Marvel Studios Hits An Inflection Point: The Worst Year In The Studios History
Long before all the events of 2023 had come to pass, writer Joanna Robinson, author of 2023’s “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios,” coined the term “Marvel Wobble” about Marvel Studios’s shaky 2023. But by the time 2023 ended, the Marvel Wobble had become the Marvel Buckle, with the studio falling down on one knee for the first time ever. 2023 was their worst year ever, without a doubt, financially, creatively, and certainly regarding public perception and negative press. Things started out poorly with “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania,” a poorly received film riddled with negative reviews (the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any Marvel feature) and only earned $476 million worldwide— Marvel’s first major box office disappointment in years outside of the understandably low pandemic numbers. Months later “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3” was a bonafide hit and righted the narrative briefly, only to be followed up by Disney+’s “Secret Invasion,” a series that was roasted by critics and still features the lowest RT score of any Marvel TV series.
Meanwhile, other PR headaches were happening at the same time. Bad-look news story after news story surfaced about Marvel’s terrible treatment of VFX companies who were overworked and underpaid (VFX artists at Marvel voted to unionize later in the year). Seemingly related, Marvel’s longtime executive producer, Victoria Alonso, a member of the elite Parliament group, was unceremoniously fired. That shocking, loud drama went very public (Alonso sued and then eventually settled with Disney). Around the same time, in March, Jonathan Majors, the actor cast as Kang The Conqueror and poised to be the next Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was charged with assault of his ex-girlfriend, and those ramifications would fully hit later in the year.
Every time Marvel would catch a break, some drama would surface that would undercut and overshadow it. “Loki” season two was generally seen as a hit, but it featured Jonathan Majors as Kang/Victor Timely, whose overall legal fate was unknown, which didn’t help. More importantly, two major negative hits arrived back-to-back in the fall just as “Loki” was about to debut. For one, Marvel’s 2024 “Daredevil: Born Again” series was shut down and mostly scrapped. All its creative leads were fired, and the series essentially had to start over again at a great cost. The ensuing article also detailed Marvel Studios TV wing chaos, revealing how the head writer of “Moon Knight” quit halfway through the series, “She-Hulk” creators were sidelined, and “Secret Invasion” also faced major creative turnover and overhaul. We dubbed this event the Marvel TV Reckoning. It culminated with Marvel essentially waving the white flag and admitting they had to do TV the “regular” way with showrunners and series bibles rather than trying to do it the Marvel movie way by salvaging it all in post with reshoots (something they realized they could not do with “Daredevil” and had to scrap it instead).
Secondly, just a few short weeks later, Variety’s Marvel In Crisis cover story did a ton of PR damage, not only recapping all the aforementioned 2023 issues Marvel Studios had already faced but also painting a portrait of a once untouchable company that had begun to teeter, second-guess themselves and greatly worry (Robinson’s aforementioned ‘Reign of Marvel Studios’ book also touched upon some of the same issues). The piece detailed a litany of issues: Marvel trying to figure out a backup plan in case Jonathan Majors’ case went to trial (affecting “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” and “Avengers: Secret Wars”), the myriad script problems they had with “Blade” (and how Mahershala Ali considered exiting the project over these issues), and perhaps most damagingly all the reports of lengthy and expensive reshoots on “The Marvels,” the sequel to the $1 billion dollar grossing “Captain Marvel” starring Brie Larson (not to mention the way the article through its black female director Nia DaCosta under the bus). Perhaps foreshadowing what was to come, “The Marvels” was a resounding flop when it hit theaters, the Studios’ biggest bomb and lowest-grossing film in the MCU history, both domestically and globally (only $205 million worldwide, and Marvel even made the rare decision to stop reporting international box office numbers). Did we mention that in the middle of this negative media blitz, the company lost its ‘Kang Dynasty’ director, Destin Daniel Cretton?
Seemingly in response—though having a good excuse in the SAG/AFTRA strikes—Marvel reshuffled its 2024 and 2025 release schedule: now there’s only one Marvel film coming in 2024, the R-Rated “Deadpool 3” (and “Captain America: Brave New World” has been delayed and sounds like its facing numerous reshoot issues too). That really should have been the end of it, Marvel licking their wounds and not having to deal with anything until summer 2024 with the third “Deadpool.” Still, Jonathan Majors’ case did go to trial, the actor was found guilty, and he was immediately fired from Marvel and his role as Kang which will, of course, cause numerous problems for their upcoming “Avengers” movies that the company is currently grappling with. Marvel did end December with stellar reviews for its animated show “What If…?” season two, but by then, the damage had been done and then some.
On a final note, Marvel’s Kevin Feige once said, essentially paraphrasing, that “rising tide lifts all boats,” aka it’s great when DC does well cause it helps the overall pool of superhero films. And one can argue the inverse was true, too. 2023 was pretty terrible for comic book movies in general, and three major DC flops (“The Flash,” ‘Shazam! 2’ and “Blue Beetle”) really paved the way for superhero movie enthusiasm to hit an all-time low when “The Marvels” was released.
What’s Next: Marvel has its work cut out for them next year, but having only one film on the 2024 movie release calendar will hopefully at least keep the notion of superhero fatigue at bay for some time.
Apple Studios And Amazon MGM Studios Release Their Movies In Theaters, And It Works
For two streamers facing corporate pressure to cut back on costs, a reliable and often profitable distribution became a real option in 2023: movie theaters. Sure, Amazon Studios used to release their movies in theaters when they first launched way back in 2015 and Apple Studios’ four-walled screens to qualify for Oscars, but this was something new. Actively spending marketing money to work with distributors for a larger gross? Yep. Something very new. Amazon MGM Studios’ “Air” was first out of the gate in April, earning $52 million in the U.S. and $90 million globally. That would be a nice double for a Hollywood studio if Amazon hadn’t reportedly spent $130 million to distribute it. In October, Apple Studios teamed with Paramount to release “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and the 3-hour and 26-minute Martin Scorsese thriller took in $156 million worldwide. Not bad at all if the movie hadn’t cost $200 million. Apple Studios then teamed up with Sony Pictures for Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.” That period war epic earned $200 million on a…$200 million budget. In November, Amazon threw Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn” in theaters only in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, and it took in $19 million worldwide. That hype sent it to no. 1 in the U.S. on Prime Video the weekend before Christmas. The Culver City-based studio will expand Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” in theaters in the weeks ahead. O.K., so none of these releases have gone into the black before hitting their respective streaming services, but they have created hype for that window, been part of the cultural conversation, and helped alleviate some of the cost. Plus, all three movies were winners for theater owners who need all the hits they can get.
What’s Next: Apple is releasing Matthew Vaughn’s “Argyle” with Universal in February and, through Sony Pictures, Greg Berlanti’s previously titled “Project Artemis” on July 12 and Jon Watts’ “Wolfs” on September 20. Amazon MGM has a ton of movies headed to theaters, including “The Beekeeper” with Jason Statham, Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” (in the U.S. only), Rachel Morrison’s “Flint Strong” and “Red One” with Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans.
“Jury Duty” Puts Amazon Freevee On The Map
Well, we’re not sure even most readers of this feature know what Amazon Freeve is or where to find it, but you’ve likely heard of “Jury Duty,” a pseudo-reality pseudo-improvisational comedy show that plucked Ronald Gladden from obscurity and turned him into a red carpet darling. Set in a fictional Los Angeles Courthouse, the series found Gladden part of a jury selection process and trial where everyone he interacted with was an actor playing a fleshed-out role. That included James Marsden, who portrayed a heightened and much less humble version of himself. The show became such a word-of-mouth hit that Amazon put it on Prime Video, where it found an even larger audience. The show was so popular that categories be damned! It landed four Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series.
What’s Next: The producers have been formulating ideas about a follow-up season, but more importantly, do you know what Amazon Freevee is now?
“The Super Mario Bros” Movie Is A Phenomenon
Universal Studios and Illumination thought their animated adaptation of the popular video game would be a hit, but they weren’t expecting this. By the end of its run in theaters, “Super Marios” was the No. 2 ranked movie for 2023 in the United States, earning $574 million. Globally, it hit $1.36 billion. It also became the highest-grossing Illumination film in the company’s 13-year history. This was a somewhat shocking result considering the public discourse over star Chris Pratt’s Italian “accent” when the trailer came out and not-so-kind reviews (it was even 59% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes). Earning an A CinemaScore grade, moviegoers simply loved seeing Mario and Luigi on screen.
What’s Next: Universal has hinted at a sequel, and Nintendo has said that Wes Ball will direct a big-screen, live-action adaptation of “The Legend of Zelda.”
Walt Disney Studios Has A Rough Summer…Sort Of
Did Disney have a tough go at it this year in theaters? Sure, but its summer box office problems were a media narrative of heightened expectations, not actual receipts. “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3” got things off to a great start, taking in $845 million globally. The quite profitable “The Little Mermaid” was somehow a disappointment after earning $118 million in its first four days in the U.S. and taking in $569 million worldwide (no, it wasn’t “The Lion King,” but what live-action, er CGI live-action movie is?). Then things got dicey. After middling reviews at Cannes, Pixar’s “Elemental” took in just $29 million on its opening weekend, and the pundit knives were out. The Pixar brand was ruined because of Disney+! “Woke” movies were a mistake! The studio had lost touch! You name it, they said it. But Disney distribution didn’t give up. It kept the family-friendly flick in theaters all summer, and word of mouth spread. By the end of its run, it reached a very profitable $496 million worldwide (and was a massive hit on Disney+ afterward). The biggest loser for Disney turned out to be Lucasfilm’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which probably never should have been greenlit in the first place. It cost $300 million and earned just $384 million in theaters. Ouch. And the new incarnation of the “Haunted Mansion,” whose promotional plan was affected by the SAG strike, took in just $117 million off a reported $150 million production budget. Double ouch.
What’s Next: Don’t cry or be concerned for The Walt Disney Company. Next summer has “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool 3” and a new “Alien” movie on tap.
Netflix Shows iIs Haters, Er, Critics The Data
Part of the strike discourse was that “the streamers” didn’t want to show the hard data regarding how successful their shows and movies were on their services. Many assumed that Netflix was the company that didn’t want full disclosure. That may or may not have been the case during negotiations (it depends on who you believe), but after both strikes were settled, Netflix decided to open the floodgates. On December 12, the service released an Excel sheet that listed over 17,000 titles and how many hours were watched between January 1 and June 30. It was an incredible disclosure of performance never seen in the streaming era. Moreover, the service promised to release the next six months, and so on and so on moving forward. While the report doesn’t have every amount of data (completion rate, per territory, etc.), it’s a monster move for talent and producers. And the top two shows during this period? “The Night Agent: Season 1” and “Ginny & Georgia: Season 2.” Did you watch either?
What’s Next: Netflix plans on continuing to release its data publicly. Overall, the other streamers have to provide their data to the WGA and SAG following the new contracts. Will Apple or Amazon be brave enough to pull a Netflix before their data leaks?
Peacock gains traction with “Poker Face,” “Mrs. Davis” and “The Traitors”
That other streamer you finally watched this year? Oh, that was Peacock. After several fits and starts, success with “Dr. Death,” and one show that will likely have new life on Netflix (“Girls4Eva”), the NBCUniversal streamer finally had some stand-out moments in 2023. It started with “The Traitors,” an Alan Cumming-hosted reality competition show that generated legitimate buzz for Peacock online and both Emmy and TCA Award nominations. It was so popular that the second season will drop episodes once a week (instead of as a binge for season one), and the Bravo celebrity-fueled series will get its own after-show. On the flip side, Rain Johnson and Natasha Lyonne’s “Poker Face” was so popular it was a rare Peacock series to crack Nielsen’s top 10 streaming chart. It also was a mainstay of most critics’ end-of-year top 10 lists and landed four Emmy noms. And last but not least, Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof’s limited series “Mrs. Davis” scored strong reviews, industry buzz, and a bunch of year-end critics list mentions.
What’s Next: Both “The Traitors” and “Poker Face” will return with new seasons this calendar year. Seth MacFarlane’s long-awaited “Ted” series will arrive in January.
