There have been calls for Kevin Feige to step down as President of Marvel Studios for years - even at the height of the MCU's success and popularity - but even some longtime fans of the franchise have now begun to lose faith in Feige's ability to steer the ship.
Feige is still the highest-grossing film producer of all time, and the projects he's been involved with have a combined worldwide box office gross of over $31 billion. However, the last few Marvel Studios movies - Deadpool and Wolverine aside - have underperformed while also earning mostly negative reviews from critics.
After a solid start, Captain America: Brave New World dropped by 68% in its second weekend with $28.3 million from 4,105 North American theaters. The movie is now approaching $300 million worldwide on a reported production budget of $180M, but this is before marketing costs, and some believe the actual budget would be closer to $300M after extensive reshoots.
Even if this is information is false, the movie may still struggle to make much of a profit by the end of its run, and this has to be viewed as a disappointing result after the massive success of Deadpool and Wolverine.
It's hard to argue with the perception that the MCU simply isn't the world-conquering franchise it once was, and a lot of people believe it's time for Feige to hang up his spurs and give someone else an opportunity to get things back on track.
Last night, Feige was named as a possible contender to replace Kathleen Kennedy as President of Lucasfilm, and while we're not sure if this is actually on the cards (analysts believe it will probably end up being Dave Filoni), we are hearing that he is planning to step away from Marvel... at some point!
Scooper MTTSH is reporting that Feige is indeed set to retire as Marvel Studios President, but it won't be until after the X-Men reboot is released, which means he will be staying on "top of the mound" for at least another two or three years (it's worth noting that MTTSH reported that Kennedy would be stepping down in 2025 last September).
If accurate, this wouldn't necessarily have anything to do with the current state of the studio. Nobody stays in any position forever, and Feige has been running things at Marvel since 2007.
How would you feel about Kevin Feige handing over the reigns at Marvel Studios? Let us know in the comments section down below.
After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
Captain America: Brave New World also stars Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The film is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.
Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.