2011 was a pretty good year at the box
office. Despite the industry claiming that their world will soon end
because of piracy, ticket sales do not lie. Harry Potter 7 Part 2
made $169 million in a weekend, the highest of all time before The
Avengers. Transformers, Twilight, Pirates of the Caribbean, all had
blockbuster years at the box office.
And each one of them got their ass
kicked by video games.
Harry Potter 7 Part 2 was the highest
grossing film of 2011 and made huge waves for having a $92 million
opening day. Modern Warfare 3 made $400 million in 24 hours. In five
days it passed $750 million, a mark Harry Potter took nearly two weeks to pass. Transformers 3 came in second place at the box office
and over its entire run made $350 million in the United States. Elder
Scrolls V: Skyrim made $450 million in five days.
And video games are terrible.
Video games lack so much creativity
that Mario is still a best seller. Imagine if you went to the movies
and Marty McFly was having another grand adventure with Doc Brown.
That's what video games are like. For those who don't understand the
reference that's because Back to the Future came out in 1985, a
few years AFTER everyone's favorite plumber.
But it doesn't matter. Because video
games are the future.
And it is only going to continue.
With the exponential growth rate of
technology there is no doubt that video games will soon dominate our
conscious lives. Currently it takes a certain kind of dedication to
become truly entrenched in a game. There are far too many barriers to
immersion for most people to sink into a game. Controllers can be
foreign to non-gamers, screens can't replace real life.
But the barriers will fall away.
As time passes, technology will become
easier to use, more user friendly and more connected to every day
tasks. Just last week Google patented an infrared ring that users
wear on their finger to control interfaces on augmented-reality
glasses. Microsoft is releasing the Kinect for PC this year, which
will likely replace the keyboard with swipes of the hand and voice
commands. If those are not two sentences out of a sci-fi novel, I
don't know what is.
Gaming, as it's known today, is the
real future. Just as it only took a few years for smart phones to
become the majority of cell phones on the market, the gaming
revolution will happen faster than we can understand. It won't happen
when a gaming company invents a new technology, or programs a new
graphics engine so that monsters look awesome. Those things will
already exist. True innovation isn't about invention but combination.
The transformative moment is not
Google's Project Glass or Microsoft's Kinect or any single idea. The
transformative moment is when a game is released that combines so
many different elements that it becomes more than a game, it becomes
a way of life. At first there will be a relatively small group, as
there always is. Then that group expands. What's going to be
different about the video game revolution is that it will have no
reason to stop expanding.
The common quip is, "That sounds
like something out of a sci-fi movie." No arguments here, there
are countless books, essays, shorts and movies that all predict a
similar kind of future. What may be unclear is that books and essays
and movies are just ways of bringing imagination into reality. When
technology advances to the point when an all-encompassing "game"
is feasible, all those writers and filmmakers and all the fans of
those writers and filmmakers will become the first wave of gamers.
Science fiction is the imaginative precursor to manifestation in the
physical reality.
A new book will soon be released by TED
that discusses the Hybrid Reality that will exist for the next
generation. Life will be lived as a hybrid, taking place in both the
physical environment and the virtual one. Robotics will continue to
take on greater workloads in the physical environment
while humans become more involved in the virtual worlds we create.
According to Hybrid Reality, "what human civilization needs more
than anything is not greater IQ or EQ, but TQ: technology quotient."
The ability to adapt and use advanced technology.
Which makes for an interesting debate
between those currently using technology and those who are out of the
loop or shunning it entirely. If you're reading this then chances are
you fall into the former camp, and my position should be fairly
obvious. With time the differences will become even more stark.
Since birth there are those who have been upping their technology
quotient, preparing, in a way, for the video game revolution. Now
that the future looks so bright there is only one thing to do...
Keep gaming.
Never before has a project like The
Avengers been attempted. It is hands down one of the riskiest ideas
ever kicked around Hollywood. Immensely successfully franchises are
derailed all the time by a terrible sequel (Spiderman 3, X-Men 3).
Yet Marvel's new plan was to produce multiple movies introducing
individual super heroes with the end goal of bringing them together
in one movie depicting one of comic book's most beloved teams. Make
no mistakes about it, The Avengers is really Marvel Comics
6.
The story of The Avengers begins
in a meeting between Marvel studios and Merrill Lynch in the
pre-recession golden years of 2005. Merrill Lynch gave Marvel a big
ol' pile of money in hopes that this superhero craze, that I refer to
as Wave One, would continue and make everyone involved more piles of
money. It was a huge risk, especially since at the time Marvel was
witnessing DC Comic's release of Batman Begins capture far
more critical and box office attention than their own movies had
received of late. Marvel got the loan from Merrill Lynch, probably
financed by selling some poor family a house they couldn't afford,
but who cares because movie history for the rest of us!
Wave One/Wave Two
Speaking of history, here's some that
I've been storing in my head for years in case a random facts moment
was needed at cocktail parties. The comic book resurgence began in
2000 with director Bryan Singer's take on the X-Men. It would
continue for years dominated by Marvel movies that redefined what
comic book adaptations could do.
Bryan Singer would change all of that
with X-Men. A far more serious look at comic book heroes,
Singer was able to launch the first Wave of the superhero resurgence
with his gutsy film. Marvel would ride Wave One for seven years with
two more X-Men sequels, three Spiderman movies, two Fantastic Four
films, Ang Lee's Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost
Rider and a Punisher remake. In seven years Marvel
released three times as many superhero movies as it did in the
previous 70 years.
While Wave Two technically began in
that fat cat meeting back in '05, the real wave began with the
release of Iron Man in 2008. Robert Downey Jr. charmed both
audiences and Ms. Potts to new heights and Iron Man launched a trend. It was the first time a movie truly had two roles- to be a
coherent film while also being a prelude to a project down the road.
Each of the Wave Two films would have to deal with this balancing
act. Some faltered (Iron Man 2, Thor) while others shined
(Captain America). It's tough to iterate how unprecedented
this plan was so let's try an SAT association test to prove my point.
If The Avengers is the Lord of the Rings trilogy then
Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain
America are The Hobbit. $780 million on a prequel. Unlike
The Hobbit, those in charge didn't know how successful The
Avengers would be. They were guessing, like every studio guesses
that it's next film will be a hit when the truth is they know about
as much as audiences do about the next film's success. But that's
what The Avengers is, the main event. Everything before this
has just been a prequel so we know what is happening in The
Avengers. It's been a five year study in mass-psychology and the
results are in: we can be taught.
Each of the Waves represents a change
in how comic book movies are presented. Before Wave One they were
popular and had dedicated fan bases, but lacked mainstream appeal.
Wave One changed that. It made comics cool again, made fandom a
desirable trait and captivated the world in a way that had not been
seen before. Wave One made it okay to tell a story through a
superhero lens.
DC Comics
Titans of the previous generation's
youth, DC has become second tier in the movie business during the
21st century. Since X-Men, DC Comics has released seven films
compared to Marvel's twenty-four. While two (and the upcoming
conclusion) can be quickly named, outside of Christopher Nolan's
Batman franchise it is difficult for the average person to name any
of DC Comics other films. Catwoman, Superman Returns, Watchmen,
Jonah Hex and Green
Lantern. Two were unmitigated disasters that did not recoup their
costs (Catwoman, Jonah Hex), two made up their budgets at the
box office but after accounting for marketing and licensing costs
still are considered failures (Watchmen, Green Lantern), only
Bryan Singer's Superman Returns can claim anything close to
success, yet it was so routinely dismissed by fans and critics that
no sequel was ever made. Audiences basically said, look we went to
see this flick because it's about Superman, whom we love, but your
movie sucked.
A brief aside for fans of Watchmen
Look guys (and statistically speaking, yeah it's guys), Watchmen was awesome. It was the greatest interpretation we could ever hope for and I love Zack Snyder for making it happen. Compared to the rest of DC's non-Batman fodder, it's the only one that's any good. The problem is that Watchmen is not really a superhero movie as people came to know them during Wave One and Wave Two. It tried to be something else. Something more align with it's source material, something challenging and interesting and unique. To be blunt, Watchmen tried to be Batman Begins. In my opinion and most fans' opinions, it worked. The problem is that the Watchmen are not Batman. When you do something challenging and interesting and unique with characters that the general population is not familiar with it is easy to dismiss. Even when Chris Nolan did a very similar thing with Batman. I know, it's not fair. Watchmen was awesome, and I feel really bad about lumping it together with garbage like Jonah Hex, but the truth is that there aren't enough people like you and me. There's a bunch of normies out there who are reading this thinking, "this is a strange and weird aside, can we get back to The Avengers." No, normies, we can not. You should have seen Watchmen in the theaters. And Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Now back to The Avengers.
Batman
Before we get back to The Avengers,
I need to talk about the $1.3 billion elephant in the room. That's
how much money Christopher Nolan's two Batman films have made. $1.3
billion. But the most important part isn't the money it's the man.
It's not DC Comic's Batman films, it's Christopher Nolan's Batman
films. There is absolutely no one else like him. His take on Batman
is worthy of it's own wave- Wave Nolan. Exactly as Wave One/Two
marked changes in comic book movies, so to did Wave Nolan.
Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins
and The Dark Knight are so perfectly crafted that they
transcend any singular superhero. In fact, Nolan's Batman is so far
beyond any single superhero that it is strange to even put them in
the same category. While Iron Man was getting drunk, The Dark
Knight showed audiences insanity, depravity, pure evil, and
sacrifice on an unparalleled stage. Other filmmakers appear to be
telling stories about superheros while Nolan was telling stories of
super-heroic proportions. Before the release of The Avengers
it was impossible to think another film could challenge Nolan's The
Dark Knight.
The reason for this is two fold.
Firstly, Christopher Nolan tells complete stories. Batman Begins
and The Dark Knight do not have to be seen together. While
it's difficult to follow anything going on in The Avengers if
you're unfamiliar with the numerous prequels, The Dark Knight
stands on it's own just fine. There is no question that the films
complement one another, but they are not supplements of each other.
Secondly, Christopher Nolan knows how
to be Christopher Nolan. There is a tone and feeling when someone
enters a Nolan film. It's not that we know what the movie is about
(Inception) but rather we understand we are watching the work
of a master. One of my biggest pet peeves is movies not understanding
what they are supposed to be. Often this is a side effect of a
multimillion dollar production with hundreds or even thousands of
viewpoints all jockeying for a chance in the spotlight. John
Carter is a perfect example of a film made by people who didn't
know what the film was supposed to be. Maybe it started out with a
clear vision, but over time and a thousand screaming voices that
vision was lost. Christopher Nolan knows how to deliver the concept
behind 'Christopher Nolan'. His films are perfectly constructed
despite the fact that there are just as many people screaming for
attention on Nolan's sets as there are on everybody else's.
Saying that a movie knows “what it is
supposed to be” means it has one solid artistic vision and that
vision is noticeable in every detail from casting to editing. Fast
Five is a film that knows what it is supposed to be- awesome popcorn
flick and a hell of a lot of fun. Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On
Stranger Tides is an example of a movie that didn't know what it was
supposed to be- continuation of old characters? introduction of new
ones? exploration of grand mythology? random treasure hunting flick?
Johnny Depp being Jack Sparrow? A clear artistic vision is needed for
a film to feel complete and whole. Christopher Nolan has been able to
do that with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
The Avengers...finally.
The crazy thing about The Avengers
is that it's better than the sum of it's parts. While nothing on this
scale had ever been attempted before, the small-scale tests were not
inspiring. The closest thing to The Avengers experiment were a
few episodes of CW's Smallville that attempted to show the
beginnings of the Justice League of America. Just like The
Avengers, characters were introduced in their own episodes and
some got multi-episode arcs exactly like Iron Man got multiple
movies. The results were near disastrous. None of the JLA episodes of
Smallville were critically well received, often citing the
rushed pace, a confusing storyline or even complete cop outs like
putting characters on the phone instead of in the fight. Die-hard
fans, myself included, loved seeing everyone together but the
nostalgic effect soon wore off and we were left with a few mediocre
episodes. While TV and movies aren't directly correlated, many in the
industry and fans across the world feared The Avengers would
fall into the same traps that plagued Smallville.
Whedon to the Rescue
Joss Whedon has had a big 2012. All he
had to do was direct The Avengers and it would have been the
biggest moment of his career, but a much smaller flick called Cabin
in the Woods- a genre mash up masquerading as a horror movie-
managed to sneak it's way into theaters a couple of months before The
Avengers. Cabin should have been a preview for what was in
store when The Avengers finally graced the screen. The tight
pacing, writing and editing apparent in Cabin all can be seen in The
Avengers.
Already a cult hero for fan favorites
like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse,
Whedon's name will now be at the top of every studio's list. If Christopher Nolan tells complete, realistic, gritty versions of his
cape-wearing hero then Joss Whedon operates like the yin to Nolan's
yang. It's not that The Avengers is the opposite of The
Dark Knight, it's that they are two masterful films playing with
different sides of the same coin. Each film knows what it is supposed
to be, each has a clear artistic vision and each is a masterpiece.
The Avengers is whimsical. It is
fun. It honestly feels like an adult came along and put together the
scraps some toddlers were playing with and turned them into a
skyscraper. That is not meant to be a slight to the other filmmakers,
merely a way to convey how fantastic Whedon's The Avengers is.
Yet Whedon delivers all the goods. Each
character is given their share of screen time, their stories both
concluding the arcs begun in their individual movies and catapulting
them to the next level of herohood (that should be a word). Whedon
presents us with a sort of nostalgic whimsy. A time portal to our
youth when things were fun and funny, where time passes unnoticed,
where enjoyment is had at each and every moment. The Avengers
transports viewers in a way that every film should but only the great
ones do. That's the similarity between Nolan and Whedon, each of
their films transports you, and we recognize that as a rare thing.
The difference is in where they choose to take you.
Last Panel
The Avengers made movie history.
Yes, it looks like the box office is going to be astronomically high
and for all those that needed it to be so- congratulations. More
importantly, The Avengers is the culmination of an idea that
should have never worked. No film franchise in history has banked so
much on a single idea, and because of that, no film has ever lived up
to such high expectations before. In the future we will show our kids
The Avengers and its prequels the way our parents showed us
Star Wars. It is a historic moment, so here's what I really
wanted to say...
Thank you.