A few weeks back a friend of mine commented on the box office struggles of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and wondered aloud if we are about to see the demise of the fantasy film. He mentioned that even the last two installments of the Harry Potter series were for fans only with little in the way of breakout possibilities. Yes, they made money, but they don’t seem to be bringing in any kind of new audience.
It seemed my friend believed a decade long love affair between audiences and fantasy flicks was perhaps coming to an end. That conversation sent me on a quest to find out where the next crop of fantasy films will come from and when will they arrive?
Before I get into that discussion I think it’s important to define the genre. Because we’ve entered a world where fantasy and comic book films are starting to come together. And I think that will happen more often in the future with the continued rise of manga and anime around the world and the solidification of graphic novels as a mainstream form of storytelling.
When I was talking to Brad about this article we tried to categorize fantasy films to make for easier discussion. Thor, for example, is just as much a fantasy film as it is a comic book movie. It has as much in common with Clash of the Titans at times as it does with Superman or even The Hulk. Or what about Guillermo Del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness? You could argue the HP Lovecraft tale is straight up science fiction but it can also be considered fantasy. Especially in Del Toro’s hands.
In this sense, genre mash-ups may be considered a genre unto itself, but that’s for you to decide.
In my opinion, there are a couple of classic fantasy film franchises being hatched in Hollywood, such as Disney’s John Carter of Mars. This film could also be considered a hybrid of sorts. It’s based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp serial first published in 1912 when people still thought there might be actual critters crawling around on the red planet. Now that we know such a concept is straight up nuttiness this film has to be considered just as much a fantasy film, if not more so, than as a piece of science fiction.
John Carter of Mars is set for a March 2012 release and Disney is definitely thinking tentpole franchise with this one. Andrew Stanton (WALL•E, Finding Nemo) is directing and Taylor Kitsch of Friday Night Lights fame stars as John Carter. Some people are already proclaiming this one to be the “next Avatar” but I am going to withhold judgment regarding the story of a Civil War vet taking on critters on the planet of Mars to save a Princess. I anticipate the visuals will no doubt be amazing but we’ve seen a lot of Civil War vets in wacky scenarios recently and few have clicked with an audience. I mean, do kids these days still play with Civil War soldiers like the Baby Boomers and some Gen-Xers did?
Then there’s Ron Howard’s planned film adaptation of Stephen King’s serialized opus The Dark Tower. This one is still in development but according to sources it is going full steam ahead with Javier Bardem reportedly being offered the lead role. In this case Universal is planning three features and a television series based on the novels and comic books produced by Maine’s most prolific author. I haven’t read any of the books but the series about a lone gunslinger going on a Holy Grail style quest has sold over 30 million copies and judging from the activity on various fan sites, it has a significant hardcore fan base.
I do question the idea of going with a combination of films and television however. NBC-Universal’s track record with fantasy programming is piss poor and if the TV series bombs how are they going to make the film versions a must see event? Then there’s the involvement of Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsmith. Neither A-lister is exactly a hot commodity these days and they’ve never been favorites among hardcore fantasy film fans anyway. To many, Goldsmith is the man who penned Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. He’s like the anti-Chris Nolan. Goldsmith tried to kill Batman and Nolan brought him back to life.
Mix those two film franchises together with not one but two Hobbit films that are finally going into production (March 21 to be exact) along with the Avatar sequel that will begin production whenever James Cameron gosh darned feels like it, At The Mountains of Madness and The Avengers and I believe fantasy film fans will have a lot to talk about at this year’s Comic Con and that isn’t all. Films such as Wrath of the Titans, Immortals, Rise of the Guardians, Snow White and the Hunstman keep the genre alive and that’s just through 2012. It’s just a question of how successful will they be?
The bottom line is that Hollywood is still searching for fantasy film gold where they think they might find it, which makes sense. Even films that have been considered to be box-office disappointments in the US like The Golden Compass and the last two Narnia films performed exceptionally overseas. And if you hit one of these films out of the park, like New Line and Warners has with both the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter franchise you can bank money for several years. Not just at the box office either. These films all rake it in on ancillary products as well.
The problem, as I see it, is that there just aren’t that many great fantasy writers out there. So at what point is Hollywood beginning to scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of source material. In the case of Avatar, Cameron proved you can write your own fantasy film but most of the suits in the development suites wouldn’t have green-lit Avatar if anyone but Cameron had brought it to them. And it still took him almost twenty years to bring it to the screen.
So here’s my question for the audience. First off, what do you consider a fantasy film? Where do you drawn the line? What fantasy films are you looking forward to and what fantasy films would you like to see come to multiplexes in the future? And where will it come from? Books, graphic novels, manga? An obscure Bulgarian TV show from the 60s? Let me know.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a western Version of Luis Cha’s Condor Trilogy. Portions of these novels were incorporated into the Tsui Hark’s Swordsman films from the early 90’s but the text is so rich and full that a new version in the right hands could be incredible.
