Nikki Finke, who broke the “no Warners movies with women on top” rumor, follows up with a long post on her interactions with Jeff Robinov and throws in a few interesting crumbs at the end which you probably could have figured out:
5) he’s nixed Wonder Woman as a stand-alone film, downgrading her to just one of four superhero characters in the proposed Justice League, and, 6) Robinov will only make Wonder Woman as a spin-off of Justice League, about four superheroes including Wonder Woman. But his proviso is that JL would have to do really, really boffo to justify having a female star-driven pic. Again, I stand by my story.
Setting aside the fact that Finke doesn’t even know it’s the JLA not the JL, we can kind of understand this, given the dismal failure and infamy of every movie about a superheroine (ELEKTRA, CATWOMAN, ULTRAVIOLET, AEON FLUX, TANK GIRL etc etc etc.) But that still doesn’t explain why WW doesn’t get more play for the kiddlies and working women. We were in Hanley’s the past two nights and saw this on the rack:
which was only published this year. It seems that to the non-comics reading world, Wonder Woman is still something of an icon of feminine heroism and do-gooding. Forget about Minx. Ditch the bondage covers and put out a kiddie graphic novel about how Wonder Woman fights oppression, or gobal warming or terrorists or whales or something, and for sure parents would buy it for their little girls, hoping to get in on this popular “graphic novel” thing. Would the girls read it? Not necessary. The sale has been made.
Not every female hero movie fails: Tomb Raider, Underworld, Alien(s) It’s not the fact a female is in the lead, they are just bad movies due to script, direction etc. If it’s made well, it’ll do well. There are plenty of male hero movies that failed for that same reason.
Eric! leads me to the question, “so why are today’s female-hero movies so terrible, then?” Gee, could it have something to do with the way people like Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi are drawing from the last half-century of comic-book superhero material, which actually tended to get MORE clueless about the wimmins with every passing decade?
Urgh, four super-heroes suffices to create a “Justice League?” That is some bargain-basement thinking, right there. I know somebody has to watch the bottom line, but criminy.
And Heidi? All due respect, but just ask the makers of breakfast cereals: being “mother-approved” without being “kid-tested” is NEVER enough to become a commercial success.
There actually is a book like the one you describe: it’s one of those Alex Ross children’s books. I dunno how well it did.
“Forget about Minx. Ditch the bondage covers and put out a kiddie
graphic novel about how Wonder Woman fights oppression, or gobal
warming or terrorists or whales or something, and for sure parents
would buy it for their little girls, hoping to get in on this popular
“graphic novel” thing. Would the girls read it? Not necessary. The
sale has been made.”
You may be on to something, but just for the record, a few years back, HarperCollins published a few Wonder Woman books through one of their children’s book imprints. IIRC, these were small paperback readers, maybe 32 pages, aimed for younger girls that the group you’re talking about. And I don’t think that Wonder Woman fought (or saved) the whales in any of ’em, but she did save a rain forest, I think.
(And I don’t know that parents necessarily need Wonder Woman comics to get in on the “graphic novel” thing. If parents care enough to care what they’re kids are reading, there are always things like BABYMOUSE and DIARY OF A WIMPY KID that’re already popular with the childrens…)
Which isn’t to say that doing more to embrace Wonder Woman’s appeal as a feminine do-gooding icon–especially in the comics/graphic novels themselves–might not be a very good idea.
JL vs JLA. I am sure they are calling it JL becuase you cant mamrket a film with the word america in it these days to an international distributor. That is why the WBIE JLS game was called Justice League Heros.
oh and i can’t spell :)
” … you cant mamrket a film with the word america in it these days … ”
If it was a good movie, and enough audiences were intrigued by trailers, I’m sure the distributors would make an exception.
Then again, the Justice League travels outside the U.S. — and beyond earth — so often, it renders the”America” tag moot, anyway.
That Alex Ross book about WW was hardly a children’s book – SPIRIT OF TRUTH was written by none other than the great Paul Dini, with outstanding art by Ross (who also co-plotted). Not that there’s anything wrong with kids books, of course, but this wasn’t one. No longer in print, sadly.
As far as JL/JLA goes, the highly popular animated series never used the word America in its various incarnations, so “Justice League” has been established amongst the fans for a while now…
When my daughter was three, I got a little concerned that all the Disney Princess movies involved mostly passive women, or at least woman who wanted/needed validation via a man’s love and attention. Miyazaki proved to be a good girl-power tonic and so did those WW early reader books, which i HIGHLY recommend for 3-6 year olds who cannot yet read. My daughter LOVED the idea of a princess who could shoot arrows and toss around trucks!
I still think that DC/Time-Warners is missing out by not marketing Wonder Woman/Princess Diana to girls via d2dvd animated movies, books, comics, and TOYS etc. It’d never touch the Disney Princess juggernaut, but I do think that WW could make a strong standing, with other characters like Big Barda, Huntress (non-bondage outfit), Starfire (G-rated outfit), Hawkgirl and Donna Troy as co-stars. They’d have to avoid straight up superheroics, but I do think that there is a massive market for this kind of line.
I’d bet money (a buck) that the JLA movie never happens, as it might create brand confusion with Nolan’s BATMAN and Singer’s SUPERMAN.
For the record, though apparently out of print in its original edition, the Dini/Ross WONDER WOMAN: SPIRIT OF TRUTH is still available (along with the other Dini/Ross tabloid extravaganzas) in the DC “WORLD’S GREATEST SUPERHEROES” hardcover (http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=3002 )
Awesome stuff, but still not really a children’s book, tho’…
My sister-in-law has never read a comic in her life, but she loves Wonder Woman. She’s got Wonder Woman clothes, plates, refrigerator magnets…you name it.
I bought her the above book for her birthday, and she really dug it.
Regardless, I’m not sure that the fact that Warners has lighted on a way to market the character to 20, 30 and 40-somethings as a piece of nostalgiac kitsch means they have any interest in similarly selling it to little girls. They’d be better off starting something manga realted.
I feel very, very sad about this entire state of affairs.
There should be a Wonder Woman film, not a spin-off film.
As someone who worked on the Wonder Woman movie for two years and was up for the Justice League movie, I can attest that it is, indeed, “the JL” and not “the JLA” that WB is making a movie about.
I’m sure, that for the all-important international box office, it will be JL and not JLA.
Superfriends was titled that because of America’s image after the Vietnam War. Like Watchmen, the heroes never used that name, but alluded to the Justice League.
I wonder why DC doesn’t print a series based on a young Lois Lane, who, similar to Nancy Drew, rights wrongs as a young journalist.
How do you name a movie about captain america?
Captain America is Captain America. If only because a movie about The Captain will immediately turn into Nextwave™.
Oh, if only…
I’m still waiting for someone to confirm the original story.
The Captain: HIS NAME IS THE CAPTAIN!!!
Actually, I’ve always thought that Nextwave™ would do awesome as a cartoon series, not on its own, but as a sort of “Itchy and Scratchy” in a sitcom that takes place in a comic shop.