The MCU is not going strong. Disney, the parent company, has decided to reduce the number of films and series offered each year, to redress the situation. In doing so, this should allow Marvel Studios to refocus on the quality of its productions.
It’s pushing an open door to say it: the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is going badly. Since phase 4, started in 2021, the films and series do not carry the same enthusiasm as the previous three. The Marvelsthe most recent MCU film, is the sad symbol of this: it flopped at the box office and the critics did not spare it.
Disney also makes this observation and it doesn’t like it at all. The entertainment empire therefore intends to take a good turn to redress the course of Marvel Studios. This requires a strong decision: a notable reduction in the number of films and series released each year. And according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, is already underway.
“Times have been tough”
Quoted by https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1787956218373255459Louis D’Esposito, the co-president of Marvel Studios, played the card of positive communication, even if ” times have been hard » for the shared universe. He even went so far as to say that it was beneficial for the MCU to stumble.
“ If we had stayed at the top, this would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. We took a little hit, and we’re coming back strong. Maybe when you overdo it, you dilute yourself a little. We’re not going to do that anymore. We have learned our lesson. »
Overall, the idea is to offer as much as possible two new Marvel-branded TV series each year — rather than four. For cinema, annual releases will be a maximum of two, and sometimes three. Bob Iger, whom Disney recalled at the end of 2022, at a time when the MCU was starting to struggle, made this announcement during a conference call.
A clear symbol of this deceleration is the year 2024: only one film is on the program, with Deadpool & Wolverine, scheduled for this summer. But a priori, a sure bet: the feature film will recall an iconic hero from the X-Men universe by associating him with one of Marvel’s most atypical protagonists – and incidentally, who is very popular.
The craze around the MCU had pushed Marvel Studios to increase the dose phase after phase. For the first two, there were between one and two films each year (2008-2015). In phase 3, the pace slipped to three films per year and even four in 2021 (no films were screened in 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic).
Since 2017, therefore, the pace has been marked. If the brakes desired by Disney apply now, we must expect a reorganization of the calendar for phases 5 and 6. In fact, four films are normally planned in 2025. Two to conclude the first, two to open the next one. The following films are affected:
Slow down, avoid superhero movie fatigue
According to Bob Iger, this will have another merit: it will force a refocusing on the quality of productions. The insufficient care given to the latest projects carried out by Marvel Studios is often singled out, with very unequal works between them. Thor: Love and Thunder And Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniato cite two examples.
Beyond the annual volume, the MCU has other problems: there has been the departure of iconic figures from the license (Captain America, Iron Man), the addition of superheroes who are poorly or not identified by the general public (The Eternals , Shang-Chi), a general tone too much of a permanent joke, special effects that are not always successful and a big bad guy who doesn’t fit.
For Disney, it’s also about not killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. We talk a lot about “superhero fatigue” to describe the saturation of projects featuring costumed people with superpowers. Because Marvel is not the only one in this niche: there are also projects from DC Comics or Sony.
A slowdown already for the films of Star Wars
Bob Iger’s comments regarding the MCU are reminiscent of those he made in 2018 regarding another very valuable license: Star Wars. One year before the release of episode 9 of the postlogy, The Rise of Skywalker, the person concerned declared his intention to space out the release of the next films further. In fact, there have been more since 2019.
The Star Wars license has in fact mainly developed in streaming, with numerous TV series. As for films, the next one should be for 2026 with The Mandalorian & Grogu (a relatively surprising project). There are also plans for a film with Rey and two other feature films. One on the dawn of the Jedi, the other on the mandoverse.
It remains to be seen whether Disney’s treatment will succeed in restoring the health of the MCU, whose image has faded.
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