10 Upcoming Movies That Will (Probably) Tease Cinematic Universes

In an industry that is currently being dominated by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's no wonder that studios are hastily shuffling through their own franchise and property rights to cash in on their own possible expanded universes.

Although the only franchises to have come close to the MCU's success (so far) are the DC Extended Universe and arguably the Transformers franchise, both of which have had bumpy entries, you never know what could kick off the next big thing.

While superhero films are enjoying a lucrative time at the box office, the new age revival of the horror genre has surfaced as an unlikely competitor with these franchises, with James Wan's Conjuring franchise having already developed a long string of success with its reliable Annabelle spin-offs.

Additionally, if the future slate of studio films is anything to go by, audiences could be seeing a resurgence in video game adaptations, potentially stemming from this year's Detective Pikachu that, yes, it is possible to adapt a video game without being illiterate in filmmaking.

Regardless of the genre, these upcoming films over the next few years show the most potential for a new shared universe.

Although the DCEU began with a wobbly start, it has since found its footing with the successes of Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Shazam! With a mainstream foundation being set, Warner Bros. has started making some more bold artistic decisions.

Fighting against the flow of the MCU, where everything and anything has to be connected like the world's most expensive jigsaw puzzle, Warner Bros. has begun developing DC films that exist outside of the connected DCEU. The first of which is Joker - a crime-thriller origin film for the renowned Batman film, directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix.

Although it has been stated that Joker would be very much its own thing, the awards buzz from the Venice Film Festival, which recently culminated in winning the prestigious Golden Lion award for best film, as well as the substantiated speculation on its performance in the upcoming Academy Awards, just may make Warner Bros. reconsider.

Whether you want it or not, Joker could easily be the beginning of a franchise built around an even grittier and disturbing Gotham City, where Joker arises as the psychotic hero, while Batman could be challenged by public outrage.