General Entertainment Marvel’s Kevin Feige Doesn’t Think Audiences Will Ever Get Tired of Superhero Movies

[Jason]

The Marvel boss said in a new interview that there are 80 years of 'groundbreaking' stories told in the comics that they can adapt into 'different genres'

 

[EternallDarkness]

all depends. There is without question tons of stories for them to do. It's all a mater of whether or not they can maintain high quality films and continue to make things that feel fresh. 

[SuperSpreader]

2 minutes ago, EternallDarkness said:

all depends. There is without question tons of stories for them to do. It's all a mater of whether or not they can maintain high quality films and continue to make things that feel fresh. 

 

Yeah don't fuck it up Kevin 

[Fizzzzle]

Super hero movies are just action movies with fantasy/sci-fi elements. It's not like that will ever get old.

 

I DO think the idea of a "cinematic universe" will get old, if only for the fact that people will gradually stop watching everything as it feels like you have to have seen everything that came before it to understand what's going on. I think we might already be seeing that with the current phase of the MCU where they're tying all of the D+ shows into the movies.

[TwinIon]

Yeah, I agree that super hero movies will be around forever, but the MCU won't be. I have the feeling that the traditional, largely stand alone trilogy of films will be the type of ongoing release strategy to survive. Thanks to the consolidation of media companies and IP I'm sure we'll still get crossovers forever as well.

 

I think the real question is how long super hero films will remain so profitable (and as a result such an outsized portion of big budget film making).

[Anathema-]

MCU films will definitely slow down but they definitely won't go away. If there was a "cowboy film" production house we'd still be seeing those too. 

[Anathema-]

Case in point: James Bond

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

I think the real question is how long super hero films will remain so profitable (and as a result such an outsized portion of big budget film making).

This, for sure. Right now the super hero genre is just sucking up too much of the tent pole funds for my liking. I don’t foresee that continuing past the next set of Avengers titles. Some diversification will be needed.

[EternallDarkness]

5 hours ago, sblfilms said:

This, for sure. Right now the super hero genre is just sucking up too much of the tent pole funds for my liking. I don’t foresee that continuing past the next set of Avengers titles. Some diversification will be needed.

 

they trying to outdo the previous movies, and I can understand them trying to do that but at some point it'll just get stupid. They need to okay with making smaller more intermit stylish flicks...like the halloween special they did

[thewhyteboar]

5 hours ago, Anathema- said:

MCU films will definitely slow down but they definitely won't go away. If there was a "cowboy film" production house we'd still be seeing those too. 

I wish. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I’m personally kinda burnt out. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Audiences have been getting tired of them for what, the last 20 years or so? Longer than that really. They're a genre like horror or other genres.

[Brick]

He's right. 

 

He's also obviously not going to say, "well we probably got another 5-6 years until people are done with us". 

[Ghost_MH]

14 hours ago, Fizzzzle said:

Super hero movies are just action movies with fantasy/sci-fi elements. It's not like that will ever get old.

 

I DO think the idea of a "cinematic universe" will get old, if only for the fact that people will gradually stop watching everything as it feels like you have to have seen everything that came before it to understand what's going on. I think we might already be seeing that with the current phase of the MCU where they're tying all of the D+ shows into the movies.

 

I don't think the vast majority of movie goers feel in any way compelled to "keep up with" the MCU when they watch Marvel movies or Disney+ series. I'm pretty sure that's solely an Internet nerd thing, even if most of us here count among their ranks.

 

Maybe @sblfilms will have some more insight here?

[Keyser_Soze]

18 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

Maybe @sblfilms will have some more insight here?

 

His story about some dude who just wanted to see some explosions not caring if he saw Infinity War before Endgame springs to mind.

[Ghost_MH]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

His story about some dude who just wanted to see some explosions not caring if he saw Infinity War before Endgame springs to mind.

 

That's going too far, I think we can agree on that. I just assumed most people should go in for Wakanda Forever without caring about Thor or any the TV series.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

I don't think the vast majority of movie goers feel in any way compelled to "keep up with" the MCU when they watch Marvel movies or Disney+ series. I'm pretty sure that's solely an Internet nerd thing, even if most of us here count among their ranks.

 

Maybe @sblfilms will have some more insight here?

It would seem both from my own anecdotes and the pretty large range of box office performances that people definitely pick and choose which MCU releases to bother seeing.

[AbsolutSurgen]

I used to go to every MCU movie on opening weekend.  After the last few years of more formulaic/disappointing movies -- I haven't even bothered to watch some of them on Disney+.  [And neither have a bunch of my acquaintances.]   

[Guest]

6 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I used to go to every MCU movie on opening weekend.  After the last few years of more formulaic/disappointing movies -- I haven't even bothered to watch some of them on Disney+.  [And neither have a bunch of my acquaintances.]   

 

What is amusing about this is that the box office performances don't suggest this is a particularly common phenomenon (the slumping interest/attendance), with three of the top 10 domestic grossing Marvel movies being in 2021 and 2022. The only titles that didn't have particularly strong performances lately were the non-sequel titles, and they tracked pretty well with the average MCU first solo movie entry.

But your story rings super true for me and my circle. I'm guessing it is just that we are getting older  

[AbsolutSurgen]

52 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

What is amusing about this is that the box office performances don't suggest this is a particularly common phenomenon (the slumping interest/attendance), with three of the top 10 domestic grossing Marvel movies being in 2021 and 2022. The only titles that didn't have particularly strong performances lately were the non-sequel titles, and they tracked pretty well with the average MCU first solo movie entry.

But your story rings super true for me and my circle. I'm guessing it is just that we are getting older  

Ok. I really thought the best grossing Disney comic book movies were all between Iron Man 3 and End Game. I recall they were consistently grossing over a billion. I had thought all the rest since (maybe excluding Dr Strange) were well under. 
 

I suppose I am forgetting the Spider-Man movies, because they feel like Sony does enough to differentiate them from the Feige formula for me. 

[skillzdadirecta]

16 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I suppose I am forgetting the Spider-Man movies, because they feel like Sony does enough to differentiate them from the Feige formula for me. 

Dude it's BECAUSE of Fiege those Spiderman movies are as good as they are. Without his involvement you get the Venom movies and Morbius. A movie I still haven't seen. Your giving Sony credit for Feige's creative touch.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I suppose I am forgetting the Spider-Man movies, because they feel like Sony does enough to differentiate them from the Feige formula for me. 

Sony does not have an active production role in the Spider-man movies, it’s Feige’s show over there too

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Dude it's BECAUSE of Fiege those Spiderman movies are as good as they are. Without his involvement you get the Venom movies and Morbius. A movie I still haven't seen. Your giving Sony credit for Feige's creative touch.

 

Just now, sblfilms said:

Sony does not have an active production role in the Spider-man movies, it’s Feige’s show over there too

How does the same man produce Spider-Man for another company, and then turn around and produce The Eternals and Shang-Chi for his own.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

How does the same man produce Spider-Man for another company, and then turn around and produce The Eternals and Shang-Chi for his own.

The well regarded by critics and audiences Shang-Chi is probably NOT the one you want to point to  I actually don’t think there is much of a difference between the quality of filmmaking on display in Shang vs. No Way Home.

 

Eternals is a different thing for me. Oddly, it is superior in filmmaking to most MCU titles in some ways (like cinematography, it actually looks like a movie instead of a big budget TV show 😂), but it was a bit of mess in areas like story, acting, and pacing.

[Kal-El814]

14 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

How does the same man produce Spider-Man for another company, and then turn around and produce The Eternals and Shang-Chi for his own.

 

[Ghost_MH]

3 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Eternals is a different thing for me. Oddly, it is superior in filmmaking to most MCU titles in some ways (like cinematography, it actually looks like a movie instead of a big budget TV show 😂), but it was a bit of mess in areas like story, acting, and pacing.

 

I don't really think Eternals acting was that much better or worse than your average MCU. Eternals certainly had great cinematography, but was just trying to do too much in the length of time it had. All the characters and world building and trying to squeeze in further hooks to the greater MCU was just too much for 2.5 hours. Should have been an anthology series on Disney+.

[AbsolutSurgen]

Shang Chi: $432 million worldwide gross 

Eternals:  $402 million worldwide gross

Spider-Man: No Way Home:  $1,922 million worldwide gross

 

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Shang Chi: $432 million worldwide gross 

Eternals:  $402 million worldwide gross

Spider-Man: No Way Home:  $1,922 million worldwide gross

 

Are we using money earned as a proxy for quality now? I legit have no idea what this is supposed to indicate besides that 😂

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, Ghost_MH said:

Should have been an anthology series on Disney+.

This 100%.

[AbsolutSurgen]

3 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Are we using money earned as a proxy for quality now? I legit have no idea what this is supposed to indicate besides that 😂

Box office is an indicator of whether people are getting tired of superhero movies.

Edit: More specifically, which ones they are interested in.

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Shang Chi: $432 million worldwide gross 

Eternals:  $402 million worldwide gross

Spider-Man: No Way Home:  $1,922 million worldwide gross

 

Dude... Spiderman is one of the most recognizable fictional characters on the PLANET. You're really gonna use box office numbers comparing his, what NINTH movie to characters nobody ever heard of outside of hardcore comic fans appearing in their FIRST films? Also if I'm not mistaken No way Home came out AFTER those other movies right? By your logic shouldn't it have made less money? I'm so confused by what your trying to illustrate here.

 

7 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Box office is an indicator of whether people are getting tired of superhero movies.

Box office is down all around the board. So you're saying people are getting tired of movies period? I have no idea what point you're trying to make here. @sblfilmscan correct me here but my understanding is that cinema owners want MORE superhero movies because while box number may not be as great as they were, they consistently bring audiences to theaters.

 

Super hero films and Horror movies for the most part. I've been hearing people say folks are getting tired of superhero movies since the FIRST Spiderman movie came out 20 years ago. It's a genre and is here to stay... it will ebb and flow like other genres but it ain't going no where.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I agree that it’s not super hero films that’s the issue, it’s bad or mediocre super hero films. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

Dude... Spiderman is one of the most recognizable fictional characters on the PLANET. You're really gonna use box office numbers comparing his, what NINTH movie to characters nobody ever heard of outside of hardcore comic fans to obscure characters appearing in their FIRST films?

That's kinda my point.  I think people ARE getting tired of these movies that feature the origin stories of obscure characters that all end in a big CGI battle at the end and only tangentially connect with the rest of the MCU universe (and the other characters that were built up over 20+ movies, and then, bizarrely, mostly killed off).

The only MCU movies I have seen in theatres since Endgame are Dr. Strange (which I thought was good/different) and Spider-Man -- coincidentally, those are the 2 with the highest box offices.

 

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

Box office is down all around the board. So you're saying people are getting tired of movies period? I have no idea what point you're trying to make here. @sblfilmscan correct me here but my understanding is that cinema owners want MORE superhero movies because while box number may not be as great as they were, they consistently bring audiences to theaters.

Disney Marvel movies WERE the top grossing movies every year.  Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar 2 brought in the audiences last year that the MCU used to.  I went to see those in theatres because they had a premise that interested me -- both grossed significantly higher than any of the 6 Disney MCU movies released in 2021/2022.

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Box office is an indicator of whether people are getting tired of superhero movies.

Edit: More specifically, which ones they are interested in.

 

Let's make a more sensible comparison: first solo movie entries 

 

Captain Marvel, 1.1b

Guardians of the Galaxy, $770m

Doctor Strange, $677m

Iron Man, 585m

Ant-man, 519m

*Thor, $449m

*Shang-Chi, $432m

*Eternals, $402m

*Black Widow, $379m

*Captain America: The First Avenger, $370m

Incredible Hulk, $264m

 

*not released in China

 

11 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Disney Marvel movies WERE the top grossing movies every year.  Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar 2 brought in the audiences last year that the MCU used to.  I went to see those in theatres because they had a premise that interested me -- both grossed significantly higher than any of the 6 Disney MCU movies released in 2021/2022.

 

Spider-man NWH made nearly 2 billion world wide, and 800+ million domestically which is higher than Maverick on both counts. Avatar will likely higher than Spider-man NWH solely on the basis of being allowed to be released in China, otherwise it NWH would beat that domestically and globally too.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Box office is down all around the board. So you're saying people are getting tired of movies period? I have no idea what point you're trying to make here. @sblfilmscan correct me here but my understanding is that cinema owners want MORE superhero movies because while box number may not be as great as they were, they consistently bring audiences to theaters.

 

As I noted, 3 of the 10 highest grossing MCU movies have been released in the last two years, and in the case of 3 of 4 MCU movies released starting with Spider-man NWH you had sequels that were the highest grossing of their solo films (NWH, Love and Thunder, Multiverse of Madness) with the only one seeing a decline being Wakanda Forever. I think it Wakanda Forever case, there are two obvious reasons why; the death of Boseman, and the lack of a potentially seminal cultural moment for Black America that was the first film.