Comic Book adaptations have been increasingly popular through the years and the trend is set to continue, with more adaptations being produced all the time. Films based on comic books are usually based around a particular character, and a stage in that characters history, as some comic books have been being published for decades, so would be impossible to condense into a movie.
Comic Heroes hit the Big Screen
One of the first comic adaptations that became popular was Barbarella (1968), based an erotic french science fiction comic. Directed by Roger Vadim, the film featured Jane Fonda as a 41st century astronaut, who frequently needs to remove her clothing in her mission to save the world. A remake of Barbarella is being planned for 2008. Some great comic book series have also translated well to the big screen, with series of films being made for comics such as Superman, which was also turned into a highly successful TV series, and Batman,
which saw cult popularity as four films made between 1989 and 1997 were made featuring the hero.
Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie featuring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson is arguably the best of the series, seeing a move away from the themes of the 1960s TV series, also based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, to a darker, more sinister atmosphere.
Recent successes
In recent years, comic book adaptations have been more popular than ever. Many films based on comics from the legendary comic book publisher's Marvel Comics have been released with great success. X-Men (2000) is among these, with X-Men 2 and X-Men 3 reinforcing the success. Spider-Man is another cult Marvel release, which did even better than X-Men at the box office, bringing in over 821 million dollars and director Sam Raimi enjoyed further successes with Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). These successes led to a long line of other popular adaptations throughout the 2000s, such as Hulk (2003), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2004), Constantine (2005), and V for Vendetta (2005). Other highlights include Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City (2005), where he used panels from the original graphic novel rather than a screenplay to put the film together, regarding it as more of a “translation” of the original work.
Cinema-goers clamour to see the latest adaptations, and upcoming treats that look set to make headlines in 2008 include adaptations of Iron Man and Wonder Woman. |
