Geek Syndicate
2012 - The Year Mainstream Geek Culture Peaks?
Just before Christmas, 2011, the Internet almost melted as a series of trailers for next year’s big movies were released. Within the space of a few days we got previews of The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Prometheus and The Hobbit - all with sweeping shots, bursts of dialogue and stirring soundtracks that was almost enough to get my queueing at my local multiplex right there and then. these aren’t all we have coming: there is Dredd, Men in Black 3, the Spider-Man reboot, John Carter and more, all which can be looked forward to with (admittedly varying degrees of)
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anticipation. I mean, stuff the London Olympics, right? The summer seems to have become the domain of Great Geek Beasts stalking the multiplexes, luring us in with a strong brand identity that appeals to audiences that will turn out in droves on that increasingly critical first week on release. For a long time seen as the oddballs with the faded Batman t-shirt on, geeks are now a prime demographic to be targeted by Hollywood. They are guaranteed to talk about a movie, even if it is only to criticise it vocally for getting some aspect wrong, or praise it to the heavens if it
gets it (mostly) right. The worry here is that there isn’t really much else. Look at the releases of 2011 and the forthcoming ones for 2012; a raft of attempted franchise openers based on existing properties and a lot of the more original films are being shifted into the Spring and Autumn to make way for the almost weekly release of the next $200-plus million special effects bonanza that has become the Summer. 2013 is already shaping up to be the same with the next Star Trek film, the Superman reboot and more in the offing.