The good news? It was a new MCU record, plummeting more than the 68 and 67 percent, respectively, of Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the least critically reviled of those titles, dropped a mere 63 percent in comparison.
The bad news? The pearl clutching at Disney was likely because Quantumania (if ever there was a movie that needed an Airplane! style exclamation point ...) was Big Mouse's supposed return to form after Phase Four was criticized for its lack of forward progress. Hopes were high that this latest Ant-Man extravaganza would kickstart the new direction of the universe.
And now? Among other things, shake-ups are happening at Marvel Studios, most notably the ouster of exec Victoria Alonso. Alonso was in charge of VFX for Marvel, an area which has been under heightened scrutiny thanks to constant last minute narrative changes and unrealistic demands leading to frustrated and overworked artists.
You'd think Disney rivals Warner Bros. would be steepling their fingers in Monty Burns-ian glee, except that both Black Adam — Dwayne Johnson's transparently terrible entry into the DCEU — and Shazam: Fury of the Gods have also disappointed. Admittedly, this could be due to nothing more than a general lack of giving a shit about characters less revered than the studio's big names. Which is pretty hilarious given Johnson's insistence that it was his childhood obsession to see the character on the big screen (or that Rampage was his favorite video game as a kid).
All of these characters, by the way, are going to be played by fresh actors in future DC movies. New co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran are restarting the DCEU and it's unclear who, if anyone, from the Zach Snyder era will return.
The new Shazam! has performed poorly enough to (probably) justify a decision for Gunn and Safran to shelve the character altogether. Granted, Johnson's apparent refusal of a Shazam cameo in his movie didn't help matters, and neither did his insistence on Henry Cavill's Superman making an appearance.
This doesn't mean the party is entirely over. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is already the 24th highest grossing movie of all time. And even relatively reviled efforts like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — at worst — double or triple their production budgets.
But it's clear the old approach is losing steam. The sheer glut of Disney properties (Marvel and Star Wars) in theaters and on TV are causing burnout among viewers who may not feel inclined to watch four seasons of a TV show to know what's happening in a particular movie or TV show (or even the *50* most "essential" episodes). Didn't watch WandaVision? The Scarlet Witch's heel turn in Multiverse of Madness may not make much sense. Missed the Book of Boba Fett (and who could blame you)? You'll be scratching your head as to why Grogu and Mando are back together. And there's little indication, on the TV side at least, that this will change anytime soon.
As for the movie side of Star Wars, the reins are being pulled a little tighter. Disney has canceled both Kevin Feige's untitled film and Patty Jenkins's Rogue Squadron, which she'd expressed hopes of returning to at some point. That brings the number of previously in-development SW projects to have the plug pulled on them to an even dozen, with only Damon Lindelof and Taika Waititi's movies still on the board. For now.
The MCU is a different story, one befitting the analogy of trying to turn around an aircraft carrier. "The Multiverse Saga," meaning Phases Four through Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is mapped out through 2026. And unlike Star Wars (or the DCEU, for that matter), they're not likely to axe any of their announced titles. Disney CEO Bob Iger, however, did recently admit that perhaps a "less is more approach" might be better:
“What we have to look at at Marvel is not necessarily the volume of Marvel storytelling, but how many times we go back to the well on certain characters,” Iger said. “Sequels typically work well for us, but do you need a third or a fourth, for instance? Or is it time to turn to other characters?"That these comments came following the disappointing reception of the 3rd Ant-Man and 4th Thor films is no coincidence. Seeing the same characters in the same bog of CGI, saving the world yet again, has grown tiresome. Not so tiresome that Disney is prepared to completely kill off its cash cows, mind you, but maybe enough to realize not every stinger scene needs to extend the MCU ad infinitum.
Or that a stinger scene is even required, for that matter. They made sense in tying the Infinity Saga (Phases One through Three) together, but in their quest to link abso-goddamn-lutely every aspect of their multiple universes, Disney is in danger of the same trap that befell the comics these movies are based upon. Specifically, that the sheer tonnage of crossovers and team-ups will turn consumers off entirely.
Which more or less brings us full circle. Whither Star Wars and the MCU? For the former, Disney seems to have finally appreciated that part of what made the original releases so special was their relative scarcity. A Star Wars movie used to be an event, but in their hurry to wring as much profit as possible from one of the highest grossing film franchises of all time, Disney overestimated the public's appetite for origin stories and trilogies based on a single character.
As for Marvel, my prediction since the end of the Infinity Saga hasn't changed: Disney will use the multiverse angle to justify repeating Sony's Maguire/Garfield/Holland tactic from Spider-Man to reboot each franchise when not substituting existing actors. This has already been partially borne out with the announced X-Men and Fantastic Four movies. Will that help? Stay tuned, true believers.
Or you could alway follow New York Times critic A.O. Scott's lead and nope out entirely. I won't judge.
