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Disney CEO Bob Iger blames the pandemic effect as part of the reason for the dismal box office results on The Marvels.
Speaking at a New York Times business summit earlier this week, Iger said the studio needs some revitalization.
″The Marvels was shot during Covid,” he explained. “There wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.”
He listed a number of reasons why the studio’s recent string of films is lagging, among them streaming and messaging.
“The experience of accessing [the films] and watching them in the home is better than it ever was,” he said. “And [it’s] a bargain when you think about it. Streaming Disney+ you can get for $7 a month. That’s a lot cheaper than taking your whole family to a film. So, I think the bar is now raised in terms of quality about what gets people out of their homes, into movie theaters.”
Iger also acknowledged that messaging in recent films has turned off a certain audience segment.
“Entertain first, not messages,” Iger said, adding that “positive messages for the world” sometimes overwhelmed storytelling.
“And I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved,” he said, pointing to past successes. “I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed,” he said. “That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.”
Next year, Disney plans to release Deadpool 3, Inside Out 2, and Mufasa: The Lion King.