Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.
Q: Does the failure of Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, not to mention Watchmen, signal the end of the graphic-novel-with-big-cult-following-becoming-a-movie trend? — Andy, Phoenix, AZ
The Oracle Speaks:
Not quite yet.
It’s true that the reception has been surprisingly bad for a lot of these movies — the ones you mention, plus Jonah Hex, The Crow, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Monkeybone, Wanted, The Spirit, Whiteout, From Hell, V For Vendetta, Ghost World, and Sin City (the last three were disappointments, but not disasters).
But there have also been a few hits: 300, Hellboy, Blade, Road to Perdition.
(What’s the difference between a “graphic novel” and a “comic book”? For the purposes of this answer, it’s mostly whether or not it includes a traditional superhero.)
The fact is, most movies are not hits. A studio’s few break-out hits always end up paying for all the movies that flop or do middling business, just barely earning back their production and promotion costs.
For what’s it’s worth, a lot of these graphic novel adaptations end up doing better than their opening weekend grosses suggest: Kick-Ass, for example, will make a profit ($97 million world-wide, and 2 million DVDs/digital downloads sold, versus a budget of $28 million, with a similar sum spent promoting it).
On the other hand, Scott Pilgrim ($60 million budget, plus promotion, with a $40 million world-wide gross), is almost certain to end up in the red.
I do think, more than any other single movie, Scott Pilgrim has given producers pause when it comes to graphic novel adaptations (especially quirky, cult-ish ones). Its outright failure caught many in Hollywood by surprise, especially given its terrific buzz and the overwhelmingly positive reaction at Comic-Con. (Jonah Hex, on the other hand, was expected to bomb, although not quite so harshly.)
But in terms of movie adaptations, graphic novels still have two things going for them: (1) they tell stories visually, so (theoretically) they’re easier to adapt for the visual medium of film, or at least there’s some “evidence” that the stories can be visual (producers desperately want anything they can use as “evidence” that they’re not wasting someone’s $100 million), and (2) graphic novels still have “street cred” to die for, especially among the younger, trendier folks who drive future trends. Hollywood likes to be in front of trends, for obvious reasons, but not too far in front, for equally obvious reasons.
Basically, it’s going to take more than a few — okay, a hell of a lot of — flops to stop the “graphic novel” movie adaptation trend.
Indeed, upcoming graphic novel adaptations include Tamara Drewe (coming in October), A Contract with God, Fire (starring Zac Ephron), Locke & Key (a TV series), and a whole bunch of others are in development, including The Sandman, Y the Last Man, Hack/Slash, Fathom, Bone, Cowboy Bebop, and Preacher.
One of the best parts of "Pillars": Natalia Wörner
Q: I just finished watching The Pillars of the Earth on Netflix, and I was suprised by how good it was! How’d it do in the ratings? — Mammy, New York, NY
The Oracle Speaks:
Starz 8-part miniseries adaptation of the classic novel by Ken Follett (about the drama surrounding the construction of a cathedral in medieval Britain) did well by the cable channel’s standards: it drew 423,000 viewers for the first two-part installment (with a total viewership of about a million viewers when you look at all platforms: DVR, view-on-demand, Encore, Netflix, etc.). Ratings dipped for the next four installments, but then almost reached those initial numbers again for the finale.
Reviews were good, but not great, with a Metacritic score of 67 (out of a hundred).
Pillars of the Earth’s ratings greatly exceeded most of Starz’ other programming to date, but it didn’t beat this year’s earlier offering, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, which debuted with 553,000, and saw its viewership climb all season long, with a cumulative total average viewership of 1.285 million per episode.
Incredibly, Spartacus‘ Metacritic score was only 54.
For the record, I loved Pillars of the Earth — but not as much as I loved Spartacus: Blood and Sand!
Q: I’m surprised by how much I ended up liking ABC’s The Gates — campy fun — but I know the ratings were low. Any chance it’ll be back? — Mice, Sandpoint, ID
The Oracle Speaks:
According to my source at the network, the show’s fate has genuinely not yet been decided.
Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.
Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
When the schedule for the upcoming season was announced, it was interesting to note that the network had added not one but two more fantasy or fantasy-ish series with Camelot and Pillars of the Earth (a mini-series). They’re also co-producing the next season of the UK sci-fi series Torchwood in collaboration with the BBC.
Their other medieval England series, Camelot, is yet another adaptation of Arthurian legend — apparently, the landscape has room enough for this and Merlin. Production has yet to begin, and no word has come out yet as to whether the tone will be similar to Spartacus – over the top, stylized, comic book aesthetic — or a more sober, serious Arthurian affair, such as the TNT version of Mists of Avalon.