Summer of the Geek

Summer is upon us.

Summer is the gilded moments of our youth when we  got to break free of the shackles of the education machine and spend our days and nights battling evil through the hills, valleys, and hidden caverns of Hyrule. Okay, maybe that was just me.

However as our thoughts turn to the long sunny  days of our youth, as they invariably do when we see children running free while we are cooped up in our cars commuting to or from work, it is hard not to notice that things have definitely changed. The advances in technology have invaded nearly every aspect in our lives. The world is so different today than when we were kids that even Marty McFly would freak out a little.  Heck, they have even created and marketed a couple of the more futuristic items from the Back to the Future franchise such as the automatic shoes and, most recently, working hover boards (I know- squee!).  Pop culture has become swamped in a tide of tech and geeks have been riding the wave to glory.

Summer is the most anticipated time of the year for movie releases and steadily titles based around comic books, video games, and books in the sci-fi/fantasy genres have begun to outnumber and outshine more ‘regular’ titles. The most buzzed about movies, and also the highest grossing, have been pure geek candy and they have been sweet.  Just ask around and see how many people didn’t see Avengers and want to have its babies.

Ok maybe that’s just me again. Ahem.

Just look at the top ten all time grossing movies and it’s practically a who’s who of great geeky films!

Source: http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm

Look at those numbers!  Over 3.6 BILLION DOLLARS in geeky movies and that is just the top 10. I would also like to point out that this list is over the lifetime gross of the movies so Avengers coming in at number three is only temporary since it hasn’t even left theaters yet.

We, folks, have gone mainstream. We are a marketplace force.

But still- with comic convention attendance climbing, geeky movies dominating the box office, and having the latest tech is a serious status symbol it looks like the gilded age of geekdom we longed for in our youth has come. May the summer of the Geek never end!

Here are some of the geeky* titles we can wait impatiently for-

July

The Amazing Spiderman

The Dark Knight Rises

The Watch

August

Total Recall

The Bourne Legacy

The Expendables 2

ParaNorman

September

Branded

Resident Evil: Retribution

Dredd

Hotel Transylvania

Looper

*I excluded the majority of the horror or strictly paranormal movies coming out, not because they are not geeky but because they deserve a category of their own.