Of the many reasons that comic to movie conversions have become so popular, there is one reason that has been in practice long before comic books ever reached such pop culture acceptance: film studios have been making movies based on previous concepts for quite some time now. The idea is to use a story line or idea that has already been established, preferably one that was successful.

Financing a movie is very expensive. With movie budgets soaring into the hundreds of millions, producing a movie is becoming more and more of a gamble. Producers now look for anything they can use to convince investors that they are making a sound investment that will see a profitable return. One way to ease investor’s tensions and trepidations is to make a movie using a story or concept that has already been successful in the past.

A great example of this is the many Westerns that have been made based on the popular movies by acclaimed Japanese writer-director Akira Kurosawa. Films such as The Magnificent Seven in 1960 (Seven Samurai) and Last Man Standing in 1996 (Yojimbo) are some examples.

Although Akira Kurosawa has been imitated many times through remakes and references, there have been numerous other movie remakes such as Scarface in 1983, Get Carter in 2000 and Solaris in 2002.

Movies based on books have been around even longer, for obvious reasons. Most all of the classics have been made into movies. Not to mention, pretty much anything that Shakespeare has ever written is now incorporated into some movie. 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew) and My Own Private Idaho (Henry IV) are two great examples of Shakespeare remakes.

“I think what set the trend was Spider-Man, and then studios just tried to emulate that trend,” said Graphic Design major, Cheryl Deyeso.

Spider-Man was really one of the first big comic conversion in this new wave and it really did set the trend. With a nerdy, every-man kind of hero, Spider-Man capitalized on the social climate of the time and more importantly, the social changes to come.

Not only do studios look for previously established concepts for movies, they also look to ride whatever trend or fad is currently popular.

Arguably, comic culture and other somewhat underground cultures are more than just a fad, but in the ever changing realm of pop culture, they are probably little more than just the flavor of the week.

So while it lasts, look for more movies based on comics. But at the same time, never stop looking for movies based on previous stories. Those will never go away.

Filmmaking is now, for the most part, strictly a business. A business whose sole purpose is to make money, except for independent films. Therefore, while comic book movies may not always be popular, movies will probably still be made based on story lines from books, plays, other movies, and sometimes comic books.

So, until such a time when comic culture returns to your mother’s basement, keep it real true believers.