12 Major Problems With Today's Blockbuster Movies
2. Following Trends
Hollywood has long been an industry that has capitalized on following the latest trends. The thinking seems to be; 'if it worked for someone else, then it will obviously work for us'.
Studios will jump on any bandwagon in an attempt to cash in on something that has been successful. Since the turn of the 21st Century some of the fads have included remaking horror classics, found footage movies, historical epics, young adult literary adaptations, comic book movies, live action fairy tales and the old favourite, dark and gritty reboots.
The current buzzword in Tinseltown is the 'shared cinematic universe' after Marvel's pioneering series of interconnected movies raked in billions at the box office. DC's Extended Universe, Universal's 'Dark Universe', Legendary's 'Monsterverse', Lego's shared series of movies and even the lamentable Transformers franchise have gotten in on the act.
Often, the reach far exceeds the grasp. As previously mentioned, many attempts at launching a 'shared universe' have fallen by the wayside as the studios focused more attention on building an entire brand from scratch in two hours than making a halfway-decent movie. Its simple enough; build a universe around your movie, not the other way round. Instead, the industry just barrels ahead with cannibalizing whatever trend is popular at the moment, and who knows what the next one could be.