It opened ominously enough, the same weekend a massive power outage devastated Detroit and much of the northeastern United States. It earned a solid but unusual $82 million at the box office. It didn't change the conversation.
But now, looking at modern blockbuster culture, in many ways, the 2003 smackdown of horror villains 'Freddy vs. Jason” was the beginning of the super crossover genre.
“Captain America: Civil War” opens this weekend and finds a dozen superheroes, including Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Ant-Man and Black Panther, at war with each other. expected to be one of the highest grossing films of the year. In March, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” pitted the two comic book titans against each other and set the stage for an eventual “Justice League” franchise that would throw a handful more DC superheroes into the super-mix.
It used to be that you only got one franchise star per movie, but “Freddy vs. Jason” helped change that. Now it's about the more the merrier, and current blockbusters are like VIP clubs where everyone has their own entourage.
Superhero crossovers make sense since the characters exist in a shared narrative universe (and 2000's “X-Men” showed how stacking the deck with a team of superheroes could pay dividends). But superheroes aren't the only ones getting into the crossover game. Last month it was revealed that Sony is planning a “21 Jump Street” and “Men in Black” crossover film with director James Bobin (“Alice Through the Looking Glass”) on board.
How long before there's a “Fast and Furious” vs. “The Expendables” spinoff?
A lot of that goes back to 'Freddy vs. Jason,” which brought the two horror icons together after they'd spent decades shredding teenagers on their own. For years the project had been rumored, but rights issues — Freddy was the star of New Line Cinema's “Nightmare on Elm Street,” while Jason was owned by Paramount's “Friday the 13th” franchise — kept them apart.
Then there were issues of continuity (2002's 'Jason X' sent Jason 400 years into the future) and logic (Freddy only exists in people's dreams, which makes a showdown with Jason… complicated), but these concerns disappeared and the two pioneers were allowed to meet and share top billing on a joint project. “Freddy vs. Jason” premiered on August 15, 2003 and was the top-grossing film in the country for two weeks, finally proving the power of combining two successful franchises. (“Freddy vs. Jason” became the highest-grossing entry in each film series.)
“Freddy vs. Jason” didn't invent the crossover, he just resurrected it. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, Abbott and Costello teamed up with Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Mummy in a series of cross-pollinated films that worked well since they all fell under the Universal Studios umbrella. Godzilla matched King Kong in the early 60s. The Harlem Globetrotters dribbled to stick with the “Scooby-Doo” gang in cartoon adventures in the 1970s, and TV shows often put on hybrid episodes for stunts of the month Sweeps, from “St. Elsewhere” drinking on “Cheers” to “The Simpsons” tripping on “Family Guy.”
But “Freddy vs. Jason” was the most important big screen crossover in decades and opened the eyes of Hollywood. After the success of “Freddy vs. Jason,” the “Alien vs. Predator” opened a year later, grossing $80 million. followed by a sequel to 'AVP' in 2007. Then the superhero landscape exploded in 2008 with the release of 'Iron Man', which opened the doors to the Marvel Universe and set the stage for where we are today.
So when you go see “Civil War” this weekend and choose a side between Captain America and Iron Man, know that you owe Freddy and Jason a small debt of gratitude. Their bloody battle helped Cap and Iron Man settle their differences on screen.
agraham@detroitnews.com
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@grahamorama
