When Bob Chapek took over as Disney CEO, he immediately prioritised adding as much content to Disney+ as possible. On an almost weekly basis, new films and TV shows debuted on the platform, adding to an already huge amount of classic content from the studio's library.
It was good value for subscribers, but spending money to make money didn't exactly pay off for the House of Mouse. Chapek was subsequently pushed out of the company, and Bob Iger made his surprise return as CEO.
He immediately set about righting the ship, taking Walt Disney Studios, Disney Animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel Studios to task. In the latter's case, Kevin Feige was happy to get back to quality over quantity, and we've seen the positive results from that with Daredevil: Born Again and Thunderbolts*.
During a conference call with Wall Street analysts today (discussing Disney's better-than-expected results in the fiscal second quarter), Iger made a point of highlighting what a win Thunderbolts* has been for the MCU.
"We all know that in our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content, that we turned to all of our creative engines, including Marvel, and had them produce a lot more," Iger said (via Variety). "We’ve also learned over over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality."
"And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality. I think the first and best example is 'Thunderbolts*.' I feel very good about that," he concluded.
Referring to movies like Lilo & Stitch, Zootopia 2, The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, Avatar: Fire and Ash, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Avengers: Doomsday, and Toy Story 5, Iger said, "I have a lot of confidence that are upcoming slate. That’s quite a lineup. [It's] as strong as any slate that I’ve seen in a long time."
The Disney CEO isn't the only one to heap praise on Thunderbolts*, as Ms. Marvel and The Marvels star Iman Vellani has taken to Letterboxd to praise Marvel Studios' latest effort.
"Five emotionally constipated misfits are forced into trauma bonding under the watchful eye of a morally bankrupt authority figure and—oh, um, hey, so this is the breakfast club in tactical gear. I live," she wrote on the site.
There's good news for Thunderbolts* (*The New Avengers) at the box office as the movie grossed $7.4 million yesterday, a +48% increase from its Monday haul. Marketing that title reveal might just be working.