Bob Iger Says A Lack Of ‘Supervision’ Doomed The Marvels, But I Don't Think That Explains The Whole Story
Bob Iger's explanation for why The Marvels has struggled at the box office doesn't explain everything.
Disney was once the king of the box office mountain when it came to the numbers, scoring one billion dollar hit after another. While every studio has had its struggles since the pandemic, Disney, being the one at the top previously, has fallen the farthest. Even the once bulletproof Marvel Cinematic Universe has struggled in 2022. The Marvels has been the latest film in that franchise to have a tough time in theaters. Disney CEO Bob Iger claims a lack of “supervision” for the movie’s poor performance. While that may be part of the answer, it certainly isn’t all of it based on the numbers.
In an interview at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit (via CNBC), Iger says that because The Marvels was shot during pandemic restrictions, and because the studio had drastically increased its MCU output between films and Disney+ series, The Marvels didn’t have the oversight that projects like it had previously had, which affected its quality. Iger explained…
Iger seems to be throwing The Marvels under the bus here a bit, claiming that the movie’s failure at the box office is a result of it not being as good as it could have been. The thing is, to be blunt, quality has never been a significant factor when it comes to box office success. Bad movies score big at the box office all the time. It’s true that critics didn’t love The Marvels the way they have other MCU movies, but the movie’s 61% Rotten Tomatoes critics score is only slightly worse than that of Thor: Love and Thunder, which grossed three-quarters of a billion dollars at the global box office.
And The Marvels has an RT audience score of over 80%, nearly 10 points better than Love and Thunder, indicating that those who have actually seen the movie like it. They don't have an issue with the quality. This means the issue, at least in part, isn’t one of quality, but simply one of getting the audience to show up at the theater in the first place.
Why the audience isn’t showing up, could be attributed to the success that streaming has had, especially for Disney. Disney+ has been a success for the company in terms of subscriber base, even if the company has yet to make money on it. Iger did acknowledge this fact during the interview, though he again indicated that he felt the determining factor for getting audiences into theaters was quality, saying…
Another factor that has been continually suggested for the recent struggles of superhero movies, not just Marvel, has been the idea of “superhero fatigue,” but Iger seems to reject that idea out of hand. He’s not looking to stop making sequels to popular movies, as long as the sequels have a “reason to make them.” He says…
At the end of the day, all fans want the MCU movies to tell compelling stories, and Bob Iger clearly thinks that the recent increase in quantity impacted quality. Certainly. The list of upcoming Marvel movies and series is lighter in 2024 than we've seen in years. With only one MCU movie set to release next year, we are certainly seeing adjustments being made already. Time will tell if the changes lead to more box office success.
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CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.