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Question of the Day (QOTD) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a film/TV-related question that we put to you, the reader. The comments section below is like the feedback box at work; except, in this example, we actually read what you write and care about what you have to say.
After Marvel’s The Avengers made a boatload of cash and successfully positioned the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the next big franchise, studios were desperate to cash in on the concept of a shared universe. Sony tried to do it with Spider-Man. Warner Bros. tried to do it with DC Comics and Godzilla/King Kong. Universal tried with its Universal Monsters. Everyone wanted a piece of the next best thing in cinema, but most failed.
There are an endless stream of properties that could be used to start a cinematic universe. That’s why, the question I ask today is: what was the biggest missed opportunity regarding cinematic universes?
My answer is easy: I wanted Paramount and Hasbro to combine their properties together and give us a cinematic universe that consisted of Transformers, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, M.A.S.K., Rom the Space Knight, Micronauts, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, and the Power Rangers. Heck, half of that actually almost happened. I’m just adding in the Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers to really make this a crazy mashup of everyone’s childhoods.
The Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers have already crossed over on television while fans have been begging for a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover for years. Paramount and Hasbro wanted to a cinematic universe with all of the other smaller properties. I honestly think that if they had gone one film at a time this could have worked out. Bumblebee was the perfect film to launch this universe and the ’80s would have been the perfect time period. All of these properties (sans Power Rangers) were the most successful in the eighties, so utilizing that time period would not only make the audience nostalgia driven, but it would separate it from the other cinematic universes.
Paramount needed these films to operate as standalone adventures that only featured Easter eggs to a larger world. Once the universe was set up that would allow for crazy sequel crossovers. G.I. Joe/Transformers. Power Rangers vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Etc.
I think it could have worked, but I guess we’ll never know.
So what about you, folks? Which cinematic universe do you think would have succeeded had it been created?
I’ll see you in the trenches.
