With Avengers, Dark Knight Rises and Amazing Spider-Man Leading the Way in 2012 Ticket Sales, Superhero Movies Are Here to Stay
The 2012 box office year is not over yet but with three superhero movies in the Top 5 in ticket sales, so far, the genre is going nowhere.
Sorry to those who are not a fan of the genre but it's the truth since the movie industry is all about making money. And when a single genre has this type of performance, every studio will continue the trend of making the majority of their big-budget movies superhero-oriented.
The Avengers sits atop of the 2012 calendar year with over $617 million (all numbers domestic) followed by The Dark Knight Rises with over $423 million and The Amazing Spider-Man sits in fourth place with over $258 million. (All numbers as of the time when this post was published.)
This trend is not slowing down either with Marvel Studios already announcing their "Phase 2" of their superhero cinematic universe with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World coming next year. Then Captain America: The Winter Solider and Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 followed by The Avengers 2 in 2015. Heck, they already announced an Ant-Man movie and it could come to theaters in 2014 or 2015 too.
Marvel's other licensed properties are moving forward with Fox putting The Wolverine into production right now and for a summer 2013 release. They are also starting production on X-Men: Days of Future Past either at the end of 2012 or at the start of 2013. Plus, they are still actively trying to reboot the Fantastic Four.
Sony has already announced a 2014 release for a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, which could see production start as soon as the first half of 2013 already.
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have also taken noticed of Marvel's successes on the big screen and have yet another Superman reboot coming in summer 2013 while already signing on writers for a Justice League movie and a Wonder Woman flick too.
When everything is said and done, superhero movies are the biggest moneymakers for studios right now and this is evident when you look at the performance of some of the top films in recent years. In 2010, Iron Man 2 was a Top 5 performer. In 2008, The Dark Knight and Iron Man finished No. 1 and 2, respectively. In 2007, Spider-Man 3 was on top. In 2006, X-Men: The Last Stand was in the Top 5. And in 2005 Batman Begins was a Top 10 finisher.
You get the idea.
Superheroes in film are here to stay.
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