超级英雄片：好莱坞赚钱机器_BEC初级作文

超级英雄片：好莱坞赚钱机器

It’s hard to question the confidence of Marvel. Since it was bought in 2008 by Walt Disney for $4bn, it has generated $7bn by mining a catalogue of superhero characters developed over decades of comic book publishing. With each film introducing new characters with interconnecting plots, Feige reinforces his reputation as one of the shrewdest studio heads of his generation.

It was Feige who resurrected the career of Robert Downey Jr by casting him as Iron Man. He hired TV director Joss Whedon to make The Avengers, the third highest grossing film in history. He approved Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy and it is Feige who will probably sign off on Benedict Cumberbatch to play Dr Strange.

But Marvel is far from alone. Warner Bros., owner of the rights to DC Comics, has unveiled its own 10-movie slate of superhero films, including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice next year,Suicide Squad and Flash. Rupert Murdoch’s Fox has The Wolverine, the X-Men series and theFantastic Four. For the Hollywood studios, faced with declining theatre revenue, the superhero genre is considered a winning strategy.

Jeff Ayres, manager at New York’s famous Forbidden Planet comic bookstore, says it’s no mystery why Marvel’s film slate is dominant: it is derived from a generation of superheroes with complicated inner lives.

“They’re from the minds of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Stan Lee – that’s why those characters are so durable. Marvel characters stand the test of time because they’re based on real human foibles. Unless they’re sent down from heaven like Thor, they always have one foot in reality.”