I can understand movie spinoffs. If Movie A makes a buttload of money (a buttload being equivalent to a sum of more than $200 million), well, why not pick out Character X and drop him right into Movie B? After all, if theatergoer C enjoyed watching Character X in Movie A when he saw it at Cinema J, won't he pay just as much to watch Character X in Movie B at Cineplex N with his friends P, R, and 7?
But understanding spinoffs doesn't mean I condone them. Take for example the proposed Spider-Man spinoff featuring Venom. On first blush, it seems like a pretty cool idea. Everyone likes Venom, right? But then consider a few complications. Actually, consider one big complication.
1) Venom is a villain.
"And?" I hear you say. All right, let me elaborate.
Movies about supervillains are destined to failure. First, they require that Theatergoer C (remember him? if not, a refresher course can be found at the beginning of this post) root for the guy wreaking hell and havoc everywhere he goes. Sure, it might be fun to watch Venom pancake a few cars. But the allure of evil is always overrated. No one's comfortable rooting for the bad guy.
Second, who's he going to fight? You're sure as hell not going to get Tobey Maguire to dress up in red pajamas just for a spinoff. Which means Venom's going to tangle with either a minor superhero or a lame supervillain. And I know the supervillain would be lame, as the franchise has already burned through the most interesting characters. Anyone up to seeing Venom beat on Mysterio? Or Venom vs. Electro?
Sorry if I'm not making my point clear. Bur I'm not that sorry, as this is my blog and all. And here, I am king.
This post's title is a lame pun on "web spinner," if you're curious. But I assume you're not curious.
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