Say what you will about the genre, but there’s no denying that comic book movies sell. At the worldwide box office in 2018, four out of the top five highest grossing films are based on some variant of superhuman. Not to mention, Avengers: Infinity War became only the fourth ticket booth titan ever to conquer the elusive $2 billion plateau this year. Unfortunately, though, there is a downside to all the success. Or at least, according to Ethan Hawke, there is.
While the comic book craze has undoubtedly resulted in an influx of people making the journey to their local multiplex, the four-time Academy Award nominee can’t help but think there’s a correlation between greed and the corruption of quality cinema and, in all truthfulness, he may have a point.
During a sit-down with The Film Stage, in which the actor discussed his career at length, Hawke expressed his disappointment in the occasional moviegoer and “big business,” saying:
“Now we have the problem that they tell us Logan is a great movie. Well, it’s a great superhero movie. It still involves people in tights with metal coming out of their hands. It’s not Bresson. It’s not Bergman. But they talk about it like it is.”
“I went to see Logan cause everyone was like, ‘This is a great movie,’ and I was like, ‘Really? No, this is a fine superhero movie.’ There’s a difference, but big business doesn’t think there’s a difference. Big business wants you to think that this is a great film because they wanna make money off of it.”
By and large, the Austin, Texas native is simply using Logan – which was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 90th Academy Awards – as the ideal example for how the industry is mistaking quality superhero cinema for quality cinema on the whole, when, in actuality, they’re two entirely different beasts.
In the end, though, I suppose the Academy has heeded the call to action, as it recently added a new “Popular Film” category to honor “outstanding achievement” in blockbuster and genre movies. Although, personally, I can’t say that I wouldn’t feel better if your average viewer would show as much love to independent and arthouse motion pictures as they do to each and every man and woman in tights. But that’s just me.
