Never been a fan of the Punisher. I watched his movies for the action and kill scenes, but I don't care for the character himself. He's not compelling to me.

His movies doing bad are the result in little interest in him. Has he ever been a top tier character just out of curiosity? I'm not saying he doesn't have fans, I'm just saying I've never seen the mass appeal of the character. He appears to have more of a cult following than anything else.

Deadpool used to have a similar cult following, but his personality is what's given him the potential to explode in popularity. Punisher, not likely.

Punisher is a bomb in the Movie category for Marvel that will NOT repeat, further. It wasn't the rated R aspect of it so much as the lack of interest for a nutcase with a vengeance story.

And that's what sucks. Marvel sees the results of Punisher movies as proof that they don't have an audience for Rated R movies. Bullshit! You throw out a Rated R Wolverine or Deadpool movie done appropriately and then lets see what happens.

Sorted by Comic Book Adaptation

1 The Dark Knight WB $533,345,358 4,366 $158,411,483 4,366 7/18/08
2 Spider-Man Sony $403,706,375 3,876 $114,844,116 3,615 5/3/02
3 Spider-Man 2 Sony $373,585,825 4,166 $88,156,227 4,152 6/30/04
4 Spider-Man 3 Sony $336,530,303 4,324 $151,116,516 4,252 5/4/07
5 Iron Man Par. $318,412,101 4,154 $98,618,668 4,105 5/2/08
6 Batman WB $251,188,924 2,201 $40,489,746 2,194 6/23/89
7 Men in Black Sony $250,690,539 3,180 $51,068,455 3,020 7/2/97
8 X-Men: The Last Stand Fox $234,362,462 3,714 $102,750,665 3,690 5/26/06
9 X2: X-Men United Fox $214,949,694 3,749 $85,558,731 3,741 5/2/03
10 300 WB $210,614,939 3,280 $70,885,301 3,103 3/9/07
11 Batman Begins WB $205,343,774 3,858 $48,745,440 3,858 6/15/05
12 Superman Returns WB $200,081,192 4,065 $52,535,096 4,065 6/28/06
13 Men in Black II Sony $190,418,803 3,641 $52,148,751 3,557 7/3/02
14 Batman Forever WB $184,031,112 2,893 $52,784,433 2,842 6/16/95
15 X-Men Origins: Wolverine Fox $179,864,899 4,102 $85,058,003 4,099 5/1/09
16 Batman Returns WB $162,831,698 2,644 $45,687,711 2,644 6/19/92
17 X-Men Fox $157,299,717 3,112 $54,471,475 3,025 7/14/00
18 Fantastic Four Fox $154,696,080 3,619 $56,061,504 3,602 7/8/05
19 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NL $135,265,915 2,377 $25,398,367 2,006 3/30/90
20 The Incredible Hulk Uni. $134,806,913 3,508 $55,414,050 3,505 6/13/08
21 Wanted Uni. $134,508,551 3,185 $50,927,085 3,175 6/27/08
22 Superman WB $134,218,018 817 $7,465,343 508 12/15/78
23 Hulk Uni. $132,177,234 3,674 $62,128,420 3,660 6/20/03
24 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Fox $131,921,738 3,963 $58,051,684 3,959 6/15/07
25 The Mask NL $119,938,730 2,516 $23,117,068 2,360 7/29/94
26 Ghost Rider Sony $115,802,596 3,620 $45,388,836 3,619 2/16/07
27 Superman II WB $108,185,706 1,878 $14,100,523 1,397 6/19/81
28 Watchmen WB $107,509,799 3,611 $55,214,334 3,611 3/6/09
29 Batman and Robin WB $107,325,195 2,942 $42,872,605 2,934 6/20/97
30 Road to Perdition DW $104,454,762 2,332 $22,079,481 1,797 7/12/02
31 Dick Tracy BV $103,738,726 2,332 $22,543,911 2,332 6/15/90
32 Daredevil Fox $102,543,518 3,474 $40,310,419 3,471 2/14/03
33 Casper Uni. $100,328,194 2,757 $16,840,385 2,714 5/26/95
34 Blade II NL $82,348,319 2,707 $32,528,016 2,707 3/22/02
35 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II NL $78,656,813 2,868 $20,030,473 2,868 3/22/91
36 Hellboy II: The Golden Army Uni. $75,986,503 3,212 $34,539,115 3,204 7/11/08
37 Constantine WB $75,976,178 3,006 $29,769,098 3,006 2/18/05
38 Sin City Dim. $74,103,820 3,230 $29,120,273 3,230 4/1/05
39 V for Vendetta WB $70,511,035 3,365 $25,642,340 3,365 3/17/06
40 Blade NL $70,087,718 2,389 $17,073,856 2,322 8/21/98
41 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Fox $66,465,204 3,002 $23,075,892 3,002 7/11/03
42 Superman III WB $59,950,623 1,763 $13,352,357 1,759 6/17/83
43 Hellboy SonR $59,623,958 3,043 $23,172,440 3,028 4/2/04
44 Annie Col. $57,059,003 1,102 $510,632 14 5/21/82
45 Spawn NL $54,870,175 2,604 $19,738,749 2,536 8/1/97
46 TMNT WB $54,149,098 3,120 $24,255,205 3,110 3/23/07
47 Blade: Trinity NL $52,411,906 2,912 $16,061,271 2,912 12/8/04
48 Dennis the Menace WB $51,270,765 2,085 $9,331,139 2,085 6/25/93
49 The Crow Mira. $50,693,129 2,119 $11,774,332 1,573 5/13/94
50 Popeye Par. $49,823,037 901 $6,310,520 901 12/12/80
51 The Rocketeer BV $46,704,056 1,903 $9,600,754 1,616 6/21/91
52 Timecop Uni. $44,853,581 2,274 $12,064,625 2,228 9/16/94
53 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III NL $42,273,609 2,087 $12,419,597 2,087 3/19/93
54 Catwoman WB $40,202,379 3,117 $16,728,411 3,117 7/23/04
55 30 Days of Night Sony $39,568,996 2,859 $15,951,902 2,855 10/19/07
56 Richie Rich WB $38,087,756 1,761 $5,830,302 1,748 12/21/94
57 Judge Dredd BV $34,693,481 2,204 $12,291,536 2,204 6/30/95
58 The Punisher Lions $33,810,189 2,649 $13,834,527 2,649 4/16/04
59 The Shadow Uni. $32,063,435 1,769 $11,713,845 1,677 7/1/94
60 From Hell Fox $31,602,566 2,334 $11,014,818 2,305 10/19/01
61 A History of Violence NL $31,504,633 1,348 $515,992 14 9/23/05
62 Mystery Men Uni. $29,762,011 2,142 $10,017,865 2,136 8/6/99
63 Flash Gordon Uni. $27,107,960 - $3,934,030 823 12/5/80
64 Elektra Fox $24,409,722 3,204 $12,804,793 3,204 1/14/05
65 Bulletproof Monk MGM $23,358,708 2,955 $8,653,542 2,955 4/16/03
66 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Uni. $21,671,241 934 n/a 934 3/30/79
67 The Spirit LGF $19,806,188 2,509 $6,463,278 2,509 12/25/08
68 The Crow: City of Angels Mira. $17,917,287 2,423 $9,785,111 2,423 8/30/96
69 The Phantom Par. $17,323,326 2,163 $5,072,346 2,159 6/7/96
70 Howard the Duck Uni. $16,295,774 1,563 $5,070,136 1,554 8/1/86
71 Superman IV: The Quest for Peace WB $15,681,020 1,511 $5,683,122 1,511 7/24/87
72 Supergirl TriS $14,296,438 1,620 $5,738,249 1,608 11/21/84
73 Josie and the Pussycats Uni. $14,271,015 2,558 $4,562,455 2,556 4/11/01
74 Virus Uni. $14,036,005 2,018 $6,013,640 2,018 1/15/99
75 Punisher: War Zone LGF $8,050,977 2,508 $4,271,451 2,508 12/5/08
76 Ghost World MGM $6,217,849 128 $98,791 5 7/20/01
77 American Splendor FL $6,010,990 272 $159,705 6 8/15/03
78 Sheena Col. $5,778,353 1,496 $2,950,114 1,496 8/17/84
79 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm WB $5,617,391 1,506 $1,189,975 1,506 12/25/93
80 Tank Girl MGM $4,064,495 1,363 $2,018,183 1,341 3/31/95
81 Barb Wire Gram. $3,793,614 1,312 $1,844,426 1,312 5/3/96
82 Steel WB $1,710,972 1,260 $870,068 1,260 8/15/97
83 Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland Hemd $1,368,000 579 $407,695 579 8/21/92
84 Brenda Starr Triu $67,878 48 $30,035 48 4/17/92

I actually thought that Punisher: War Zone was an awesome movie! I went in fully expecting it to be awful. There was a ridiculous violence and gore, but that's what a Punisher comic book delivers.

Of that top 10 of comic grosses. Marvel is slots 2,3,4,5,7,8,9.
Only 1 (heath ledgers death induced this, it won't be repeated), 6 and 10 are DC.

Marvel is a very lucrative property, and no, not even thor will be effected by this. The plan for avengers is already in the contracts as well since ironman and hulk were made. So the monetary issues behind that are already corrected too. Just any new cast would be the question if they would sign that contract too. Thor's actor has.

The only sad thing here honestly is instead of Marvel growing into becoming one of the new age media giants, they are now part of the big 6 who own 90% of hollywood as is. Probably more like 91% of hollywood now. Short of that though, nothing will change cept a few channels that shows are on. And potentially a wider array of media down the line as well.

This could potentially lead to more live action spin offs, like an academy X live show to go alongside wizards of waverly place or aaron stone. Among other things like that, but I don't see disney messing with the marvel juggernaut as is. The hype ball on avengers is already rolling. To interrupt that now would just be shooting themselves in the foot.

Now the problem with those grosses that they don't factor in. Is dvd sales. DVD sales make up a good chunk of disney's money too when you look at their vault and so forth. And the recent disney hulu deals could mean more marvel properties on there as well.

The other question to ask, what does this mean for Marvel Toys (formerly toy biz) who makes curious george merchandise. What's their future now since they are owned by disney? In one fell swoop, Disney has added themselves a toy company, film company, animation, and even comics and magazines. Besides the 5000+ characters marvel owns that have proven as iconic as mickey mouse. (And almost as old! they just did have their 70th anniversary.)

And what will this mean for the malibu comics properties marvel has? Now they have an even bigger spectrum to tap as well. This can open a lot of doors, the only thing it prevents is marvel being free to shop around networks for its shows, and Marvel itself growing into a larger entity. Now all marvel success instead of making marvel bigger, will make disney bigger. But in that same notion disney can in turn make marvel bigger just because they have the bank roll.

Now the only potential newage media giant is Hasbro. Mattel still hasn't changed their company type. Hasbro on the other hand has changed their image rights, and have a large library to tap from transformers to gi joe, and other 80s toons, to even the milton bradley game lineup. Disney has effectively negated hasbro from absorbing marvel into the fold to bolster that library too, but I fear that may not be the end the of their plans. I wouldn't put it past them to attempt to absorb hasbro at one point down the road as well. It's not like the extra channel would hurt them, most networks have 10 as is, disney only has 4 so far. What's a 5th one to them if it means an outlet for all their media that's not on air like ducktales, and darkwing and other classics? So that worries me a shade at the rate disney is going. They have so much media but not enough channels to air it all. So that actually sounds like a reasonably smart move, and helps cement some of they wayward marvel rights too. =/ They've already got several Mickey Formers to port over too.

This makes me wonder about the future of hasbro, if disney will play nice, or absorb them too. This could lead to a bright future for hasbro though if disney decides to play nice. Disney formers coming stateside, hasbro keeping the marvel toy license, and more.

Nice post, dude!

Although you're giving me visions of Rollerball with the mention of the big 6 media corps., epecially in this economy.

Well and also just in case anyone's a Spectacular Spidey fan, Disney may have the full rights now, but the team who worked on it is still willing to keep doing it.

They're just waiting for the Disney greenlight still for a season 3.
Search Ask Greg : Gargoyles : A Station Eight Fan Web Site

To condense that down for those who don't want to click it. It's Greg Weisman's website for gargoyles and questions to him etc. He talks about how the deal effects them, but also lets us know this won't mean anything till potentially December or January.
So there's still hope for spectacular spiderman to return for a season 3. =D His blog also gives us an inside look at how long in the making the disney buyout has been apparently. Including how it originally spawned the gargoyles franchise. Details I wasn't aware of either.

Now you got me thinking about that too. xD Thanks. lol

Since I assume Disney wants to keep Marvel a profitable property, I think it’ll be fine. Also, IF Disney would screw up the Marvel characters & stories, That would certainly greatly lower the money they’ll bring in from owning Marvel.

This will be interesting to watch as it develops, that’s for sure!

I'd love a highly articulated Darkwing Duck!