Disney Boss Addresses 'Superhero Fatigue'

Bob Iger says company is going to tamp down on Marvel franchise output to focus on quality
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2024 6:19 AM CDT
Disney Boss Addresses 'Superhero Fatigue'
Brie Larson in a scene from "The Marvels," which, shall we say, underperformed.   (Laura Radford/Disney-Marvel Studios via AP)

Disney had some good news to share during its latest quarterly report, including the profit its streaming services (Disney+ and Hulu) turned this time around. But CEO Bob Iger also noted during Tuesday's conference call with analysts that the company has had to contend with "superhero fatigue" around its Marvel franchise, which Iger said they'll now deal with by "[reducing] output and [focusing] more on quality," per Deadline. What that means is, Disney will release just "two good films" annually, maybe three tops, instead of the typical four, and the company will also slash its TV series from four to two.

"We are stemmed from a desire in the past to increase volume," Iger said. "We are slowly going to decrease volume." The Guardian notes that some of Disney's biggest releases last year, including The Marvels, Wish, Haunted Mansion, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, didn't do as well as hoped at the box office. Still, Iger boasted that Disney's intellectual property is "second to none," and "overall, I feel great" about the company's prospects going forward. Sequels will hopefully help drive some of that progress, he added. "There's a lot of value in sequels," he said, per Deadline, which notes follow-up films are valuable because "the properties are known and require less effort in terms of marketing." (More Disney stories.)

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