Brian Pendreigh: Pow! Another comic book movie launch

IT IS a common complaint that children don't read much these days - a complaint that conveniently overlooks the phenomenal sales of the doorstop-size Harry Potter books.

A generation ago we had nothing like Harry Potter, but I spent many hours working my way through the classics of contemporary world literature, including Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. And it is true that today's youngsters do not need to actually read these masterpieces - they can simply go and watch them at the cinema.

Hollywood was slow to cotton onto the potential of flying heroes in brightly coloured tights. Major superhero adaptations used to come along at the rate of roughly one a decade - Superman in the 70s, Batman in the 80s, Spidey and X-Men in the early 2000s.

But Hollywood is making up for lost time, and there is a new one out every few weeks now, with Green Lantern opening in cinemas this weekend, hot on the heels of Thor and the X-Men prequel.

Captain America follows next month.

At their best, these films are propelled not just by spectacular action sequences and special effects, but by real depth of character. Thor, after all, draws directly on Norse mythology and was directed by Shakespeare alumnus Kenneth Branagh, while X-Men explicitly compares the treatment of its characters with that of the Jews in the 1940s.

Green Lantern on the other hand features a charmless oaf who is chosen to share the status of intergalactic superhero with a bunch of space bugs. It is both complicated and simple-minded at the same time. But that does not mean it will not be a hit.

When Hollywood gets an idea and that idea makes money, it will milk it for all it is worth. And there is a huge audience for comic book adaptations.

Batman, X-Men and, to a lesser extent, Green Lantern have built-in product recognition. They have a proven track record in other media and that reduces the risk on films that are now costing around $150 million to make.

That is the key to Hollywood thinking today - big budgets and minimisation of risk, with potentially huge returns. The Batman film, The Dark Knight grossed more than $1 billion at cinemas worldwide, with video sales on top.

Hollywood has a long and distinguished history of turning books into films, and comic book adaptations are part of that. But Hollywood moguls will now look seriously at adapting anything that already has any sort of track record.

It will remake, "reboot" or adapt anything if there is the chance of big bucks, including old TV shows, computer games and even toys, with the third instalment of Transformers imminent. Hollywood will release a record 27 sequels this year, and Pirates of the Caribbean was inspired by a theme-park ride.In the American top ten of highest-grossing films of 2011 there are five sequels, two comic book adaptations and three animated films, one of which is also a sequel.

Top of the pile is The Hangover Part II, the sequel to a film in which buddies get very drunk and behave badly at a stag night. In the sequel, they get very drunk and behave badly again at another stag night.

The only film that is not a sequel, comic book adaptation or animation is Bridesmaids, about a group of young women behaving badly. There is one already (in)famous scene of collective diarrhoea. This is gross-out comedy with a new spin - female central characters. It's the same but different. Brilliant.

Personally, I am looking forward to it. But I do miss the sort of high quality adult dramas Hollywood studios used to make, in the genuine belief they might be big hits, not as sops to actors hoping to win an Oscar - a quid pro quo in exchange for one more instalment in some franchise based on a best-selling t-shirt or candy bar.

The best quality dramas coming out of the big Hollywood studios these days are not these clunky year-end vanity projects, but comic book adaptations like X-Men: First Class and Thor.