2024 Summer Movie Preview

So the whole superhero movie thing seems to be dying out. Just five years after Avengers: Endgame made all the money ($2.7 billion!), Marvel is only releasing once movie this year (the very R-rated Deadpool & Wolverine. Something none of my readers are going to see, right?). Superhero fatigue is real. There is a reason a movie about a doll was the number one movie of 2023 instead of another edition of Ant-Man.

These things happen. Just look at the history of comics themself for a helpful example. In the 1960s Marvel Comics was firing on all cylinders with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Stan Lee creating dozens of classic characters. Yet by the 1990s Marvel Comics were overrun with ridiculous shoulder pads, far too many pouches, and tiny, tiny feet. (Click on these links for some examples, you won't be sorry.)

Or look at Hollywood Westerns. From 1945 to 1965 Westerns were big business making up roughly a quarter of studio output (per Wikipedia). Today, the only person who seems to care about Westerns is Kevin Costner.

Genres wax and wane. Superhero movies had an incredible run. Maybe they are dying or maybe these past couple of years have just been a lull and they'll rebound stronger than ever. Whatever happens, I'll be there to post a Summer Movie Preview that doesn't actually talk about summer movies.