2017 may have been the greatest year ever for geek movies
We’re well past the point where it’s worth complaining about Hollywood’s dependence on big event films, particularly its mining of comic books for action-packed fare. The reality is that the explosion in video streaming, the disappearance of local art houses, and the rise the Chinese market have made the economics of betting huge sums on massive blockbusters an inevitable choice for Hollywood.
Given these inevitabilities, we should at least take some comfort, if not rejoice outright, that 2017 produced what is arguably the greatest run of movies for geeks in history.
That comic book-based thrillers and other geek fare dominated the box office isn’t so surprising. You can always get some number of people to cough up some money to go see another horrific edition of the increasingly lame Transformers saga. No, what is remarkable is just how many of these geek films were great. Not just decent, or worth-the-money-good-but-forgettable. But truly outstanding films.
Let’s just start with the top 10 movies at the U.S. box office in 2017 (as of Dec. 25) according to Boxoffice.com:
1 Beauty and the Beast (2017) BV $504,014,165
2 Wonder Woman WB $412,563,408
3 Star Wars: The Last Jedi BV $397,271,356
4 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 BV $389,813,101
5 Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony $334,201,140
7 Thor: Ragnarok BV $309,444,758
8 Despicable Me 3 Uni. $264,624,300
10 The Fate of the Furious Uni. $225,764,765
Of those, 7 are what I would define as geek movies. I would leave off “Beauty and the Beast”, “Despicable Me 3”, and “The Fate of the Furious”. Looking at the remaining ones I’ve seen all but 2: “Spider-Man” and “It”.
What amazes me is that I thought the five I did see were truly excellent. “Logan” in particular stands out as remarkably well told, deeply atmospheric, and in my opinion perhaps the best of all the X-Men movies. I finally saw “Wonder Woman” recently, and was shocked that, despite the immense hype in the months since its release, it was even more engrossing and moving than I could have imagined.
I’ve written elsewhere the “The Last Jedi” is arguably the best Star Wars movie ever. But even “Thor” was funny, entertaining, and very good story. Every time I keep thinking I’m done with Marvel, that it’s all too much to follow the intricacies of their interwined movies, they surprise me with a movie like Thor. Same with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”. Not quite as good as Vol. 1, but still very good, still a movie I’ll watch again.
And it’s not just me: All seven of those geek movies have ridiculously high ratings on sites like Rottentomatoes.com. Of the two I didn’t see, “It” has an 85% fresh rating, and “Spider-Man” has a 92% rating. That 85% rating is the lowest among those 7 geek movies.
There are several geek movies in the next 10:
11 Justice League WB $223,173,455
13 The LEGO Batman Movie WB $175,750,384
20 War for the Planet of the Apes Fox $146,880,162
The best that can be said about “Justice League” is that it was less terrible than the previous installment. But still disappointing, and likely a franchise killer. I haven’t seen “LEGO Batman”, but it has a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And that brings me to “War for the Planet of the Apes”. I’m sad to see this so far down the box office list, because I think it was one of the best movies of 2017. Period. The story of Caesar, who we only see later has been tracking the biblical tale of Moses, is affecting and a staggering achievement of action and CGI. The trilogy seems to be ridiculously under-appreciated, but I’m hoping it gets some love from Oscar, either for acting, directing, or best picture.
Even further down the list is “Blade Runner 2049” (№32). I’ll never understand how this movie didn’t make at least $100 million at the U.S. box office. But I loved it. I cringed when I first heard they were making a sequel to one of the great all-time sci-fi movies. So I was truly delighted by how much I loved this story, and what a perfect companion it turned out to be.
To see what a leap forward 2017 was, compare it to last year. Certainly 2016 had its gems. “Rogue One” was the top movie at the box office and was also among the best Star Wars films. “Captain America: Civil War” (№3) stands out as one of the top Marvel productions, and “Deadpool” (№6) was wonderfully offensive, hilarious, and gory. But the big DC Comics movies, “Batman v Superman” (№8) and “Suicide Squad” (№9) were absolute messes.
Further down in 2016, there was “Doctor Strange” (№13) which was excellent. But movies such as “Fantastic Beasts” (№12), “Star Trek: Beyond” (№16) and “X-Men Apocalypse” (№17) track more in the zone I’d come to expect from this genre: decent, but forgettable.
From there, 2016 gets thin, fast. And even those in the Top 10, for me, aren’t as strong to the Top 10 of 2017.
Look, it’s easy to by cynical about Hollywood, and the massive consolidation that seems destined to leave Disney as the only movie studio in the U.S. But if being forced to pay steep ticket prices to see special-effects laden blockbusters on the big screen is to be our lot in life, out sole choice when going to the theater, then the movie industry at least owes us some decent stories and characters to make these more than just passable bubble gum affairs.
And in 2017, Hollywood delivered in truly epic fashion.