In today’s pop culture climate, we expect to know everything well in advance. Marvel Studios has made a habit of announcing movies and scheduling release dates years in advance, and you can’t argue with their success.
After the record-setting success of The Avengers, Marvel Studios used the massive platform of San Diego Comic-Con to announced Captain America: The Winter Soldier,Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center became Marvel’s signature venue to make big announcements, but it wouldn’t be long before the studio would be big enough to make announcements on their own schedule.
Marvel planned on announcing the titles of its Phase 3 films at Comic-Con in 2014, but studio head Kevin Feige said the details weren’t all sorted out yet. So that October, in an event comparable to an Apple product launch, Feige laid out the next several years of the MCU in a massive press event.
In addition to the massive announcements of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Feige announced six other films that would be released between 2016 and 2019. While some of the release dates announced at the El Capitan Theatre that day were shifted around, and the Inhumans got transformed into a television show, this event still successfully hyped fans up for the future of the MCU.
This is an effective marketing strategy, but it’s also created a bit of a strange situation for movie fans. Since announcing a movie’s title often gives us major hints about what the story might be about, it’s taken away a bit of the mystery away the movies themselves. For example, announcing that the new Captain America movie would be called The Winter Soldier all but confirmed that Bucky wasn’t dead.
However, it looks like Marvel is going to hold back on announcing its next slate of films for now, and I definitely think that’s for the best.
Since Avengers: Infinity War is rumored to completely reshape the MCU, we’re bound to see some major characters die. If Marvel Studios announced that a Black Widow movie is going to be released in 2020, then fans wouldn’t need to be worried about Natasha Romanoff when she comes face to face with Thanos next summer.
We already know Marvel’s film slate through the summer of 2019, which is probably enough notice. And even though we aren’t getting the titles, we know that Marvel is planning on releasing movies for the next several years.
Plus, there’s another way to build intrigue about the next Marvel property. Instead of announcing the titles of its next movies three to five years ahead of time, Marvel could just announce the release dates so fans will know when they’re getting a superhero movie, but will have to wait and see who the hero is. This isn’t nearly as flashy as holding a big event at a historic Hollywood theatre, but it would help maintain a bit of mystery.
The MCU is a lot like a TV show, and since a season finale is approaching, I don’t think we need to know much about what’s going to happen beyond that.
What do you think about the trend of announcing movies so far in advance? Share your thoughts in the comments.