A new rumor seemingly indicates that Bob Iger is finally getting serious about fixing Marvel’s box office and declining Disney+ numbers. Recently the Disney CEO said that they would be canceling some films and shows in production to save money and pivot to performance and profit.
According to Daniel RPK, Bob Iger believes that “Eternals 2” would be a “guaranteed flop,” which would be a waste of money, and honestly, given how terribly the first one performed, that would likely be the case.
Daniel RPK is also saying that Iger is butting heads with Kevin Feige, and Marvel films are being shelved, including “Eternals 2,” “Ant-Man 4” and a third Captain Marvel film.
Ironically Iger has been after Ike Perlmutter, who was in charge of Marvel for years before and after Disney purchased it. He was the one in charge when Marvel was doing Phase 1-3. He also infamously didn’t think that “Captain Marvel” and “Black Panther” were good ideas. Seems like he might have been right about “Captain Marvel,” but he was wrong about “Black Panther.”
Marvel is underperforming.
“The Marvels” will likely cost the studio over $100 million in losses. It did about half as much globally as “The Eternals” did, making only about $402 million compared to “The Marvels” $206 million.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania” did not do much better at $476 million globally.
The Disney+ shows are also underperforming, with “Secret Invasion” initially outperforming “Ms Marvel” (that honestly didn’t take much) and ending up with low numbers by the end of the show and the lowest-rated MCU episodes ever.
Changes have become necessary.
When “Daredevil: Born Again” seemed to be having issues, Disney had Marvel replace the entire writing team with a showrunner and a “creative reboot.” Then, they brought fan-favorite characters from the Netflix series back for the new version of the show.
Marvel has a problem. Disney has a bigger problem. Frankly, I do not think “The Thunderbolts” and “Captain America Brave New World” will do very well at the box office in 2025. Their best shot is “Deadpool and Wolverine”
Other films like “Blade” that have been facing issues could get scrapped altogether. Now that Jonathan Majors has been booted from the MCU, Marvel now has an issue over what to do with “The Kang Dynasty” they have set up for.
It is a mess, but it sounds like Iger is finally coming in and forcing some much-needed direction changes with the MCU.
Right now, it’s all rumor and hearsay. However, Bob Iger has commented about cutting films, shows, and budgets. Recent changes seem to support this rumor.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
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