On November 10th, the highly-anticipated superhero feature, The Marvels, debuted in theaters… and totally flopped at the box office.

This movie acted as a sequel to Captain Marvel (2019), and grossed $47 million in North America — officially breaking the record for the worst-performing movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So… What went wrong?

According to the Wall Street Journal, the flop was supposedly expected, despite fans’ anticipation for the film. During the fourth quarter earnings call for 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged a problem: Disney believes to be hindering the success of films: the company is rolling out too much content — focusing on the quantity rather than quality of the films produced.

Tony Chambers, Disney’s head of theatrical distribution said, “[Opening weekend performance was] definitely not what we expected and not what we’ve hoped for.” He also shared that the creatives at Marvel were working hard to achieve an appropriate balance between the movies the brand releases in theaters as well as the episodes released on streaming platforms. 

That said, film producers believe that perhaps the movie flopped because of the fatigue that fans might be experiencing due to SO MANY different films, episodes, and research needed to understand a single film. So, when a new movie rolled around, maybe folks were like, “What’s the point?”

Speaking from a movie-goer perspective, it can be frustrating to not be able to simply relax and enjoy a film. It’s true that the Marvel Universe is so complex that homework and research must be done to fully understand a single movie or episode. Further, it’s likely that this issue is preventing Marvel from winning over new fans, as the amount of work needed to get into the cinematic universe is just too daunting.

Iger shared at the final earnings call of 2023 that a huge goal for 2024 is to bring creativity back to the studios. Many Disney movie fans have felt similarly to the film producers for a long time, wanting creative new takes to be presented in films rather than a rehashing and expansion of what already exists. Maybe we will see NEW things soon, along with Elemental, which eventually stole the hearts of Disney fans, and Disney’s upcoming movie Wish. 

We’ll continue to keep you updated with more Disney news, so make sure to follow along for more so that you never miss a thing and are always in the loop.

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Did you see The Marvels in theaters? Let us know in the comments! 

The post Disney Execs Reveal What Went Wrong With ‘The Marvels’ first appeared on the disney food blog.