Despite the fact superhero movies are more popular now than ever before (something which is evident from Avengers: Infinity War closing in on $2 billion at the worldwide box office), Twentieth Century Fox's Chairman/CEO Stacey Snider doesn't appear to be a fan of the genre and is keen to keep the studio from focusing too much on it. So, no wonder Fox is so far behind Marvel Studios in that regard!
After all, both of their 2018 releases - The New Mutants and X-Men: Dark Phoenix - have been pushed back to next year following extensive reshoots and Snider was quick to point out at CineEurope that Fox's movies "can't just be based on caped crusaders" and that they should continue to do films for "the non-event-film goer." That's not a bad point but it also seems somewhat counterproductive.
"If we don’t continue to reach out to the folks that come more than just to see The Avengers, we are going to have just the weekend business," she added, noting that the studio's superheroes won't be going anywhere. "We want to continue, for example, with our X-Men movies and our Deadpool movies, but at the same time we have great success with a movie like Murder on the Orient Express or The Greatest Showman, where we are very mindful of speaking to this global audience."
"Where things fall off the cliff is when that bright consumer says, ‘I have seen this movie.’" Well, they're not saying that about Marvel's output and Fox is missing out producing a wide range of superhero movies and emulating the success Disney has found with the MCU. Regardless, Snider's comments may offer some insight into how the studio will approach its Marvel Comics adaptation if Comcast buys the company, so here's hoping the X-Men and Fantastic Four land in Kevin Feige's lap.