The new film "Supergirl" has not performed well at the box office.
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| Pictured: the public's response to "Supergirl". |
The on-line punditry on exactly why this is so is nearly limitless. It's Superhero Fatigue. It's Fear of Female-Leads. It's James Gunn. It's the budget being too large. It's mistaking a secondary character for a primary one. It was "Creative Differences". It was studio interference. It was the writing (or the editing or the filming or the action or the lack of action or the muddiness of the action). It was too feminist. It wasn't feminist enough. It used feminism as a ploy. Literally the only aspect I have NOT heard blamed for the film's failure was Alcock (the actor playing Supergirl), who seems to have acquitted herself well.
I don't want to dismiss any of these possible factors; but, in fact, I don't want to talk about them at all. Instead I want to point out the one problem that seems obvious to me. The one that let me know from the very beginning of the project that it would fail. And that the reason it was obvious to me wasn't some special insight on my part. I just happened to be... a comic book reader. And that reason is:
it's based on Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
I have seen this miniseries described in the comic book press as a "fan favorite", and the only time the comic book press uses that description is for something that is exactly NOT a "fan favorite", but rather "something only diehard fans even know about". In it, Tom King has Kara (Supergirl) drunk at her bar at a birthday, which is already, you know, merely a modern "counter-intuitively edgy" interpretation of the characters that fits poorly. Then she goes on a Hero's Journey, blah blah blah, but the damage to the character is already done.
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| And trust me; as I have made clear before, I am not someone who believes that Supergirl needs to boundlessly optimistic. |
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| Or even anyone who watched more than one episode of the Supergirl show. |
9 comments:
I guess a lot of the question is, what do audiences want to see? If you're not giving them that, it may well be a flop. For example, the "Avengers" movie gave fans exactly what they wanted to see, and it did exceptionally well.
Personally I want to see "Supergirl", and I know a couple trustworthy people who loved it. It sounds like a story I want to watch, about a young woman coming out of the tailspin of trauma. Frankly I don't even care about the special effects or Lobo or soundtrack; I'm hoping, by the end, she figures out she needs to do more than drown her sorrows.
- HJF1
I've seen it, and also read the King miniseries. As we've noted before here, King tends to miss the point of superheroes. I do think there is a good story to be told about Kara's trauma, since she actually witnessed the death of both Krypton and subsequently Argo. I don't think King is the writer to tell that story. Alcott is fine with what she's given, but honestly, Lobo is pretty much the standout here, and that probably tells everyone what they need to know.
I've also read a lot of justifications for the ending. While trying to not give it away, I will note that it ignores the existence of a corps of space police that Gunn had already established in Superman.
I’m not disagreeing completely. I liked Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, even if it had significant flaws (pacing issues, some scenes were too brutal for my taste), but didn’t think it was the best choice for the first Supergirl movie in the new DC cinematic universe. I agree that making a Supergirl story too off-model can alienate a general audience. There was one “edgy” Supergirl adaptation I liked: the DCAU version who was a bit rebellious. I think her introduction in the Superman animated series (minus the 4th World elements) could have worked as a template.
Regardless, I think the biggest problem with a Supergirl movie is that the character isn’t that popular. She’s well-known, and has a fan base. Same with Green Lantern and the Flash, and look how their movies did at the box office. Speaking of the Flash, maybe having the “free” tv versions being a recent memory hurt the box office for both movies?
The Superman movie was a hit, but not a seismic one. Making a movie about his less-popular cousin wasn’t a guaranteed hit. Using Woman of Tomorrow compounded a problem that was already there, at least in my opinion.
- Mike Loughlin
Honestly, the DC animated series would make excellent templates. They are still far and away my favorite representations of (most of) the DC characters. I've been rewatching some recently and, yep, still good.
Mike - It strikes me as analogous to when, say, they launch a new "Atom" comic. Just because the comic exists doesn't mean everyone drops what they're doing to get it. Some Atom fans will be that way, but not most comic book readers. They'll ask questions like WHICH Atom (Pratt / Palmer / Choi), who's on the creative team, what's the pitch, etc. And then, only after all that, they might decide to pick up the comic.
That's how superhero movie audiences have gotten. We can no longer trust that, if you enjoy superhero movies, you'll be a lock for every superhero movie that comes out.
- HJF1
Yeah, general agreement. I LOVED Woman of Tomorrow, doubly so because - well, I like the character fine but haven''t really synched with Supergirl comics post the Jim Mooney stuff in the early '60s. (Supergirl, Green Arrow, John Constantine - I like the characters quite a but but enjoy, like, 5% of their comics. I dunno.)
But I think you're right. A Supergirl movie that did Star Wars/Mad Max might be a harder sell than a Supergirl movie that does Supergirl things.
Also just watched a Princess Weekes video on how the movie was a BAD adaptation of Woman of Tomorrow, so.....
(And I was sad the movie did miss the part where Supergirl, as firey angel, fought a fuck-off big dragon. :( )
Its also interesting to note that the internet has gone "ho-hum" on this movie.
Meanwhile, everyone LOVES MAWS!Kara. MAWS!Kara is a pretty different take on her, yet she has overshadowed Gunnverse Kara so hard its not even funny.
All very interesting comments.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I had similar thoughts about the inspiration. Tom King routinely misses the point of superheroes in general, of those he writes about specifically, and just feels like he has a story first and then crams in existing characters in random roles.
Regarding edgy Supergirls, I actually like the edgy versions the most ;)
Classic Pre-Crisis Kara was just a bit too goody-two-shoes for me. The generic rebellious 90s teen grrl in the DCAU and blunt metalhead in Superhero Girls v2 were more my speed. And I'm probably the only one who liked her Nu52 series (liking a Nu52 series, never thought I'd say that), where she was lost in translation with full-on culture shock and actually clashed with the earth-raised Superman over being culturally kryptonian. Okay, MAwS kinda does that, but that show is just too 2017 tumblr for me...
Anyway, even with those marks on my ledger, I thought WoT sucked and was a bad Supergirl story. Edginess should give her drive, make her act. Instead WoT Supergirl was drifting about aimlessly, mopey and reacting, instead of acting, in idk, just a very unpleasant way.
The current Supergirl series by Sophie Campbell is much betterThat one's funny, charming, exciting (imho my favorite Supergirl series), and the spirit would even fit excellently to the 2025 Superman movie.
It also pulls a lot of Silver Age stuff. Scipio, I'm a bit surprised you haven't written about it ;)
I DO like the current "Supergirl" series, in fact. I suppose writing in praise is less tempting than writing to criticize (a trap I succumb too as easily as any internet pundit!).
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