Success often breeds contempt. So it makes sense that Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, the highest-grossing film from 2012 with more than $1.5 billion in the bank, would hear some backbiting and sniping as publications continue to put a cap on the year in film that was.
Today, readers of The L.A. Times have deemed Whedon’s superhero-laden blockbuster the “most overrated” movie of 2012 through an online poll, and grabbed 85% of the votes cast to win the contest by a landslide. Sir Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, his sort-of prequel to Alien, came in second place with a meager 5% of the votes.
Let’s put it into perspective. Only 2,600 people responded to the Times’ poll, so this was hardly an avalanche of backlash against Marvel, Whedon and the massive conclusion to Phase One of the studio’s cinematic plan. And I’m willing to bet that most of those who voted in the poll will turn out for Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World to at least see, from a curiosity standpoint, how Marvel’s plans continue in Phase Two.
At the very least, Whedon and Marvel can cry into their bank accounts, then turn their attentions to The Avengers 2, which will be in theaters in 2015.
It’s worth noting that Richard Linklater’s winning dramedy Bernie, with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine, was voted as the “Most Underappreciated” movie of 2012, and that’s a vote we can get behind. It would have been great if Bernie could have earned 1/100th of The Avengers’ box office. Hopefully polls like this can shine a little more light on a movie more people really need to see.
