Marvel Studios is starting to scale back on its television output. According to a new report from Collider, the studio will be releasing far fewer series
It’s not just Marvel, it’s the same for Star Wars. They’ll keep some animated shows going, but not live action. (The exceptions being Daredevil Born Again, which I expect to maybe get one more season and then wrap up and Ahsoka which will likely pivot to a film after this season.) As for Disney Animation/Pixar, they’re also scaling those way back on Disney+.
Disney clearly feels it has “enough” Disney+ content to keep the current subscribers and they don’t see these shows bringing in new subscribers. The next step is to finish their Hulu app/content merger and use that to convince people to stick around.
Honestly I’m a bit bummed they never really figured out how to make this all work. But if it leads to more animated shows I’ll call it a win since those tend to be great.
Disney realized that making a content rich interconnected universe left many viewers feeling like they had homework needed to enjoy other movies. This reduced watch rates of newer releases that was initially unrecognized because COVID gave everyone the time to catch up. But 3 years later it’s a large backlog that anyone who wants to get into the movies (and wants explanations for what they are talking about, looking at you Multiverse of Madness) will need to start with hundreds of hours of content. And much of it is just “okay” so people have stopped watching. Avengers Doom is almost guaranteed to be less profitable than any other Avengers movie because of all the burnout.
Disney pulling back is admitting they shit the bed with the delivery. Feige got too much control over the Marvel universe without anyone to rein him in.
No offense to Dune, but Avengers films make Billions of dollars, something no Dune film has done. And any film than follows a Spider-Man film, also makes serious money.
I get that what happened in the past is no guarantee of future success, but Dune is the film taking the risk here.
I do think it’s possible Dune walks away making more money at the box office, but I don’t think it’s likely.
Feige got too much control over the Marvel universe without anyone to rein him in.
So I agree with you mostly, until this part. Feige has often had to fight for control, especially when it comes to television, but once he had full control of Marvel the issue was that then CEO Bob Chapek demanded MORE content for Disney+ than Feige was ready for.
And the reason I think this holds true is that both Marvel and Star Wars, and to a lesser extent Disney Animation/Pixar, all created things that didn’t quite live up to the quality that came before it.
The truth is Marvel has struggled to tell stories across media. Marvel Films, under Feige, have generally done a good job but Marvel Television, not under Feige, have largely struggled. With the exception of the Captain America: Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD crossover, they never felt like the same universe.
Once Feige got complete control over both he struggled to line up TV and films. Primarily because it caused him to be stretched too thin, but let’s not forget the global pandemic and the fact that Jonathan Majors’s issues forced a huge shift in overall storyline.
The best MCU shows are largely at the begining, WandaVision and Loki season 1, when they’re treated as films that jump off from existing storylines and are essentially miniseries. But this is also during the pandemic when there isn’t as much competing for Feige’s time. Once we begin to exit the pandemic and films ramp up, now Feige only has so much time.
Plus the TV series aren’t really treated as TV series, they’re treated as films. That’s the part Kevin Feige fucked up, arguably. From an overarching story perspective I think it was actually fine. The ability to tell the stories of Moon Knight or She-Hulk were great. We got to have fun adventures with these characters. Do they translate to film? No, not really, but they make for good stories.
But this is where the homework argument comes in. Sam Wilson is Captain America. The TV show shows his struggles. It gives him a chance to “earn” the role. Should that be a film? Or can the next film just have him be Captain America?
WandaVision has Wanda having kids, but ultimately losing them. In Multiverse of Madness, can she fight to find her kids? Does that make sense?
Or let’s look more recently, Daredevil Born Again deals with Kingpin becoming Mayor of New York and taking issue with vigilantes. How does Spider-Man deal with that? Ms Marvel is just over in New Jersey, what is her reaction? How do you handle these types of crossover?
That’s the real issue the MCU never really figured out.
It’s not just Marvel, it’s the same for Star Wars. They’ll keep some animated shows going, but not live action. (The exceptions being Daredevil Born Again, which I expect to maybe get one more season and then wrap up and Ahsoka which will likely pivot to a film after this season.) As for Disney Animation/Pixar, they’re also scaling those way back on Disney+.
Disney clearly feels it has “enough” Disney+ content to keep the current subscribers and they don’t see these shows bringing in new subscribers. The next step is to finish their Hulu app/content merger and use that to convince people to stick around.
Honestly I’m a bit bummed they never really figured out how to make this all work. But if it leads to more animated shows I’ll call it a win since those tend to be great.
Disney realized that making a content rich interconnected universe left many viewers feeling like they had homework needed to enjoy other movies. This reduced watch rates of newer releases that was initially unrecognized because COVID gave everyone the time to catch up. But 3 years later it’s a large backlog that anyone who wants to get into the movies (and wants explanations for what they are talking about, looking at you Multiverse of Madness) will need to start with hundreds of hours of content. And much of it is just “okay” so people have stopped watching. Avengers Doom is almost guaranteed to be less profitable than any other Avengers movie because of all the burnout.
Disney pulling back is admitting they shit the bed with the delivery. Feige got too much control over the Marvel universe without anyone to rein him in.
That and they have the audacity to think that it can compete with Dune Part 3 releasing on the same day.
No offense to Dune, but Avengers films make Billions of dollars, something no Dune film has done. And any film than follows a Spider-Man film, also makes serious money.
I get that what happened in the past is no guarantee of future success, but Dune is the film taking the risk here.
I do think it’s possible Dune walks away making more money at the box office, but I don’t think it’s likely.
So I agree with you mostly, until this part. Feige has often had to fight for control, especially when it comes to television, but once he had full control of Marvel the issue was that then CEO Bob Chapek demanded MORE content for Disney+ than Feige was ready for.
And the reason I think this holds true is that both Marvel and Star Wars, and to a lesser extent Disney Animation/Pixar, all created things that didn’t quite live up to the quality that came before it.
The truth is Marvel has struggled to tell stories across media. Marvel Films, under Feige, have generally done a good job but Marvel Television, not under Feige, have largely struggled. With the exception of the Captain America: Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD crossover, they never felt like the same universe.
Once Feige got complete control over both he struggled to line up TV and films. Primarily because it caused him to be stretched too thin, but let’s not forget the global pandemic and the fact that Jonathan Majors’s issues forced a huge shift in overall storyline.
The best MCU shows are largely at the begining, WandaVision and Loki season 1, when they’re treated as films that jump off from existing storylines and are essentially miniseries. But this is also during the pandemic when there isn’t as much competing for Feige’s time. Once we begin to exit the pandemic and films ramp up, now Feige only has so much time.
Plus the TV series aren’t really treated as TV series, they’re treated as films. That’s the part Kevin Feige fucked up, arguably. From an overarching story perspective I think it was actually fine. The ability to tell the stories of Moon Knight or She-Hulk were great. We got to have fun adventures with these characters. Do they translate to film? No, not really, but they make for good stories.
But this is where the homework argument comes in. Sam Wilson is Captain America. The TV show shows his struggles. It gives him a chance to “earn” the role. Should that be a film? Or can the next film just have him be Captain America?
WandaVision has Wanda having kids, but ultimately losing them. In Multiverse of Madness, can she fight to find her kids? Does that make sense?
Or let’s look more recently, Daredevil Born Again deals with Kingpin becoming Mayor of New York and taking issue with vigilantes. How does Spider-Man deal with that? Ms Marvel is just over in New Jersey, what is her reaction? How do you handle these types of crossover?
That’s the real issue the MCU never really figured out.
Isn’t it already lining up to break like all records again?