When are we ever going to see a Supergirl flick?

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Dusty Ayres, Jun 20, 2010.

  1. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Page only played Pride in X3
     
  2. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    I confess: I had fun writing that scene in the novelization! :)

    A shame they didn't put out a "Dark Mary" action figure!
     
  3. StarTrek1701

    StarTrek1701 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Who the heck are we kidding?? :lol: The general public literally has no interest in female or strong women superheroines. Wasn't there a Warner Brother's executive a few years back that stated they put all their female heroines development in the back burner because they deduced nobody likes seeing female superheroines? No matter how progressive we may think the audience is, they are only progressive in mouth only. Nobody wants to see a female superheroine, if they did, we'd have a WW movie by now.
     
  4. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    if that wasn't said in response to Elektra, then it should have been said in response to Elektra.

    So ad hoc.

    Just because morons make a few bad movies about super heroines it don't mean that all movies about super heroines are god awful.

    Really however, have thee been many girl superhero movies?
    t mean that every movie
     
  5. Joel_Kirk

    Joel_Kirk Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, we did have Kick-Ass with a tough superheroine....
     
  6. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Hitgirl couldn't be the lead in her own movie because she had no redeeming virtues... Remember Natalie Portman in Assassins? Girl power is only topped by little girl power... In a related movie at the cinema first run, I was told to stop laughing hysterically during Bridget Fonda's Nikita by my date because, and I quote: "Stop laughing, you sound insane, this is a serious and dramatic movie."

    Why are the idiots always so hot? So, so, so, so hot.

    Hitgirl had to be wrapped in the hollywoodpopcorn of everything else in that nearly awful movie (The comics gave Hitgirl and Big Daddy a completely different origin and god help me but cage was chewing the fucking scenery.) to balance out how amazingly fun she is as a vehicle of unstoppable violence.

    Besides kids beating up adults is hilarious, look at the 2 hours of sappy feelings bullshit we used to put up with, waiting for Mackaully(??) to go While E. Coyote on Joe Pecci.

    Was Jessica Alba's Sue Storm "the Invisible Girl" or "the Invisible Woman"? For gods sake it was John Byrne in issue 284 (1985ish?) that thought that after having a kid, a public miscarriage and being married for ten years, that Sue decided that she shouldn't want to be treated as a child no more through reputation.
     
  7. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    To be, the track record for female superhero flicks is abysmal: SUPERGIRL, CATWOMAN, ELEKTRA, AEON FLUX, ULTRAVIOLET, TANK GIRL, etc. The only notable exceptions are the TOMB RAIDER movies and, arguably, the UNDERWORLD and RESIDENT EVIL series (which are probably perceived more as horror thrillers than superhero stories).

    Granted, none of those failed movies are particularly good, but that many high-profile flops are enough to discourage even the most daring Hollywood exec. I would love to see a good WONDER WOMAN or SUPERGIRL movie, but, if I was in charge of Warner Bros., those numbers would give me pause.

    The really interesting question is why female action heroes seem to work on tv (ALIAS, BUFFY, XENA, LE FEMME NIKITA, etcetera), but not on the big screen?
     
  8. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Especially since two of the seminal action heroines of modern popular culture are Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley.
     
  9. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    But in the best movies with Ellen and Sarah, their first movies all they did mostly was run. By the time they got their shit together and took the bad guys head on with a little sweat in the sequels, those movies may have made a little less money and the torytelling seemed a little less seminal. Almost as if we prefer to see them be gored by the big bad like some junior burger snuff flick than overcome evil.

    I liked Tankgirl.

    Of course last time I saw Tankgirl, Naomi Watts wasn't so... Invigorating?

    Tombraider was inexcusable.
     
  10. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    I think it's the horror context that makes those work. Ever since HALLOWEEN, audience have gotten used to the idea that the "last girl" will end up going one-on-one with the monster. You could argue that female action heroes are pretty much the norm in modern slasher movies and such.

    And ALIEN and the original TERMINATOR, despite their scifi plot elements, are basically structured like horror movies, so maybe that makes Ripley and Sarah Connor easier to accept.

    So why does it work in horror but not in superhero flicks? My guess is that it's because, in horror, the female lead is not the primary draw, the monster is.

    Think about it. ALIEN was named after the monster, not Ripley. TERMINATOR was not titled SARAH CONNOR, CYBORG KILLER. People came to see the monster and ended up cheering the heroine.

    Unlike CATWOMAN, ELEKTRA, etcetera, where the female superhero was supposed to be the main draw . . . .

    So maybe we need to make a JOKER movie in which Batgirl ends up kicking his butt?
     
  11. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm watching a stop motion comic of Batgirl Year One, a comic i own and enjoyed many years ago, on my PC right now.

    I't a bloody good story, but I can't imagine calling it "Killer Moth" instead.

    ;)
     
  12. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Hey, THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES was a New York Times bestseller--at least in book form!
     
  13. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Good one Greg.

    So? Who was the best live action Batgirl who deserved a movie, who could have carried a movie with some success?

    Yvonne Craig from the 60's (Actually, since she was screwing Howard Hugues in his bubble, there's really no reason in the universe she couldn't have been in a batgirlmovie if she had thought to ask for it or had wanted to ask for it.)?

    Alicia Silverstone (Clueless was so long ago and how did she go so wrong so quickly.)?

    Dina Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmeyer (What was Alan Moore's reading on noticing that the blunt end of his Killing Joke was plastered into the opening credits of a dinky little tv show?)?
     
  14. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    If only there were some underappreciated, iconoclastic Internet wanderer to offer the studios a workable solution... :p

    Asked and answered in the above-linked earlier discussion, my good sir. Those were drama shows with action bits more than action shows with drama bits. No one expects tv protagonists to ride into the sunset embracing a main squeeze at the end of every episode. ;)
     
  15. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ironically Sydney Bristo in Alias rocked but Elektra sucked, meanwhile Nikita from La Femm Nikita eventually grew on me but Mina Harkness was a complete wash out in the abominable league of Extraordinary gentlemen, Lucy never really made it to the big screen splash even if she was Wonder Woman in new Frontier... However, Sarah Michelle Ghellar kicked ass as Daphne on Scoobie Doo although I never really understood all that exception proves the rule horse hockey.
     
  16. \S/

    \S/ Cadet Newbie

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    Question: "When are we ever going to see a Supergirl flick?"

    My answer: Never. And I say this not only as my opinion but also as fact.

    Why? Economics and "brand purity."

    Supergirl, Superboy, and Batgirl are spin-off characters that, while working in comics and even in the animated medium, don't really translate to film as well.

    DC/WB wants to market and make billions from Superman, Batman, etc. They're not going to make what are, essentially, lesser versions of these characters with nowhere near the exposure or history of their male counterparts.

    The only reason Supergirl and Batgirl were created was to appeal to girls and women in an attempt to bring in different demos and more money. Same with Superboy.

    But DC/WB isn't going to put out anything with the iconic "Super" or "Bat" in the title in multimillion dollar films that are not the original characters. They'd be competing with themselves in a sense, and at the end of the day, they'd lose money.

    This is not to say a Supergirl animated series couldn't work, but they haven't pursued that because the studio won't greenlight it. Superboy is going to be in the new Young Justice toon, and Supergirl might end up their as well, but neither will ever carry a series. Same with Batgirl.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    By the way, it's been announced that WB Animation is doing Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, an adaptation of the Supergirl story from the Superman/Batman comic, and that Summer Glau will be playing Supergirl, opposite Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy in the leads.

    What worries me is that they'll probably try to duplicate the comics' art style, as they did with Public Enemies. Meaning that Supergirl will be an anorexic with creepy pale eyes. *shudder*
     
  18. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The animation in public enemies was AWFUL, and in no way a mirror of Ed McGuiness or/and Michael Turner's fine fine-art form Batman/Superman. The later art from the first issues of Supergirl was the horridly skinny winey little thing.

    Besides, this means that Alison mack might be coming back as Powergirl?
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I've seen the art in the original Superman/Batman comic and it's about equally ridiculous-looking. And tastes differ, but the way Turner drew women is simply disturbing to me, and not in a good way.
     
  20. StarTrek1701

    StarTrek1701 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Why is that?