Disney‘s CEO Bob Iger has admitted the company’s film slate has struggled in post-pandemic times by focusing too much on quantity and not enough on quality.
Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, in particular, hasn’t restored its luster since the epic culmination of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” There have been hits since COVID, like “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” But success has been wildly inconsistent as tentpoles like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Marvels” and “Captain America: Brave New World” were among the first comic book franchise to lose money for Disney since the MCU brought superhero movies in vogue.
However, Iger views “Thunderbolts,” which debuted last weekend to $76 million, as the “first and best example” of the studio’s new priority to make better movies.
“We’ve learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality,” Iger said on Wednesday’s investor call. “Frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe it will result in better quality. I think the first and best example of that is ‘Thunderbolts*.’”
More to come…
