Bob Iger Thinks Disney is Making Too Many Sequels
In a rare admission of fault, Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed The Marvels bombing at the box office.
The latest entry into the MCU canon has only managed to gross $77 million at the domestic office and $187 million worldwide. The film is by far the biggest flop in MCU history, and it looks like it will be the first MCU title not to cross the $100 million mark domestically.
‘The Marvels’ Had a Lack of Supervision
While much has been written about “superhero fatigue”, at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Bob Iger blamed two other factors for The Marvels’ failure- lack of supervision on set and Marvel Studios being stretched too thin.
According to the Disney CEO, as The Marvels was filmed during COVID, studio executives could not be heavily involved in the film’s creation.
“The Marvels’ was shot during Covid,” Iger explained. “There wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak. Where we have executives [that are] really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.”
Disney’s Box Office Struggles
While Marvel’s struggles at the box office this year have been a target of fodder, the MCU is not the only one delivering disappointing box office results.
For the first time since 2014 (outside of the pandemic-stricken 2020 and 2021), Disney will not have a film cross the billion-dollar barrier. For context, the studio had seven billion-dollar grosses in 2019, including Avengers: Endgame, Frozen II, and Toy Story 4.
“I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved,” Iger said at the press conference. “I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed. That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.”
Too Many Sequels
Iger and Disney executives have frequently discussed a renewed focus on quality over quantity regarding the studio’s releases. However, Iger is also floating the idea that the studio has made too many sequels for the wrong reasons.
“I don’t want to apologize for making sequels. Some of them have done extraordinarily well and they’ve been good films, too. I think you there has to be a reason to make them, you have to have a good story. And often the story doesn’t hold up to is not as strong as the original story. That can be a problem,” he explained.
Expanding on the idea, Iger stated that Disney will only make more sequels if they believe in the story.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not going to continue to make them,” Iger added. “We’re making a number of them now right as a matter of fact. But we will only greenlight a sequel if we believe the story that the creators want to tell is worth telling.”
A New Day at Disney
Between Iger’s insistence that studios like Marvel and Lucasfilm may have been spread too thin and his recent comments on sequels, it is evident that a new day is dawning for Disney.
By releasing fewer films, however, the pressure will be on the studio to have hits. Hopefully, the studio will be able to regain its focus and create the kind of quality content that was previously synonymous with the Disney brand.