It is official. Marvel is releasing fewer movies and TV shows in the future.
The move was threatened (promised?) by head honcho Kevin Feige early last year, saying the studio would slow down and space out the Disney+ shows during Phases 5 and 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now things are even more serious as Disney CEO Bob Iger, the man who refuses to retire or to acknowledge unions in a timely matter and who gobbles up franchises and studios like Galactus, promised to shrink the MCU. Under the new directive, Marvel will 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,” Iger said during the company’s quarterly earnings call, according to Variety.
This is not exclusive to Marvel, but part of Disney’s overall strategy to focus on quality over quantity, as proven by the incredible quality of their titles over the past couple of years and their excellent box office performances with multiple movies making over $1 billion.
Iger tried to appease fans who may be angry at this directive, promising Marvel has “a couple of good films” in 2025 (not great, mind you, just good) before we head into more “Avengers.” Marvel is saved, y’all!
Why so many Marvel films per year?
Quantity over quality has definitely been a problem with recent Marvel movies. The studio exponentially increased the number of films they released over the years, going from two to three a year, and even a record four movies in 2021 — not counting multiple TV shows in-between, too.
The thing is, it is not just the quality that has decreased, but the urgency. A lot has been said about Phase 4 of the MCU and how aimless it is, and part of the problem with the number of films released is that, once, having two or three movies per year that each added up to the overarching story was fine. There was reason to watch the next film (in addition to the quality, of course). But now, without much in terms of story or continuity, it’s hard for audiences to justify watching even one Marvel movie, let alone four each year without knowing if they will pay off. Whenever a new title tries to change the status quo, like “Eternals” or “Secret Invasion,” it is immediately retconned or solved so it doesn’t affect the rest of the MCU.
Will this new plan save the MCU, or will audiences barely register the change? Only time will tell, but as every studio presses the panic button and looks for ways to cut costs, fewer $200 million titles is not the worst idea.
