MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: During the New York Times DealBook Summit, held on November 30, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke about his dissatisfaction with the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, ‘The Marvels’.
Iger, who resumed his role as CEO of Disney in November 2022, attributed the film's poor performance to the lack of supervision during its production, which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that there were not enough executives overseeing the film's production, saying, “The Marvels was shot during COVID. 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.”
What’s the reason for MCU’s releases doing badly at the box office?
‘The Marvels', the 33rd film in the MCU, had the franchise's lowest opening weekend ever, generating only $47 million domestically.
With barely $187 million in international earnings thus far, it's likely to complete its theatrical run as a flop.
The director of ‘The Marvels', Nia DaCosta, started working on another movie during postproduction, according to a prior report from Variety.
"If you're directing a $250 million movie, it's kind of weird for the director to leave with a few months to go," a source familiar with the situation told the outlet.
21-year-old star Iman Vellani, who plays Ms. Marvel in the movie, previously said the film’s issues at the box office were Iger’s problem.
“I don’t want to focus on something that’s not even in my control, because what’s the point? That’s for Bob Iger,” Vellani told Yahoo Entertainment.
The New York Post called ‘The Marvels’, “a sad study of the downfall of America’s favorite screen franchise.”
The movie which stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, and Samuel L Jackson among others currently holds a 61% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Iger reflected on Disney's past successes, including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios, as though they were a thing of the past.
“I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved,” Iger said.
The media business executive added, “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.”
Disney Studios has recently suffered a setback with their latest animated feature, ‘Wish,’ which stars actress Ariana DeBose.
Despite opening during the highly profitable Thanksgiving holiday week, the film has grossed a total of $51 million to date.
This figure falls short of the expected box office returns and may be viewed as a disappointment for the company as well.
Internet tells Bob Iger why Disney productions are tanking
People on X reacted to Disney CEO Bob Iger’s comments on the New York Times DealBook Summit when asked why the studio’s recent theatrical offerings aren’t performing as expected at the box office.
One X user said, “Can’t have it both ways bob!!"
Another user declared with finality, "Nope Disney is dead to me and my family"
"Disney was always the safest content you could place in front of your unsupervised children. They used to take pride in being wholesome…," one user reminisced.
Another user had some advice for Disney and tweeted, "Bob and Disney need to read my words: Spot pumping out the same movie over and over again. This isnt rocket science."
One more user said: "How about stop doing remakes?"
One admirer of Marvel tweeted, "Good luck. Will never see you in the box office ever again. And this is coming from a Marvel fan."
"Disney no longer knows quality," another user wrote.
Finally, this X user said: "Simple fix. Go back to what worked and build on it. But they aren't capable of doing that. Especially when you hire on a super green director who has done essentially nothing and has no talent to direct 10 projects for you based on DEI."
