I'm not a fan of cinematic universes

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Okay, I'm going to ask this; am I the only one out here who has come to dislike the idea of Movie cinematic universes? Am I the only one who actually feels something has been lost with this stupid trend? I know every fandom is fanboying/fangirling over this concept since it was introduced, but I want to consider what we might be losing here;

Let's take superhero flicks. Before this concept started, a movie about hero A would be just about him, his struggles, and his effort to save his family/friends/the world/whatever the stakes are. A mention of other heroes/a bigger world was cool, but what this hero is doing right now was important in THIS film. Hero A saving the day was important, and the stakes were high, because if hero A failed, there was nobody else to come to the rescue. Then, you have a movie about heroine B. She's in the same universe, and their could even be a mention of him in her movie, or vice versa. But it's still her movie, her villain, her struggle to be the heroine who saves the day. No interference from other heroes or heroines.

But now, here comes the cinematic universe! Other heroes and their supporting casts start eroding over into hero A's movie, taking screen time away from hero A, and flooding his movie with plots and characters from the other heroes in your cinematic universe. Or heroine B's movie doesn't lead into her next sequel, but leads in Hero C's movie, which leads into heroine D's movie, which leads into the big crossover team film. You a fan of heroine B, but don't like the other characters! TOUGH! They're going to crowd your favorite heroine out of her own movie, and if you try to just follow her films exclusively, you'll be totally lost, because the story first continues in the movies of six other heroes and heroines before it comes back to the sequel.

Frankly... I don't care for cinematic universes, at all. I like just 2 or 3 different heroes, and I don't WANT to see their films flooded with all this GARBAGE I don't care about. Save the crossover stuff for team movies and team-up movies, and give each solo film back to it's titular heroine or hero. I've stopped going to see films set in cinematic universes because of the B.S.. I wonder if anyone else wants movies about a certain character, could just go back to being about that character and his or her supporting cast?

[Candy Kappa]

Yes, you are the only one.

[TurtleTitan97]

I bet you hate superhero comics too considering heroes have been crossing over into each others books since the Golden Age.

[Cure]

Good for you.

[plastroncafe]

You might actually be the only one who feels this.

Congrats!

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Originally Posted by TurtleTitan97

I bet you hate comics too considering heroes have been crossing over with each other since the Golden Age.

No, that's different. a character will appear in a team-up issue or story arc, than go back to their own book. Each series still has it's own ongoing story and supporting cast. But yes, I do despise the endless string of annual inter-company crossovers that break up the flow of the story in a book I'm following, and force a tie-in issue to big event A that I really don't care about. A tie in event whose 'earth-shattering ramifications' and 'shockign deaths' will be retconned out by the comic company next week.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

And okay, I get it. Everybody likes the giant interconnected movie series, while I prefer following just one or two heroes film series. I'll be quiet now.

[Aaronardo]

I don't hate cinematic universes, I hate bad cinematic universes that are clearly just trying to cash in on the success Marvel has had. Marvel comics liked to have crossovers and they all took place in the same world, so I think Marvel having a cinematic universe makes complete sense even if not every movie is a home run. The same goes for DC.

But damn it, if you want to make a Mummy movie, make a Mummy movie. You don't need this over-complicated universe that ends with the Mummy crossing over with the Werewolf and the Once-Removed Cousin of the Fly or whatever. You're just wasting your time and everyone else's.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Originally Posted by Aaronardo

I don't hate cinematic universes, I hate bad cinematic universes that are clearly just trying to cash in on the success Marvel has had. Marvel comics liked to have crossovers and they all took place in the same world, so I think Marvel having a cinematic universe makes complete sense even if not every movie is a home run. The same goes for DC.

But damn it, if you want to make a Mummy movie, make a Mummy movie. You don't need this over-complicated universe that ends with the Mummy crossing over with the Werewolf and the Once-Removed Cousin of the Fly or whatever. You're just wasting your time and everyone else's.

This... covers what my problem is; I LOVE the Justice League style team films that bring everybody together. But When I go to see a superman film, I want to see superman, followed by superman 2. I don't want a team up movie where he gets beat up by batman and then killed, followed by another team movie where he has to come back from the dead, before FINALLY getting back to a sequel. I loved how wonder Woman handled this- you only had references at the beginning and end- and hated how Bvs S handled it, crammed with references and cameos that served no purpose to the plot.

If you're doing a superman film, just use superman asnd his cast. If you're doing a superman/batman/Wonder Woman team up film, just keep it to them. A justice league film should concentrate on the whole league. But don't have ongoing plots in the 'universe' films I have to watch EVERY movie to get!

[Aaronardo]

Originally Posted by Panda_Kahn_fan

This... covers what my problem is; I LOVE the Justice League style team films that bring everybody together. But When I go to see a superman film, I want to see superman, followed by superman 2. I don't want a team up movie where he gets beat up by batman and then killed, followed by another team movie where he has to come back from the dead, before FINALLY getting back to a sequel. I loved how wonder Woman handled this- you only had references at the beginning and end- and hated how Bvs S handled it, crammed with references and cameos that served no purpose to the plot.

If you're doing a superman film, just use superman asnd his cast. If you're doing a superman/batman/Wonder Woman team up film, just keep it to them. A justice league film should concentrate on the whole league. But don't have ongoing plots in the 'universe' films I have to watch EVERY movie to get!

This is very fair. A large reason why Iron Man 2 is so despised is it couldn't just be an Iron Man movie. It kept getting caught up in setting up movies that wouldn't come out for another couple of years. Then they did it again with Avengers: Age of Ultron. It's gotta set up Civil War, but it's also gotta set up Black Panther, but it's also gotta set up World War Hulk (that movie still happening?). It couldn't do a very simple thing: be an Avengers movie about the Avengers beating Ultron. It got too complicated for its own good and became a mess of a movie.

I'm someone who gets a kick out of watching things as a series, so I've never had a problem with having big plots in these universes as long as they made sense, but that's a me thing. I feel like a good cinematic universe can make strong movies that stands strong on their own while still setting up future events. It's all in good storytelling.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Originally Posted by Aaronardo

I don't hate cinematic universes, I hate bad cinematic universes that are clearly just trying to cash in on the success Marvel has had. Marvel comics liked to have crossovers and they all took place in the same world, so I think Marvel having a cinematic universe makes complete sense even if not every movie is a home run. The same goes for DC.

But damn it, if you want to make a Mummy movie, make a Mummy movie. You don't need this over-complicated universe that ends with the Mummy crossing over with the Werewolf and the Once-Removed Cousin of the Fly or whatever. You're just wasting your time and everyone else's.

But, the Universal Monsters were kinda already doing the cinematic universe way back in the 40s with films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet The Wolfman, etc.

So if they did it first, they might as well do it again.

But, yeah I like the cinematic universes, but they should maybe tone down the continuity gimmicks, just a bit, and try to make the films watchable on their own too.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by Aaronardo

I don't hate cinematic universes, I hate bad cinematic universes that are clearly just trying to cash in on the success Marvel has had. Marvel comics liked to have crossovers and they all took place in the same world, so I think Marvel having a cinematic universe makes complete sense even if not every movie is a home run. The same goes for DC.

But damn it, if you want to make a Mummy movie, make a Mummy movie. You don't need this over-complicated universe that ends with the Mummy crossing over with the Werewolf and the Once-Removed Cousin of the Fly or whatever. You're just wasting your time and everyone else's.

Yeah, I don't mind the idea of a connected cinematic universe at all, but it's got to be done well. Marvel is showing everyone that it can be done nowadays successfully.

Originally Posted by Tetsu Deinonychus

But, the Universal Monsters were kinda already doing the cinematic universe way back in the 40s with films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet The Wolfman, etc.

So if they did it first, they might as well do it again.

But, yeah I like the cinematic universes, but they should maybe tone down the continuity gimmicks, just a bit, and try to make the films watchable on their own too.

Yeah, I feel like Universal could make a really cool cinematic universe but this new Mummy movie just seems like a really wobbly first step. Just like their Dracula movie that came out some years back. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they're scrapping all their plans. I just think a mummy movie needs to be a period piece to be effective. Some monsters just don't work in the age of social media

[Cure]

Originally Posted by Panda_Kahn_fan

And okay, I get it. Everybody likes the giant interconnected movie series, while I prefer following just one or two heroes film series. I'll be quiet now.

Maybe not everyone is 100% for them, but like, it's pretty clear you just wanted some kind of fanfare and validation for your opinion; most people can see through it and don't care.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I'm actually with Panda; I prefer separate, isolated series and characters. Doesn't mean I don't like the MCU, but I generally despise crossovers.

[snake]

I don't like them either. It's the cancer that's killing film.

[plastroncafe]

Okay now I'm legit curious:

What's your stance on sequels or trilogies?
Are you the only one to hate them too?

Does this extend to other forms of media?
Like television: Do you prefer shows that are self-contained "monster of the week" stories?

Or is it just things that are bad at what they're attempting to do that earn your ire?

[snake]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Okay now I'm legit curious:

What's your stance on sequels or trilogies?
Are you the only one to hate them too?

Does this extend to other forms of media?
Like television: Do you prefer shows that are self-contained "monster of the week" stories?

Or is it just things that are bad at what they're attempting to do that earn your ire?

Sequels are fine as long as they're good.

TV is a different medium. Season long arcs are told a lot better with 8 hours over a few weeks than 2 in one sitting.


I don't like the execution of all the cinematic universes so far. MCU is bland, safe, and colorless. DC is a mess. All other attempts have been so blatant and laughable you gotta pity the studios. Everyone is trying the Marvel formula and it's killing the industry.

It's not the concept of a cinematic universe that's bad, it's the execution and the way they've taken over the film scene.

It's not about making a good film anymore. It's about generating as much interest for the next one as possible. These movies have no artistic value whatsoever. You don't get anything of value from Civil War, but you do get to talk about how great those quips were, or who's going to get a spin off, or what the end credits scene "means", or what MCU branded Funko POP you want to buy.

[GoldMutant]

Pretty much with snake here, the execution hurts a lot of cinematic universes.

I still enjoy the MCU. Even if safe with what it does, it's still fun to watch in my eyes. They appeal to the child within us to see legendary heroes coming together on the big screen.

However, most "universes" are clearly trying too hard with marketing instead of telling good movies. Granted, I think the Godzilla/Kong universe being done is okay so far. Others that are being done, such as the classic monsters, or future ones, such as Hanna-Barbara, just reek of desperation. It's unsatisfying for me.

[snake]

Godzilla gets a pass. He's always been part of a "cinematic universe". It's just unfortunate he's being brought back at a time filled with everyone trying the same thing. (Skull Island was great though)

Can we stop calling it a cinematic universe? It's such a dumb word. What's wrong with "series" or "franchise"?

[GoldMutant]

Originally Posted by snake

Godzilla gets a pass. He's always been part of a "cinematic universe". It's just unfortunate he's being brought back at a time filled with everyone trying the same thing. (Skull Island was great though)

Can we stop calling it a cinematic universe? It's such a dumb word. What's wrong with "series" or "franchise"?

Skull Island was awesome. Still waiting on Gamera one day.

Besides snake, "cinematic universe" is almost a buzz word, they gotta take advantage!

All seriousness, it is irritating. Some things are more franchise-oriented or series based, it gets monotonous.