Marvel Made Too Many Movies And Shows, Says Person In Charge Of Making Marvel Movies And Shows
Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, believes he knows why Disney’s summer flicks have flopped in theaters. Both Elemental and Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny have underperformed since their release, and according to Iger, Disney has Marvel to blame. Via Variety, Iger thinks that Marvel has made too many shows and movies, especially on Disney+, which has diverted the audience’s attention and removed any sense of urgency when it comes to seeing new films.
“Marvel’s a great example of that… They had not been in the TV business at any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of television series, and frankly, it diluted focus and attention. That is, I think, more of the cause than anything.”
Bob Iger
It’s not just Marvel. Iger shares the blame with Pixar and the pandemic, saying that it’s a combination of the multitude of Marvel content and Pixar releases that went straight to streaming that have stopped Disney fans from feeling the need to go to the theater.
While the world was shut down, Disney released Soul, Luca, and Turning Red straight to Disney+, skipping the cinema altogether, and dooming post-pandemic films, Lightyear and Elemental, which were released exclusively to theaters.
Iger says that by coming out with new Marvel content one right after the other, Disney has messed with their audience’s expectations and screwed themselves over financially in the process. He stated that by creating so much content so close together, the creators behind the MCU have been taxed “way beyond” their abilities, which has diverted the focus of both the movie-makers and the audience.
As a result, the latest theatrical release from the MCU, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, underperformed and didn’t reach the minimum box office expectations of $500 million.
Disney’s New Marvel Strategy
Learning from its failures, Disney aims to reframe its strategy, including the amount of content that Marvel will be releasing. Iger has cited that entering the TV business and creating many new TV series has diluted the attention of fans, which has cut into the entertainment conglomerate’s purse strings.
Going forward, Iger stated that Marvel is going to look very different. No longer will the studio focus on series following a single character, but the MCU will instead focus on pulling in new faces from the plethora of characters available in the comic book source material. Now, Marvel will focus on making one or two movies about a certain character but will not make a third or fourth film in a single series.
Iger’s goal is to bring audiences back into the theaters and pull them away from their home screens. To do this, he’s revamped what the next phase of Marvel looks like, saying that there will be a lot of “newness.”
Now, Marvel will focus on making one or two movies about a certain character but will not make a third or fourth film in a single series.
For instance, the MCU will go back to the Avengers, but instead of focusing on the characters we’ve known for nearly two decades, there will be an entirely new set of Avengers soon to be seen on screen.
While Marvel works out exactly what its new strategy looks like, Disney is leaving other films in theaters longer, and waiting to add them to its streaming catalog. Elemental, which was released to theaters in mid-June, is not expected to start streaming until September. Indiana Jones 5 hit theaters at the end of June and currently does not have an anticipated streaming date.
