Superhero movies saving the day

After I saw X-Men in May 2000, I had an interesting conversation with my friend Beth as we were coming out. I expressed my hope that this was the birth of an era of superhero films, similar to what Westerns had been for almost 30 years in the 20th century. Beth was skeptical, wondering if the success could be sustained. Obviously it has been, but let's look at box office results for superhero/comic book films since then.

2001: Nothing yet. With X-Men's success in 2000, Hollywood hadn't had the chance to copy.

2002: Spider-Man comes on the scene as the top money-maker of the year. A sub-par Men in Black II (which comes from a comic book) finishes 8th. Road to Perdition (not a superhero movie, but based on a graphic novel) comes in 24th.

2003: X2: X-Men United comes in sixth. It's clearly now a secondary franchise compared to Spider-Man. The Hulk (pretty flawed film) comes in 13th, north of $100 million.

2004: Spider-Man 2 makes $374 million, losing the top spot to Shrek 2. The Incredibles (though not sourced from a comic book) comes in 5th. You could make the argument that The Incredibles is actually the best execution of classic superheroes in a film to date (and I would make that argument). And let's pretend Catwoman never happened, OK people?

2005: Batman Begins inexplicably comes in 8th, behind some lame films including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and King Kong. What were Americans thinking? Batman Begins is one of the greatest films of all-time people. Fantastic Four is 13th, mainly because of males 13-30 going to see Jessica Alba multiple times in a skin-tight outfit.

2006: X-Men: The Last Stand enjoys it's best box-office success despite being the worst film in the franchise (thank you Mr. Ratner). Superman Returns (a pretty weak film) also breaks the top 6.

2007: Spider-Man 3 gets revenge against Shrek the Third. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (which I've never seen) makes 'only' $131 million. Ghost Rider makes $115 million domestically, taking in less than Blades of Glory. TMNT (the animated film) gets only $54 million, making it the 7th best animated film of the year (ouch).

2008: It will forever be known as the year of the superhero. The Dark Knight opens to $158 million and easily becomes the most successful film of the year (but 'only' 27th all-time when you adjust for inflaction). Iron Man is #2, and Hancock is #4. The Incredible Hulk barely eclipses the first film (although it was a ton better), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army does better than the first Hellboy, but disappoints (as far as box office return is concerned).

So what am I trying to say? We're in a golden era of superhero flicks, which is totally awesome for a geek like me. And we have a bunch more coming, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 2009); Iron Man 2 (May 2010); The First Avenger: Captain America (May 2011); and the one I've been waiting 20 years for, The Avengers (July 2011).

I'm glad that Beth's prediction proved wrong, that now some of the most successful films of this decade were superhero flics, including a couple that are also some of the decade's best films (including Batman Begins, X-Men, and Iron Man). Here's hoping we get another decade full of costumed, crime-fighting fun.

Box office info from Box Office Mojo.