Until recently, the film premiered without further information about a possible sequel. In many cases, this second installment was driven by the economic success of the first. If it worked once at the box office, why not try again? Within the framework of this commercial logic, an idea has been cultivated in recent decades: presentation cinematic universes based on the original story.
As in literature, when a book saga is formed from a work, in cinema something similar happens through prequels, sequels, spin off and even series. These are different content and formats that fuel the same franchise. Purpose, in terms of storytelling, explore stories and moments that have not been covered before. Looking at it from an economic standpoint, the goal is to lift as much as possible through characters and places, situations and storylines previously recognizable to the viewer.
The most representative example of this, at least from a commercial point of view, is Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has been under construction since 2008, and at the moment its launch will last until 2026. It has dozens of movies and several series that allow us to adapt stories based on comics at home. Its growth is of such magnitude that even the public that has not read the stories knows about the large number of references. Success was the fuel that fueled the trend that exploded in Hollywood.
The Rise of Cinematic Universes
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe released its first movie, it wasn’t customary to think of gigantic projects where different stories were connected to the same goal. Hombre de Hierro, introduced in 2008, became the franchise’s cornerstone. Probably, if it was about finding parallels, then the trilogies were closest in this regard.
21st century started with Lord of the Rings drawing legions of spectators to cinemas and collecting dozens of prizes. Prior to this trilogy, others like Godfather, Indiana Jones, star Wars And Crazy Max They entered the history of modern cinema as cult stories. In the case of the last three, this base served to develop new, more recent projects.
In this context, perhaps the trilogy The Dark Knight Directing Christopher Nolan outside the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the best bet in terms of comics. However, it remained in a format not as ambitious as that of the DC contest. Meanwhile, the same company was trying to lay the foundations for its Expanded Universe. But the result was more criticism than applause.
A saga has joined the sustainability of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Avatar, which will have at least three more titles; DC Extended Universe update led by James Gunn; height John Wick like a powerful franchise in an action movie, with a TV series and spin off in future plans. And recently, a project by Michael B. Jordan with believedesigned to branch this story into several more productions.
While it may be early to believe that this trend represents a paradigm shift in business franchises, there is reason to suspect that this moment may be approaching. Therefore, it will be a little more common to see that from a commercially successful film, sequels, series and spin off which serve to expand this narrative and turn it into a cinematic universe.
Influence in the film and television industry
These types of projects may respond to the intent to provide more and more content to the audience. If he streaming part of this logic, offering new productions or seasons of their series, why not try to repeat something similar in the movies? It’s about retaining an audience based on their interest in the story.
From an economic point of view, there is a strong argument: it is likely that someone who saw believe be interested in watching Creed 2, Creed III and what comes after. And also the man who got hooked You from the first season, he accompanied her until the fourth. When doing an interpretive exercise, this type of practice can be common as it allows the viewer to rediscover the reference system they already know and love. They are not attempts to introduce new stories, new characters, and new places. In times of fast consumption, this could be an argument in favor of building cinematic universes.
If, moreover, consider the possibility that this type of project performs well, as it seems to be the case for franchising. John Wick or the Marvel Cinematic Universe – at least from a business standpoint – it seems like a win-win situation. The industry produces content that brings in colossal amounts of money and viewers can have more fun.
The last word is the key: entertainment. Cinematic Universes is still not seen as an author’s experience, but rather as a series of proposals aimed at expanding the various possibilities of the franchise. Neither good nor bad. It’s just a way of doing business that depends on both commercially strong productions and lesser known ones. But with great wealth in creative terms.
The Big Risk of Cinematic Universes
The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be depleted. Each film is a copy of the formula of the previous one, with little change between one project and another. Bottom line: the good guys always win, except for one movie to date. They are still entertainment projects that run at the box office, but this franchise is currently in its worst state since its fourth phase began.
If you look at the criticism about Avatar: Water Sense, applause is found for its graphic proposal. But as for the plot and script, the film James Cameron this is not satisfactory. Franchise over the years star Wars has an irregular path to the movies, while he has become strong since The Mandalorian And Andor in serial format.
While this is a limited set of examples, what do they offer? First of all, that economic success is not the same as artistic achievement. Secondly, that there is no exact formula to work with, because each narrative has its own rules and its own audience. In this context, projects such as those developed with believe And John Wick at least they have one advantage: acknowledging the possible mistakes of other cinematic universes and trying not to repeat them.
Loss of prestige
Recently Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed its desire to work on new projects inspired by Lord of the Rings. Based on a trilogy of films, the goal is to explore stories and events that weren’t covered in them. What happened to it?
While this is a way for the franchise to evolve, it’s also likely that with the addition of new productions, the place a movie or an entire saga holds in the collective imagination will shrink. Something similar happened with rocky. After so many releases, his reputation has fallen so much that it has become an occasion for ridicule, not to mention the fact that the first feature film is still considered the best.
IN conclusion: When it comes to expanding successful franchises, MCUs can work economically. But the quality of productions suffers from an attempt to please everyone and thus reach the largest possible audience, which makes them dubious and irregular.
On the other hand, if the goal of these projects is to find engaging speech other than entertainment, it might be a good idea. If not, then it’s just production with the goal of creating more content, regardless of quality, such as fast food. The debate will sooner or later fall into the hands of the audience.
Source: Hiper Textual
