Finally superheroes are getting the appropriate credits for all the good deeds they have done in the past. Often complaining that their value to the society are not properly appreciated – now it seems that the world has opened their eyes and valued them now they will. To the tune of $4 billion!
That’s the amount that Disney will be paying to acquire Marvel Comic in a new deal announced this week. Together with the deal, Disney would acquire the 5000 plus characters in the Marvel Comics library including big names like Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X Men.
This is a great appreciation in value for Marvel Comics that not so long ago was almost close to bankruptcy due to dwindling volume of comic sales. Then came the big budget Hollywood movies – especially Spiderman franchise – that broke the box-office records. Suddenly superheroes are no longer confined to the cheesy versions like Batman of the 1980s and 1990s (Can you recall the now-so-awful Batman Forever (1995) featuring Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman & Tommy Lee Jones). Hollywood discovered now that there are generations of comic fans that take the superheroes seriously and wallaa… multi-hundred-million box office rained on Spiderman, Batman Begins, Hulk, Transformers, GI Joe and even Sponge Bob!
Even here in Malaysia, the dynamic duo of Upin & Ipin has generated RM5 million box-office collection. Not bad huh.. they even won an award at the recent 8TV’s Shout Awards.
3D Films and 3D Glasses are back in vogue this year
This trend is being closely followed by heavy investments in 3D films. This year alone we’ve been bombarded by a number of 3D titles. Never is it that wearing 3D glasses is considered cool as now. Heck… I just spent RM13
RM18 to watch Disney & Pixal’s UP at GSC Pavillion – out of which RM5 is for the privilege of wearing those gorky glasses. Come Dec this year, one of the most anticipated 3D movie – Avatar by James Cameron will make its debut on the screens. It’s touted to change film-making forever though I’m not too impressed by the trailer that I’ve seen.
I have seen that Malaysia has a big pool of creative talents that have not been able to polish their skills due to lack of opportunities in the country. Some have made it to their dream job in Marvel, many ply their trades as expatriates in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand but many more are stuck here – either being realistic and take better paying day-jobs or accept meagre-paying jobs in the creative lines.
The Tiger’s Tail release Under the Multimedia Super Corridor initiatives, digital multimedia and animation are supposed to be one of the key focus areas. This however failed to be translated to sustainable job creations. It is not totally due to lack of efforts but the market just not there. I hope the success of Upin & Ipin and also Cicak Man will pave the way for more success in this area and hopefully the trend in Hollywood will spill over to our shores.
It’s true that creative talents in Malaysia now can make a better living compared to, say 10 years ago. However, there is ample room for further growth in this area. As the industry grows, wealth creation for the country will increase and more people will have more opportunity to participate and make a better living. This will result in bigger investments in entertainment products ( as we can see the unheard of before US$200 million animation investment for Avatar
). In the end, we as the public can finally get to enjoy more better quality local films and entertainment products.
Win – win for everyone.
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Ash is not paranoia. It is just that his keen sense of observation makes him see patterns that others fail to see.
Avatar was a great movie, I just watched it a few day ago. I don’t usually go to the theather because I get nervious around a lot people but I think I’ll give this one a shot because people are saying that it’s even better on the big screen, I think it might be in 3D. Anyway the movie Avatar get two thumbs up from me, I watch all of my movies at voobymovies,com if anyone was wondering and it’s free