Between the mediocre — at best — buzz, reports of creative squabbles, and a nearly non-existent promotional campaign, The Incredible Hulk appears to be on shaky ground.
The movie, which opens June 13, is Marvel’s do-over, designed to essentially replace Ang Lee’s disappointing 2003 film as the foundation for a potential Hulk franchise. But, The New York Times reports, “signs of trouble abound, leading to lip-biting among some Marvel investors, Hulk fans and movie theater owners.”
Even the usually hyperbolic Stan Lee seems unenthusiastic about The Incredible Hulk: “My prediction is that it will be more popular than the last one.” Let’s hope so, considering that Ang Lee’s $150 million picture made just $132 million at the domestic box office.
Still, Adam Fogelson, Universal’s president for marketing and distribution, warns not to underestimate the Green Goliath, or this movie: “I would caution anybody against betting against it.”
April 11th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Personally, I think this new Hulk (I mean, the creature himself) looks a lot better than the Hulk of Ang Lee’s film. That’s just from seeing a trailer and a few pictures.
Anything that ups the action, and downplays the campy elements of the last film (Um, anything involving Nick Nolte for instance) has to be an improvement.
Mostly, I think any lack of support/promotion for this film has a lot to do with Iron Man coming out in the same season, and coming out before TIH. I’d guess we’ll see more hype once Iron Man’s out. But even then, the Hulk can be a hard sell since I think most people’s perceptions of the character are the goofy old TV show or else the cliched “HULK SMASH!” stuff.
One question… I’m not a big Hulk fan (though I did enjoy WW Hulk last year), so it surprised me to read that only Spidey (ASM, I’m guessing) outsells Hulk at Marvel. Really? I guess I just figured all those X-books would be ahead of it.
I don’t pay any attention to that stuff, I just read the books that I enjoy. In Marvel’s case, that’s Cap, Iron Man: DOS (very underrated book), and Mighty/New Avengers generally.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Well, maybe if they were worried they should have used the far superior footage from the behind-the-scenes thingy from this week in the subpar teaser
April 11th, 2008 at 11:11 am
“One question… I’m not a big Hulk fan (though I did enjoy WW Hulk last year), so it surprised me to read that only Spidey (ASM, I’m guessing) outsells Hulk at Marvel. Really? I guess I just figured all those X-books would be ahead of it.”
In general, that is not true. The Hulk just had a relaunch with a superstar team, which is why it’s selling so much the last couple months. In general, it is usually Spidey and the X-Men, though I believe the Avengers were up there for a while.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
The article also said that in a “nod” to the old television show the Hulk will speak in this movie. More likely its a nod to the fourty years of source material.
But hey, its just the New York Times. Maybe Graeme could give them some editing tips.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
“The article also said that in a “nod” to the old television show the Hulk will speak in this movie. More likely its a nod to the fourty years of source material.”
Zing!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Interestingly though, what is being left out is that though HULK’s box office gross was less than its budget, the merchandising sales were through the roof. The Hulk Hands alone made something like a quarter of a billion dollars.