Marvel's New Movie Strategy Faces Hiccup with "Thunderbolts*" Low Earnings

Just days after releasing "Thunderbolts*" to a positive reception, Disney CEO, Bob Iger declared the film the 'first and best' example of Marvel's new film strategy. However, six weeks later, the movie has fallen flat at the box office, grossing only $371 million globally, marking it among Disney's lowest-earning installments in their Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This performance change points to a shift in Marvel's film approach. According to Shawn Robbins, Fandango’s movie analytics director, we're entering a new era where not all Marvel films will gross $1 billion. Since its inception in 2008, Marvel was consistently successful, even lesser-known installments guaranteed considerable box office returns before the pandemic. However, only half of the films released since 2020 have achieved the half-billion benchmark.

"Thunderbolts*" had positive reviews and seemed to indicate a new income ceiling for superhero movies not based on flagship characters. The dipping box office numbers can be attributed to an oversaturation of superhero stories and changing audience preferences.

With this shift in performance, there seems to be an inflection point in Marvel's strategy. The focus seems to be realigning towards quality over quantity. Going forward, Marvel's future releases seem to play it safe with films based on popular franchises like Avengers and Spider-Man.

However, one-character projects, like "Blade," have been stalled. What still works for Marvel are major, star-studded team-ups or sequels to subseries within its franchise.

Efficient budgeting has also been a challenge due to rising costs. Marvel trimmed the budget for "Thunderbolts*," but even with cost-saving measures, it still needed to gross $425 million worldwide to break even, a target it fell short of.

One mitigating factor for Marvel is that its losses or profits aren't solely based on individual films. Profits can be recouped through Disney+ and other home entertainment platforms, massive merchandising revenue, and the fact that each film between 'Avengers' installments serves as a marketing tool. Marvel announced that the characters in "Thunderbolts*" will return in “Avengers: Doomsday,” giving audiences another incentive to engage with the franchise.