10 Lessons We Took Home From The Movies In 2012

4. People Like Superhero Movies… A Lot

Superhero movies are officially the dominating genre in cinema today, and none more than in 2012. Forget whether or not that’s an established technical fact or I’ve just used the word officially to trick you into siding with my argument, it just feels true, doesn’t it? And in a year where both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises ruled the cineplexes and made over a billion dollars each in box office receipts, the superhero movie has never been more popular (and/or relevant). The world has gone full-out superhero cwazy!

Of course, the studios know just how true that is, and have decided to milk the superhero cow until the poor thing’s udders pop off and milk just, like, goes everywhere. But they’ve tapped into something amazing, you see, and that’s in their discovery that geeks love “cinematic universes,” universes in which characters can pop up and say things in one movie, despite the fact that, wait, this isn’t their movie! Great! People like this a lot. It pleases them. It pleases Marvel too.

So as a result of this year’s massive success with superhero flicks and all its associations, there are a further five Marvel-based sequels in the works, a Superman spin-off coming next year, plans for a Justin League movie (and individual installment movies to build up the team, we gather), and countless other attempts to make other less-popular superheros popular. Good luck, Ant-Man.