Hawki said:
KingsGambit said:
I don't think a cinematic universe could exist outside of comic books.
The Cosmere is an equivalent, with numerous novel series existing in the same overall universe with at least one crossover so far.
It's not really quite the same thing, tho it could be the beginnings of it. There are no established characters, places, people, certainly none that are widely recognised. Comic book art, in addition to writing, characterisation and the rest, is also a significant factor that shouldn't be ignored. From costumes to effects and abilities, enemies, visuals, all have a precedent in decades of published issues. On the subject of writing, decades of storylines like Infinity War, Avengers vs XMen, Civil War, House of M, Onslaught, Age of Apocalypse, Days of Future Past, all these huge events with multiple heroes give so much influence to draw on.
From 2008 until now, all the MCU stories have led to Infinity War, with an homage to Civil War thrown in. Almost 20 movies over a decade to build up to one large event. Fantasy Books, the Cosmere, Middle Earth and so on, just don't have this wealth of material to draw on. Middle Earth could support a couple more movies, sure (Silmarillion, Beren and Luthien, more) but would Vigo Mortissen return? Would Peter Jackson direct? Would they be new?
The XMen movies were in continuity up until Logan, to my knowledge. But now most of the cast from the Singer era films have moved on, what can they do? Reboot? Prequel (they did that and those are done now too!)? MCU will have this issue soon also since Chris Evans wants to move on, Feige doesn't want to be RDJ any more gajillions. I just can't see a fantasy shared-universe existing.
You know what...I just thought of...maybe Feist's work [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Cycle] could support it. He has both numerous books, each with different characters but many who reappear throughout, in the same universe, both fantastic and mundance. Consider Pug, Jimmy the Hand, Eric and Roo, etc. I must admit also, I kinda like seeing Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan meet Ding Chavez in Clear and Present Danger. They should make a Tom Clancy Shared Universe too while they're at it.