"It's like the Avengers . . ."

The big prize in Hollywood these days seems to be creating a movie "pyramid" like Marvel Studios did with "Marvel's The Avengers," building a number of movies about individual characters then bringing those characters together in one final super-blockbuster of a movie. Let's ignore the decades of backstory and existing fans for those heroes, of course, and how hard it is to create just one successful film. There have been writer's rooms and corporate meetings out there like crazy, trying to come up with any possible intellectual property that could be built into such a model of success. Which makes you wonder . . .

Who out there is looking at Sherlock Holmes this way?

Sure, most  tend to think of Sherlock Holmes adventures being all about Sherlock and his supporting cast, but wait a minute. And list some of that cast.

Sherlock Holmes, the world's first and foremost consulting detective.

John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department.

Irene Adler, celebrity, adventuress, mistress of disguise.

Mycroft Holmes, the man who is the British Government.

Porlock, the one good man inside Professor Moriarty's criminal empire.

Hmm. Five movies there? Maybe. Porlock being the weaker of the set, one might want to give him Kitty Winter and Porky Shinwell as back-up for his film. In fact, there's a legion of characters out there to toss into all five of those characters' movies.

And then, after telling all five tales, then it comes time for them all to band together to bring Professor Moriarty down.

Possible? Definitely. Probable? Not likely.

Still, it is awfully fun to consider. And these days, you just never know what could happen, so it's not entirely out of the question.