User blog comment:Mr. Xemnas/2 seperate marevl cinematic universe's?????/@comment-1895174-20130201050316/@comment-3317214-20130203013217

I haven't seen ASM but it looks darker, First Class didn't look darker but it was, and darker isn't necessarily better.

Okay, back to the previous discussion: LoveWaffle, I'm not talking about a straight-out reboot with First Class. I'm talking about something with the effect of a reboot happening within the story. Something that acknowleges the old continuity as something that happened or could have happened, but changed it so that there's a new continuity. It means that the audience of the films will understand clearly because the reboot is part of the plot, but the general audience may be a little more confused. But they don't need to be. If such a timey-whimey-rebooty-thing took place, after that, the general public can just concern themselves with the movie at hand, and if they have seen older ones, they can look to the plot of Days of Future Past to explain any issues with continuity. (I just want to note here, that I'm just speculating the direction that Days of Future Past and Fox's Cinematic Universe will take, and maybe none of this will happen, and they'll just keep going with continuity...)

Having said all of that, it is sometimes a little much at first to expect people to understand the intentions. What you say about audiences having trouble grasping the concept of Batman Begins and The Incredible Hulk is true. However, I don't believe that it's entirely the fault of the audience.


 * If you knew about the films Batman, Batman Returns and Batman Forever, wouldn't you assume that Batman Begins was the prequel? The film was titled as though it belonged with the older films. However, after some time, a different approach to titles, and fame sparked from the sequel, the general audience has grasped the concept that the original Batman series is a different thing to Nolan's. And what's more, Warner Bros. made a fair amount of profit from it. It's not like Nolan's trilogy was doomed because it was a reboot.


 * And although The Incredible Hulk was a reboot, it seemed to nod towards Ang Lee's film by almost picking up where the last one left off- in South America. If The Incredible Hulk had made some way of clearly stating it was a reboot within the story, anyone who saw both films would know that they're separate. However, if somewhere in Phase Three of the MCU, if Ruffalo is given a chance to do a sequel to the Incredible Hulk, it will be clearer to the general audience.

First Class, although not a reboot, suffered at the box office, similarly to the reboots, Batman Begins, The Icredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man. As to your points on why it did poorly:


 * Yes, franchises tend to fatigue, but Nolan's trilogy is proof that they can be reinvigorated, it just took some time to get some momentum. Franchises don't need to die away. If the story comes to an end, there can be more stories told to expand on the universe, like the prequel and upcoming sequel trilogies of Star Wars, and the Hobbit trilogy for Lord of the Rings. James Bond has had 25 film entries, with the last one being particularly successful. And the MCU is constantly growing without any signs of slowing down due to franchise fatigue.


 * As for following on from disappointing films, again- Nolan's trilogy followed the Joel Schumacher Batman films, and was successful. It just took a little time to get going. And it's looking like Man of Steel will go that way as well, after the disappointing Superman IV and Superman Returns.

I imagine The Amazing Spider-Man, perhaps like X-Men: First Class will take off. It'll just take a little time.

I think that's just about all I wanted to say...