Disney Is Cutting Back the Number of New Marvel Movies and TV Shows That Hit Screens Each Year
The Mouse House's solution to superhero fatigue is to reduce its MCU entries to three films and two television shows annually.
When caped crusaders team up on the page or the screen to battle a threat to the world or galaxy, there's probably no such thing as too many superheroes. For audiences, however, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been testing exactly how many spandex-heavy capers get everyone switching off. It hasn't been stretching the limits specifically to answer that question; Disney has just been releasing a hefty amount of Marvel movies and TV shows. If you've been feeling MCU fatigue as a result, the Mouse House hears you.
Going forward, fewer new Marvel films and television series will arrive each year. "We've been working hard with the studios to reduce output and focus more on quality — that's particularly true with Marvel," advised CEO Bob Iger on Disney's second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, May 7.
"We're slowly going to decrease volume and go to about two TV series a year, instead of what had become four — and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two or a maximum three," Iger continued.
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The move comes in what's set to be a quieter Marvel year in cinemas anyway. Picture palaces in 2024 are only welcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, which releases in July. The streaming slate might be busier, after Echo hit Disney+ in January — and with WandaVision spinoff Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, plus the animated Eyes of Wakanda and Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, yet to get air dates — but there'll definitely be fewer MCU tales hitting screens in total.
In contrast, 2023 was huge Marvel for viewers, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels on the big screen, plus Secret Invasion, Loki and What If...? on screaming. 2022 was also massive, thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. And in 2021, Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Solider, and the first Loki and What If...? seasons all dropped.
Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2023 MARVEL.
Marvel has already floated spacing out its releases so that its schedule in cinemas and on streaming isn't as jam-packed, and then pushed back a few titles during 2023's Hollywood strikes. Now, it's sticking to a strategy that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Entertainment Weekly about last year, saying that "the pace at which we're putting out the Disney+ shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine".
Right now, audiences will see Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts on the silver screen in 2025 — the first in February and the second in May. The new Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us)-, Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon)-, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear)-starring Fantastic Four is also dated to arrive next year, in July.
2025 is meant to welcome Blade back to the screen, too, as led by Moonlight and Green Book Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, but that'd make four films in one year. So, if Iger is sticking to three movies or less in a year, that could change. From there, just two new Avengers flicks are locked in with release dates at the moment, one in 2026 and the other in 2027.
On the small screen, Daredevil: Born Again is due in 2025, while Ironhart, Marvel Zombies, Wonder Man and Vision Quest don't yet have dates.
From Marvel's upcoming slate, only Deadpool & Wolverine has a trailer — check it out below:
For more information about Marvel's upcoming slate of films and TV shows, head to the company's website.
Images: Disney.
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