Whether or not you’ve enjoyed everything Marvel Studio has put out since the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, most people agree on the fact that something is different. The movies are not being received the same. The crowds are not showing up like they once were and maybe most importantly, the reviews aren’t nearly as high and untouchable as they once were. It seems like the “superhero films have run their course” crowd might have something to their points, now. I’ve also seen the return of people tired with the saturation of superhero films after thinking that mindset had died around Captain America: Civil War.
While it’s really hard to keep a property going endlessly, the James Bond, Fast and Furious, Star Wars and Mission Impossible franchises, among others, show that you can do it. The problem with Marvel Studios’ approach as compared to these other franchises seems to be frequency & budget. While these franchises release movies often enough, they’re not usually releasing multiple $150-$200 million dollar movies a year. If your operating costs for the year are close to a billion just for four movies, they’re going to have to see significant returns to compensate for the production and marketing of those films. A lot of times studios won’t even add in the marketing costs to the film’s budget because it would make the total cost even more absurd.
A $200m blockbuster is likely going to spend about that much on marketing, as well. Whether it’s inking promotional deals with fast food companies or soft drink companies, running primetime spots during major events, or the promotional tours the actors go on, the costs for promoting the film is often almost a one for one to the film’s budget. In most cases it makes sense, but there will be those occasions where a film sucks no matter how much you spend on it and in that circumstance, sometimes discretionary marketing is the better part of valor. As much as film executives are expected to promote and create hits, they’re also expected to realize when something won’t live up to expectations and to mitigate fallout.
Building on this logic, it also makes sense to look at a franchise like Marvel and ask if it might not be worth it to dial back on the budgets for these films until the audiences show they’re fully invested in the new storylines. Marvel Studios cannot control the fact that Chadwick Boseman’s death has disrupted what was supposed to be their second act nor can they help the fact that Jonathan Majors is currently fighting some serious allegations. What they can control is whether these stories are something that must be told right now or if there’s a way for them to rework their plans into something a bit more manageable for the time being.
Some of Marvel Studios’ best films have been under the $150m budget range (Ant-Man was $130) and several others have been under $200m (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 was $170m), so they have shown they can do it. I do recognize that these types of films are heavy on CGI and that’s going to drive up the cost. I get that it is what it is, but the solution to that is maybe going back to three films a year? They could even try doing two films a year for a couple years to see if starving fans of films regenerates interest.
That doesn’t mean Marvel would have to cut down on the shows or even smaller movie events strictly meant for Disney+, it just means they wouldn’t have to create films with a budget of at least $400m just to get everything off the ground. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was absolutely tremendous and it was much cheaper for Marvel Studios to produce and was received incredibly well. It also served as a buffer between the movies that actually made the third film a bit more enjoyable as a result.
Not every movie has to be Avengers: Endgame, some of the best stories in the Marvel Universe feature smaller and more intimate settings. I think of stories like ‘Power Man and Iron Fist’ or ‘Vision’ or even ‘Days of Future Past’ and ‘What If?’ They are smaller, self-contained stories and they manage to not only capture the “what” and “who” of a character, but more often than not they’re also heavy on the “why” of a character, really getting into their deeper self. If Marvel can somehow take their ability to do this in print and translate it to their upcoming slate of movies, I still think they have the ability to dominate the conversation at the box office.
For the sake of MCU’s future, I hope they change something.
