Hollywood Is Ready To Ditch Superheroes for Video Games

Thanks to Supergirl bombing her opening weekend and tanking even harder over the holiday weekend, there’s blood in the water for superhero movies. Again. While there have been a few blockbuster hits that prove there’s still some fuel in the tank — both Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could restore the billon dollar hauls of yore — there’s no denying this genre has been milked to death. So, what’s a struggling Hollywood to do? Definitely not invest in original ideas. Haha, are you crazy?

According to The Batman and The Batman: Part II writer Mattson Tomlin, there has been a palpable vibe shift as the industry goes back to a well that has produced way more bombs than comic book movies could ever image: vidya games.

Here’s what Tomlin told a fan after being asked about the status of a Mega Man movie that apparently was in the works. Via IGN:

“Hollywood is sort of making a shift from being comic book obsessed to video game obsessed so I wouldn’t be surprised if it sees the light of day in some form, but after so much time gone by, it’s unlikely I’ll have anything to do with it.”

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“My point of view is also born out of the fact that I am getting at least 5x more offers for video game adaptations than comic book adaptations this year,” Tomlin added.

Naturally, all of this tracks: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was a soulless assortment of moving images, and yet, it flew past the billion dollar mark like a freaking rocket. Obviously, Hollywood would like to spam that button as much as possible, but it took three Sonic movies just to crack a billion and Mortal Kombat 2 did so bad that it just barely beat Masters of the Universe, a film you already forgot about. Next up is the Street Fighter reboot in October, which probably isn’t going to do Marvel numbers.

Will any of this stop Hollywood from chasing easy pre-made IP? Of course not. Metal Gear Solid is already being dusted off for the 8,000th time, and good luck adapting that into a movie that a single person will understand. I’ve been playing the whole series with my son for the past few months, and I honestly couldn’t tell you what’s happening in these things. Right now, I’m snatching kids in Africa for my child army with the help of a sniper whose jumbo breasts have to be in a bikini at all times or she’ll stop breathing. I’m not even joking. Google it if you don’t believe me.