Please, Hollywood, don’t push another shared universe on us

The shared universe is all the rage, and that’s not a good thing.

Movies can’t simply be movies anymore. That’s thinking far too small. Instead, they have to be part of a shared universe. They have to weave an intricate tapestry that spans years and makes millions!

What does this mean? Well, it basically involves one film building connections to other films. These films don’t necessarily have to be part of the same series or involve the same characters, but they do have to convince audiences that they are part of the same world.

For instance, Batman can have his own little adventures, but he can also team up with Superman on occasion if both of them are established as part of the same setting.

You could have the technology from all the stories stem from the same organization. Alternatively, you could have separate protagonists from those tales come together to tackle a common problem.

Whatever the strategy, the goals are usually to facilitate crossovers or emphasize the larger scale and ever-changing history of the setting. More to the point, it means big bucks whenever these stories (and their audiences) converge.