How Badly Will "THE SPIRIT" Bomb?

Let's get this out of the way first: I've never been a fan of The Spirit comic strip or, for that matter, any of creator Will Eisner's work. Yeah, yeah...the guy was a pillar of the artform and invented much of the "language" used in comic book storytelling.  I get that.  But I still don't like his stuff.  Sue me.

So, granted...my dislike of The Spirit is undoubtedly coloring my apathy toward the upcoming movie adaptation of the character, directed by Frank Miller (comic book legend and wearer of The Shadow's hat). That said, am I the only one who sees "epic flop" written all over this thing? 

Opening on Christmas Day, The Spirit seems destined to be one of the biggest comic book flops since Howard the Duck. I may be wrong...but I seldom am when it comes to sniffing out cinematic bombs. 

If you agree with my prediction that The Spirit is going to tank, vote just how poorly it's going to do in the poll below. Now, I realize "opening weekend" is often defined as three or sometimes even four days long, so let's assume the Spirit's opening weekend will cover Dec. 25th through Dec. 28th.  Based on that time period, click on the choice closest to your prediction:

Comments

[MMFK]

This movie looks awful, mainly because of how unfaithful to the source material it seems to be. Because of that, it's only fans of the original Spirit comics or comic fans in general who think it won't be any good. The trailer seemed to get a very enthusiastic response in the theater (though it was clear everyone thought it was Sin City 2). Will Eisner nor the Spirit are household names, and there may be enough movie-goers who don't know anything about comics but still enjoyed the Sin City and 300 movies and now know Miller by name. His name recognition and the movie's "Sin City" style may be enough to give it a strong opening weekend.

And let's face it: comic book fans who complain about poor adaptations always end up seeing the movies anyway, often even watching them on opening day just so they can be the first to whine about it online. (That wasn't directed at you specifically, Mark. Just sayin'. :-p )

Before Superman Returns came out, all these comic sites and message boards displayed the thoughts and feeling of very vocal fans who passionately hated the casting choices and costume design; they BOO'ed when Singer accidentally referred to Superman as Jor-El instead of Kal-El when promoting the movie...and they all went to see it, sometimes twice.

That being said, I wonder if Miller is a strong enough director to keep people coming AFTER opening weekend.

[Jeff]

Then again, it could be along the lines of Snakes on a Plane bad- where it's so terrible yet you can't look away at the sheer stupidity of it....Much like any MST3K.

My friends and I purposely went to see Catwoman just to mock it. We had more fun doing that than watching Iron Man as I recall....

Just as long as Frank Miller doesn't turn All Star Batman & Robin into a movie- I'm good. (:

[Mark Engblom]

"...though it was clear everyone thought it was Sin City 2..."

Which is a perception the studio probably isn't working too hard to disabuse people of. I think they realize they can use every association they can get...regardless of whether there's any validity to it. I guess, in a sense, if you liked a bunch of silhouetted people jumping around in front of noirish CGI backgrounds, The Spirit resembles Sin City...but with none of the sadistic violence (which, I'm sad to say, was the true appeal of Sin City to the general public).

However, will even the most jaded Sin City fan want to see something they believe to be a Sin City sequel on Christmas Day? I guess it depends on if enthusiasm for sadistic violence ever takes a day off.

[Dan Lietha]

Hollywood doesn't get it. Yes, comic book movies can be HUGE blockbusters. There are a lot of fans that will go to see comic book based movies. But, taking a no name "hero" with a stupid mask and stylizing up the imagery and adding lots of star power does not mean the crowds will show up. Argh!

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, and the entertainment press will predictably write "Are Superhero Movies Passe'?" or "Are Comic Book Movies In Trouble?" when The Spirit inevitably bombs. Their formulaic herd mentality can't resist applying mass pronouncements on entire genres based on the success or failure of a single movie....especially when so many movie critics are obviously hostile to the concept and recent dominance of superhero movies.

[Paul McCall]

Someone over at Ain't It Cool News has already seen it and says that "Battlefield Earth" is no longer the worst movie ever made.
I'll go see it just because I am a SPIRIT fan and I don't believe in complaining about a movie unless I've seen it myself. But not on the opening weekend, maybe not until next year when it gets to the second run theaters.

[Pat Curley]

Ah, at last an area where we disagree! I consider Eisner's Spirit stories from about 1946-1950 to be among the finest examples of comics in history.

I don't know whether the movie's going to suck or not; my general assumption is that most comic movies are going to suck (although I have been pleasantly surprised by quite a few).

[David Morefield]

The "good" news is that this movie bears no resemblance whatever to Eisner's strip, so no matter how lousy it is (and with Miller attached, I've no doubt it'll be epic-scale lousy), the stink won't stick to the "real thing."

The bad news, of course, is that if there was any hope left of a decent Spirit movie, this thing will kill it, as no one will want to touch the property again for decades, if ever (see: George Pal's "Doc Savage.")

[Wes C]

I'm casual Spirit fan. I admire Eisner's Work on it quite a bit. I don't care as much for the graphic novels of his that I've seen.

I was rather excited to see that there would be a movie made out of it. The moment I saw the beginning of the teaser trailer I thought
"oh nooo" - why do the Spirit and make it look like Sin City - there was so much potential for a good film noir look and they decided to rip off Sin City.

So, yeah, looks like it could suck really hard. Well at least my beloved F.F. will have some company in the crappy superhero movie hall of shame.

At best a DVD rental for me.

[phillyradiogeek]

I've never read the Spirit, so I have no preconceived notions of it. Mark, what is it about the character and/or Eisner specifically that you don't like?

[Mark Engblom]

Nothing specific...it's just that the Spirit and Eisner's stuff has never been that interesting or entertaining to me. For all of Eisner's invention (which I don't dispute), his work (or the stuff I've seen) just doesn't make a love connection. Maybe I haven't seen enough of it...or maybe it's my general boredom with noir and urban "slice of life" stuff...or maybe it's my stubborn streak that resents jumping on the bandwagon to lionize certain figures. Not saying that those who genuinely like Eisner's work are bandwagon-jumpers...but rather I don't admire someone's work because I'm supposed to...or it's just something we're supposed to do as comic art fans or artists ourselves. I say I like it if I truly like it. If not, I don't pretend do...however big of a legend the artist is supposed to be.

So, sorry I can't be more specific. At the end of the day, I guess it's just not my thing.

[ShadowWing Tronix]

I've only browsed a few Spirit stories that my friend had, so I don't know much about it. However, the (pardon the expression) spirit of the series doesn't seem to be in there. I heard that Frank Miller, supposed friend of Eisner, disagreed with him on certain ways Eisner approached the character. He had promised that he would follow Eisner's style, but the movie looks more Miller's style, perhaps with less blood and cursing.

From what I hear, the Octopus isn't supposed to be fully seen, like Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget (speaking of translation messups). I'm not sure what else went wrong, and I'll probably see it with my friends if they go, but I'm not even a fan and I don't have high hopes.

[John Trumbull]

I LOVE the postwar Spirit stories, and the ONLY reason I have to see this moive is Scarlet Johansson's cleavage. From everything I've seen, Miller's done almost every conceivable thing wrong.

[John Trumbull]

And no, the Octopus is never fully seen in Eisner's stories. Other things Miller changed: The Spirit's suit is traditionally blue, not black. Ellen Dolan is not a doctor. I don't remember the strip ever making much of the Spirit's "healing factor". And the character of Ebony White (a significant character in the strip) is completely absent from Miller's movie.

[ShadowWing Tronix]

That may have something to do with how he was presented, from what I saw in an Attack of the Show segment tonight. Shame they didn't take the chance to fix that with the movie, though.

[SanctumSanctorumComix]

It's this year's "DICK TRACY".

~P~

[Jeff Wetherington]

Mark, it looks like your olfactory super powers were working at 100% levels, judging from the horrible box office results.

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, the movie's dreadful opening weekend figures hit right about where I thought they would (between $5 and $10 million)....and the critical backlash against it sounds like it's well-deserved.