Case Studies in Intellectual Property: Dick Tracy

[Ralif Redhammer]

Would anyone want another Dick Tracy movie!? Did anyone want the first one?

In 1990, the Dick Tracy movie got a huge push. I remember going to Disney that summer and it was heavily promoted there. There were ads on the back of comics. I don't know if people wanted it, but they got it and Disney tried to make it the next Batman movie. I re-watched the movie again a few years back and it holds up fairly well, though it desperately wants to feel like a Tim Burton movie with a Danny Elfman soundtrack.

And would you believe the comic strip is still going?

As for whether people today would want another Dick Tracy movie, who knows? With John Carter on one end and, say, Batman on the other, it's anyone's guess how a property that old would do at the box office.

 

[MGibster]

Would anyone want another Dick Tracy movie!? Did anyone want the first one?

I was 14 when Dick Tracy came out, and despite only having a vague familiarity with the property, I was interested. It came out the year after Batman, there was a big media campaign promoting the movie, and I'm sure producers were hoping to catch some of the same success of Batman. I didn't care for the movie very much, but I did look forward to it when they advertised it.

 

[Ryujin]

Or the Green Hornet? Or the Shadow?

I think The Shadow, The Phantom and the Rocketeer, heck, even Dick Tracy itself, had the good sense to keep their movies period pieces. Masked Mystery Men work better like this.

As an aside, let me plug Decoder Ring Theatre and their two seminal series, Red Panda Adventures, and Black Jack Justice, for anybody who is fan of radio dramas about masked vigilante and noir detective. Hours upon hours of quality content!

The Dick Tracy movie just came out at the wrong time period I think.

He says, not having seen the movie in decades.

"The Shadow" was pretty good and didn't take itself too seriously. "Hey, that's the Yoo Ess of AA that you're talking about!" "The Rocketeer" was legitimately good. As you say, both were played as period pieces. I found "The Phantom" to be OK, but not the best of the Mystery Men genre. I put "Dick Tracy" along with "The Spirit" as the sort of film that took themselves far too seriously. "The Spirit" especially so, given the way that Frank Miller spoke in interviews. "I didn't want anyone to f&#* it up." And then he proceeded to do just that.

 

[payn]

I was 14 when Dick Tracy came out, and despite only having a vague familiarity with the property, I was interested. It came out the year after Batman, there was a big media campaign promoting the movie, and I'm sure producers were hoping to catch some of the same success of Batman. I didn't care for the movie very much, but I did look forward to it when they advertised it.

Oh yeah it was hella merchandised at the time.

 

[Davies]

Would anyone want another Dick Tracy movie!? Did anyone want the first one?

... it wasn't that bad. And Max Allan Collins apparently liked it enough to write two novels that serve as sequels to his novelization of the film.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

... it wasn't that bad.

Snarf's Indisputable Power Rankings of Madonna Movies

Tier 1 Madonna? Not so bad!
1. Desperately Seeking Susan
2. Evita
3. Vision Quest
4. A League of the Their Own

Tier 2 Dick Movies
5. Dangerous Game
6. Dick Tracy
7. Body of Evidence
8. A Certain Sacrifice

Tier 3 Wait, Madonna is in That?
9. Die Another Day
10. Blue in the Face
11. Girl 6
12. Four Rooms
13. Arthur and the Invisibles
14. Shadows and Fog

Tier 4 Please Make it Stop ... I'll Gouge My Eyes Out
15. Bloodhounds of Broadway
16. Shanghai Surprise
17. Swept Away
18. The Next Best Thing

 

[Jer]

As for whether people today would want another Dick Tracy movie, who knows? With John Carter on one end and, say, Batman on the other, it's anyone's guess how a property that old would do at the box office.

The difference between Batman and frankly almost any other character you can think of is that there have been "other media" adaptations of Batman every single decade since the 60s (or if I'm missing one from the 50s it would be since the 40s - I can't think of any 50s adaptations). Every generation has had Batman in some form outside of the ever narrowing field of comics and so Batman is always generating interest.

Most other characters just don't have that kind of cross-generational longevity, because they aren't being re-imagined every decade like that. Spider-man and James Bond are the other two that I can think of off the top of my head (and Bond is feeling his age as a character in a way the other two aren't).

I hate to say it's "too late" for any character, but honestly it feels too late for Dick Tracy. Like it's too late to try to revive Doc Savage or John Carter - the characters are too tied to their time and not enough has been done to keep them current. And as a period piece their appeal is going to be limited.

 

[payn]

Snarf's Indisputable Power Rankings of Madonna Movies

Tier 1 Madonna? Not so bad!
1. Desperately Seeking Susan
2. Evita
3. Vision Quest
4. A League of the Their Own

Tier 2 Dick Movies
5. Dangerous Game
6. Dick Tracy
7. Body of Evidence
8. A Certain Sacrifice

Tier 3 Wait, Madonna is in That?
9. Die Another Day
10. Blue in the Face
11. Girl 6
12. Four Rooms
13. Arthur and the Invisibles
14. Shadows and Fog

Tier 4 Please Make it Stop ... I'll Gouge My Eyes Out
15. Bloodhounds of Broadway
16. Shanghai Surprise
17. Swept Away
18. The Next Best Thing

I havent heard of half of these, and im ok with that.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I havent heard of half of these, and im ok with that.

I understand. Madonna can be hard to identify.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The difference between Batman and frankly almost any other character you can think of is that there have been "other media" adaptations of Batman every single decade since the 60s (or if I'm missing one from the 50s it would be since the 40s - I can't think of any 50s adaptations). Every generation has had Batman in some form outside of the ever narrowing field of comics and so Batman is always generating interest.

Most other characters just don't have that kind of cross-generational longevity, because they aren't being re-imagined every decade like that. Spider-man and James Bond are the other two that I can think of off the top of my head (and Bond is feeling his age as a character in a way the other two aren't).

I hate to say it's "too late" for any character, but honestly it feels too late for Dick Tracy. Like it's too late to try to revive Doc Savage or John Carter - the characters are too tied to their time and not enough has been done to keep them current. And as a period piece their appeal is going to be limited.

Absolutely, Dick Tracy hasn't had the TLC and developed the cultural cache that Batman, Spider-Man, and Bond (I'd also add the even older Sherlock Holmes to that list) have.

There's a whole generation of pulp heroes that have probably had their moment in the sun. And that's how it goes.