![]() ![]() All due respect, the mostly standalone Bloodshot was no Iron Man or The Conjuring. Point being, if audiences didn’t care about the characters contained within the Valiant universe, including ideally at least one already-successful feature film as a backdoor pilot, merely selling the notion of a Valiant cinematic universe wasn't going to move the needle. Leigh Whannell’s offering was a low-budget, R-rated horror movie that just happened to offer a reinvention of a well-known piece of horror IP. The Invisible Man, which was absolutely a hit (rave reviews, scorching buzz and $124.5 million worldwide on a $9 million budget) before theaters closed, was the opposite approach. Universal’s “Dark Universe” was a one-and-done attempt, with Tom Cruise’s surprisingly lousy The Mummy emphasizing world-building and mythology over character and standalone entertainment value. You don’t have to see Ant-Man and the Wasp to enjoy Black Panther. ![]() That’s technically how Marvel mostly does it too. The post- Suicide Squad movies have been mostly standalone, but still mostly set within the realm of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman. DC Films, which has some of the most famous fictional characters in the world, initially struggled with their cinematic universe. Even the Star Wars brand couldn’t make Solo into a hit, while a $529 million-grossing Godzilla and a $569 million-grossing Kong: Skull Island couldn’t make Godzilla: King of the Monsters ($385 million) into a hit. In contrast, Sony’s attempt to sell The Dark Tower as part of a Stephen King universe arguably caused the film to open below its already mediocre tracking. Meanwhile, the Transformers cinematic universe was merely threatened. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |