Whether you happen to enjoy Marvel Studios' more recent projects or not, it's hard to argue with the perception that the MCU franchise is far from the unstoppable juggernaut it once was.
With the likes of Eternals, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels underperforming (and receiving mixed/negative reviews), Disney recently decided to implement a "quality over quantity" approach, and CEO Bob Iger has now announced plans to reshape the MCU slate by reducing the studio's annual big and small screen output.
Going forward, we will see no more than 2-3 movies and 2 TV shows per year.
“I’ve been working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus more on quality, that’s particularly true with Marvel,” Iger said during Disney’s fiscal Q2 earnings call. "We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four, and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two or at the maximum three. And we’re working hard on what that path is, we’ve got a couple of good films in ’25 and then we’re heading to more Avengers, which we’re extremely excited about.”
“Overall I feel great about the slate," Iger added. "It’s something that I’ve committed to spending more and more time on, the team is one that I have tremendous confidence in and the IP that we’re mining, including all the sequels that we’re doing is second to none."
As for Disney's upcoming slate, Iger said there will be more of a focus on sequels and originals, noting that the studio is currently more centred on franchise films.
“We’re gonna balance sequels with originals. Specifically in animation, we had gone through a period where our original films and animation, both Disney and Pixar, were dominating. We’re now swinging back a bit to lean on sequels.”
Deadpool and Wolverine is the only MCU movie releasing in 2024, but the studio has Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, Fantastic Four and Blade hitting in 2025. Will we see one or more of these movies pushed back even further? Possibly, but these slate changes may not be put into effect until much later into Phase 6.
Ultimately, it's hard to imagine too many people taking issue with this decision, but be sure to let us know what you make of Disney's plans for the MCU in the comments section down below.