Why was there so many movies based off pulp heroes in the 90s?

Don’t mind me, I’m just passing though

I love this movie

I’d say it was the best of that weird ‘30s nostalgia wave, but that’s not saying much. What a bunch of stinkers.

youtube.com/watch?v=ejzE6ZRKMwI

was this shit any good

Rocketeer

Passing through

Still, great movie

Based

youtube.com/watch?v=ejzE6ZRKMwI

Didn't even know this was a thing until right now.

even The Mask had that vibe

the shadow was kino

phantombros...not like this...

better taste than most of Anon Babble

The sun is shining

Pulps are kino
The Shadow is kino
Alec Baldwin is kino

This and Dick Tracy were good

I love these lads

Marvel had to sell off some of its IPs just to survive. Then Batman hit it big. So studios in a rush went with other pulp heroes from back near Batmans original era to fill the void while the Marvel furball of who could make what got legally settled. So you got pulp hero movies by the handful

youtube.com/watch?v=1MCBUQwqd_0

I liked "The Phantom" but I still haven't seen Dick Tracy or "The Shadow". There was a ton of great camp hero stuff in the 90s.
I REALLY liked The New Adventures of Lois and Clark. At least the first season with prime Teri Hatcher.

Also Night Man. Both shows are on Tubi, give them a go

A piece of the night, por favor señor...

Don’t mind me, I’m just passing though

Based on a comic book character created in the early 1980s.
Just “retro”, not actually “vintage”.
Not a bad film though, even Kino.

I’d say it was the best of that weird ‘30s nostalgia wave, but that’s not saying much. What a bunch of stinkers.

You have bad taste.

Rocketeer is based off Commando Cody, so its a nod to the vintage. Don't be so anal

Both “The Shadow”, and “The Phantom”, were kino, although, I would argue, “The Shadow” was slightly better, mainly due to potential character depth.
Enough past details for a number of the characters were mentioned in “The Shadow” to imply depth, even if the film didn’t explore the details.
If a second film gad ever been made, those details could have been fleshed out.
“The Phantom” was more surface, without much backstory.

The Shadow should have gotten an animated series right off the back of BTAS, if I were Conde Nast (or whoever owned the rights then) I would have spent money hand over fist to get it made with as many of the BTAS showrunners as possible

Marvel had to sell off some of its IPs just to survive. Then Batman hit it big. So studios in a rush went with other pulp heroes from back near Batmans original era to fill the void while the Marvel furball of who could make what got legally settled. So you got pulp hero movies by the handful

The trademarks and copyrights for most of “Pulp” comic book films from the late 1980s and early 1990s, were still in effect, but basically rarely or just not being used, so the characters and rights could be licensed cheaply, while still preventing competitors from also using the characters.
Hollywood was likely also hoping for boomers who remembered the characters to drag their grandkids to see the films.
“The Rocketeer” was ironically based on a comic first published in 1982, and therefore wasn’t actually that old of a property.
Disney was just usually somewhat decent at making films that didn’t suck or offend their primary audience back when “The Rocketeer” was made.

Tim Burton's Batman shocked everyone, so producers started looking for their own hit.

do the Zorro movies count for this trend?

I’d say it was the best of that weird ‘30s nostalgia wave

Which is ironic, because The Rocketeer was created in the mid 1980s. For decades I thought it was from the 30s/40s, but it was barely even 10 years old when it was adapted to film.

Which is ironic, because The Rocketeer was created in the mid 1980s. For decades I thought it was from the 30s/40s, but it was barely even 10 years old when it was adapted to film.

As some Anon pointed out above, “The Rocketeer” costume, was basically borrowed/stolen, from three serials made by Republic pictures in the late 1950s and early 1950s, that recycled the same or most of the same costume.

It was more interesting than just doing more generic capeshit.

Dick Tracy is particularly interesting to me, because Warren Beatty i a massive Dick Tracy fan, having been old enough to grow up with the comic, and ended up so attached to the character he still sits on the rights to the point he films TV specials every 10 years to renew the rights. Only TCM airs it, and it's 30 minutes of Warren Beatty talking in character as Dick Tracy. It's incredibly bizarre.
Beatty is one of the biggest stars of his time, known for how much pull he had in his peak, and how many women his banged..and if he was born in another time, he'd probably just be some autistic nerd obsessed with a kid's cartoon and posting online all day.

I remember Night Man
He drove a Plymouth Prowler and played the saxophone

Why was there shadow never able to gain the same popularity as it did before the early 1950s?

Too much mention of Marvel ITT, at the time they were more or less a nonentity with DC being regarded as the "big" comics house with all (well, both) the valuable, iconic properties. Marvel and its legal woes was a non-factor, anything else is just projecting the insane success of the MCU back in time. Also, the success of Batman was seen (rightly or wrongly) as connected to its art deco aesthetic, that's why the result was a bunch of 20-40s-setting pulp movies.

i remember you making this post before. i'm glad you're still informing anons about senile warren beatty's IP hoarding.