When it comes to box office returns, 2023 just really hasn’t been Disney’s year.

Although we saw a LOT of big Disney movies released this year, from Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny to The Marvels to Wish and more, the box office returns for those movies have come in under expectations. But why? Well, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, part of the problem may be focusing on quantity over quality.

Bob Iger recently sat down at The New York Times’ annual DealBook summit for an interview, and according to CNN, he made comments about what he feels the company has done wrong recently with its film releases. This year saw the release of two Marvel movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels, both of which underperformed at the box office.

Iger said, “Quality needs attention to deliver quality, it doesn’t happen by accident. And quantity, in our case, diluted quality — and Marvel has suffered greatly from that.” He added, “I would say right now my number one priority is to help the studio turn around creatively.” (Iger seems to have a lot of number one priorities lately.)

But he also acknowledged that sequels could be part of the problem. He commented that Disney had “made too many” sequels that neither audiences nor critics loved.

“There has to be a good reason to make them,” Iger said. “Often, the story is not as strong as the original story, that can be a problem, but it just has to have a reason, you have to have a reason to make it beyond commerce. There has to be an artistic reason to make it, and we’ve made too many.”

However, this comes after sequels have been announced for both Toy Story and Frozen, two franchises that Iger seems to think have more potential.

Interestingly enough, Disney didn’t release any sequels in 2023 other than three Marvel movies. One, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, actually had a solid performance at the box office and was one of Bob Iger’s tent pole references in his recent Earnings Call. According to Box Office Mojo, that film scored over $845 billion, making it the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2023.

Disney’s animated film Elemental initially didn’t meet its weekend premiere goal. However, that movie rallied and eventually took in over $495 billion worldwide. Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid brought in a total of over $569 billion.

When it comes to The Marvels, Iger did previously say that he felt the lack of supervision on the set (which was filmed during COVID) was a reason the movie didn’t do well. However, that doesn’t take into account that the movie premiered during a major entertainment strike where its leads were unable to promote it.

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What do you think about Iger’s reasoning? Has Disney made too many sequels? Let us know in the comments!

The post Disney Has Made “Too Many Sequels,” Says CEO Bob Iger. Do You Agree? first appeared on the disney food blog.