Marvel Threatens Last Chance At Redemption With Its 2025 Movie Slate Despite Bob Iger’s Promise After Disastrous Phases 4 and 5
Despite witnessing the revolutionary WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, 2023 had been a great year for the entertainment industry with blockbusters like Oppenheimer, Barbie, and John Wick. However, 2023 also saw the biggest box office failures for superhero franchises Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC.
From the failure of Paul Rudd led Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to Brie Larson’s The Marvels– the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a disappointing year. With the recent announcement of Fantastic Four’s release date, it has been speculated that the billion-dollar superhero franchise has already threatened its last chance at redemption with respect to the 2025 movie slate.
Has Marvel Cinematic Universe Already Messed Up with Its 2025 Movie Slate?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe came up with one of the biggest updates on the much-awaited superhero series Fantastic Four. Along with the new cast, the release date of the fourth installment of Fantastic Four was also announced. After witnessing projects falling flat both financially and critically, Fantastic Four is expected to bring a 360-degree change to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
However, according to media expert Jeff Sneider, with the release date announcement of Fantastic Four, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has already messed up its 2025 release calendar. Fantastic Four 4 is supposed to make its theatrical release on July 11 and James Gunn’s magnum opus project Superman: Legacy is scheduled for a release on July 25. It’s quite predictable that Marvel’s Fantastic Four and Superman: Legacy might face a similar fate as Oppenheimer and Barbie.
With DCU’s Superman: Legacy and MCU’s Fantastic Four releasing in the same month there is a strong possibility of James Gunn taking over Matt Shakman’s project. By announcing the release of Fantastic Four in July 2025, MCU has caused potential trouble for itself.
Bob Iger’s Quality Over Quantity Policy For MCU
After back-to-back failures at the box office, Disney CEO Bob Iger has come up with a new policy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During a recent interview with the media outlet The Wrap, Iger spoke about quality over quantity for Marvel. He said-
“In our zeal to greatly increase volume partially tied to this wanting to chase more global subs for our streaming platform, some of our studios lost a little focus. So the first step that we’ve taken is that we’ve reduced volume, we reduced output, particularly in Marvel,”
While talking about reforming the current policy at Disney, he further mentioned-
“I’d say we’re leaning a little bit more into sequels and franchises. I think given the environment and given what it takes to get people out of their homes to see a film … leaning on franchises that are familiar is actually a smart thing.”
Four projects made their way to the theatres amidst the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes from the house of Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a production budget of $100-$150 million, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse went on to create a mark at the box office, but Brie Larson led The Marvels fell flat with a worldwide collection of $206 million against the production budget of $274.8 million. The Marvels ranks as one of the worst-performing movies from the house of MCU.
