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You would think that after bombs such as Daredevil and Electra Marvel would be slowing down production of movies based on their comic books. However according to Marvel’s 2005 third quarter results we can expect plenty more bombs from the company who needs to concentrate on maintaining a higher level of comic books, rather than a higher level of cash in their giant money bin.

In 2006 we can expect at least 3 financial disasters to be played out on the big screen:

X-Men 3
May 26, 2006 (Currently filming): This will surely be the worst of the X-Men trilogy. Of course if I were a positive person I would say it has the potential of being the best: new director, new characters, new writers. But I doubt this is going to do X-Men 3 any good. After all the people lined up for production of this flick aren’t the cream of the crop. You can read my full rant on the matter if you’d like.
Ghost Rider
July 24, 2006 (filming completed): A lesser known character, Ghost Rider has the potential to be rather intereseting, but will no doubt crash and burn (big pun intended).
The Punisher 2
Fall 2006: There was a Punisher 1?? No seriously, I can’t believe Lions Gate and Marvel would waste their time on this one.

Next year there are 2 movies definitely slotted for a release:

Spider-Man 3
May 4, 2007: I know a lot of people are most likely looking forward to this movie. I am not one of them. The first Spider-Man was great, despite changing various aspects of the story from that of the comic book. The second movie was a disaster in my mind. The scenes of Peter Parker’s happy fun-time walk to school after losing his powers destroyed any seriousness the movie had attempted to build… or was it the elevator scene that ruined it? Or perhaps the fact that Doc Oc had the freakin’ sun in his lab?!
Fantastic Four 2
July 4, 2007: The first movie was terrible… one of the worst Marvel movies ever made. I can’t imagine what warrants a second try.

More movies that are in the pipeline, but don’t have release dates yet include the following:

Silver Surfer
I’m actually looking forward to this one. Silver Surfer is a character with a lot of depth and could make for a very interesting movie. The problem is Galactus will undoubtedly be computer generated and end up attacking New York or Tokyo.
Wolverine
Yep, Wolverine… an actual full length movie dedicated to the most over-used X-Men character. Count me out for this one.
Deathlok
You’re kidding, right? A Deathlok movie? Well, why not. After all they’re planning on making…
Black Widow
This should be released as a double feature along side Deathlok at select drive-in theaters. That way people could at least make out during them rather than just fall asleep or walk out.
Hulk 2
Because the first one was such a success?
Namor
This could be cool if it’s done correctly… but it won’t be. There will most likely be some kind of Green Peace sponsored message behind the over all theme of the movie.
Iron Man
Now this will be a good movie, provided they set it up the same way the original story was set up: in the vietnam war. Iron Man is a cool character with a cool theme. Just don’t screw it up, Marvel!
Thor
Thor This could really go either way. At first though Thor sounds like a great idea, but I just can’t get the image to the left out of my mind. If it goes the way of the 70′s it’s doomed to failure.

The list above, according to Marvel is only in part, which means there could be plenty more chances to waste your money on box office flops. People wonder why the movie industry is faltering. They blame it on pirating and big screen TVs. Before pointing the finger Holywood needs to look in the mirror. Let’s get less sequels and more innovative storylines. Just because a few comic book movies were a success (Batman Begins, Spider-Man 1) doesn’t mean that you should run out making movies out of obscure characters that no one cares about.

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