Idea #1 - 'The Super Films'

So here's a thought- every so often, a new type of character or story becomes popular in Hollywood, and soon enough a pattern begins to develop; the 40's saw a scourge of criminals vs detectives, the 70's enjoyed an outbreak of zombies, the 80's threw teen culture in our faces, and the 90's charmed us with quirky young couples.

So what's the most recent surge since the turn of the century (and of the millennium, no less)?

The answer is simple; Superheroes.
Yes, since the success of Brian Singer's Marvel adaptation X-Men in 2000, it has become inescapably popular to transform these enticing comic book doodles into ass-kicking super-protagonists, and this trend appears to be as strong today as it was when it began 12 years ago.

So how could this all have happened? We had Super Films before the 21st century, going back to the big-screen adaptation of the Batman TV series in 1966, depicting Adam West and Burt Ward fighting off the baddies on a criminal scale, and who can forget the 1978 classic adaptation of Superman?
So why did they take so long to become... mainstream?

The answer which appears clearly to me is technology - since the improvement of visual effects and CGI in film, certain stunts have become possible; flying, web-slinging, fire-throwing, and turning big, green and mean are now available to even the amateur filmmaker from the comfort of his own bedroom, thanks to the possibilities provided by the advancement of new technology.

What's more, the Action & Adventure genre has become increasingly popular as budgets have become more extravagant and the battle against television has heated up. The high-octane blockbuster will always sell to an audience these days, but does anything about these films in particular make them any different, or perhaps better?

Perhaps, it could be said that in the past 15 years or so, as the world has become somewhat darker or less cheerful according to our ever-observant media, and so as always, the escapism film provides will be a constantly profitable source of revenue. So why not really exploit this through a film which depicts a total leap from realism into the brightly-coloured, blooming skyline of Metropolis, or the twisted, deranged abyss of Gotham?

In short, these films take the appeal to young lads who want to sit in their rooms and escape into their imagination, and amplify it to reach out to... well, the world.

Big films to reel in the cash this year, for example, are Joss Whedon's Avengers Assemble, Christopher Nolan's conclusive The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man by the aptly named Marc Webb.

'Nuff said.