Be sure to stay for the post-credit stinger.
In 2012, Marvel Studios, under distribution by Paramount and Disney, would release “The Avengers” Hollywood’s first major mainstream superhero crossover, serving as the culmination of a 6 movie plan enacted by Marvel to bring the iconic superhero team to the big screen as well as solidifying the existence of what has now become the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The success of the MCU coming to a head practically changed the state of Hollywood over night, moving focus away from the constrictions of the trilogy format along with a willingness to embrace color and camp as dictated by the sincerity of the project that has mutated the face of the modern blockbuster as we know it within the short span of 5½ years.
For all of the good that it has done in furthering the superhero genre and providing much needed and widely accepted levity to Hollywood blockbusters, it has equally opened the door to business generated cancers that are sucking the life out of the film industry faster than they can say box office bomb.
While Marvel successfully managed to pioneer something that lent itself to bold and ambitious storytelling with grand worthwhile payoff reliant on the meticulous effort and strong foundation that they had painstakingly laid out, the “Cinematic Universe” format that will undoubtedly be their lasting legacy within the landscape of the film industry, which has unfortunately become the bane of discerning escapist filmgoers for several years now.
Hollywood has missed that the worth of a cinematic universe is only of benefit when the independent entries of the mega franchise in question are compelling features in and of themselves that subtly contribute to a larger picture rewarding audience investment and observation skills, while subsequently falling apart when treated like one giant series of commercials for future commercials.
That’s not say that a few studios haven’t found success with the format and ultimately, looking at the success and the failures is what this series is all about.
Universal Monstrosities will be taking a look at the fascinating trend of the cinematic universe as it has risen and begun to fall into being a bad industry joke. Some studios have done decently for themselves while others have only continued to fail miserably while others continue to loom over the horizon.
Crit Hit will definitely be monitoring these coming releases as they land in theaters. For the present however you, dear reader, may look forward to the coming weeks in which I will pay kudos due to the non-MCU franchises that are actually on the right track of development, along with what I won’t be looking at in depth, but is nevertheless noteworthy in the developing state of one of the most fascinating phenomena of cinematic storytelling in the current age.
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