As everyone knows, the otherwise untouchable Marvel Studios had a particularly rough 2023. The disappointment of “Ant-Man: Quantumania,” the box office flop of “The Marvels,” and the critically reviled Disney+ series, “Secret Invasion,” severely put the studio on the ropes for the first time ever. But the studio is seemingly getting its house back in order. After a strong late 2023/early 2024 with the animated series, “What If…?,” the live-action series, “Echo” and the adored animated revival, “X-Men: 97,” and the promise of a reduced output, leaving fans wanting more, Marvel only has one film for 2024, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and they seem to be totally ok with that.
“It’s nice to be able to rally behind one feature project this year,” Kevin Feige told Empire this week in a cover story piece for “Deadpool & Wolverine.” “I’m much more comfortable being the underdog. I prefer being able to surprise and exceed expectations. So it does seem like the last year, which has not been ideal, has set us up well for that.”
Marvel being an underdog seems like a bit of an iffy notion, but Feige wasn’t the only one to acknowledge their rough 2024. Louis D’Esposito, Co-President of Marvel Studios, was even more candid about last year’s Marvel wobble.
“It’s been a rough time,” D’Esposito told Empire, but it seems like both executives are pretty confident that “Deadpool & Wolverine” will right the ship and the narrative that Marvel lost its touch. “If we just stayed on top, that would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. We took a little hit; we’re coming back strong.”
For what seems like the fourth or fifth time now, Disney’s Bob Iger yesterday said Marvel would scale back and not release more than three movies a year and no more than two series. And D’Esposito echoed Marvel’s new less-is-more rethink approach as well.
“Maybe when you do too much, you dilute yourself a little bit,” D’Esposito explained. “We’re not going to do that anymore. We learned our lesson. Maybe two to three films a year and one or two shows, as opposed to doing four films and four shows.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” director Shawn Levy also recognized Marvel’s pains and suggested his film would give Marvel a new spin and flavor.
“You’d have to live under a rock not to know that the last few Marvel movies have failed to ignite the world in the way that so many did,” he said. “We do come along at an interesting time. And we are decidedly something different. Whether it is of Messianic proportions, time will tell.”
Whether or not “Deadpool & Wolverine” actually deviates away from the Marvel formula or not, remains to be seen, but leaving audiences wanting more and rethinking the oversaturating the market approach seems like it should hopefully deliver some dividends.