It’s All Geek To Me — Scott Pilgrim vs. The Box Office
Last week I wrote about Scott Pilgrim and how it faced some stiff competition for its opening weekend, and that it would tank at the box office. Well, I was wrong. It really tanked at the box office, opening in fifth place behind even The Other Guys and Inception, both of which have been out for several weeks already. As someone who is a big fan of the Scott Pilgrim comics, this is certainly a hard pill to swallow, but at the same time it’s easy to understand that those who are unfamiliar with them might not have known what to make of the film.
If the dismal box office proves anything, it’s that the public at large seems to prefer known quantities in their geek entertainment. If not in the character, than the stars. If not the stars, the creators. Scott Pilgrim fails this test in all regards. No one really knows about the character except for regular avid comic readers who number, let’s say, in the area of a few hundred thousand—a very small percentage of the 300 million-plus population of America. Whereas almost everyone knows Batman and Spider-Man. Michael Cera, while a known quantity, has yet to escape the confines of his niche appeal, despite the fact that his performance here breaks very much out of his own mold. And with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz also having limited exposure, Edgar Wright’s name alone surely isn’t bringing the crowds in droves.
Now take a look at the top four earners for the weekend. The Expendables is the craziest mash-up of A-list and B-list action stars ever assembled. Eat Pray Love is Julia Roberts in an adaptation of a crazy popular chick lit novel. The Other Guys is Will Ferrell, who has yet to wear out his welcome (Land of the Lost aside), in a comedy that benefits from a well-underplayed ad campaign and very positive word of mouth. Then there’s Inception, with Leonardo Dicaprio, also a somewhat recognizable star. Oh, yeah, and wasn’t that directed by that Dark Knight guy? Yeah, it was! Let’s go see that thing! Dark Knight’s huge success made Christopher Nolan a bankable director and a widely known quantity.
In other words, Batman’s milkshake brought all the boys to Inception’s yard.
So what does this mean? It means SP didn’t make as much as everyone liked and it’ll likely still have a long, successful DVD run, like Kick-Ass seems poised to do. And that’s it. It doesn’t herald the end of creativity, or the end of the comic book movie, or anything like that. Especially since comic books are a medium, not a genre, and that medium is still brimming with some of the most original ideas in entertainment. And where there are original ideas and creative minds, you can be sure Hollywood will be there at some point to harvest them.
Except for superhero movies. Those are totally gonna die soon. At least, according to Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn. This, he says, is why he was so hot on helming X-Men: First Class. He’s always wanted to tackle a big-budget superhero movie, and he feels the shelf life of the audience’s tolerance of them is close to expiring. To this I say HA! Then HA again! Then…huh. Then a protracted hmmmm.
Maybe he’s right?
As someone who eagerly anticipates seeing any comic book hero on screen, I certainly have trouble seeing that happen, but we’ve also seen time and again that you and I, dear ninjas, are in a very subjective minority. Once we’ve run out of licensed heroes to adapt, and are stuck in the realm of reboots and sequels, who’s to say whether the public will still appreciate them? Superhero comics themselves are constantly under criticism for repeating themselves, and it’s the choice few creators who can do something truly revolutionary with the characters. The huge budgets necessary for a superhero picture make it very hard to justify the risks that might be necessary to reinvigorate the genre. So it might be left to the less expensive domain of television, the internet, or some completely radical, as-yet-unknown low-budget movie technology and distribution process to keep the capes and spandex alive.
Maybe that’s when we’ll finally get a frickin’ Wonder Woman movie.
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