As the title says the superhero fad that has gone on now for quite a while seems to have got itself a bit of a puncture, with several of the bigger players stumbling quite heavily and not really having any kind of consistency and nothing likely to reignite it either. The oldest on the site probably saw this happen for westerns, those before them probably had if not world war 2 then creature features. Action films similarly have their trends. I am sure we could also look at games for similar cycles.
While nobody can predict the future then there are things you can look at, and with films taking years to make you also have that too if you wanted to go down that path. I can't imagine adaptation or get lost is going to go away any time soon -- have there been any comics, any books, any games, any TV shows?
Do you imagine we will be seeing a Korean takeover of sorts similar to Hong Kong action -- South Korea has been doing good stuff for years (see Attack the Gas Station from 1999 if you can find it, many would have met Oldboy/Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance for the now many years ago options) is now increasingly doing amazingly. I mentioned comics above and while mainstream comics are more or less dead at this point are we going to see a bunch of manga (which is selling insane amounts -- saw reports last year of one manga outselling the entire US output of every mainstream comic) adaptations? If mainstream has failed in US comics then the independent stuff seems to be doing pretty well for itself and might prove ripe for the picking. Film production prices have dropped through the floor as well; see most TV, or cost of RED cameras which means we also see various oddities in Europe doing things that might previously not have made it far.
More cynically then most of the storylines for comics were seen in 80s and 90s comics and cartoons. Fashion goes in cycles and those with the spending power control what is seen. Do we do current year minus 20 and figure out what was popular then for what is likely to happen next? Several 80s and 90s action stars seem to have been dragged out of retirement, and aside from the expendables actually have done some pretty good things.
Similarly for bonus points then see if you can predict the next trend in horror films -- vampires, werewolves, zombies or other (maybe some kind of environmental fun and games)? Some have noted that the dominant politics can play a role (vampires = blood sucking elites, zombies = consumerist masses. Fear of those...).
To that end what do you imagine is going to be the next fad in films?
While nobody can predict the future then there are things you can look at, and with films taking years to make you also have that too if you wanted to go down that path. I can't imagine adaptation or get lost is going to go away any time soon -- have there been any comics, any books, any games, any TV shows?
Do you imagine we will be seeing a Korean takeover of sorts similar to Hong Kong action -- South Korea has been doing good stuff for years (see Attack the Gas Station from 1999 if you can find it, many would have met Oldboy/Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance for the now many years ago options) is now increasingly doing amazingly. I mentioned comics above and while mainstream comics are more or less dead at this point are we going to see a bunch of manga (which is selling insane amounts -- saw reports last year of one manga outselling the entire US output of every mainstream comic) adaptations? If mainstream has failed in US comics then the independent stuff seems to be doing pretty well for itself and might prove ripe for the picking. Film production prices have dropped through the floor as well; see most TV, or cost of RED cameras which means we also see various oddities in Europe doing things that might previously not have made it far.
More cynically then most of the storylines for comics were seen in 80s and 90s comics and cartoons. Fashion goes in cycles and those with the spending power control what is seen. Do we do current year minus 20 and figure out what was popular then for what is likely to happen next? Several 80s and 90s action stars seem to have been dragged out of retirement, and aside from the expendables actually have done some pretty good things.
Similarly for bonus points then see if you can predict the next trend in horror films -- vampires, werewolves, zombies or other (maybe some kind of environmental fun and games)? Some have noted that the dominant politics can play a role (vampires = blood sucking elites, zombies = consumerist masses. Fear of those...).
To that end what do you imagine is going to be the next fad in films?
