Movie Nation

I have been expecting a tipping point for years. This endless parade of blockbuster comic book movies cannot go on forever. And yet it does — one expensive smash hit after another.

Comic books themselves may be struggling to hang on, but comic book movies seem utterly unsinkable. I figured “Thor” would stiff, that “Iron Man 2 or 3” would under-perform. “Man of Steel” seems set to turn a healthy profit. “Avengers 2” is in the works. There’s no end to “X-Men” or “Wolverine” movies in sight.

Will this never stop? Even those who adore these movies must be wondering if there isn’t more to movie life out there, if a change in generations will herald a fade to black, if this “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” TV series isn’t taking things over that tipping point where people say, “ENOUGH.”

Veteran critic Joe Queenan, writing for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, dissects the genre, its variables, variety and lack thereof. The movies reflect their times, which are a bit hopeless. When hope in institutions and mortal beings is lost, we turn to the superpowered.

But with three to five films a year, every year, you’d think fatigue would set in amongst people who are more casual consumers of these films. The hardcore don’t seem capable of outgrowing them, but they’re not a huge audience. It’s everybody else that’s turning these into blockbusters. Why are women showing up for these films? As Queenan points out, there’s nobody for them to identify with in this universe.

And I keep peeking into the future, wondering if the next “Wolverine” will kick off the downturn, if the cynical re-boot of the “Spider-Man” franchise will run out of gas or that the cynicism will spread and Warners will announce the next Batman reboot.

Vampires, zombies, super-raunchy ensemble comedies, all have their day and run their course. But not comic book pictures. Not yet. Why is that?

For much of its production life, director Marc Forster’s film of “World War Z” has had another z-sound hanging over it —  buzz. Bad buzz. Delayed, pulled from the release schedule last fall for re shoots, the phrase “troubled production” has latched itself onto this Brad Pitt zombie movie.
All part of the plan, Forster  jokes.
“Sometimes, it’s not a bad thing for people to walk in with low expectations.”
Indeed. Among the summer blockbusters, “World War Z” might have zombie movie fanatics in a tizzy, eagerly awaiting the adaptation of Max Brooks’ best-selling novel about a worldwide zombie contagion. But the rest of film fandom? Distracted by “Iron Man,” “Star Trek” and the “Man of Steel.”
The earliest notices — reviews from the UK — further dampened expectations.
“A more apt title would be World War Zzzzz” a wag wisecracked for the website, This is London.
But waves of other reviews soon drowned out the naysayers. And Forster, the German-Swiss filmmaker who directed “Monster’s Ball”, “Quantum of Solace” and “Stranger than Fiction”, can breathe a little easier, now.
“We changed the ending,” he says of the release delay. ” The original ending was like a lot of blockbusters, a big fight with lots of explosions — a final battle.
“I said, ‘Look, I think we’ve already had a big battle. It would work much better with something quieter.’ The Israel story beat, the movie’s battle set there, was so big that I didn’t want to try and top it. I wanted something more like a haunted house type of storytelling ending. So we went for something very different, more intense, I think. I think that will set us apart among the big summer movies.”
Forster isn’t shy about tackling genre pictures or potential blockbusters. But the director of “Machine Gun Preacher” searches for projects with a message.
“‘World War Z’ has a lot to say on a socio-political level. The geopolitical backdrop gives it substance. It’s more academic than your typical end of the world horror film.
“Zombies have always been a great metaphor for other things — trends in society, outcasts. And when they show up, the rest of us have to put aside our differences, don’t we?”
Ever since George A. Romero (“Night of the Living Dead”) invented the genre, zombie movies present storytellers with a set of problems. What barriers can protect us from zombies? Walls? Moats? Concertina wire? How fast do they move? What limitations of theirs can be exploited? As many critics are noticing, “World War Z” is “surprisingly smart” and “imaginative” (Variety) in dealing with those.
“As a kid, we had a landfill behind our house,” Forster, 43, recalls. “I loved watching the ants crawling all over each other to be able to climb up over something to get at something else. That image stuck with me, and when I signed up to do this movie, I realized this would be the one place I have the chance to use that image, to translate it to cinema. Zombies, piling up against a wall so that others can climb over that to clear the wall.”
He’s selling “World War Z” as a “family story” whose backdrop is “this epic, end of the world tale.” Because Forster is fully aware of that one last z-word that films such as “This is The End,” “World War Z,” “Rapture Palooza” and “The World’s End” tap into — the zeitgeist.
“We’re living in a time where there is a lot of fear out there — failing economies, job uncertainties, terrorists, an environmental future that seems very uncertain. The movies are reflecting that. We’re fictionalizing everybody’s anxieties with zombies, and these other catastrophes on film. We turn that fear into entertainment.”
That’s the plan, anyway.

A big Thursday night and an epic Friday mean its cigars and champagne all around in the Warner Brothers offices today. “Man of Steel” closed in on $46 million before Saturday began, which puts it on track to do a $132 million weekend.

Depending, of course, on word of mouth backing up this apparent pent-up Friday demand. It’s on 3300+ 3D screens, well over 4000 total, and is doing grand overseas as well. Middling reviews haven’t hurt it, but this “Wolverine Battles the Transformers” comic book picture is looking like another blockbuster that has Christopher Nolan’s name on it.

“This is the End” is doing well enough, though you’d think from the reviews that this R-rated End Times comedy had a shot at “Hangover” numbers. Apparently not. Low $30s.

“Now You See Me” is showing great staying power and looks to top out in the $100 million range, clearing $80 million by Sunday midnight. Not bad for a so-so Summit release.

“The Purge” has plunged (70-80 down from opening weekend, whoa), “Fast & Furious 6” is finally fading after earning well over $200 million, “The Internship” never got started, “Epic” will come very close to $100 million before “Monsters University” opens and “After Earth” won’t make it to $60 million at the domestic box office, when all is said and done.

Willing to pay a super premium price just to say you were the first to see “World War Z”? Paramount and Regal Cinemas are offering just such a chance next week — five theaters, $50 gets you in.

Is this where movie ticket pricing is going? High pre-opening, cheaper later? George Lucas seems to think so.

For those still following the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger and still expecting something fresh out of the “Terminator” franchise, there’s this news.

For the rest of us, who noticed the failure of his “comeback” film, and his age and the yawner the last “Terminator” picture was? Meh.

Jay Z is producing this new, updated hip hopped and racially flipped version of the musical “Annie.” And he needs a big name to be the villainous orphanage operator Miss Hannigan.

He needs, he thinks, Oscar winner Sandra Bullock.