Marvel Studios Executive Addresses New Approach To Streaming Titles Following Past Pressure From Disney

Marvel Studios Executive Addresses New Approach To Streaming Titles Following Past Pressure From Disney

Marvel Studios' Head of Streaming, Brad Winderbaum, has addressed the studio's new approach to releasing Disney+ titles after pressure from higher-ups to develop a slate of content for the platform...

By JoshWilding - Mar 17, 2024 07:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Studios
Source: ComicBook.com

When Disney+ was launched as a rival to Netflix, the House of Mouse wasted no time in developing as much content as possible for its platform. Launching with the first-ever Star Wars TV series, The Mandalorian, MCU titles like WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier soon followed. 

Marvel Studios' small screen offerings started strong, but as time has passed, they've become increasingly hit-or-miss and failed to connect to the wider MCU in a way which satisfies fans. 

With Disney CEO Bob Iger returning to replace the ousted Bob Chapek, Marvel Studios is back to focusing on quality over quantity. Brad Winderbaum, the head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, has now addressed the change. 

"I mean, frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+ as quickly as we could," he admits. "And then there was a shift. And all of a sudden, we have to start spreading our release dates out. So, that really accounts for a lot of the delays."

"Now, we're using that time. We're not sitting idle. So, it's like it stays in the oven," Winderbaum explains. "You can bake certain things a little more. It's actually, I think, ultimately, it's only going to make things better. But, most of it is just frankly shrapnel from the business." 

Daredevil: Born Again is one of the streaming titles Marvel Studios has decided to hit the brakes on, pausing production and embarking on something of a creative overhaul to ensure the Man Without Fear's proper MCU debut doesn't disappoint. 

The likes of Agatha and Ironheart have also slipped down the release calendar, despite production on the latter, for example, wrapping way back in 2022. 

These comments come after Winderbaum recently shared an update on Nova, explaining that Marvel Studios has changed tact with how it produces content (it seems the days of everything receiving the green light have finally ended).

"We have a new system behind the scenes at Marvel Studios," he said. "We're more like a traditional studio now. We're developing more than we actually will produce. There are plans to develop Nova. I love Nova, too. I love Rich Rider, too. I hope it gets to the screen."

"The world is always chaos. There's always things. You gotta conjure these things to make them happen but I would love to see a Nova show, one day."

Do you think Marvel Studios is taking the right approach to its Disney+ offerings?

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LSHF
LSHF - 3/17/2024, 7:35 AM
"But, most of it is just frankly shrapnel from the business."

Any ideas as to what that actually means?
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/17/2024, 8:17 AM
@LSHF - I guess he means the change in how they are developing their streaming content is just a residual effect of the ever evolving nature of the industry.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 3/17/2024, 9:29 AM
@LSHF - it’s like the fragments hitting them from the wider streaming wars. Every studio released all this corporate ammo, aka content demands, and the shrapnel hit the creatives. It all burst.
LSHF
LSHF - 3/17/2024, 9:41 AM
@TheVisionary25 - Thank you. That was worded very well.
LSHF
LSHF - 3/17/2024, 9:41 AM
@GhostDog - Thank you. That was worded very well.
XtremeXFan
XtremeXFan - 3/17/2024, 7:36 AM
Seems they learned from their mistakes, I can imangene it's super stressful to just go make whatever shows just to pump content for a new streaming service, it's definitely noticeable in some of the shows.

I hope they move forward at a healthier pace.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 3/17/2024, 9:57 AM
@XtremeXFan - From the audience POV it was certainly a whole bunch of mistakes with the impact on quality and excess of quantity and short term certainly questionable on profit margings. However having said that unsure they would have grown their subs so fast to get anywhere close to even Amazon let alone Netflix if they hadn't pushed the output of the less young girl, more male and adult oriented Star Wars and Marvel content.

The course correction was certainly needed after all those costly, in both money and quality, salvos in the streaming wars but if they turn it around with more consistant well recieved products long term could turn out to have been worth it, maybe.

No way I would ever have predicted that totals for Disney across all their platforms would be more than Prime for instance even if the more direct D+ to APV they are still behind...

Netflix approx 260M subs
Disney (all platforms) approx 225M subs
Amazon Prime approx approx 200M subs
Disney D+ only 150M
Max/Discovery 97M
Paramount+ 67M
Apple TV 50M
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/17/2024, 7:41 AM
A lot of these should be movies. Ms Marvel should've been a movie. Moon Knight should have been a movie (and preferably a more faithful adaptation). Nova should be a movie.
mountainman
mountainman - 3/17/2024, 7:58 AM
@ObserverIO - Their lowest viewed show, that reminded of a Disney Channel or Nickelodeon show, the star of which was a lead in the lowest grossing MCU movie should have had her own movie?
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 3/17/2024, 8:36 AM
@ObserverIO - I agree. They introduced a pretty good thing with Special Presentation. Nothing dictates how long those should be, so they might as well be tv movies
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/17/2024, 9:32 AM
@mountainman - exactly. Their lowest viewed show whose lead featured in their lowest grossing movie should have been a movie instead.

Imagine if Captain America: The First Avenger had been a Disney+ series and Hulk had been introduced in someone else's show very quickly and then they had a movie where they teamed up with Thor who had become a legendary superhero all over the planet in the intervening years with many adventures that we have missed yet are somehow sequelled in the plot.
mountainman
mountainman - 3/17/2024, 9:33 AM
@ObserverIO - I’m pretty sure Captain America and Hulk are more bankable characters than Ms Marvel.

Maybe there is something I’m not seeing here, but I can’t picture her ever being a big character.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/17/2024, 9:35 AM
@mountainman - Now they are. But they weren't before. Do you remember their pre-MCU movies? Heck even TIH underperformed.
mountainman
mountainman - 3/17/2024, 9:41 AM
@ObserverIO - I do remember that. I was going to theaters watching trash like X-Men Origins Wolverine, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer well before the MCU was ever a thing.

And I am aware that characters like Iron Man and Captain America were not household names pre-MCU.

But that will never happen for Ms Marvel. A 16 year old fan girl of a hero who was never on Earth is just not very universally appealing to people. Maybe the 14 year old girl crowd may relate to her, but it’s pretty obvious that she will never have the same level of universal popularity as Captain America or Iron Man.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/17/2024, 9:51 AM
@mountainman - There should have been more Captain Marvel movies establishing her as a hero BEFORE introducing Ms Marvel. What they did instead is what is commonly known as the DC method. Introducing things too early and skipping whole chunks of story.

Or she could have been a huge fan of just The Avengers generally, but then where does the name Ms. Marvel come from?

I don't think you can just categorically say that the character will never have the same popularity as Captain America or Iron Man though. She was already a hugely popular modern comics character and even unpopular characters and teams like the GOTG can suddenly become runaway successes when good films are made.

Rocket, Star Lord, Groot, et al have only been as popular as they are now for the last decade.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 3/17/2024, 11:44 AM
@ObserverIO - I'm sure they were movie scripts, they weren't ever going to make shows before covid, closing the parks forced their hand. Also these shows feel like chopped up early drafts
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 3/18/2024, 4:48 AM
@bobevanz - they really do. they don't feel like tv series. Except for Wandavision and maybe She-Hulk.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 7:41 AM
The usual excuse of "quantity over quality"

That is not the only problem. Admit all your moves are according to the agenda like hiring creatives who arent creative at all because you just need to check boxes.

Etc.
Vigor
Vigor - 3/17/2024, 7:46 AM
@vectorsigma - you're so annoying
Sorry for bluntness
GodHercules20
GodHercules20 - 3/17/2024, 7:54 AM
@vectorsigma - Bigger issue is telling series directors to not to read comics
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 8:37 AM
@Vigor - you take these things seriously 😅

You get annoyed on opinions you dont share, and to people you dont know. Ok
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 8:39 AM
@GodHercules20 - yeah, part another of the many reasons.

But they only admit "quantity over quality" which is another problem itself
DocSpock
DocSpock - 3/17/2024, 2:09 PM
@vectorsigma -

Sad, but very true.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/17/2024, 3:47 PM
@vectorsigma - Please get your head of politics. Please, bring criticism of writing, not buzz words.

Andor had some clear agenda based story, but that doesn't mean it's not a well constructed show.

@Vigor -
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 7:25 PM
@dagenspear - im all for good writing no matter how much they shove in the agenda politics.

Marvel now does only the latter and it shows.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/17/2024, 7:56 PM
@vectorsigma - Then we know what the actual criticism is from you, so trying to make the politics such a thing isn't a strong argument in this way. It's not focusing on quality writing.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/17/2024, 7:57 PM
@vectorsigma - Is that much different than you getting annoyed at people pushing agendas that you don't agree with from people you don't know?
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 8:42 PM
@dagenspear - it is different because i dont tell people they are annoying and then say sorry
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 8:44 PM
@dagenspear - "not a strong argument"

Where have you been when a majority of MCU products are flopping left and right?
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/17/2024, 9:58 PM
@vectorsigma - I didn't say most of MCU's projects are quality.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/17/2024, 10:00 PM
@vectorsigma - Moreso you assume that their lack of quality work is based in agenda, or you say so.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 3/17/2024, 11:48 PM
@dagenspear - because it is.

Im giving an example. They hire writers/directors with no good track record just because they check boxes. Their stories include shoehorned aspects that is not expounded on or given enough weight.

Now give me an example that their dwindling quality is NOT because of the shoehorned politics aside from "superhero fatigue"
dagenspear
dagenspear - 3/18/2024, 2:57 AM
@vectorsigma - You just admitted that the agenda isn't why the quality falls. Even hiring check boxes can bring quality. They're not hiring quality box ticked writers. Women and people of color writers and directors exist, and they're not going for them, they're picking off Rick & Morty off shoots for some things. It's also not really totally correct. The writers and directors of Quantumania and Multiverse of Madness were white men and both those movies' writing weren't well done. They're choosing writers who don't write well, or they're meddling.
Jark
Jark - 3/18/2024, 1:15 PM
@dagenspear - everyone isn apparently pushing an agenda, and not just these days, either. We're all politicians, apparently. Lol
Jark
Jark - 3/18/2024, 1:17 PM
@vectorsigma - That is nonsense. You already presuppose with your argument that these creatives aren't technically qualified in any way. That's not how gd hiring processes work.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 3/17/2024, 8:25 AM
Nice , definitely seems like they are trying to fix the issues which is good and I hope it works out.

With the new system in place , it seems like they might be developing shows or such for characters but will ultimately only proceed with the ones they think are strong enough which is understandable , I am fine with that!!.

Even as someone who has enjoyed all the MCU streaming offerings thus far to various degrees , things can always be better so I’m glad they are trying to figure that out moving forward by giving time & space to projects!!.

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