For its first three phases, the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a reasonably consistent pattern – 2-3 films a year with a slightly interlinking storyline that was spelled out from early on.
That got tossed out the window with the fourth phase as multiple TV series combined with numerous movies and no consistency with handling its multiverse-themed overarching story. It quickly got to the point that it became more like homework, and the concept of ‘superhero fatigue’ became a commonly used term.
This has led to recent MCU titles pulling in some of the softest box-office numbers and reviews Marvel Studios has seen to date. Combined with Pixar’s woes, “Star Wars” issues, and the recent disappointing numbers for “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” and Disney’s fortunes haven’t been great this year.
Speaking to CNBC’s David Faber at the Sun Valley Conference this week, Disney CEO Bob Iger says he’s putting the blame for Marvel’s recent disappointments as being on Disney going overboard on content. And there are plans to fix that:
“There have been some disappointments. We would have liked some of our more recent releases to perform better.
It’s reflective not as a problem from a personnel perspective, but I think in our zeal to basically grow our content significantly to serve mostly our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people way beyond — in terms of their time and their focus — way beyond where they had been.
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.”
Similarly, Iger also cites both “some creative misses” and the studio’s decision to put three Pixar movies on Disney+ in a row during the pandemic. That move conditioned people to expect it to be there on or close to theatrical release. The result was the disappointments of “Lightyear” and “Elemental”.
So what’s the solution? Pulling back on the amount of content, an initiative already in the works which will see the rollout of new MCU and “Star Wars” far slow down: “You pull back not just to focus, but also as part of our cost containment initiative. Spending less on what we make and making less. Marvel is a great example of that.”
Iger, who reportedly earns over $25 million annually and just extended his contract until 2026, also spoke about the current industrial action in the industry and says (via Yahoo) that actors & writers aren’t “being realistic” with their demands for fair compensation & working wages: “There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”
Source: CNBC
