Comic fans with a deep knowledge of the Marvel universe will be excited to hear that some of the company's unsung heroes will get their own feature, only with tighter budgets than their household-name counterparts.
The likes of characters Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Dazzler, Ka-Zar, and Power Pack are at the center of early buzz to grace the big screen, says CHUD, with the hunt for filmmakers to take the reigns already being initiated.
Knowledge of these second-fiddle characters will most certainly be limited to avid fans, but with budgets intended to strike in the vicinity of only 20 to 40 million dollars, that may be all the attention needed to launch a number of modest franchises.
Take a movie like The Incredible Hulk, which cost an estimated $150 million to produce. With this approach, Marvel could potentially make anywhere from four to seven for the same price tag and forgo the risk of putting all their proverbial eggs in one basket.
Already having drained much of its more famous superhero reservoir, Marvel will have to test the water to see if these characters can take off at the box office. The real challenge will be swimming upstream against what could easily become an over-saturation of the now popular superhero sub-genre.
