“Cinderella” and pals are mounting a princess-powered challenge to the spandex set

Disney is taking “Cinderella” to the box office ball on Friday, and its live-action take on the classic fairy tale is expected to run up grosses that would make Superman, Spidey or Wolverine proud

So it’s understandable that some have suggested “fairy tales are the new superheroes” at the movies.

They are not. And there are plenty of reasons:

This is a big one. Superheroes mainly come from serialized comic books, which provide a farm system of episodic content that regularly percolates up to the movie level. Disney’s “Iron Man 3” ($1.2 billion), Warner Bros.’s “The Dark Knight Rises”($1.08 million) and Sony’s “Spider-Man 3” ($890 million) are three of the four highest-grossing superhero movies ever globally. “Marvel’s The Avengers” is No. 1 at $1.5 billion.

There are practical reasons a fairy tale sequel wouldn’t feel organic. You don’t have to re-invent the characters if you decide to set your “X-Men” sequel in a new galaxy, but that wouldn’t work with Hansel and Gretel. (Note to Paramount execs: that was not intended as a challenge.)

 

Superhero movies comprise three of the four biggest opening weekends, the leader being “The Avengers” ($207 million), the runner-up “Iron Man 3” ($174 million) and fourth-place going to “The Dark Knight Rises” ($161 million). You don’t put up numbers like that without drawing men and women, young and old.