Why Massive Fictional Universes Are the Future of Film and Television

The Emmy nominations were only recently announced, but a winner has already been announced: comic book adaptations. But it’s more than that, with WandaVision’s success this year (at 23 nominations, it’s 1 behind co-leaders The Crown and The Mandalorian), we’re seeing the success of the massive fictional universe (MFU) in an unlikely space: prestige entertainment. One could point to Watchmen’s massive success (a whopping 26 nominations with 11 wins) as a harbinger of things to come, but that project was an expansion of Alan Moore’s singular vision, largely untethered from any MFU (even if it was eventually folded into it). But with these latest developments, it’s…...