10 Signs You Have Superhero-Movie Fatigue
We’ve just about hit the halfway mark for 2016, and already Deadpool, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse have taken cineplexes by storm. August will see the much-hyped Suicide Squad premiere (at which point Jared Leto will presumably quit tormenting his former costars) and November brings Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton in the mystical Doctor Strange. Audiences can then look forward to new films featuring Wolverine, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Thor, and the Justice League in 2017, along with a soon-to-be-announced Marvel film from Fox. “A lot” is a relative term —and “too much” is a highly subjective distinction. But with every new cycle of deafening promotion, “there sure are a lot of superhero movies, and it’s getting to be too much” inches closer to objective, uncontroversial truth.
Audiences can only handle so many capes and tights before the bubble threatens to burst. Box-office receipts alone assert that audiences are far from the point of disdain for superhero flicks — see X-Men: Apocalypse‘s $80 million opening weekend — but those embedded on the front lines of showbiz buzz have begun to show early signs of superfatigue. Here are 10 telltale signs that your tolerance for the cinema du spandex might be wearing thin.
Wrangling of New Talent Inspires Disappointment Instead of Hope
When the superhero-industrial complex snatches up an exciting indie filmmaker or a critically lauded thespian for an upcoming project, it inspires one of two reactions. A person’s stance on the news that, say, New Zealand’s own Taika Waititi will direct the third installment of the Thor franchise functions like a glass-half-full test: Those not completely disenchanted with the genre rejoice that a singular talent will take the franchise’s reins. Those fed up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, will wonder whether the What We Do in the Shadows director couldn’t find something more interesting to do. For every filmgoer thinking, “Great, fresh blood to elevate a flagging system,” there are now several who see the move as little more than corporate machinery forcing another individualist into the studio rank-and-file march.
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