After the massive success of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and the pandemic, Marvel Studios and its president Kevin Feige have had difficulties in reaching the kind of audience it used to, Empire reported.
The studios recent films such as last year’s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels seriously underperformed. The Paul Rudd-starrer earned $106.1 million at the domestic box office and $476 million worldwide. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 46% Tomatometer, but a kinder 82% rating from the audience.
On the other hand, the Brie Larson-led movie grossed $46 million in the US and $206.1 million worldwide. However, it did earn a higher Tomatometer rating at 62% and an also kinder audience rating of 82%.
Marvel Studios’ underdog strategy
However, Marvel has had much success in the streaming series on Disney+, chief among these is Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. But a series’ success in streaming is less transparent than that of a film’s.
This has caused a rethink in how the studio will move forward. One of its strategies is to dial down the number of projects Marvel will make so the audience will have time to process.
Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito told Empire, “It’s been a rough time.”
“If we just stayed on top, that would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. We took a little hit, we’re coming back strong,” he added.
This dialing down is going to be one of Marvel’s moves in the future.
“Maybe when you do too much, you dilute yourself a little bit. We’re not going to do that anymore. We learned our lesson. Maybe two to three films a year and one or two shows, as opposed to doing four films and four shows,” D’Esposito continued.
Feige sees this as a positive.
“It’s nice to be able to rally behind one feature project this year,” he said.
“I’m much more comfortable being the underdog. I prefer being able to surprise, and exceed expectations. So it does seem like the last year, which has not been ideal, has set us up well for that,” Feige added.
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“You’d have to live under a rock not to know that the last few Marvel movies have failed to ignite the world in the way that so many did,” the director said.
“We do come along at an interesting time. And we are decidedly something different. Whether it is of Messianic proportions, time will tell,” he added.
While it’s difficult to see Marvel as an underdog due to the massive amount of success it has enjoyed since Iron Man burst into the scene in 2008, the recent box office disappointments have made them look as such. The studio’s response to this has been releasing several huge films in a year.
The MCU by the numbers
In 2021, the studio tried to come back with a vengeance after the pandemic with four movies: Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Among these, the only project comparable to the success of the Avengers’ financial success is the Tom Holland-starrer Spider-Man: No Way Home. It earned $1.92 billion on the worldwide box office.
His fellow Avengers Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow did decent numbers domestically with $80.4 million, but its worldwide box office results suffered due to its “hybrid” release.
When the films didn’t do as well as expected, Marvel turned to its parent company’s streaming service, Disney+. However, they did the same thing: inundating the audience with five shows in the same year: WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, What If…? and Hawkeye.
The studio held back a little bit by releasing three movies in 2022: Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer is the most financial successful of these, approaching the billion-dollar mark. The other two less so, but still did decently in the box office, just a couple hundred million short of $1 billion.
In the streaming world, Marvel launched the same number of series: Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Among these, Ms. Marvel had the highest critic and audience rating while the Tatiana Maslany-led series did not fare well in the ratings.
Last year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe began its Phase Five with three films: the previously mentioned Quantumania and The Marvels and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The Chris Pratt-led movie was the most financially successful with $118.4 million in the domestic box office and a total of $845.55 million worldwide.
On Disney+, Loki and What If…? returned for their second seasons and Secret Invasion premiered. The latter didn’t resonate with the audience as it earned 46%, but the critics gave it a small bump with a 52% Tomatometer.
This year, Marvel launched one series on Disney+, Echo, and plans for another later in the year, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. The studio plans to release only one movie this year, Deadpool & Wolverine.
Time will tell if the strategy to be more circumspect will turn Marvel’s fortunes around.
