Jay Maidment/Marvel
- Disney CEO Bob Iger plans to cut back on the number of Marvel films and TV shows released each year.
- The decision comes after a number of Marvel films underperformed at the box office.
- The only MCU film that will be released this year is "Deadpool & Wolverine."
Disney CEO Bob Iger's turn-around tour continues, and he let us in on the plan for what is arguably the House of Mouse's most successful IP: Marvel.
In Disney's first earnings call since successfully fending off a proxy battle from Nelson Peltz and its former Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter, Iger spoke about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The studio is now looking to release about two or three Marvel films and two Marvel television series a year rather than around four of each.
"I've been working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus more on quality," Iger said on the call.
As it undergoes a sort of reset, the only MCU movie that's slated for release this year is "Deadpool & Wolverine" in July. "Echo," "X-Men '97," and "Agatha" will be this year's television releases. The next Avengers film, "Avengers 5," is scheduled for 2026.
The CEO has not been shy about his thoughts on the diminishing quality of Marvel films and television shows — something he has blamed mostly on his short-lived successor, Bob Chapek, even though Iger was in charge when several recent projects were developed.
"Some of what is coming up is a vestige of basically a desire in the past to increase volume," he said on the call.
Between 2021 and 2023, Marvel released 10 feature films and 13 TV series, including two specials, which appears to have left superhero fans fatigued.
MCU movies, which were once fail-safe productions, have struggled recently. Last year's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" grossed less than $500 million globally on a combined production and marketing budget of over $300 million — meaning it failed to break even at the box office. (Typically, a movie must make back double its budget for the studio to reap a profit.) "The Marvels" fared even worse, grossing only $206 million worldwide on a budget exceeding $270 million. Both films received poor reviews.
"I'm mindful of the fact that our performance, from a quality perspective, wasn't up to the standards we set for ourselves," Iger said on an earnings call last year.
Disney's stock is down about 10% today.