2009 To See Less Superhero Movies – Only ‘Watchmen’ & ‘Wolverine’ Due

We all love a good superhero film right? Even a bad one is still very watchable. And there have been loads to choose from over the past few years, as Hollywood saw that a superhero film could garner a lot of box office money, and press attention, due to people being eager to see their comic book heroes brought to life on the big screen.

This year, we have already had Iron Man, Hancock, The Incredible Hulk, and The Punisher. And the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, is currently breaking box office records in its opening weekend in the States. Hellboy II has also just been released, but is suffering from very bad scheduling, having to go head to head with Batman.

According to Variety, next year isn’t looking quite so healthy for superhero films, with only Watchmen, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine due for release. 2010 isn’t looking much better, with just the Iron Man sequel, Thor and The Green Hornet coming.

The main reason for this is the Hollywood writers strike, which stopped studios from developing new properties for a while. The strike directly prevented Marvel from working with writers on any new movies, and also meant work on Justice League was stopped.

Studio executives are defending the lull in productions though, and claiming audiences need an occasional break from one genre of film to prevent burn out. Something that needs to be avoided seeing as how a superhero or comic book movie can guarantee profits, even if they’re a bit cack.