For the past 10 years, Marvel has been putting out CBM after CBM after CBM. Most of these movies have been less than stellar. In fact, most have been quite forgettable. In 2007 alone, Marvel released THREE mediocre and forgettable CBMs: Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It seemed that people had had enough of getting so many CBMs shoved down their throats. And then Iron Man and The Dark Knight took everyone by surprise. They changed the entire genre forever. But this past year, it seemed that people again had gotten bored of CBMs. Kick-Ass barely managed to make a profit, Iron Man 2 couldn't even make as much as the first movie, and Scott Pilgrim bombed horribly even though it was one of the most acclaimed movies of the year. Maybe movie-goers have had enough? Just look at Marvel's movie schedule: This year alone we're getting Thor, X-Men First Class, and Captain America, next year we're getting a Spider-Man reboot, a Ghost Rider sequel, and a Wolverine movie that no one asked for, and to top it all off, an Avengers movie. Not to mention plans to reboot Fantastic Four, Iron Man 3, a Hulk movie with yet another actor playing Banner, and Ant-Man. Believe or not, people might get sick of having so many CBMs shoved down their throats.
Meanwhile, DC have barely released any movies this past decade. But maybe that's part of a bigger plan? Maybe they're waiting for Marvel to run out of characters so they can have the entire market left for themselves? Maybe they want to wait and see how the Avengers does and make a Justice League movie that will pulverize it? Now that the Harry Potter franchise is coming to an end, there's no telling what the future awaits WB/DC.
One thing's for sure, people lately have been craving for originality. Look at Avatar. Yes, it was a rehash of the same story we've heard before a thousand times. But it looked different. People saw it and said "I've never seen anything like this before. The movie went on to gross more than $2 billion at the box office. Look at last year. Movies like The Social Network, Black Swan, Inception, The Town, and The Fighter were the biggest money makers because they offered movie-goers something new. Something they've never seen before.
In conclusion, maybe Marvel should take a chill pill and relax. They have an eternity to make movies. They don't need to shove 4 movies a year down our throats. They should focus on one, maybe two movies a year at most and make sure they're actually quality movies. It seems that Marvel only care about quantity and profits rather than quality. Besides, I think it's safe to assume that if your movie doesn't have Batman on it, it most likely won't gross over a billion dollars.