Avengers, Batman and Spider-Man In B-O War

MARCH 16, 2012 - Every year, avid movie fans will invariably look forward to the summer blockbusters that boast the latest in state-of-the-art thrills and spills to heat up the box-office. This year, the publicity blitzes are heating up for a clash of three films about comic book superheroes.

Unless you have just returned from Mars with John Carter, you would have realised that Marvel's The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man (also from Marvel) and Batman saga The Dark Knight Rises (from DC) will be slugging it out for the summer box-office dollar - after a lukewarm performance last year.

2011's comic book heroes fell short of expectations at the box-office: The Green Hornet made only US$99 million (RM297mil) so far, Thor (US$181 million), Green Lantern (a dismal US$117 million) and Captain America: The First Avenger (US$177 million).

This year, things are looking better with the studios starting their promotions early.

Last December, Warner Bros. launched the IMAX footage of The Dark Knight Rises to drum up support for its trailer attached to Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.

Last month, Sony fought back with extended footage of The Amazing Spider-Man in a campaign that included beaming the Spider logo onto London's Parliament and Sydney's Opera House.

Recently, The Avengers trumpeted its trailer with a viral campaign that, according to Marvel, set an online trailer viewership record of 13.7 million, besting The Dark Knight's 12.5 million views in 2008.

The Avengers opens in Malaysia on April 26, The Amazing Spider-Man starts webbing on July 5, and The Dark Knight Rises on July 19.

Punters and industry analysts are wagering on which of the three will emerge the victor. Personally, I am putting my money on The Avengers. At least they are a fresh batch of superheroes compared to the Spider-Man reboot and the conclusion of the Batman Saga.