A few weeks back I posted a link to the Grayson fan film (see below) and much to my surprise, a lot of people hadn’t seen it before. There have been a lot of can films made in the past few years as it seemed that the confluence of cheaper video equipment and video sharing websites increased in the early 2000s.
Some of these films are good, some are bad, some ambitious, and some laughable.
But I respect all of these filmmakers for going out there and getting these films done and then for putting them out there for the entire world to see. Neither are easy, especially when it involves running around in tights.
Grayson
Batman: Dead End
World’s Finest
Jason
The Question: Part 1 (Part 2 & Part 3)
Blue Beetle
I discovered something interesting as I went scavenging across the internet for fan films. They are pretty much all about DC Comics characters. At least the ones that were actually filmed with acto– people saying lines. There are quite a few Marvel Comics trailers cobbled together from footage from existing films (like the one below) but the vast majority of fan films online focus on DC characters. Odd, that.
The New Avengers
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Thanks for gathering all of these into one place. I haven’t seen any of these before besides the Grayson one you posted before.
I think the reason that there are so many fan films based on DC characters because people want to see these characters on the big screen.
Although it was kinda lame, that "World’s Finest" trailer showed me how excited I would get over a Batman/Superman team up movie. It will probably never happen, but I would be first in line to see one.
Batman:Dead End was the first fan film i ever saw and it still looks good now…The guy playing The Joker really blew me away…Here – finally – was a representation of Joker as i’d always imagined him, weird and unhinged with a Mr Punch look about him…Of course this was a few years before Dark Knight and Heath Ledger’s performance…but as i said, it still looks great!
I don’t see the point in chopping together bits of other films to make a trailer…it seems a lot of effort for not much gravy…if y’know what i mean?
Good post Connor, cheers!
Oh, "Batman: Dead End." How I love thee.
There is also a pretty decent "Green Arrow" trailer around, and , though I’ve never seen a good quality version of it, an adaptation of the Lobo "Paramilitary Christmas" special.
Holly crap these are awesome!
As awesome as World’s Finest and Dead End are, I want to see Grayson! Robin is my favorite comic character that has never had a big screen adaptation of him done right. I think the 60’s Batamn TV show is to blame…(which I love BTW) I guess Burt Ward was just too good as a campy Robin to make the character believable for audiences.
I have show Grayson to friends that laugh when I say Robin is my favorite character and they all say, damn that looks awesome.
On a side note, you know you are a true geek when the most exciting moment in the movie is when you find out Babs and Dick are together….
It would be interesting to see some of those made. I doubt DC would be kind to the copyright violation…
There is a company that disbanded here that made great and funny games – mostly 2D and they made them using drawings they made and a program that helped them move people in backgrounds (some mac program):
Here’s an example:
http://www.terragame.com/downloadable/zzzzz/piposh_hollywood/screen_1.jpg
There were several texts you could choose that your character would say and it was a weird comedic quest but the games became worse with each new release.
Nowadays there are people that plan to bring back that PC character with a new game and it would be interesting to see what the company would do – in the demo they showed backgrounds that are based on the backgrounds that the company made and when someone asked them if they intend to use new background and not the existing ones they stated that yes – they would use new background.
Here’s a video and it looks interesting to me:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=th0KNa_dl-c
I’m excited for this but I doubt it will ever get made and if it is I doubt it will be good.
It would be nice if copyright holders would agree to share profit…
There is also a Batman video that people made that is based on a known comedy actor and it sounds great (he’s famous in Israel):
http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=2772599 – it’s in Hebrew…
Here’s a taste of the first Piposh game which was the best:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xmFMC8V7JKQ
Also do anyone knows of fan films about other comic characters? like shin chan or Ghost World (I know there was a movie but it’s an easy comic to film).
Here are a few more:
Howard The Duck 2: http://.youtube.com/watch?v=-l1jhhdZooA
Hellblazer: http://.youtube.com/watch?v=pjMv9vVeG6U
http://.youtube.com/watch?v=gs4EZih3j5g
ex-men – the next Rambow? http://.youtube.com/watch?v=9auABwweCU8
Deadpool VS Venom: http://.youtube.com/watch?v=vFicz57D2Z8
Saga of the Swamp Thing 2: When wallets go missing in the night: http://.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgi078WcrN0
I remember seeing a fairly decent looking Marvel Zombies fan film somewhere, maybe youtube. cool post conor. but, you left out my favorite and quite possibly the greatest fan film ever made. Robin’s Big Date, starring Justin Long as robin and Sam Rockwell as Batman. Rockwell’s my third favorite Batman only after Bale and Adam West.
I think of all the "fan" trailers I’ve seen I like this one the best.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/05de06476c/batman-vs-batman-vs-batman-from-tubulargoldmine
Was Mortal Kombat ever a film? I don’t care:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xOYjtSumBRo Mortal Kombat The Musical
*ever a comic…fail
My favorite DC fan film was the one of Arkham Asylum, the spanish one. The guy has fantastic special effects, music, and nailed the style of the book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v_XCMuufTQ
Anyway great post man! some of these are actually pretty decent
Not to toot my own horn….but I made a superhero fan film called SuperTalk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT-GPK0oSms or just search Supertalk. It features a bevy of DC and Marvel characters as well as the first superhero appearance (voiceover) of Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen)
Did anyone else notice similarities between Grayson and the comic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns?
I love Grayson so much. He put a lot of effort and money into that thing. If you go to this link…
http://theforce.net/fanfilms/nonsw/grayson/
…You’ll see there’s a behind the scenes video you can download showing how he did a lot of those shots and what he had to do while he was on a small budget. This movie still gives me chills and I’m surprised John Fiorella hasn’t done anything for real yet. The dudes got talent.
@AndyLawler – nice movie. http://youtube.com/user/Supertalk007 – the whole thing is there, and the user you gave has only several parts of the movie.
Also a nice character – a doctor that is not limited to one comic company.
Batman: Dead End started off cool and then broke bad. Really, really bad.
I like the Power Girl ones. "I’m not Booby Girl. I’m Power Girl dammit!"
Heheh.
Thanks Chlop. It was a lot of fun to shoot. You can shoot ANYWHERE in NYC. It was awesome.
most of these look awesome. wish they were real…but alas we’re not that lucky
I wrote a book all about fan films (Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind The Camera), which is coming out at the end of November, and I also run a fan film blog (fancinematoday.com), so maybe I can shed some light on some of the topics that got brought up above. While fan films have exploded in popularity due to the internet, they have been around for decades–the earliest I found in my research was a Little Rascals flick made in 1926.
You’re right that there’s more fan films to be found starring DC characters; I think that perhaps they are just a tad more universal, although some of the most popular ones have been Marvel based–take the classic The Green Goblin’s Last Stand, an hour-long fan flick made in the early 90s that has some jaw-dropping stunts, including the filmmaker/Spidey, Dan Poole, swinging off a six-story building, riding on the roof of a moving car and more. He later went on 10 years later to make a Wolverine fan film called Last Call, where he somersaulted off a second-story balcony, so getting older didn’t change him a bit.
@Stew–The guy playing Joker in Batman: Dead End is Andrew Koenig–who is the son of Walter Koenig from Star Trek ("Chekov"). AK is still best recalled at this point as playing "Boner" on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains, but I agree that his Joker is great, possibly the best part of the movie.
@dirtiehead–If you really want to see Grayson as a feature film, go to the filmmakers’ website (untamedcinema.com), where you can download the full 120-page screenplay they wrote that they based their trailer on. You’ll have to picture it in your mind, but you’ll get your Robin fix, for sure.
@Chlop–DC Comics actually doesn’t have a problem with fan films; I interviewed Paul Levitz, president of DC, about it earlier this year, and he gave me a definitive statement that you can read (and hear the soundbite too) on my fan film blog, fancinematoday.com.
@WinTheWonderboy–Agreed, Batman’s Big Date is a riot–very funny stuff, and the fact that they got name people makes it all the cooler. Another funny as hell Bats flick is Batman’s Bad Day, where Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and a GL start giving him grief for the fact that he doesn’t have any superpower. The filmmakers’ site is greenless.com.
@Jumping Jupiter–That’s another one I agree on–Chris Notarile (blinky-productions.com) has made a batch of Power Girl flicks, but I’m Power Girl, Dammit is by far the best. Great location, funny story, good acting all around. The dude has made dozens of fan films, and while some are more successful than others, I admire his dedication to his vision.
Anyway, if anyone’s interested in finding out more about fan films in general, you’re welcome to visit my daily fan film news blog, fancinematoday.com, or even better, look into my new book about fan films, Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind The Camera. It comes out in late November / early December from Continuum Books and gives the behind-the-scenes stories of some of the most popular fan flicks, like Batman: Dead End, Grayson, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation; Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II, The Green Goblin’s Last Stand, Hardware Wars, Troops, Pink Five, Spider-Man Vs. Kraven (a rare 1973 one made with help from Stan Lee and Tommy Ramone of the Ramones!) and plenty of others. If you liked the movies in this posting, you’re gonna love this book (of course, I’m a little biased, but so far, the reviews have been very positive…)
@ neb – i take it you don’t dig Aliens or Predators eh?
@ fanfilmbook – CHEKOV’S SON?! that’s bloody brilliant!
THEY’RE ALL ON 1 DVD For a limited time: Batman: Dead End, Grayson (Robin), World’s Finest PLUS Batman: Dead End.
Get ’em all for $14.95 Total at http://www.BatmanDeadEndDVD.com
http://www.BatmanDeadEndDVD.com
Here is a Superman Fan Film. Note it is a dark comedy and is NSFW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVizQFuscus