This is the era of the comic book movie, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
If the fact that Avengers: Age of Ultron took in $191 million in the U.S. in its opening weekend this month, en route to a projected $1 billion globally, isn’t proof enough, consider this: TLL’s chart of films with strong licensing potential scheduled for release in 2016 through 2019 shows 31 films based on comic book properties headed to theaters. They represent a brash 29% of the 106 films on the list, almost double last year’s 16%.
The increase is overwhelmingly due to the aggressive development schedule that Disney, Fox and Sony have established for Marvelbased movies: 17 Marvel movies appear on the list, 16% of the total, as sequels and spin-offs proliferate for the Avengers, X-Men, Spider- Man and Fantastic Four franchises.
The development of films based on DC Comics at Warner Bros. is a lesser but still potent factor. The studio will follow 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with six more titles including two movies about the Justice League as a group and three based on individual members Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash. Valiant Comics will also get into the act, with Bloodshot planned for a 2017 release.
In a reverse from last year, a smaller percentage of films on the list are sequels: 46%, compared to 56% in 2014. This is due in part to the comics properties, since some of the films in developments are spin-offs of well-known franchises, rather than sequels to prior films. The list does, however, reflect two sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time. Reboots (also known as remakes) also grew to 14% of the total, from 11% last year.
The percentage of movies based on familiar toy or television properties also grew, with toys spawning 7% and TV 8% of films in the pipeline. Last year, TV was the source of 5% of films, and toys 2%.
Note: The same film may appear in multiple categories. | ||||
(in millions of U.S. dollars) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Source | Number | Percentage | ||
Sequels | 49 | 46% | ||
Book adaptations | 24 | 23% | ||
Comic books/strips | 31 | 29% | ||
Reboots | 15 | 14% | ||
Video games/apps | 5 | 5% | ||
TV | 9 | 8% | ||
Toys | 7 | 7% |
From a licensing perspective, it is important to recognize that the most licensable titles are those with a history of past success, and film sequels, reboots, and those inspired by TV and toys all can fall into this area.
The number of new titles that are original to the film medium grew to 10 on the current chart (9% of all titles), from 4 (5%) a year ago. This includes two Star Wars films, however, that are spinoffs from the franchise but not technically sequels or reboots, so they have been included as original films. Seven of the other eight original properties are animated.
Book adaptations fell slightly to 23% of listed films, from 27% a year earlier, and video games/apps inspired 5% of listed films (6% last year).
All of the release dates for movies on the list have been checked against multiple sources, but there is still a high probability that dates will change. The further in the future a film is, the more likely its release date is to move.
See an updated version of the chart below here.