10 Simple Ways To Build A Cinematic Universe

10. If It Fails Once, Just Leave It Alone

Sony and Universal have already attempted to launch a shared universe once before and failed spectacularly, but that hasn't stopped them from trying again.

Remember Dracula Untold? That was only three years ago, and was publicly stated to be the beginning of the studio's expansion plans. While it earned a decent $217.1m at the box office, poor critical reactions saw Universal pretend it never existed and forge ahead on the Dark Universe with The Mummy as the new launchpad, which ironically turned out to be even worse.

At roughly the same time, Sony were making ambitious plans of their own. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4, Sinister Six, Venom, Black Cat and even Spider-Man 2099 were in various stages of development, and would reportedly culminate in a 'payoff-level event'. Obviously it never happened, and they struck a deal with Marvel Studios instead.

Regardless, Sony have capitalized on Spidey's renewed popularity to put Venom and the re-titled Silver & Black back into development, even though the terms of the Marvel agreement don't specify whether they can actually use Peter Parker or not. But they're still calling it their 'Spider-Man Universe'. Confused? You should be.

The fact that both studios continue to try and get a shared universe up and running despite having fallen at the first hurdle once before makes it painfully obvious that no real thought is being put into the creative process whatsoever, and the whole enterprise is nothing but a knee-jerk reaction to tap into Marvel and DC's multi-billion dollar success.