Knight leads charge on Hollywood

IT IS the film of the moment, a blockbuster poised to break all kinds of records at the box office. The new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, opens in 4,366 cinemas in North America this weekend with the UK following later this week.

But far from being at saturation point, this is only the start for comic book characters on the big screen. Just about every hero, from Wonder Woman through to such obscure characters as the Spirit and Ant-Man, now has a movie in the works, as studios rush to cash in on the boom.

Iron Man is currently the second highest grossing film of the year – though its protagonist was hardly an A-List superhero, Hellboy II topped the US charts last weekend, and Wanted, starring Scots actor James McAvoy, is another hit comic-book adaptation.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Kevin O'Donnell, who has been following the developing relationship between comics and cinema in his role as area manager at the Forbidden Planet comics store in Glasgow. "Technology has improved and they are able to make these things look fantastic."

Ten years ago there was just one new feature film adapted from a comic – the vampire film Blade. Now audiences are being treated to one every other week, according to figures from the Internet Movie Database.

There are another 50 due out over the next two years, with the comic-book adaptation taking the traditional place of the western and even book adaptations as a staple of cinema.

Steven Spielberg is about to start shooting a film featuring junior reporter Tintin, whogets mixed up in international crime and espionage. But most comic characters in line for big-screen treatment are costumed superheroes, with Captain America, Thor, the Green Lantern and the Flash all jockeying for position.

Mike Goodridge, US editor of the Screen International, said Hollywood studios were increasingly dependent on expensive blockbusters, but at the same time wanted to minimise risks.

"The studios are focusing specifically on effects-driven movies and the comic-book is the perfect source for that," he said. "The core demographic is teenage boys and a generally younger audience, and they tend to know these characters already."

Goodridge has been impressed with recent films and believes the Batman hype is merited. "The Dark Knight is sort of The Godfather of comic-book movies… It's a huge crime epic, with incredibly accomplished film-making and marvellous acting. It's complicated, it's violent, it's quirky and yet it's still a comic-book."

But not everyone is enamoured of the proliferation of comic-book films. "It's a symptom of the increasing infantilisation of our society," said Alan Grant, the Scottish writer who has worked on Batman and Judge Dredd strips.

"The reason that all these movies are getting made is that finally special effects have caught up with what comic artists have been doing for years. But, in my opinion, it's not really the sort of stuff that adults should be going to see."

Such is the transition of comics to the mainstream that writer and broadcaster Muriel Gray and Rebus author Ian Rankin have reportedly been approached to write for Marvel and DC respectively. Adaptations of comic-strips were once the preserve of children's serials and low-budget television. The 1960s TV version of Batman was as camp as a Carry On movie.

But Tim Burton's Batman movie introduced new psychological complexity in 1989. But only recently has CGI – computer-generated imagery – been able to replicate superhero feats as depicted in comics.

Jim Hickey, a former director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival who is now a film producer, said: "There was talk a few months ago that the new Grand Theft Auto game was going to keep the lads out of cinemas for the summer, because they would all be playing it non-stop.

"I wonder if it's something to do with Hollywood attempting to find a way of keeping the gaming audience coming to the cinema. It's the digital revolution converging with the love of comic strips and simple telling of iconic stories… These films are amazing when you look back at Superman and the crude effects that you saw in those days."

Hickey also believes the boom reflects the interests of a generation of Hollywood executives who grew up with comic-books, although it is happening at a time of declining sales for the traditional superhero comic.

Marvel Comics was teetering on the point of bankruptcy before its fortunes were revived by the Spider-Man and X-Men movies, which it made in partnership with Columbia and 20th Century Fox.

They were so successful that Marvel Studios was able to make Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk independently and it is working on its own to introduce Thor and Captain America to contemporary cinema audiences.

Roger Sabin, author of Comics, Comix And Graphic Novels, writes in the current issue of Sight and Sound: "It's hard to avoid the impression that companies like Marvel and DC are now part of the film business first and comics business second.

"Titles are kept alive even though they may lose money simply because the 'property' they contain – their chief character – may be the focus of exploitation in the future."

Meanwhile, the trade paper Variety reported on Friday: "The Dark Knight is poised to enter the record books as it opens today – and the weekend has a shot at being the best on record in overall grosses."

After The Dark Knight, the industry's eyes will turn to Wolverine and Watchmen, the film of what is routinely described as the Citizen Kane of comics. It was originally published in 12 parts in 1986-7 and subsequently helped pioneer the concept of the graphic novel.

It spans two generations of costumed superheroes, most of whom have no actual superpowers, but plenty of neuroses, character flaws and dark secrets. A film has been in development for 20 years, but now it is complete and will be out in March.

Forbidden Planet's Glasgow store still sells 20 to 30 copies of the book every week, even before the hype kicks in on this one, according to manager Kevin O'Donnell. "Watchmen will be absolutely massive," he says.