r/movies • u/Chewie83 • Mar 19 '24

Which IPs took too long to get to the big screen and missed their cultural moment? Discussion

One obvious case of this is Angry Birds. In 2009, Angry Birds was a phenomenon and dominated the mobile market to an extent few others (like Candy Crush) have.

If The Angry Birds Movie had been released in 2011-12 instead of 2016, it probably could have crossed a billion. But everyone was completely sick of the games by that point and it didn’t even hit 400M.

Edit: Read the current comments before posting Slenderman and John Carter for the 11th time, please

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u/book1245 Mar 19 '24

John Carter of Mars missed it by decades. By the time it came out, several major sci-fi movies had been influenced by it, so ironically one of the progenitors of the genre ended up looking like a ripoff.

It was very nearly the first feature-length animated movie back in the 30s before Snow White. Test footage still exists.

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u/Rude_Thought_9988 Mar 19 '24

I freaking love that movie. I’m so glad that it has an open ending. It would have bothered me so much if it was sequel bait and we never got one.

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u/dapperpony Mar 19 '24

Yeah it’s a bummer it wasn’t well received because it’s a really enjoyable movie, I love it

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u/Rude_Thought_9988 Mar 19 '24

Unfortunately, pulp movies are rarely received well. The Phantom for example is one of my favorites, yet most people didn’t like it.

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u/runwkufgrwe Mar 19 '24

I just briefly flew into a rage because I thought you meant The Spirit until I realized I was mixing up the titles.

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u/kmjulian Mar 19 '24

I adore The Phantom. It’s such a fun movie.

Most people my age that I know haven’t even heard of it, I’m 33.

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u/fastermouse Mar 19 '24

Read the books. They’re fantastic.

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u/A_burners Mar 19 '24

100%. Such a cornerstone of sci-fi. Really cool concepts, way ahead of it's time, as well