Marvel has to go back to the drawing board

Marvel Studios is about to change. The barrage of new movies and series of late will come to an end in Phases 5 and 6, due to a major course correction from the mothership, Disney.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off Phase 5 last week, a new chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans and critics alike were hoping for a fresh start, after a remarkably volatile Phase 4. End of the game Marvel Studios movies and series clearly lack focus. The lack of a central villain and the desire to continue to focus on an overarching plot has clearly played a trick on projects in recent years.

Marvel needs to go back to the drawing board

Little problem: too much Quantum It doesn’t seem to break that curse. In fact, Phase 5 has officially started as the lowest-rated movie in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The third Ant Man It’s not just the second movie that Rotten It’s on Rotten Tomatoes, nah eternal, but also takes the lowest rating. And we’re talking about all 31 Marvel movies!

Is Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige after the monstrous success of Avengers Endgame I lost sight of that less In fact further is? It looks a lot like that. It’s time for the studio to take a step back and go back to the drawing board. Not only do most fans think so, but Bob Iger, Disney’s returning CEO, is also clearly concerned.

Less costs, more quality

In fact, there’s a good chance that Marvel may have to scale back its plans for the next few years. Despite the fact that an extensive cinematographic agenda has been announced for some time. Iger is already hanging his hand over the big red stop button, according to a call earnings call with the shareholders.

“We think we have an opportunity to reduce costs on our entertainment side and generally in volume through more aggressive curation,” said the 72-year-old chief executive. Later in the same presentation, he specifically mentioned Marvel and Pixar, emphasizing to investors that “we need to be better at curating” production brands and “reducing costs in everything we do, because while we’re immensely proud of what appears on the screen, we have reached a point where it has become excessively expensive. And we want everything quality. We want quality on screen, but we have to see what it costs us. “

huge correction

It doesn’t stop there. Knowledgeable journalists from The Hollywood Reporter quoted in a recent article A well-informed person who is familiar with Disney’s internal planning, and speaks of a “mass fixbecause of how Marvel has worked for the last few years. In other words: years in which the flood of movies and series increased considerably.

That “massive fix” has already been subtly confirmed by Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige. In an interview Earlier this month, with Entertainment Weekly, he alluded to it: “I think one of the powerful things about Marvel Studios is that the movies and shows fit well with the zeitgeist. It’s harder to get the zeitgeist right when there are so many products and so much ‘content’, as they say, which is a word I hate”.

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Marvel boss confirms consequences

In Phase 5 and Phase 6, Marvel adjusts its strategy, according to the studio head: “We want Marvel Studios and the MCU projects to really stand out and make an impression. So people will see that as we move into Phases 5 and 6, the pace at which we launch Disney+ shows will change so that each one has a chance to shine.”

At the moment, the fix is ​​only at the expense of the shows that have been announced for Disney+. insiders predict that Echo in Iron heart will be delayed until 2024 secret invasion and the second season of Loki more room to score. A smart move, because in the barrage of new Marvel titles last year, for example mrs wonder not the attention and promotion that the program deserved.

Movies are no exception either.

So we are talking purely about the Marvel series, but it should be clear that in the future the plans for new motion pictures will also be evaluated from a completely different perspective, both by Marvel Studios and by Disney itself. Yes, Marvel is still huge. cashewBut against the backdrop of mass layoffs and restructuring, even superheroes can’t escape more frugal and prudent policy. Well, if that means the titles Marvel releases most frequently hit the mark, then you won’t hear us complain!

THRew