The Summer of Hope

The Summer of Hope

by Alexander Storm

I will say that this summer is shaping up to be one of the best if you’re a fanboy or fangirl. “Why you ask?”  Last year the summer box office was a major bust. While the Harry Potters of the world did okay, a movie that had very high hopes for the studio and fans alike was a complete disappointment.

During the convention season, one film was promoted as the next big thing for fanboys. That film was the bomb called Cowboys and Aliens. It had all the supposed fanboy elements: Fanboy director, movie legend and 007 himself. This film was a dead fish, left in your car during a hot summer day (it stunk).

For the last decade, the fanboy nation saw film after film green lit. For every bad film, there were ten good ones. Last year Hollywood just flat out lied. I mean, did the execs at the studio really think Cowboys and Aliens was any good? They knew this movie was bad. They even used the Comic Con staff to push this junk.  Does anyone remember Comic Con last year? You couldn’t walk three feet in San Diego without seeing an ad about this film. Again, Hollywood knew this movie was bad.

So, we had Thor and Captain America. Let’s be honest, both of those films were just fillers for the Avengers. They weren’t bad, but not the same level as the first Iron Man. Now, we’re months away from a fanboys dream come true (the Avengers). I start to wonder if all these movies can hold up to the hype, get butts in seats, and lead the way to bigger and better fanboy films. Lets hope so. The one real test will be this weekend with the opening of Wrath of the Titans. If this movie falls flat, then it’s going to be a long wait for the Avengers.

Ask yourself, could we really get a great G.I. Joe movie, with The Dark Knight Rises, along with the Avengers?  Could this really be a home run or have the execs lied again and one of these high profiles films kills fanboy movies. I hope not. Heck I’m waiting for a kick ass Justice League movie.