Reel Fives: Sneak peek of superhero pre-launch movie rankings (based on 130 published superhero movie rankings)

*Hi everyone-- if you are confused about this entry (since its not brunch related) please see the disclaimer below. These posts are temporarily here but please go to the actual site: www.reelfives.com ***

The following discussion is regarding the top superhero movies of all time in the American sueprhero movie genre. This leaves off international superhero movies which might make the top superhero movies list, such as the Japanese superhero film Ogon Bat (1966).

The concept of the superhero is fairly young in contrast to some literary genres that are adapted to film, such as horror literature, which can be traced back to the 18th century. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first use of the word “supehero” was in 1917.  Comic book superheros first appeared with the 1938 publication of the first issue of Action Comics, which introduced Superman.  During the 1940s there was a quick rise in popularity of superheros, followed by a very quick decline. By the early 1950s with the introduction of the Comics Code Authority (CCA), there was a decline in popularity accompanied by a creative censorship that may have limited comic book writers to put out publications that would appeal to a broader and more mature audience. During this early period, for the most part,  superheros only appeared in short films (film serials) that were played prior to feature length films in theaters. Only when stitched together would film serials' story lines be completed. For example, in 1948 there was a 15 part superhero series of shorts that together formed a story. Barring the early Dick Tracy movies, the first feature superhero movie is Superman and the Mole Men (1951) which essentially served as a pilot for the Adventures of Superman TV show that ran from 1952 to 1958. Another notable early superhero movie was Batman (1966). The tone of Batman (1966), viewed largely as parody, was a reflection of the post-CCA treatment of superheros. So, not surprisingly, no movies from this era of cinema made the top superhero movies of all time list, which we have determined using our top five rating system based on 130 published rankings.

Superman (1978) poster

Then in 1978, Superman showed the potential for the superhero films, which until then had not been taken seriously. It took the collaboration of several high profile and successful Hollywood people. This included writer Mario Puzo and Marlon Brando, who collaborated six years earlier in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather(1972), considered by many to be one of the top movies of all time.  Superman (1978) was directed by Richard Donner who had established his brand a couple of years earlier with the critically-acclaimed The Omen (1976).  Superman (1978) also included Gene Hackman who had won one Academy Award and been nominated for several additional Academy and Golden Globe awards in the years immediately preceding its release. Superman (1978) to a large extent also benefited from the commercial success of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). Superman (1978) was a commercial and critical success, generating $300 million in theaters and earning three Academy Award nominations. 

Source: Reel Fives own research

Ever since Superman (1978) there has been an overall increase in the production of superhero movies. However, overall we count roughly 138 live-action supehero movies (America) ever made (depending on which films are considered to fall under the genre).  This seems like a small number of movies given the popularity and commercial success of the genre.  In one of the genre's peak years, 2008, 10 superhero movies were released, and three of them (Dark Knight, Iron Man, Hancock) were in the top five highest grossing movies for the year. This limited number of movies in the genre is due to the large budget requirements for many comic book-based movies, as they often require special effects. Compare Green Lantern (2011) with a budget of $200 million to Moneyball (2011) released around the same time with a budget of $47 million, in spite of the latter having several Hollywood heavyweights including Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Aaron Sorkin.  Based on 130 published superhero movie rankings, here is the list of the top supehero movies that made the top five movies in at least one list.

The top ranked superhero movies of all time

Avengers Age of Ultron (2014) Batman Begins (2005) Batman Mask of The Phantasm (1993) Batman Returns (1992) Batman (1989) Big Hero 6 (2014) Blade 2 (2002) Blade (1998) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Chronicle (2012) Guardians of The Galaxy (2014) Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008) Hulk (2003) Iron Man 3 (2013) Iron Man (2008) Kick-Ass (2010) Man Of Steel (2013) Mystery Men (1999) Robocop (1987) Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010) Sin City (2005) Spider-man 2 (2004) Spider-man (2002) Superman 2 (1980) Superman/ Batman Apocalypse (2010) Superman: The Movie (1978) The Amazing Spiderman (2012) The Avengers (2012) The Crow (1994) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) The Dark Knight (2008) The Green Hornet (2011) The Incredibles (2004) The Matrix (1999) The Shadow (1994) Thor (2011) Unbreakable (2000) V for Vendetta (2005) Watchmen (2009) X-Men 2 (2003) X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) X-Men (2000) X-Men: Days of The Future Past (2014) X-Men: First Class (2011)

Identifying the top movies is our mission. www.reelfives.com https://twitter.com/reelfives https://www.facebook.com/reelfives

*********
Disclaimer: 
**********
As we mentioned in our earlier post we will be temporarily releasing content and posts from our sibling site Reel Fives (www.reelfives.com). We hope this is not too confusing so here's the lowdown: 

We are bringing back up to speed our blog network which includes this blog (eggs benedict dc), our mostly peruvian food blog (jostage kitchen), and our movie blog which used to be called rocking potatoes but has changed its name to Reel Fives. The Reel Fives website is in the process of turning into a broader website to find what the best and top movies are for each genre through a ranking and rating system based on the top fives that are reported for each genre.

Reel Fives' Pre-launch rankings: Top 5 Zomcoms (Zombie Comedies) movies of all time (based on 163 published rankings)

*Hi everyone-- if you are confused about this entry (since its not brunch related) please see the disclaimer below. These posts are temporarily here but please go to the actual site: www.reelfives.com ***


Welcome to our Reels Fives pre-launch movie rankings for Zomcoms, or Zombie Comedies. After conducting research, our Reel Fives team has found 143 published zombie movie rankings (listed at the bottom of this post). For each list we have taken the zombie movies they ranked as their top five and include them in Reel Fives' top zombie movies list. Then, in turn, we ranked our top zombie movies list based on how many lists' top five movie each zombie movie made.  In other words Reel Fives' pre-launch zombie movie rankings are based on the top movies through aggregation of published zombie movie rankings.  We recently released our pre-launch top 5 zombie movie rankings and are now providing our zombie sub-genre rankings.  For this we consider the rankings of the zombie movies for each sub-genre among Reel Fives' top zombie movies list. 

While the top two ranked zomcoms, Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Zombieland(2009) made it to our pre-launch rankings top 5 zombie movies, other zomcoms are scattered throughout the rankings in Reel Fives' top zombie movies list. You can see the quick drop off from Zombieland (2009) at 28% to Warm Bodies (2013) at 6%. Its worth noting that all five of these movies follow the Romero zombie archetype 

 Reel Fives pre-launch top 5 Zomcoms

1. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Percent of  tops fives in which it appears: 57% 

Director: Edgar Wright, 

Budget: 4,000,000 GBP
(Watch on Amazon)

 

2. Zombieland  (2009)

Percent of  tops fives in which it appears: 28% 

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Budget: $23,600,000
(Watch on Amazon)

3. Dead Alive (Braindead) (1992) 
Percent of  tops fives in which it appears: 21% 
Director: Peter Jackson 
Budget: $3,000,000
(Not available for streaming. Order copy)

 4.  Warm Bodies (2013)
Percent of  tops fives in which it appears: 6%
Director: Jonathan Levine
Budget: $35,000,000
(Watch on Amazon) 






5. Fido (2006)

Percent of  tops fives in which it appears: 3.5% (top 5 in five lists)

Director: 2006 Andrew Currie

Budget: $8,000,000

(Watch on Amazon)

 Here is the list of 163 zombie movie rankings lists: 

Paste Magazine	(their top 15 zombie movie rankings)
Boston	(their top 30 zombie movie rankings)
Cultured Vultures	(their top 15 zombie movie rankings)
Rolling Stone	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Games Radar	(their top 30 zombie movie rankings)
The Ghost Diaries	(their top 40 zombie movie rankings)
Ew	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
Movieweb	(their top 16 zombie movie rankings)
Day of the zombie	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
Watch Mojo	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Fandango	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
What Culture	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Filmschoolwtf	(their top 100 zombie movie rankings)
Sky	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
the top tens	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
wptz	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Standard	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Ask men	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Zombie Place	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
Cheat Sheet	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Flick Chart	(their top 100 zombie movie rankings)
All Womens Talk	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Ebay	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
India Today	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Hell Horror	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Mubi	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
The Script Lab	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
The Richest	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Franks Reel Reviews	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
IGN	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Fire movies	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Daily Dead	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Camel clutch blog	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
CNN	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Hero clix world	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
The biggest zombie fan ever	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Kooz top 5	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Heavy	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Ranker	(their top 456 zombie movie rankings)
Doodle	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Zombie Rama	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Horror Fox	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Scifinow	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
Mulligans spew	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Movie Moron	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Culch	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Top teny	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
What movies should i watch	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Zombies for breakfast	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Paper droids	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Swollen Pickles	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Frequency	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Best horror movies	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
fogs movie reviews	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
List verse	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Listal	(their top 17 zombie movie rankings)
u'th time	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
access hollywood	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Journal Star	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Scary Website	(their top 30 zombie movie rankings)
The inevitable zombie apocalypse	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Funk's house of geekery	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
gbhbl	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
about entertainment	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Al	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Top 10 filme	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
reel world theology	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Yahoo	(their top 8 zombie movie rankings)
Moe at the movies	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Orlando Sentinel	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Lansing state journal	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Showtime showdown	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Pumpy Shumpy	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Complex	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
401AK47	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
My five best	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
i09	(their top 13 zombie movie rankings)
Teen	(their top 7 zombie movie rankings)
Malaysian digest	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Plug-in	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
The lake today	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Taste of cinema	(their top 14 zombie movie rankings)
The robot's voice	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Pop crunch	(their top 14 zombie movie rankings)
Flick sided	(their top 8 zombie movie rankings)
Retro crush	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
Hub pages	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Bug my day	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Imdb	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
ihorror	(their top 15 zombie movie rankings)
Beyond the gore	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Sharon Stevenson	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Mavin Media Guru	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Bad movie nite	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Alle top 10 lijstjes	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
movie pilot	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Horror Homeroom	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
XGN	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Film Enthusiast	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
List Land	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Survivalist Family	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
The Herald	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Love Horror	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
ABC news point	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Superga Cinema	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Enlighten me	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Sundance TV	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Planet terror	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Red flost	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Faveable	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
The sky has fallen	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
viral luxury	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Haunted House	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
stylus magazine	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
top tention	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
criminal element	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Berkeley Place	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
its only a movie	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Zombie planet	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
cultoid	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
movie scene	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
list entertainment	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
ehow	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
spot	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
supermaw	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
topito	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
amog	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
bluechat	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
forbes	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
mandatory	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
jarvis city	(their top 50 zombie movie rankings)
top list guru	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Tune	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
listosaur	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
scene-stealers	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
the celebrity cafe	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
the movie waffler	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
atomica	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
nerdbastards	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
cinema nerdz	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
addicted to horror movies	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
CBS philly	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
maxviral	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)

Reality Speaks	(their top 100 zombie movie rankings)
Next Level Gamer	(their top 100 zombie movie rankings)
Howcast	(their top 8 zombie movie rankings)
View Kick	(their top 6 zombie movie rankings)
Chicago Reader	(their top 5 zombie movie rankings)
Mirror	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
AsheVille Zombie Walk	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Buzzfeed	(their top 16 zombie movie rankings)
Paper street cinema	(their top 25 zombie movie rankings)
List Challenges	(their top 50 zombie movie rankings)
Movie Pilot	(their top 11 zombie movie rankings)
Movies Drop	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
Digital Spy	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
Hollywood	(their top 15 zombie movie rankings)
MRQE	(their top 36 zombie movie rankings)
Listly	(their top 10 zombie movie rankings)
Horror Movies	(their top 15 zombie movie rankings)
Rant Hollywood	(their top 20 zombie movie rankings)
about entertainment	(their top 30 zombie movie rankings)
92 profm	(their top 250 zombie movie rankings)

Identifying the top movies is our mission.
www.reelfives.com
https://twitter.com/reelfives
https://www.facebook.com/reelfives

*********
Disclaimer: 
**********
As we mentioned in our earlier post we will be temporarily releasing content and posts from our sibling site Reel Fives (www.reelfives.com). We hope this is not too confusing so here's the lowdown: 

We are bringing back up to speed our blog network which includes this blog (eggs benedict dc), our mostly peruvian food blog (jostage kitchen), and our movie blog which used to be called rocking potatoes but has changed its name to Reel Fives. The Reel Fives website is in the process of turning into a broader website to find what the best and top movies are for each genre through a ranking and rating system based on the top fives that are reported for each genre.