Marvel and DC’s dominance in theaters is over? Creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comments

Anyone who follows even a little bit of cinema is certainly aware of the current dominance exercised by superhero films at the global box office. And it is not something restricted to the current moment, as many of these films have entered the lists of highest box office grossers in history.

Avengers: Endgamefor example, is the second highest-grossing film of all time, with US$2.7 billion, behind only Avatar. The same list has Avengers: Infinity War ($2 billion) in sixth, Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion) in seventh and The Avengers ($1.5 billion) in tenth. They are all from Marvelbut A.D also has its positions in the ranking, such as Aquaman ($1.1 billion) in twenty-eighth, Batman the Dark Knight Rises ($1.081 billion) in thirty-fifth and Joker ($1.074 billion) in thirty-sixth.

However, there are those who say that this dominance is coming to an end. One of these people is Kevin Eastman, a professional who also comes from the world of comics. He is one of the creators of the superhero saga Ninja Turtlesactive since 1984, alongside Peter Laid.

In an interview with NMEEastman pointed out that “to a certain extent” hegemony Marvel/DC at the box office and the number of movie theaters on the planet is decreasing. This is not a hater’s observation, as he likes the films.

“They did it so well for so long. I remember when Captain America: The First Avenger was released in 2011… It was made perfectly with Chris Evans as Captain and was done in a very sincere and serious way, recognizing the importance of the comic book fan base… even Avengers: Endgame in 2019 and some TV series. They hit big marks and made all of us original fans happy.”

The change is even seen naturally by the comic artist.

“I think now we’re going into other territories to create interesting stories… there’s a lot of room for other types of comic book movies, you know? I’m curious to see where this all goes, for sure.”

The declaration of Eastman is not random. He is one of the parties interested in sharing some vacancies from this domain, as his characters have just inspired a film: Ninja Turtles – Mutant Mayhem, released in Brazil at the end of August. The work directed by Jeff Rowe managed to raise US$ 172 million at the box office, compared to US$ 70 million in investment.

Merits of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film

Still during the interview, Kevin Eastman praised the achievements of Ninja Turtles – Mutant Mayhem, in your opinion. The feature co-produced and co-written by Seth Rogen makes use of creative comic book-inspired visuals reminiscent of recent hits Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Through the Spider-Verse. In the comic artist’s view, there is demand for animations of this type.

“It’s an interesting combination of elements. When I was younger, being called a geek wasn’t a positive thing. Now, you have TV shows like The Big Bang Theory [que se concentra em um grupo de amigos cientistas] and things like that made it more acceptable, as you see in the popularity of all things pop culture… Star Wars, Doctor Who, Star Trek and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is so spectacular. I think acceptance and familiarity and widespread acceptance [levaram ao sucesso desses filmes]”.