It’s the hottest trend in Hollywood and there’s more where that came from. Marvel and DC are busy perfecting their shared Universes, but other production companies have latched onto this idea and are running with it in every direction possible. We’ll take a look at some of the expanded cinematic universes that are in the works or being talked about, and try to determine if those plans are really worth pursuing.
Star Wars
With Disney’s acquisition of Lucas Arts and the Star Wars franchise, it really came as no surprise when they announced that several spin-offs, prequels, and sequels were in the works. And why, as fans, should we be limited to just another trilogy? Don’t we deserve more stories? That’s why this is a genius plan. The possibilities are endless, as we can already determine from the news we’ve heard so far. Not only are we getting a stand-alone Boba Fett movie, but there have been talks of Han Solo spin-offs, and we’ll get a taste of brand new characters and stories in the form of Rogue One, about a band of rebels who seek to steal the plans for the Death Star. Simply put, this is a no brainer, and we couldn’t be happier.
Classic Universal Movie Villains
Recent talks revealed that Universal was busy working on reboots for all or most of their classic movie creatures and villains in an attempt to share them across their own Universe in a series of team-up films after their intros. Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon are all in development. But is this idea worthwhile? We think so. It’s tough to say whether we’ll get a great product as a result, but any movie where vampires, mummies, werewolves, Frankenstein, and the Black Lagoon all exist within the same world sounds awesome to us. It’s worth a try.
Harry Potter
After J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final book was announced, it signaled not only an end to the literary franchise, but also the movie franchise. Once Harry and the crew finished their 7th adventure, we would have to find a new wizarding franchise to latch onto. However…that is certainly not the case as Warner Brothers has announced the development of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a spin-off film based off of a side-novel written by Rowling. Is it possible that this film could turn into many more? Probably. But is it a smart move? If done well, yes! But…if it flops, will it be a sour note on the end of a beloved, nearly perfect franchise? We don’t want a bad taste in our mouth after all of the sweet success of the Harry Potter films….but we’ll wait and see.
X-Men
Ok, so it’s not the same as the X-Men teaming up with the Avengers. That doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen any time soon. However, the latest announcements from FOX in regards to their mutant franchise seem like we’ll be seeing much more than just the typical team of Xavier’s mutants. With Deadpool, Gambit, The New Mutants, and many more projects in development, this new shared universe is the closest thing we’ll get to an Avengers-style X-men team up. We think it’s a good call…but we wish FOX would just give Marvel back the rights to the X-Men so we can see Tony Stark and Wolverine on the same screen.
21 Jump Street/Men in Black
Old and busted…new hotness…old and busted….new hotness. Ok, while Men in Black 3 was decent, it certainly wasn’t as good as the first film, and the second film in the series fell pretty short of expectations. However, do we really need this mash-up? Maybe 21 Jump Street is the cool new kid on the block at Sony Pictures, but why do they need to ruin both franchises by merging them together in some weird marriage that doesn’t make sense on paper? Do they know something that we don’t? Will we be seeing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones training the young guns on their next adventure, or are they going to only base the movie around the 21 Jump Street crew joining the agency without a mention of Agent J or Agent K? Sounds like a bad recipe for disaster. (look of disapproval)
What film universes sound like good ideas to you? Any that rub you the wrong way? Let us know in the comments below!