Comic Books and The Movies

The movie industry is abuzz with comic books being adapted to the full screen. Not only is it profitable for Hollywood to produce comic book characters, but for the comic book industry too. There have been low budget movies and television series based on the more popular comic books. Usually the low budget movies do not fare well.

The blockbuster comic book movies usually use well-known actors and the difference between the low budget movies and the high-end movies are palpable. The television industry has had a love affair with comic book heroes for generations. The old serial shorts showed a popular comic book hero. The special affects were limited with the era but it introduced the character into the mainstream.

The advent of radio-helped pave the way for the comic books to hit the ordinary folk that would never had the exposure to them. As time advanced so did the technology and the special effects. Certain comic book super heroes needed to employ certain feats to appear to fly and see through walls. Wires were strung on the costumes, and hoisted in the air to appear to defy gravity. Boulders that were huge in size were actually made of paper.

All kinds of primitive devices were used to entertain us. And entertain they did. The advances in the special effects department gave Hollywood its first glimpse into a lucrative enterprise. In 1978 the first big blockbuster came onto the scene and the movie industry was taken aback at the amount of money that was made. The comic book industry took notice to and continued with three more sequels that never matched the first one. In 1989 Batman came out and it was an instant success. Jack Nicholson portyrayed the Joker with fervent appeal and was the only actor, at the time, to receive a share of the profits.

There have been a few Batman movies and each successive one had better special effects. The comic books had finally come into majority of the households. The Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer, Spiderman, The Punisher, and soon to be released Iron Man. With so man famous comic books hitting the big screen, the relationship between the movie industry and the comic book business have cemented. Obviously, it benefits both parties.

The movie empire can be assured on profits, especially if word of mouth is positive. Nothing can sink a movies fortune than a negative response from people. I am not referring to the critics. Ordinary people who spend their hard earned money are more influential than the critics. It helps the comic book domain by getting more and more people exposed to their comic book heroes and villains. Thus, people who normally would not read comic books could be persuaded to buy some.

Comic books and the movies enjoy a relationship that has endured for a long time. Each successive generation will be able to watch new movies with different comic book characters. And each one will bring about changes in how the movies are made and the special effects they use.