The Summer Lackluster

The big budget, action-packed summer blockbuster movie is a mystery to Self. Besides the hour and forty-seven minutes of explosions and destruction in between opening sequence and end credits, it’s become nearly impossible to tell one of these movies from the next.

Ironman 3. Shit. What happened to Iron Man 2?

Man of Steel. Different than Superman Returns (circa 2006). But exactly the same.

And now the announcement of a Batman / Superman mega-blockbuster. Something that was surely shouted out at least once during sex at this year’s comic con.

You see, we like stories at Self. Stories and characters and drama and humor. And these movies offer none of that.

Instead, it’s the technology and movie magic that drives these productions, and yes, they do get more and more visually stunning every few years. Why not limit it to just one monster budget, action spectacle every 3 years – just long enough for the technology to really improve upon itself? And while we’re at it, lets make those movies all about the technology, like Avatar did, and quit trying to tell a story.

As we all know, these movies cost a fortune to make. But a good movie, like Frances Ha, which probably cost as much to make and promote as the craft service table on the set of Pacific Rim, has the exact same ticket price, surely helping studios off-set the costs on their cinematic boondoggles.

Now, if only you could pay for the movie you wanted to see based on what it cost to produce – that’s a model that could make going out to the movies a much more attractive prospect. And it just might force studios to only make summer blockbusters, once every third summer.