Mission impenetrable: are Hollywood blockbusters losing the plot?

[Agnosticsherbet]

11. The entire marvel Universe is one extended movie

akin to reading War and Peace with its four sequels. They want to do what good television does, tell a really long story.

The same process has happened in fiction novels with endless sequels.

Think about Harry Potter, and incredibly long story told in installments that kept audiences returning to find out what happened to beloved characters. Harry's Character arc runs from "The Sorcerer's Stone to the Deathly Hollows. Each installment was complete in itself, but story lines, plot, and character's grew across the length of the whole story.

They did this and made so much money that that it lead to a theme park, endless lines of toys, and another series of movies written by the same author.

I suppose the answer ot all of that is, "Money." A successful franchise reduces the risk of makaing these mammoth movies by appealing to a guaranteed audience instead of looking for a new one. As long as huge audiences show up to see the new installment, the story will go on.