Bob Iger Admits Marvel Movies Haven't Been Good, Pledges To Make Less Of Them
Disney continues to face significant financial challenges after a turn into far left politics eroded much of the company's good will and some of its potential audience.
READ: Bob Iger Turns Disney Into Politics, Praises DEI In Newly Released Video
Their enormous mistakes have impacted almost every area of their business; ESPN, the film studio, animation studio and even their associated production companies. But their foremost cash cow over the past decade has been Marvel Studios, which churned out hit after hit, culminating in Avengers: Endgame.
Yet since the release of that film in 2019, Marvel has been much more inconsistent. The once-invincible studio also turned toward politics and characters with little fan interest; losing focus on what made it successful in the first place. Over the past few years, there's been some notable successes, essentially sequels, and some massive flops. Not to mention a series of mostly underwhelming television shows that have come and gone with little fanfare.
Or were She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, easily one of the most (rightfully) derided shows in the modern streaming landscape.
And as a result, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that he's set to tighten the screws on what Marvel releases.
According to Variety, Iger announced on the company earnings call that they're cutting Marvel's output. "We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three," he said earlier this week. "And we’re working hard on what that path is."
But is that enough to fix what's wrong?
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: Disney CEO Robert Iger visits FOX Business Network's "Markets Now" at FOX Studios in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Marvel Has Plenty Of Problems, Few Answers
The release of Marvel projects since 2021 shows an inconsistent track record, with a number of high-profile flops.
- The Marvels
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Thor: Love and Thunder
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Eternals
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Black Widow
The Marvels in particular was one of the biggest financial disasters in film history; the Brie Larson film cost an estimated $270 million to produce and another $270 million to market…and made just $84 million total at the domestic box office. One estimate placed total losses for The Marvels at nearly $250 million. Almost a quarter of a billion dollars on one movie.
Releasing fewer projects per year may allow Disney and Marvel to focus more on the projects they do release. But if their focus is on the wrong ideas and issues, it won't matter.
The lesson Disney is likely to learn is that the only successes, however marginal, were sequels, while their new franchise attempts failed. Instead of realizing and accepting that fans want quality storytelling, identifiable stakes and no political messaging, Disney's likely to turn Marvel even more heavily into sequels. They have no ideas other than continue pushing what they think they know works.
Putting out less product doesn't matter unless you know what makes your product good or bad in the first place. And Disney's displayed little awareness of what makes their products good or bad. Otherwise they'd never have made The Marvels in the first place.