10 Bandwagons Hollywood Couldn't Resist Jumping On

by Scott Campbell

1. The Shared Cinematic Universe

Marvel's groundbreaking strategy of having multiple movies and franchises existing in the same big-screen continuity has paid off spectacularly for a studio relatively new to the Hollywood game; the movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have so far earned over $7bn at the box office, with this year's Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy providing two of the studio's strongest efforts both critically and commercially. Of course, this kind of success has led to rival studios announcing their own plans to have their blockbusters share a cinematic universe.

Staying inside the comic book genre, Sony announced plans for a rapidly-expanding Spider-Man universe, with this emphasis on laying the groundwork for the future one of the main criticisms of the studio's lackluster The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and before the web-head's next solo adventure hits theaters in 2018 Sony plans to release The Sinister Six and a movie centered on an as-yet-unnamed female character. Marvel's old rivals DC also refuse to be left behind; after rebooting Superman with Man of Steel, Warner Bros suddenly accelerated the development of their own shared universe by adding Batman into the mix with Dawn of Justice, before announcing a huge slate of titles through to 2020 including two Justice League movies. It isn't just comic book movies attempting to jump on this bandwagon either; with Dracula Untold already in production Universal announced that their stable of classic monsters will also inhabit a shared universe, and even shot a new present-day ending to the movie so the character is free to appear in future monster mashes, which officially kicks off with The Mummy in June 16 and continues with the catchily-titled Untitled Universal Monster Franchise Film that hits in April 2017. Even more worrying was the recent news that Sony had made a seven-figure purchase for a pitch that re-imagines the adventures of Robin Hood and his Merry Men as a 'Marvel-style universe', because apparently this is how blockbuster franchises need to exist these days.
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