The point not being that a female superhero film will necessarily be a success, but that there's no particular reason to think one can't be.
Frankly, if it's a Spidey spin-off, I'm not sanguine over the characters available. But I'm hoping this announcement will ratchet up the pressure to compete for Disney and Warners.
Sony Planning Female Superhero Movie for Spider-Man Universe
After dating The Sinister Six for 2016 and pushing back The Amazing Spider-Man 3 by two years, Sony is turning its sights on creating a female superhero movie to add to its Spider-Man Universe.
Lisa Joy has been hired to work on the script for the female-centered story. While we don’t know exactly what crime-fighter Sony plans to center on, a few that come to mind are Black Cat, Silver Sable and Spider-Woman.
Did you forget about DC's Catwoman or Fox's Electra? There's already been two spin-off female superhero movies.
Oh, Supergirl. That's a third movie.
Black Cat? Felicia Hardy showed up in the latest Spider-Man movie if I remember correctly.
+Melissa Walsh "Did you forget about DC's Catwoman or Fox's Electra?"
After much effort and heavy drinking, yes, I had forgotten them. They were both terrible and you brought those nightmares back to my awareness. Looks like it's time to hit the bottle again!
I think a She Hulk (especially done in the vein of Slott's run) could be a pretty darn good movie.
"The point not being that a female superhero film will necessarily be a success, but that there's no particular reason to think one can't be."
Uh yeah, three reasons….as previously mentioned…..Supergirl….Catwoman…Electra
+Melissa Walsh Hmmm. Okay, true. I'm thinking more in the context of the Most Modern Era of Cinematic Superheroes. Stuff older than Dark Knight / the second Hulk are their own case. (X-Men is an odd bridiging franchise in that way.)
+Mark Means I'd be willing to see a She-Hulk movie that took a snarky / law tone.
Hmm. Perhaps a TV show.
+Dave Hill I know I'd watch it.
The problem isn't necessarily the character as much as the writers/directors working on the films. If done correctly and taken seriously, Supergirl, Catwoman, and Electra could have all been hits.
+Mark Means There's certainly something to the idea that any character can be made a success if written / acted / directed / produced well. All three of these characters suffered from simple disrespect for the characters. By which I don't mean slavish adherence to every jot and tittle of continuity, but demonstrating an awareness of what the character is about and how at least her spirit operates.
Instead we get a Supergirl hobbled by not being able to interact with Superman and with a budget and plot better suited to a 1984 TV movie. We get a Catwoman who is nothing like the original character except for having a cat motif. And we get an Elektra who … well, honestly, I appear to have forgotten pretty much everything about the movie, except that it was boring and poorly written.
I think a difference between the 2000+ era super-movies and the 2010+ era super-movies is that you have people who respect the material, either out of their own like or out of recognition that's what a vocal part of the audience wants. You are getting less of the auteur (or the studio department head) saying, "Yeah, so we got the Catwoman franchise, go write up a new character using that name because the rest of this is just comic book stuff." And the advances in CG and the recognition that these movies can be gold mines means that a lot more technical attention and investment is being put into them.
Not every attempt is a smash success, any more than any other genre — but what makes them successful is becoming more clear, understood, and adhered to by the studios.
The characters I'm hearing being bandied about:
Black Cat – I've never been much of a fan of this Catwoman knock-off (with optional "bad luck" powers). She seems more like a supporting player than a protagonist, but I think you could make it work.
Silver Sable – Female foreign merc company commander? I guess so, but it's not not the most likely comic book tie-in character I can imagine.
Firestar – Does Sony have rights? If so, then … well, again with honest, I've never been that huge of a fan, and have rarely seen her used successfully as the protagonist in the comics. You could do some interesting things with the whole radiation aspect of her powers, but that might be kind of a downer.
Spider-Woman – So, again, Sony has rights to her? If so, she has some serious possibilities, in terms of power (wall-crawling, venom blasts, pheromones) and background (raised by
Hydraa mysterious criminal organization, now a hero and detective). A lot of cool spy and noir bits you could make happen with her.It's going to be Madame Web, isn't it? 🙁
As far as what it takes to make a good superhero film, just compare the first two Superman films with the third and fourth. Same character, same powers, but an incredible difference in quality and enjoyability. The people who make these films need to know their audience and care about the property / characters.