Disney Needs Star Wars And Marvel Breaks For Audiences, They’ll Obliterate The Box Office And Streaming

When Disney launched its own streaming service, the releases were gradual at first, but starting in 2021, the app became bloated with Marvel and Star Wars TV releases.

In 2019 and 2020, The Mandalorian was the only show from either franchise. In 2021, a whopping five Marvel shows were released along with The Book of Boba Fett.

In the following years, another ten Marvel and Star Wars shows were released, as well as sequel seasons to existing shows.

While Star Wars hasn’t had any movies released in the 2020s, Disney flooded that market with Marvel movies as well.

The decade has already seen 10 Marvel movies, beginning with 2021’s Black Widow. The overwhelming barrage of releases has overwhelmed even mega fans like me, let alone more casual fans.

This has created an environment where I haven’t had time to miss two of my all-time favorite franchises. When The Force Awakens came out in 2015 I was excited about the prospect of new Star Wars movies because there had been a full decade between films.

While I was mostly underwhelmed by the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the hype leading up to episode VII proves that time between releases builds hype.

Fortunately, it seems that Disney is learning its lesson and slowing down the pace of new releases at least for movie releases.

Deadpool and Wolverine will be the only Marvel movie coming out this year and the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu will be the first Star Wars movie since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. I’m excited to see what comes next for both franchises and hopeful that the gap between releases will also improve the quality of the movies.

Disney’s decision to reduce the number of Marvel movies being released is a good sign, but to me, it’s undermined by their continued TV releases.

While there’s only one Marvel movie coming out this year, there are three MCU Disney+ shows coming out in 2024 in addition to Echo, which came out in January.

Similarly, while there hasn’t been a Star Wars film in years, there have been seven seasons worth of TV shows set in the Star Wars universe since Disney+ launched. 

I love Marvel and Star Wars, but Disney has mishandled both franchises by releasing a constant stream of content. While it’s far from the only problem the brands are facing it’s one of the biggest and one that’s entirely self-made.

Diminishing box office returns and less excitement around the TV shows are the result.

Disney needs to give us regular breaks from its biggest properties to keep fans hungry for more.

If they allow fans some breathing room, it will resurrect audience interest, and the entertainment giant will reap the rewards.

Until they cut back on releases I’m certain franchise fatigue will remain a consistent problem for both Star Wars and Marvel.