A lot of critics (and audiences) were surprised by the success of two films this year: Venom and Aquaman. Why? Well, because neither is particularly great. Aquaman is fun and I’d watch it a hundred times but critics were less enthusiastic which lead to its barely fresh score of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes. Venom is even worse, with a deeply rotten score of 28%. Both movies are fine at best but they were box office juggernauts this year. Venom grossed over $855.7 million and Aquaman has made over a billion.

To put that into context, Venom made more money than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Iron Man 1 and 2, both Amazing Spider-Man movies, every Thor movie, and every X-Men and Deadpool movie.

Aquaman has made more money than The Dark Knight, which is considered to be one of the best films of all time.

Image: Entertainment Weekly

But why?

A lot goes into what makes a film a box office hit. Venom and Aquaman’s success can be at least partially attributed their appeal overseas and to the fact that neither faced a lot of direct competition during their opening weekends and their first couple of weeks at the box office. But there’s more to it than that.

As an audience, we’re a bit of a paradox.

We feel more comfortable going to the movies if we’re watching a film that is in an established franchise we know and love, but we don’t always like having to watch a bunch of movies to catch up.

For example, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was supposed to make a billion dollars. One of the reasons it didn’t is because it was bad, that’s fair. But another reason may have been the fact that it leaned pretty heavily on the plot from Man of Steel, another film that didn’t do too well at the box office.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Why is Batman mad at Superman? What’s that big spaceship doing in the middle of Metropolis and why is Lex Luthor obsessed with it? Who is Zod?

Justice League ran into the same problems. Where is Superman? How does Batman know Wonder Woman already? What is that spaceship still doing in the middle of Metropolis??

So when Aquaman was released in December of 2018, the marketing seemed to steer clear of anything related to Justice League or other previous DCEU outings.

Here was a movie you could take your whole family to and enjoy at face value. A fun adventure around the globe that you didn’t have to think too hard about. Even though it’s technically a part of a franchise, it may have received a box office boost by distancing itself from previous films as much as possible.

Image: Marvel Studios

But Marvel movies are all super connected and don’t need this boost, right? Well, take Ant-Man and the Wasp. Released soon after the record-setting Avengers: Infinity War, the film may have suffered from being set in a cinematic universe and relying too much on that universe’s narrative.

Why is Scott under house arrest? Where are the Avengers? Does this take place before or after Infinity War? Which movies do I have to watch to understand this one? Ant-Man and the Wasp made $622 million.

A movie starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglass, Laurence Fishburne, and Michelle Pfeiffer with an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, and set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe made $200 million less than whatever Venom was.

Despite not being critically adored, both Venom and Aquaman may have benefitted from being on their own. Venom doesn’t even pretend to be related to anything else and besides a quick reference to Justice League, Aquaman is in his own adventure, no strings attached.

This can occasionally give other blockbusters a lift as well. Films like Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim, Kong: Skull Island, and The Meg are all singular, simple, and fun films that did very well at the box office, despite not all being critically acclaimed.

Given the information presented thus far, it would stand to reason that the perfect storm of movie money-making would be a movie in an established franchise that doesn’t require any movie homework.

A movie like Jurassic World. A film with all-new stars in an all-new park set in a world we all know and love. The film made $1.672 billion and is the 5th highest grossing movie of all time.

Image: Universal Pictures

Or Star Wars: The Force Awakens. An all-new cast and storyline so you don’t have to watch the originals to get it. Ever wonder why the marketing seemed to avoid mentioning that it was the 7th episode in the space opera? The movie made $2.068 billion and is the 3rd highest grossing film of all time.

There are obviously exceptions to the rule, but in a world now filled to the brim with sequels, prequels, reboots, and remakes, films that stand on their own can feel like a much-needed breath of fresh air.

DC has already confirmed that they plan on focusing on individual films moving forward instead of a shared universe. This doesn’t mean that other studios should halt production on all of their reboots or sequels but perhaps they should consider releasing the occasional untethered blockbuster because these simple and fun palette cleansers could be just the boost they need.