How are popular films defined? Was the last film you saw hitting the majority as its targeted audience? Did it retain mass appeal and hold the box office? Did the last movie you saw in a theater transcend the test of time or did it die as a short-lived hashtag? Out of the recent films that currently flood the theaters, the ones that have been bringing in the most discussion and discord have been biopics. These are defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a movie dramatizing the life of a particular person, typically a public or historical figure” (oed.com). Biopics have strengthened their grip over contemporary cinema and created quite the splash in the mass media, overriding the trend of blockbuster superhero films while serving the same vague satisfaction and perpetuating assembly-line-like filmmaking.
In 2018, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War was a major cinematic event, completely taking over the zeitgeist. Senior Michael Bortfeld described seeing it in the theater: “Infinity War was the movie that was talked about. It was all I heard around my school. I had friends buying tickets the day before the release.” There was a similar note with the Barbie and Oppenheimer double release. Here there are giant recognizable names that make a notable splash in the media as well, one a historical figure, the other a popular doll. In the depictions of real life, we can believe in them as genuine, even as the movies transform them into larger-than-life characters. If the biopic is now back with a vengeance, that’s because it makes the cinema pulsate with something captivatingly real.
A direct comparison would be the 2024 Valentine’s box office weekend, which saw superhero film Madame Web, depicting a woman navigating her newly found clairvoyance to save three young women, battle against counterpart Bob Marley: One Love, the story of the famous reggae artist that shows how he overcame difficult challenges. Madame Web currently grosses just under 10 million dollars past its budgeting, making its loss of profit substantially smaller to Bob Marley: One Love’s heavy 70 million dollars in profit (nypost.com). While these movies stand alone in storyline and characters, they have similarities in quality and plot devices.
The main discourse about Marvel losing its popularity refers to an oversaturation of content, leaving its viewers with superhero fatigue, but there is also the lackluster creativity in biopics that results in directionless storytelling. Lazily casting the same A-list actors to give them roles that were already created and stories that already exist feels too similar and works too well for studios. According to a website about Marvel, it describes the company’s appeal as, “The juggernaut behind those blockbuster superhero movies that have us all glued to our seats, popcorn in one hand, soda in the other. These guys are not just making movies; they’re crafting a universe, one that’s raked in billions” (worldclasscopywriting.com).
While special effects are becoming better and better, it is still so easy for studios to apply that already built relationship that audiences have with a celebrity; watching a famous figure rise to stardom serves the similar comfort of watching Spider-Man save the city. This popularized fantasy realm is starting to wear itself out. While plenty of Spider-Man merchandise still sells, the story of fame in biopics becomes not only more relatable but more inspiring. As the audience once tuned in for fictional characters to reflect parts of them, they now crave a deeper sensation of wanting to comprehend the inner lives of those that made history. It redefines the accessibility of celebrity culture, creating an even closer relationship through a theater experience.
Most people sitting in the theaters of both genres are aware of the superheros and the classic archetypes as well as the celebrity whose dramatic biography is being told. The audience finds a sense of comfort in seeing something they know so well. This familiarization of plot and characters not only becomes easy food to digest but an easy product to sell. The drive to endorse something that already holds a following rings the bell for supper for where production companies make millions off empty calories and bloated bellies.