Who's Next?

As much as it breaks my heart, the current wave of superhero films is near its completion. Marvel and DC will put a few more out each. We’ll see the Wall-Crawler a little bit longer, and the Avengers have to finish their stories, DC will throw some mud on the wall and see if anything sticks, and then they will all but disappear for a time. Its for the best, though. I would always go to see their films, but audiences in general are starting to tire of them, which means lower budgets, which of course translates to lower quality.

The cinematic circle of life must continue, however, which means we are due for a new swell of similarly-themed flicks. What that surge may look like has been an ongoing debate amongst my friends and acquaintances for a little while now. I’ve heard cases for zombies, vampires, or giant monsters. One friend suggested it’s time for more war dramas. With Real Steel coming out, some believe we’ll see a spike in high-tech action movies. Any one of these seem perfectly reasonable (although I think you can probably stick a fork in vampires for a while), but I have a different theory. I think, over the next 10 years or so, you could easily expect the dramatic comeback of fighting/martial arts films.

The late 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s were filled with great fighting movies for all ages. Growing up, I remember seeing Rocky, The Karate Kid, Kickboxer, Kung Fu, Mortal Kombat, 3 Ninjas, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (hey, I was still in middle school, ok?). People like Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Lee, Steven Segal, and Hulk Hogan were household names. But with the decline of interest in both boxing and wrestling, we also saw a sharp decline in the number of martial arts films. They never truly went away, but they haven’t enjoyed the limelight they once did. Jackie Chan has kept busy through the 90’s and 2000’s. Power Rangers made sure kids still knew martial arts still existed. And who could stop Chuck Norris: Texas Ranger? Every now and then a good action/martial arts movie would pop up like Transporter and Kill Bill, but these were arguably small oases in what was once a vibrant jungle of fighting films.

Over the last few years, however, interest in martial arts in general has started to rise again. Participation in martial arts has been steadily climbing for several years as families and young adults appear to be more concerned with self defense. A greater appreciation for fighting technique and style is apparent with the success of shows like Ultimate Fighter, Fight Science, and Human Weapon. Where boxing and wrestling used to hold their own among the most viewed sports in America, UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and other mixed martial arts (MMA) organizations are well-established and on the rise.

Hollywood has certainly taken notice of these trends. They’ve tested the waters over the last few years with films like Kung Fu Panda, Ninja Assassin, and, more recently, Warrior. If there is one thing Hollywood is good at, its milking a cash cow. Because of the undeniable rise of interest in martial arts in multiple aspects of American life, I predict that we will see an equally undeniable increase in fighting/martial arts films. Brace yourself!