Funny you should mention the changing technology as the deathknell for trends and genres in movies.
The biggest change the soon to be doomed Superhero movie needs to worry about is the complete eradication of movie theatres in a post covid world. Yes the technology is changing again! This time movie theatres are going away completely and will transition to Streaming services. The total take for Godzilla Vs Kong being an interesting bellweather in this case. GvK is of course a CGI laden miracle of cinematic vision with little else to entice viewers besides the CGI monsters on screen and still managed to pull in $435,902,000 according to
The-numbers.com
Absolutely massive considering the effects of the PANdemIC on the industry. The movie was well into production before the widespread response shut down most movie theatres. That's an even bigger number when conisdering the movie got a same day release on HBO Max the same place where another Superflick "WonderWoman: 1984" had much smaller numbers.
While it can be argued that GvK's success is almost abysmal by pre covid standards, it obvious the format for watching these movies has changed and will continue to. The next big release is "A Quiet Place 2" and that is projected to succeed GvK's numbers while being another CGI dependent movie featuring Aliens or something. It's a memorial day release with little else in the theatre to compete with. So whether the trend holds up and signals the return of the blockbuster time will tell.
So yes,
@Pilule Noire I agree the Technology is changing around Superhero and CGI dependant movies, but it's going the way of the Same Day streaming service. There's no amount of impressive CGI that can stave that future off for long.
One noticeable affect now is the traditional 90 day exclusivity window going away with
Regal cinemas agreeing to a 45 day contract with Warner Bros.
It'll take years for the movie industry to recover, and even then I predict we will see much smaller budgets to account for streaming services, The Supermovie will indeed go the way of the western as a result of changing technology.
Another technology changing around Superheroes is of course the Printed Super Comic. My prediction is these will fail, and it's not because of internet gas, gay captain america, or even Gail Simone. It's because Print media is on the way out. Im not suggesting Digital is the answer. I don't know that there is one for this particular problem. If Print doesn't completely die out, Digital is continuing to grow. Our entire world is being digitized in ways just years ago would almost be seen as unimaginable. You want to collect comics? NFT's (whatever the fuck that is) are now a thing.
There is however one Nerd thing that is still thriving on printed material. Pokemon cards. If you've been to your local target at 8am on a friday you might have seen the lines yourself.
If you've been to a walmart recently you may have even witnessed an actual rush from customers desperate to buy print media. Apparently there's a huge resale market for this stuff. Could the comic industry take notes here, or is the speculator and second hand market a one time chance for comics?
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