City of Heroes movie!

[Tortuga]

Woah

This could still be years away, but from the sounds of it, De Santo is no two-bit movie guy.  This is big time stuff for Co*.

[captainspud]

I dunno... the IP for CoH isn't very strong. It's all setting, no narrative. Best case, this gives a writer a ton of freedom to write a fantastic story without worrying about characterization. Worst (and IMHO more probable) case, this leads to a diluted "big pile o' guys vs. big pile 'o guys" Starship Troopers melee.

This could really go a lot of ways, but unfortunately, most of those ways suck. :(

[Verfall]

What the hell?

Seriously, what the hell? I mean, Heroes is a good show and all, and Marvel and DC make decent to amazing money with their movies, but why in the hell would someone buy up the live-action movie rights to a game that has like 1/80th the amount of players WoW has?

I just can't see this working. When guys like the Hulk and Superman can't make money in theatres, what makes anyone think that a movie about guys in tights, that maybe 500,000 people would have some inkling as to where they came from, could make anything?

Now, an "Ultimate Avengers" type animated movie, or animated series, that I can see working. Cheaper than a movie, proven to sell, and with JLU and Teen Titans cancelled, and nothing good from Marvel since Xmen: Evolution was cancelled, there is a serious lack of Super-Hero cartoons.

Hell, get the guys who do the trailers to do it. They have the animation already under their belt. It's CG, which may prove costly, but I doubt it costs as much as it did 3 or 4 years ago.

Live-action just seems to be one hell of a grasping at straws.

[El Condor]

I just can't see this working. When guys like the Hulk and Superman can't make money in theatres, what makes anyone think that a movie about guys in tights, that maybe 500,000 people would have some inkling as to where they came from, could make anything?

Now, an "Ultimate Avengers" type animated movie, or animated series, that I can see working. Cheaper than a movie, proven to sell, and with JLU and Teen Titans cancelled, and nothing good from Marvel since Xmen: Evolution was cancelled, there is a serious lack of Super-Hero cartoons.

I think a CoH movie could be great!  All the problems mentioned are surmountable, given the right production team and the right approach.  The fact that some well-established hero franchises have done well (Spidey, X-men, early Superman, early Batman) and others fizzeled (Hulk, late Batman, the last Superman) proves that familiarity only gets you so far.  The rest is up to the movie itself and how it's packaged (speaking of Starship Troopers, it was a fairly small flick that came out of nowhere to do surprisingly well). 

CoH has rich material to start with, but it has to be developed right for a film.  There's a core group of supers, lots of baddies to choose from, a full background history, and a huge, diverse city populated with typical people and heroes alike.  In a movie, all this could easily spin out of control, but a good production team could pick a few key elements, create a narrative with a solid script, and top it off with quality slam-bang action.  To me, the unique strength of CoH is the "hero population" that lives in the city.  No other super-hero story has anything like that and, worked in well, this could bring a really humanizing and engaging touch to the film.  "Troopers" is a great example again: it took the time first to realize a team of characters we could identify with, then sent them on the wild adventure.

I really feel that it all boils down to the production team.  DeSanto has an okay track record: he did X-Men, and I haven't heard any early reviews of Transformers.  Personally, I think that we should find the dude's e-mail and invite him to join FR! What better way to learn the game than to play with an established SG that's been around since CoH began?  ;)

EC

[DMenacer]

Considering how X-Men restarted the making of some superhero movies which have made decent money when compared to alot of other movies earnings. "Smallville" might become "Justice" on television and Heroes is doing pretty good on telvision I can see his direction of thought.

Plan is to adapt the massively multiplayer online role-playing game into a live-action feature and then transition it to television in some form

Finding the right actors for the movie is one thing, but not messing up the storyline when they swap actors for the television show is another. If he does the movie right and directs the Television show also, both might be worth watching.

El Condor: To me, the unique strength of CoH is the "hero population" that lives in the city.  No other super-hero story has anything like that and, worked in well, this could bring a really humanizing and engaging touch to the film.

Can you think of a better opening for allowing quest stars to appear playing different heroes and heroes on a weekly television series.

[Figure Fan]

This kind of makes me want to barf..

[MJB]

As a relative newb I have no feelings one way or the other.

My only opinion is that it would make a better animated movie/series than it would a live action flick.

-MJB

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

Didn't Sky High that disney super flick do fairly well? Also the Incredibles...

I think part of the problem is that most filmakers simply can't take an animated film seriously thus they view live action as the only plausible route. Feeling that any cartoon or cgi project will immediately be labeled as for children due to the big cgi hits like Toy Story, Cars, etc.

[RTTingle]

Why does this make me want to roll my eyes?

I should be thrilled with this kind of news, right?

I don't know... I'd much rather see COH rather than sell its stuff as a story, look to the community and support a large amount fan content.  Thats just me I guess.  I mean, you have a large community full of a lot of talented people.  Why not shine the spotlight on that? 

[Gymdawg]

Given the track records for most superhero movies - seriously, most suck - I can't imagine why this was picked up. Nevermind, the obvious reason is money. But come on, there's no way this won't end with some director making a fool of himself.

[Midnight]

But come on, there's no way this won't end with some director making a fool of himself.

There it is. Movie doomed.

[Gymdawg]

But come on, there's no way this won't end with some director making a fool of himself.

There it is. Movie doomed.

Hoo-ah!

[El Condor]

why in the hell would someone buy up the live-action movie rights to a game that has like 1/80th the amount of players WoW has?

I just can't see this working. When guys like the Hulk and Superman can't make money in theatres, what makes anyone think that a movie about guys in tights, that maybe 500,000 people would have some inkling as to where they came from, could make anything?

I can't imagine why this was picked up. Nevermind, the obvious reason is money.

This contradiction makes it clear why the movie-makers would have to create a film that compels beyond the fan-base: the fan-base is very small!  They can't just slap this thing together and rely on the name recognition to turn out a lucrative audience, because they'll lose their shirts if they do that.  The film would actually have to be good in order to perform at the box office.

That being said, of course it could be awful.  Lots of ideas for super-hero movies, both well and ill-conceived, have turned out to be unwatchable turkeys.  I'm just saying that it's not necessarily doomed from the start.  The raw material is there if the right craftsman is willing.

EC