
How Marvel Became the Envy and Scourge of Hollywood - e15ctr0n
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-marvel-became-envy-scourge-720363
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danielweber
Am I a dork for noticing the mistake that the second _Thor_ movie wasn't a
prequel for _The Avengers_?

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jonnathanson
Unless I'm misreading the article, I don't think it says that _Thor: The Dark
World_ was a prequel to _The Avengers_. Rather, it says that the Thor movies
were planned as part of the "Avengers initiative." The confusion arises from
the phrase "set the stage for _The Avengers_." I think what the writer means
is that all of these movies, including their sequels, were set into
development as part of a single initiative, meant to culminate in the Avengers
franchise.

Yes, the events of the second Thor movie take place after the events of _The
Avengers_. But that may have been planned well in advance.

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ChuckMcM
I am particularly amazed at the co-ordination of the movies and the TV series
Agents of Shield. Way back when I was at USC professor Arthur Knight used to
joke about movies "You can know when it will be done, or you can know it will
be good, but not both." because of the challenges of managing a movie
production schedule. That Marvel could pull off Thor: The Dark World, have it
hit theaters when events in the TV series matched up, that floored me.

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xionon
Not only that, but they did it a second time with Captain America: Winter
Soldier.

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ChuckMcM
Your right, not once but twice in a single TV season. That is seriously
amazing planning.

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danielweber
I think lots of people would balk at those constraints, but Joss Whedon sees
them and thinks "this is awesome!"

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cromwellian
So far, Marvel is on a roll, like Pixar was for a time, racking up a string of
successes. Guardians of the Galaxy seems to be another home run. But how long
can they keep it up, and will hype and fan expectations make Avengers 2 an
inevitable let-down?

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bane
I'm predicting an entire X-men reboot done more in the style of the Avengers
movies. To date, the effects, casting and story for the X-men movies, while
fine for the time, have been a big downgrade from the entire Avengers line-up.

> hype and fan expectations make Avengers 2 an inevitable let-down

I'm hoping it isn't. The second Captain America movie was a huge upgrade over
the first IMHO, and I thought Thor 2 was at least as good as the first one.
The Iron Man movies have been relatively good as well (sure they're going down
a bit, but they're at least entertaining).

If the 80s were the action star decade, the 2010s are the Marvel movie decade.

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ender7
Marvel sold the X-Men rights to Fox, who retains them as long as they continue
to make X-Men movies (the same is true for Sony with Spiderman). It's unlikely
that Fox will relinquish those rights within the next 10 years.

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moskie
What's also interesting is there seems to be a desire in the fanbase for
Marvel Studios to have _more_ control over Marvel properties. I get the
impression from comments in reddit posts and Slashfilm (which might not be an
accurate barometer of reality) that fans are chomping at the bit for Sony and
Fox to lose the rights on X-Men and Spider-man, so that Marvel Studios can
start making movies with them.

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pyre
Those fans want to see cross-overs. They want to see Spiderman on The
Avengers. They want to see the Hulk duke it out with Wolverine.

The likelihood of this happening when multiple studios control the characters
in question is slim to none.

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omnibrain
And I haven't seen a single one of those movies. Are they worth it for someone
not into comics at all and a slightly dislike for superheroes. Of course I saw
most of the trailers for the movies but the only one that looked appealing to
me was the trailer for the second Captain America movie. Can this movie be
watched without having seen the other moviews? I also read good things about
the S.h.i.e.l.d series.

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CocaKoala
If you're not into comics and dislike superheroes, it's pretty hard to imagine
what you'd get out of a superhero movie based on a comic book franchise.

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Crito
Eh, I'm pretty apathetic to superheros have a dislike (possibly disdain) for
comic books. I still enjoyed those of those movies that I have seen. (I liked
the first Iron Man the most; and thought that The Avengers was quite good but
nevertheless incredibly overrated).

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lazylizard
imo, the dark knight is a good movie despite it being a comic book superhero
movie. v for vendetta too.

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JetSpiegel
Funny how a Disney subsidiary can be seen as independent mavericks.

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jamesbritt
Or that tech geeks get enthusiastic over Disney products despite Disney's
recurring efforts to lock-down the Internet.

There is some serious marketing magic happening here.

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wmeredith
It's not always about marketing "magic". They have a killer product. Marvel
and Disney produce superior entertainment, despite their politics.

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NickWarner775
People, especially children and young adults will always be interested in
super heroes, Marvel will have a long and successful run.

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walruscop
It's true; I feel like I can't go to any entertainment news site without being
inundated by Marvel news.

