Summary
Fantasy movies and TV shows have struggled to make their big break in recent years, and they need one crucial element in order to be successful – and Marvel has always had it. The fantasy genre has had some periods in the spotlight, with series like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter making waves in the early 2000s. However, fantasy has seriously struggled to get a foothold in popular culture in the past few years, and the many failed fantasy films need to take a page from Marvel’s playbook.
The fantasy genre has been around for as long as fiction, with fantasy stories dating back eons. Due to the prevalence of fantasy stories throughout history, plenty of original as well as adapted stories have made their way to the big and small screen since the advent of film. Large-scale fantasy epics seriously became popular in the late 1990s through the early 2010s, and while there are still some popular ongoing franchises, such as Game of Thrones, tons of fantasy films and TV shows have been flopping.
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Fantasy Movies & TV Shows Need More Swagger
One of the biggest problems with modern fantasy projects is that they just aren’t cool enough, with many entries in the genre being seen as lame. Tons of fantasy movies bombed at the box office throughout the 2010s, with movies like 47 Ronin, The Kid Who Would Be King, and 2011’s Conan the Barbarian being some of the prime examples. While there were other factors in the failures of these films, one of the biggest problems is that they simply needed more swagger.
Interestingly, some fantasy films have attempted to dabble with being cooler, and it seems to have worked out. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a critical hit, and while its box office wasn’t great, that’s mostly because it had some major competition. The swagger of the film shows how the fantasy genre can appeal to a wider audience, and more movies should try this method.
Fantasy’s reputation of being lame has seriously hindered its ability to be successful, but Marvel has figured out a way out of this problem. For the longest time, comic books were considered nerdy too, with general audiences avoiding them. However, 2008’s Iron Man changed everything, creating the MCU and turning the superhero genre into something seen as cool.
Related: 8 Things Fantasy Movies & TV Need To Do To Start Being Great
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark was key to this change in public perception, and the fantasy genre needs its own version of this. Although not every fantasy movie needs to do this, having more swagger could lead to the genre having greater success, as it would be repeating the MCU’s signature trick.
Fantasy should take a page from the MCU. Read More