge influence on this film and many people went to see this spectacle purely because he directed “the titanic”

• Other big name actors can attract audiences such as Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton who are household names.

Primary Research

• I was told to investigate further into what the audience would feel is good ingredients for a superhero film and which aspects people like most, and the results were similar within the few people whom I asked.

• The questions consisted of; 1. what do you like about the superhero genre?

2.What do you dislike about the superhero genre? 3. What do you like about the plot? 4. what do you dislike about the plot? 5. what do you like about the starring hero? 6. what do you dislike about the starring hero?

Primary research results, positives

• I interviewed a small group of people and the results were similar as to what they liked and disliked about the genre

• The most common answers were that “they liked the high action and unpredictability”, “high budgets allowing them to create this big scenes”

• For characters the most common answers were “like the fact that they can break the law in a good way” and “they’re admirable and people would aspire to be them” also “they are bold and vibrant characters”

Primary Research, criticism

• Along with the positives, people had some bad things to say about the film, the most popular answers consisted of;

• That they felt that the “storyline could get a bit boring and repetitive sometimes e.g. Spiderman” and they can sometimes “be too cheesy and unappealing to an elder audience”

• For the character what was agreed was that “it’s too over-exaggerated” and “they can be seen as vigilante, which could be a bad influence.”

Primary Research

• The primary research shows what people

want to see in a modern and typical

superhero film, which was established as

a high action film with the hint of realism

that would make the film a more attractive

proposition.

Film Evaluation

• Our objective was to film an introduction

to a superhero film

• We tried to make our film original but

similar to the concept of a superhero film,

we also tried to cover sensitive topics such

as school bullying.

• Prior to this evaluation I posted the video

on Facebook and it generated some

positive feedback.

Question 1

• In the set film we tried to make our film

appeal to a niche market, so we aimed our

clip at teenagers, as it contains content

which is unsuitable to under fifteen years

of age

• We took inspiration from the teen based

film Kick-Ass which focuses on a teen

based film who becomes a superhero

• We decided to have an intro where we

started with a scene that relates to the

characters future, where the character is

everything that he dreamt of, quite like the

film limitless where at the start we see him

being successful and then, the next scene

shows that the person is a loser.

Question 1

Question 1

• As I filmed this scene, I tried to make the

character stand out as somebody that had

a lot of authority, to mislead the audience,

I felt the shot that we used was effective

as we circled around the character to

define him as a figure of authority.

Question 2

• Social class is a major point of this film,

the film includes a teenager and he is

discriminated by bullies, this is a negative

representation of a social class, this is a

everyday experience for our character

• This clip expresses how our

hero is unaccepted in school

and is outcast by students

within the school.

Question 2

• The bullying scene also shows how gang

life is applied, the scene shows a gang of

people bullying a fellow pupil and then our

eventual hero, this is a negative

interpretation.

• We gathered this idea from

the waterloo road extract

where we saw “rebellious

kids” and we expanded on

that idea.

Question 3

• I think that this film could be distributed by

“paramount” as it has funded a film similar

to this e.g. “kick-ass”

• It will appeal to all audiences, and I think it

will be appropriate for overseas

distribution, it also has an

appeal to British audiences

so it may appeal to “working

title” productions.

Question 3

• The film should be advertised first and

then distributed in cinemas and further on

to DVD and internet releases.

• The film may also have room to expand

and official merchandise could be released

making the film a franchise.

Question 4

• The film will appeal to people the age from

fifteen onwards, it includes teenage

related issues with bullying and lust.

• There is no target gender as it will appeal

to males and females just like Kick-Ass

Question 4

• As I posted this video on Facebook the

audience that I’d be appealing to have

given positive feedback and would like to

see more of the film • As we’ve shown this on

a social network site

people have been able

to access the film online

and the feedback would

suggest it has been

successful in attracting

a young target audience.

Question 5

• We tried to make the mise-en-scene a big

part of our production, it shows how a

modern day teenager would dress in

school and how they act with a group of

friends, in a troublesome school

• We used typical school equipment such as

a school bag and outdoor jackets and the

school environment to give it a suitable

feel.

Question 5

• In our audience feedback they did

feedback some minor continuity errors

which were acknowledged after the filming

and barely noticeable

• Overall the feedback based on the mise-

en scene was generally positive.

Question 6

• Technology played a massive part in the production of

this film

• I was the main technological person as I had experience

with cameras and editing software before, I also had to

learn how to use a audio editing software to use in the

“dream sequence” which was used by virtual DJ.

• I was very able to use the I movie software and able to

work my way around it relatively easily.

• I also had to edit under difficult circumstances as our

group had many technological issues with our mac and

that left us with periods of time in which we couldn’t edit.

Question 6

• I could improve my knowledge of using a

mac based editing software by investing in

the software and using it on a regular

basis.

Question 7

• Things I have learnt from the production of this is that,

the script will change drastically from the original, we had

to adapt to our situation and work on no budget what so

ever.

• To thoroughly iron out any continuity errors which we

may have missed on the filming side.

• We used the editing software well and we managed to

use that to our advantage to distinguish certain shots

from others.

• We managed to use a good variety of music that

appealed to the target audience and towards the impact

of the scene making it either for comedy or serious

purposes.

Question 7

• We could’ve improved if we had more time

to edit our piece properly and to back up

our work regularly so we could have

accessed it on a different computer when

ours was non functional

• Overall I feel we did the best we could with

our given resources and judging from the

feedback given online it turned out to be a

success with our target audience.

The end