You may start watching fewer Marvel movies in the future, and it's for good reason. disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger stated in a recent earnings statement call that the Marvel film studio “lost focus a bit” by prioritizing quantity over quality in its recent film releases. He also revealed that the company is reevaluating which franchises it will focus on in the future.
“One of the things I've been saying before is that, you know, volume can sometimes be detrimental to quality,” Iger said. “And in our rush to significantly increase volume, partly tied to the desire to seek more global subscribers for our streaming platform, some of our studios lost a bit of focus.”
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On the call, Iger also stated that Disney has already taken steps to address Marvel's shortcomings and has “turned down the volume” at the studio.
“So the first step we have taken is to reduce the volume. We have reduced production, particularly at Marvel. When you fix or address these problems, in movies, you do three things,” he said. “You become aggressive in making sure that the films you are making can be even better. Sometimes you kill projects you don't believe in. And, of course, you start new things that you do believe in and have much more confidence in, and we are doing all that.”
Iger stressed that in the future Marvel will focus on “stronger franchises” that are family-friendly, since its goal is to “get people out of their homes to see a movie.”
Some of Marvel's biggest film franchises include: Black Panther, Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, etc.
Last year, Marvel released three films: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which grossed $476,071,180 at the global box office, “The Marvels,” $206,089,499, and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” ”, $845,555,777, which was the highest yield of the three releases.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” faced some challenges at the box office as it received criticism from fans, with a review considering it “undercooked” and “too fluffy.” Sale of tickets for the movie. diminished by 69% in its second week after debuting with $105 million in the first.
“The Wonders” too reportedly broke three Marvel Studios records that the studio surely wishes it hadn't had: the lowest domestic opening weekend debuting with $47 million, the lowest domestic box office totals, $84 million, and the lowest global box office totals in the studio history, $197 million. according to Variety.
In Disney's earnings for the first quarter of 2024 report (ended December 30, 2023), the company highlights the revenue and operating losses it generated from Marvel and other licensed products in a section called “Content Sales/Licensing and Other.” In this category, it is revealed that Disney made approximately $1.6 billion in revenue. This is a 38% decrease compared to what it obtained during the same quarter of 2022, which was approximately $2.6 billion.
Disney also reported in this section that it was facing a significant increase in operating losses. During the quarter, it faced an operating loss of $224 million, and during the same quarter last year, it only had an operating loss of $1 million.
“The increase in operating losses was due to the performance of The Marvels and Wish in the current quarter compared to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water and Strange World in the prior-year quarter,” Disney said in the report. .
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