After An Abysmal Box Office Performance By ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’ Disney CEO Bob Iger Signals Cutting Back Marvel Franchise Films
John F. Trent
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The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger signaled that the company plans on cutting back on Marvel franchise films in the wake of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania performing abysmally in the box office.
Robert A. Iger, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, at The Walt Disney Company’s Investor Day 2020.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has only grossed $198.1 million domestically and another $249.2 million internationally for a global gross of $447.3 million.
The film is unlikely to surpass the box office grosses of Ant-Man and the Wasp, which grossed $216.6 million domestically and $406.4 million internationally for a global gross of $623.1 million. Note these numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
The film might even struggle to surpass the unadjusted box office grosses for the first Ant-Man. That film grossed $180.2 million domestically and $338.6 million internationally for a global gross of $518.8 million.
Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
During an appearance at a Morgan Stanley conference, The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin reported Iger signaled the company plans on cutting back on how many films they make around certain characters.
Iger said, “What we have to look at at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel storytelling, but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters.”
He elaborated, “Sequels typically work well for us, but do you need a third or a fourth, for instance? Or is it time to turn to other characters? There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand. I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we are mining.”
(L-R): Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Dave Bautista as Drax, and Chris Pratt as Star-Lord/Peter Quill in Marvel Studios’ THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER. Photo by Jasin Boland. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Iger then declared, “And if you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness.”
He added, “Now, we’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole set of different Avengers, as an example.”
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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Not only did Iger detail that there might not be as many Marvel franchise films in the works, but he indicated that the company at-large has a quality problem.
He said, “You know, there’s so much consumer choice right now, and it comes back to, What is differentiated? That’s one thing obviously we have talked about, is those brands: Star Wars, Marvel and Disney and Pixar, for instance. But quality is also a differentiator.”
“I think HBO proved that well, you know, in their halcyon days when high-quality programming made a big difference, and not volume,” Iger asserted. “And because the streaming platforms require so much volume, one has to question whether that’s the right direction to go, or if you can be more curated, more — I used the word ‘judicious’ a few times — but I guess, more picky about what you’re making, and to concentrate on quality and not volume.”
(L-R): Mark Ruffalo as Smart Hulk / Bruce Banner and Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer “Jen” Walters/She-Hulk in Marvel Studios’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Iger previously indicated that quality was a problem when it came to Marvel during the company’s Q1 FY23 Earnings Results call.
While answering a question from Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson, Iger said, “In additionally we are going to lean more into our franchises, our core franchises, and our brands. I talked about curation in general entertainment. We have to be better at curating the Disney, and the Pixar, and the Marvel, and the Star Wars of it all.”
“And, of course, reduce costs on everything that we make. While we are extremely proud of what’s on the screen, it’s gotten to a point where it’s extraordinarily expensive. We want all the quality. We want the quality on the screen, but we have to look at what they cost us,” he added.
Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in Marvel Studios’ LOKI, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
While Iger seemingly understands the company has a quality program across a number of its divisions including Marvel, he was the one who created many of these problems by instituting the Reimagine Tomorrow program and pushing the company to embrace identity politics over merit.
Not only that, but he’s making decisions within the company that will double down on the root cause of the company’s quality problem.
Kevin Feige, Alan Bergman and Bob Iger attend the Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania World Premiere at the Regency Village Theatre on Monday, February 6, 2023 in Westwood, CA.
(Photo:Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)
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Disney insider WDW Pro noted Iger recently promoted Sonia Coleman to Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of The Walt Disney Company. In her previous position with the company she was “responsible for employee development and engagement, recruitment and compensation, organizational development, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for both ESPN and the general entertainment portfolio of businesses at Disney Entertainment, which include ABC Entertainment, ABC News, ABC Owned Televisions Stations, Disney Branded Television, Disney Television Studios (20th Television, ABC Signature, 20th Television Animation and Walt Disney Television Alternative), Freeform, FX, Hulu Originals, National Geographic Content, and Onyx Collective.”
WDW Pro succinctly summed up the promotion saying, “She is one in the same with all of the initiatives we’ve seen in the past which have damaged Disney greatly.” He then went through a number of red flags during her tenure including the firing of Rachel Nichols at ESPN and a lawsuit after ESPN refused to allow a pregnant woman from being exempt from the company’s COVID protocols.
It’s hard to imagine that The Walt Disney Company will be able to course correct their obvious quality programs with the CEO who caused the quality programs in the first place and appears to be doubling down on the decisions that have led to the quality problems.
At least Iger is able to admit the company does have quality problems, but whether he can fix them is a whole other animal.
Josh Gad and Bob Iger attend the Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania World Premiere at the Regency Village Theatre on Monday, February 6, 2023 in Westwood, CA.
(Photo:Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)
What do you make of Iger’s comments?
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