It's so rare to get good news these days that when it comes it's hard to believe at first. THR reports that one of Marvel's insufferable ideologues, Victoria Alonso, has been fired. For those who don't know, Alonso has been with Feige since 2006, so she's deeply imbedded within the org (this optically is bigger than Bob Chapek firing exec Peter Rice in June). While she's hardly alone in shouldering responsibility for the horrors of Marvel Phase Four and Five (Nate Moore and Feige himself are also to blame), she's certainly the most publicly irritating and apparently the key figure in believing that the mantel of a hero (as in, the outfit/name/power set) is all that matters, not the person (and thus, the endless gender/race swaps/replacements). This means we'll be getting the X-Men rather than "The Mutants" at some point, albeit almost certainly with the same hackneyed writing and inane casting that's deeply ingrained at Disney (ex-Rick and Morty writers have become the equivalent of Bad Robot alums). What I think this means is Bob Iger decided to rattle Kevin Feige and let him know things have to change in terms of success--he's no longer untouchable. The thing is, I don't think Feige or Iger actually understand the problem, so I can't see them solving it. Let's briefly look at the box office for Phase Four (in order):
2021Black Widow - 379 (+125 D+)Shang-Chi - 432Eternals - 402Spider-Man 3 - 1.912 (w/Sony)2022Doctor Strange 2 - 955Black Panther 2 - 858Thor 3 - 7602023Ant-Man 3 - 463
Every film underperformed except for the memberberry/nostalgia-rich Spider-Man 3, with four of them losing money. This isn't to mention the horror show on D+ culminating in the mindnumbingly awful She-Hulk. Merch sales are dead, butts in seats have tanked, and the brand has stopped being must-see for casuals. As a fan (go read my archive), I haven't felt compelled to see a Marvel film since Spider-Man 2 or a show since Loki. Emergency re-shoots were required for virtually all these films, but to no apparent benefit.
Along with Alonso's departure, delays are now hitting all D+ MCU shows. A few weeks ago we knew that most of the shows were delayed, but now it seems like all are being shuffled to some degree (cf). The problem facing Marvel, however, is that most of these projects are completed and no one wants them. Their potential value decreases every day as the entertainment industry is forced (financially) to find other approaches to sell to the consumer (as opposed to their reflexive fan-baiting). Putting Echo or Agatha Harkness out in a couple of years won't make them bomb any less (they will probably do even worse). Re-shooting these projects is prohibitively expensive and there's no inherent interest in them anyway, so what can they do? If Iger was bold he'd quietly shelve most of them and release Loki season two and Secret Invasion ASAP--get them out of the way so you can move on. I don't think Iger is either willing or able to do that, so he's going to add a few jokes (ala Ant-Man 3), watch them bomb, and then hope that in 2025 or 2026 they put out films/shows people actually enjoy. The sad thing is, the bar for success is not high. Wednesday is a mediocre show but a huge hit (I unfortunately had to sit through that entire show). Stranger Things is a tremendously uneven show, but dwarfs almost everything else (it remains 'must-see' TV for casuals). Jurassic Park 6 is a muddled mess, but made a ton of money. Making hits isn't that difficult, but requires semi-competent writing and that's where Marvel has been failing (there are casting issues as well, but things like Falcon and the Winter Soldier weren't held back because of casting). To quote MCU inanity, they "need to do better!"
You'd be forgiven if you were unaware that Shazam 2 had hit theaters. Making a sequel to a film almost no one watched in 2019 is an odd idea to begin with (see Sony below), but as the IP was tied to Black Adam that didn't matter until Discovery bought WB. It's arrived in theaters with less potency than Sony's flop Morbius (30 vs 39 opening weekend) and could be the worst DC box office yet (beating James Gunn's uberflop The Suicide Squad--talk about failing upwards!). This is a final gift from the prior regimes (et tu, Sarnoff?), kicked off by Johns/Berg and wrapped up by Sarnoff. Let's re-visit the box office results per regime (cf):
SnyderverseMan of Steel (2013) - 668Batman v Superman (2016) - 873Suicide Squad (2016) - 746Snyder Cut (2021) - HBO MaxCyborg (cancelled)Harley Quinn vs the Joker (cancelled)The Batman (cancelled)Hybrid (Snyder/Johns+Berg )Wonder Woman (2017) - 822Justice League (2017) - 657Johns/Berg (May/16)Aquaman (2018) - 1.148Shazam! (2019) - 366Joker (cancelled)Deathstroke (cancelled)Hamada (Jan/18; Johns was there until June, but had been moved out of film)Joker (2019) - 1.074Birds of Prey (2020) - 205New Gods (cancelled)Black Manta film (cancelled)Sarnoff (June/19; Hamada still there, but with limited creative control)Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - 169The Suicide Squad (2021) - 168The Batman (2022) - 770Black Adam (2022) - 392Shazam 2 (2022) - 64 (thus far)Blue Beetle (2023)Batgirl (cancelled)The Wonder Twins (cancelled)Supergirl (believed to be cancelled, eg)Hybrid (Sarnoff/Zaslav)The Flash (2023)Aquaman 2 (2023)ZaslavJoker 2 (2024) - currently filmingThe Batman 2 (2025) - production to begin in November
DC hasn't had a hit since 2019's Joker (which arrived at the height of comic film mania), with every release since losing money other than The Batman (which underperformed). In the race to the bottom, the MCU is competing with the worst of DC's efforts and thus far Zaslav's efforts of righting the ship by bringing in James Gunn has failed to do anything other than agitate the fanbase (cf).
Since we're looking at comicbook films, let's wrap-up by visiting the little brother among the big three IP holders and remind ourselves that yes, Sony is still making Marvel movies. By releasing at a slower pace, it's theoretically easier for Sony to adjust to changing approaches, but whether that's actually happening creatively is debatable.
Venom (2018) - 856Into the Spiderverse (2018) - 375 (animated)Venom 2 (2021) - 506Morbius (2022) - 167Kraven (2023) - post-productionEl Muerto (2024) - pre-productionMadame Web (2024) - post-productionAcross the Spiderverse (2024) - release shifted twice already (animated)Venom 3 (TBD) - pre-preductionSilk (announced in 2018 as a film) - became an Amazon show in 2021, changing showrunners in 2022 (TBD)Uncertain/Shelved ProjectsSinister Six (in theory since 2013)Silver & Black (various iterations since 2017)Mysterio (floated in 2017)Nightwatch (floated in 2018)Jackpot (floated in 2018)Olivia Wilde project (believed to be Spider-Woman, announced in 2020)Robert Orci project (scooped to be happening via The Wrap, nothing has been heard since)
Sony has released four films with only the original Venom being a hit (and an ephemeral one, as it was unable to support its own sequel). Into the Spiderverse had Shazam box office numbers, but you'd never know that from the way the media sqees about it (and a sequel six years after the original is beyond odd--it's not Avatar after all). Sony's approach has been scattershot and I'd take projects in pre-production with giant grains of salt (El Muerto and Venom 3). Amy Pascal inexplicably has influence over these projects, despite being fired from Sony (clearly she has some control over the rights), meaning stupidity is injected into everything Sony does, even though her pet projects (such as Silver & Black) generally don't see the light of day.
This article was written by Peter Levi
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