Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2019 11:10:07 GMT
Though sexism probably plays some part in this most likely issues are that the kid friendly comics have been around longer meaning they have generational appeal which some of the early rated R comics are only now getting old enough to have, you know Superman has fans alive who read his original comics as they came out, 2nd rated R material historically doesn't make the same money as PG-13, look at all the billion dollar films not a one is rated higher than PG-13, then theres also merch, if the audience is smaller so is the marketplace for merch, and older fans may theoretically be the ones more likely to drop a few hundred a couple of times a year for some big set or expensive replica stuff it's the army of kids who get their parents to drop $2-10 a day on related merch and also gets them to drop a few hundred for B-Days and X-Mas on cheaper but fancy looking toys where the money is.
Also easier to make the kid stuff more adult without breaking limits, sex and violence is ingrained in superhero DNA just as long as they show no nudity or excessive blood you can indulge in those elements to make adults enjoy stuff and it's easy.
Plus as I have mentioned many times their audiences are vastly different in size, you take the best selling harder comics and figure out the regular readership numbers for their lifetime and they at best are on par with low to middling animated kid shows singular first airing in the US, you add in multiple countries showing the shows, them being in syndication globally, on Hulu or Netyflix or now on the DCU, and an animated kids show has far greater penetration than the comics, you then figure in the penetration to the mainstream consciousness for the live action shows and though their comic sales pale in comparison the kid appealing comic characters are far better known, which means far bigger movie potential.
Also helps that DC & Marvel are owned by major studios meaning they don't need to sell the movie rights, so theres no disputes with the owner of the IP about how to make the movie or how much they want, you know vastly more issues at play than just the lead character doesn't have a penis.
I kinda agree with Dazz on this one. Comic books were actually originally created for adults and there were a number of Horror, Crime, Drama, Romance and Suspense series that predated the Superhero genre but the Superhero genre helped skyrocket the sales of comic books and kids liked them so the comic book companies decided to focus more on superheroes and after complaints from concerned parents the ‘Comics Code Authority’ was formed in 1954 and made them more kid friendly. Some of the earlier Horror comic books were full of violence, blood and guts and were one of the inspirations for Horror legends like Stephen King, Wes Craven and John Carpenter but the genre took a hit when the Comic Code of Authority started deeming them too violent, offensive and graphic for children and banned them from being released and it wasn't until the late 80s things changed and many writers got the freedom to have whatever they wanted to have in comic books which saw a big change in the comic books coming out in the late 80s and especially the 90s.
R rated material isn't going to have the same success at the Box Office as G and PG Rated superhero movies 'cause it won't get a lot of the younger audience going to see it but that hasn't stopped them from making R rated movies before and I don't think they should be in competition especially when a lot of R rated series are more Horror, Fantasy, Crime and Romance than superhero but obviously when it comes to adapting Horror Superhero series like 'Razor' and 'Faust' for example there are going to be some comparisons with the DC and Marvel films and a percentage of those fans aren't going to like them 'cause they have a lot of blood, guts, violence, sex and nudity in them but the series were never intended for those target audiences. 'Spawn' and 'Witchblade' went for adult audiences with Horror themes and both outsold a lot of DC and Marvel's biggest selling superheroes with over 150 and 100 million sales 'cause they were able to reach out and find a different audience outside of the standard superhero audience that bought the comic books. 'The Crow' was largely praised by many fans for being dark, violent, graphic and pushing the boundaries while the 'Spawn' movie was mocked for being too light and watered down.
If 'Spawn' had been adapted right in the 90s I think it would have been as successful as 'The Crow' if not more so 'cause fans loved the character but the movie let them down. The next 'Spawn' movie needs to go all out and be everything the first movie should have been - a truly dark Horror superhero movie and I am glad to see Todd isn't letting studios water it down and turn it into an all ages movie. Bring on the blood and gore!!
