“We don’t take that lightly”: Disney Celebrates $850 Million Success While Warner Bros Remain Desperate For a Box Office Hit
The third installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy by Marvel Studios, which features Chris Pratt in the title role, was released in May and was recently made available to stream on Disney+. The movie enjoyed success at the box office. It was also James Gunn’s final opportunity to direct a Marvel film before he took over the helm at DC Studios.
The public was impressed by The Guardians‘ final assignment, and the film garnered favorable reviews from both the reviewers and the crowd for being the ideal conclusion to the trilogy, which has been a fan favorite since its debut in 2014. The CEO Bob Iger discussed the film’s success.
Bob Iger applauds Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Avatar: The Way of Water’s success
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently applauded the success of James Gunn’s Marvel outing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, etc., as a part of the Q3 2023 Disney shareholder’s call. He also acknowledged that some of the movies that were expected to perform better failed to do so, but this has only encouraged and motivated them to do better.
The CEO said, “The performance of some of our recent films is definitely disappointing, and we don’t take that lightly. We are focused on improving the quality and performance of the films coming up. We’re maximizing the full impact of our titles by embracing the multiple distribution windows at our disposal, enabling consumers to access their content in multiple ways.”
Iger also highlighted during the Q3 call that they have seen tremendous engagement on Disney+ with the previous Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the original Avatar, and the first four Indiana Jones movies but the value of their Disney entertainment studios. He noted that focusing on big franchises and tentpole movies will be key in the growth of their business for them to extend far beyond the library and new releases.
Read this: 8 Movies in James Gunn’s Rebooted DCU Including Superman, Batman, and Supergirl Movie
Bob Iger on Disney suffering box office failures
Movies including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and Haunted Mansion were expected to do much better at the box office due to their popularity and the franchises; they did not, but this does not stop Disney CEO from explaining that the studio has been celebrating success over the last decade.
He said, “Regarding our studio performance, let’s put things in perspective a little bit. The studio has had a tremendous run over the last decade, perhaps the greatest run that any studio has ever had with multiple billion-dollar hits and — including, by the way, too, that were relatively recent, were one, in particular, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’”
Iger once again noted that they have had a great and strong box office performance with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s release, which collected about $850 million, pointing out that they don’t take things lightly and are looking forward to improving and working better.
The CEO mentioned that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a success as the first part earned $773.3 million, followed by the sequel which earned $869.8 million. It can be noted that even though the third did not cross the mark movie sequel, it came close and it was one of those movies that did well in theatres post-COVID when movies were struggling to entice the audience.
Bob Iger comments on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes
The CEO of Disney commented, “Nothing is more important to this company than its relationships with the creative community, and that includes actors, writers, animators, directors, and producers. I have deep respect and appreciation for all those who are vital to the extraordinary creative engine that drives this company and our industry.”
He further said that it is his fervent hope that they can all quickly find solutions to the issues that have kept them apart these past few months, and he is personally committed to working to achieve the result.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is available to stream now on Disney+.
Source: The Motley Fool
