After a middling performance from the new Ant-Man, Disney may start to focus Marvel efforts to specific spots.
It has been nearly a month since the theatrical release of the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantamania. However, despite the film’s pedigree and the events it sets up in the wider MCU, it hasn’t been pulling in the best numbers, with only $420 million in global theater profits to date. With the extreme rate at which Disney has been churning out new MCU shows and films, this underwhelming performance may be a sign that it’s time to reroute a bit.
At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on Thursday, Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged that the deluge of MCU sequels and spin-offs may be getting out of hand. “Sequels typically worked well for us,” Iger said. “Do you need a third and a fourth for instance? Or is it time to turn to other characters?”
“There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand,” Iger added. “I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we’re mining, and you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole different set of Avengers.”
