By Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared at The New York Times‘ annual BookDeal summit yesterday and he had some things to say about the direction the studio is going and the recent disastrous box-office of “The Marvels”.
The superhero film debuted to just $47 million domestically in its opening weekend, the lowest MCU start to date, and sank like a stone in its subsequent weekends.
Whilst many have attributed the film’s failure due to the increased output and subsequent decline in the overall quality of work from Marvel Studios, Iger says it really came down to a lack of executive supervision:
“‘The Marvels’ was shot during COVD, there wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives there, really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.”
This year will mark the first time since 2014 (pandemic years of 2020/21 aside) that Disney hasn’t launched a billion-dollar release. The studio hit a high of seven billion dollar grosses in 2019, a feat Iger admits will be near impossible to replicate:
“I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved. 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.”
Speaking about Disney’s output on a larger scale, Iger tackled the topic of the studio focusing too much on sequels and reportedly admits they made too many:
“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 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.
It doesn’t mean we’re not going to continue to make them. 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.”
Iger also explained that the rise of streaming has impacted audience’s expectations and made tentpole releases feel less like major cultural events:
“I think we’ve conditioned the audience to expect that these films will be on streaming platforms relatively quickly and that the experience of accessing them and watching them in the home is better than it ever was. One, easier to access in terms of the technology and two, just the visuals – better sets in your living room than before – and a bargain when you think about it.”
Iger returned to Disney a year ago and less than a year after retiring as executive chairman in December 2021. Bob Chapek took over for Iger in February 2020, a switch Iger now considers a mistake:
“I was disappointed in what I was seeing in the transition period and while I was out. I worked hard to build the company into what it was over that long period of time. I was proud of those accomplishments. It hurts when something that you’ve put your heart and soul into and care about so much is going through a difficult time.”
Iger’s contract now runs through 2026 and says at that time he’ll definitely be done: “Yeah, I’m definitely going to step down.”
Source: CNN, The New York Times, CNBC
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