Posted in: Movies | Tagged: Comics, john goldwyn, paramount, rob liefeld, x-men 3, youngblood

When Paramount President John Goldwyn Told Rob Liefeld That Superhero Films Were A Fad And Would Be Over After X-Men 3

Published Sun, 15 Jun 2014 08:30:05 -0500

In December 1991, John Goldwyn was named President of Production for Paramount's Motion Picture Group.

So he must know something about movies. But as William Goldman wrote "Nobody knows anything… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one."

Goldwyn was then promoted to President, Motion Pictures at the studio. Where he met Image Comics founder Rob Liefeld – Paramount at one point were going to make a Youngblood movie.

Rob as been tweeting about the encounter.

No denying super hero films are a massive business. Funny considering John Goldwyn, President of Paramount, circa 2003, told me it was a fad

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

"This is a bell curve….by the time we put a comic book film in production, the curve will be in the wrong end" told John he was wrong. WIN

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

Paramount has yet to finance and produce a super hero film of their own. Distributing Marvel doesn't count.

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

I told Mr. Goodwyn what was obvious to me, FX depiction of super powers is the new candy. Super Heroes are the action films of this gen. Duh

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

Did I mention that Mr. Goldwyn showed me a chart? Mapped out that by X-Men 3 and FF1, the fad would be finished.

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

At the time the position was that they did not want to be on the "wrong end" of producing a super hero film.

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

And there's your Hollywood story of the day.

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

A Paramount based producer had brought one of my comics to them, it was a go, then the backtrack due to "fad". Now Transformers/Trek/Joe =$$

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) June 13, 2014

Goldman stepped down from Paramount in 2003 and entered into a first look deal with Lorne Michaels with the studio, making Hot Rod, The Guilt Trip, Baby Mama and MacGruber, a deal that recently ended.

No Youngblood…

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