Marvel fans have shown their hand this week following Bob Iger’s major change at the The Walt Disney Company.
Bob Iger Is Changing Things Whether Fans Like it or Not
Ever since Bob Iger returned to helm The Walt Disney Company in November 2022, following the shock ousting of Bob Chapek, he has been keen to steer the creative ship of the legacy corporation.
From swift employee cuts and a severe content purge on Disney+, the CEO, in an effort to save an initial $5 billion company-wide, has been the center of numerous criticisms over the last 18 months.
Iger has also been vocal about Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios. In three separate instances, Iger commented on various elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The CEO stated that he thought the superhero studio did not know what it was doing with its television shows in the streaming TV space before also commenting on the need to feature the same characters over and over again. He also weighed in on the “superhero fatigue” discourse—Iger says it doesn’t exist.
The use of the same characters was never clearer than from the end of 2021 through the end of 2023. In that two-year span, Marvel Studios solely released sequels on the big screen. Sure, Disney+ gained new characters like Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk, but in theaters, it was familiar faces all around.
Following Black Widow and Eternals in 2021, the studio released Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), and The Marvels (2023).
Seven sequels in just 24 months? It’s clear what Iger was referencing. And even now, Marvel Studios has the Captain America: Brave New World (2025) MCU movie readying to take flight next year. That said, the next three years Phase Five and Phase Six movies are looking positively more fresh.
This year will see Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) debut, with Thunderbolts* (2025), The Fantastic Four (2025), Blade (2025), Avengers 5 (2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) all following on from the fourth Captain America movie. Thunderbolts* will end Phase Five and Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four will open Phase Six, although seemingly in an entirely different time period.
The latest and boldest announcement from Disney CEO Bob Iger was the confirmation of Marvel’s future distribution. No longer would the studio release an unlimited amount of content in movie theaters and on the small screen via Disney+, but instead, Marvel content would be capped at three movies and two TV shows annually.
This measure course corrects the MCU in a big way. With a “new system” in place–as Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum recently discussed–and a reduction in output, Marvel will be able to give more attention to its projects.
For this year, at least, that seems to have worked. Following the industry shutdown due to COVID-19— and the snowball effect it had on development and distribution—plus the constant reshuffle and delaying of projects, only Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine remains on the 2024 slate.
But that shouldn’t be a problem for Disney and Marvel.
Fans Take Action, Send Deadpool & Wolverine to Lofty Heights
Per box office forecasts from The Quorom, Deadpool & Wolverine is on track to deliver an extraordinary $200-$239 million domestic opening weekend (via Deadline). This will easily place the third Deadpool movie, and Disney’s first, as the number-one opener of 2024 thus far.
Levy’s Marvel film will usurp Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2 (2024), which opened last weekend to a huge $155 million, beating Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024) in the process. Its worldwide gross currently stands at $294 million.
Inside Out 2 has been touted as a return to form for both Disney and Pixar Animation Studios following the quieter performance of Elemental (2023) and the flop of Lightyear (2022).
As for Deadpool & Wolverine, Forbes recently reported that the film had broken records for the most ticket pre-sales for an R-rated movie. The fan response and their action to purchase tickets will surely position Deadpool & Wolverine as the potential number-one movie of 2024.
If estimates are true, then Deadpool & Wolverine will easily cross the $1 billion global box office mark, which would be a first for Marvel Studios since Spider-Man: No Way Home.
To put it into perspective, the Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman “two-character adventure” is tracking to deliver more in its opening weekend than Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels secured in its entire theatrical run. The Marvels, which took just $206 million globally, is Marvel Studios’ worst box office performance of all time.
Like Iger’s statement on the use of the same characters (which seems to be changing), the CEO’s comments on audience fatigue also carry weight.
“A lot of people think it’s audience fatigue, it’s not audience fatigue. They want great films,” Iger said at the Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco in early March (via The Hollywood Reporter). “And if you build it great, they will come, and there are countless examples of that. Some are ours, and some are others’. Oppenheimer is a perfect example of that. Just a fantastic film.”
Related: Marvel Officially Bans Deadpool, Now-Removed Star Speaks Out
The projections for Deadpool & Wolverine do lend themselves to this analysis. If fans were bored of superheroes, would they be about to drop major cash on seeing the new Marvel movie in theaters? Likely not.
Only time will tell whether the new Deadpool movie will perform as anticipated, but it is sure looking good for the House of Mouse.
Related: Disney Values Crushed by CEO Bob Iger, New Report Proves
Deadpool & Wolverine will be released on July 26, 2024. It is directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, and Levy.
Will you be heading to see Deadpool & Wolverine this summer? Let us know in the comments down below!
