Have audiences (finally) had enough of generic superhero movies?

11.23.23 – 15:15

Marvel (Photo: Walt Disney / Marvel Studios)

From the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU among geeks), a lot of crazy things have been produced so far 33 (!) films in the period 2008-2023. That’s an average of more than two films each year, in 2021 alone four Marvel films were released, as well as two superhero films from DC competitors.

Already after the first two films (Iron Man And Incredible Hulk) left, then the world’s largest entertainment conglomerate, The Walt Disney Company, spent $4 billion (approximately NOK 43 billion) and took over Marvel Studios.

The rest, so far, has been a bright economic story.

But in recent years, audience numbers have shrunk for the blockbuster films that were previously guaranteed to be the closest – however, none have fared as badly as the latest film: Wonder.

They relentlessly supported a brutal crash landing in the world’s cinemas.

IN THE Wonder finds Captain Marvel herself (Brie Larson) encountering a wormhole in space, which creates some terrible problems.

Meanwhile, his niece, Monica Rambeau, and her friend Kamala Khan play superheroes Garden State, under the name “Ms. Marvel,” they end up switching bodies every time they use their superhero powers.

SHIELD’s former secret chief, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), acts as advisor, and together they must join forces to solve the mystery – and save the world…

Does any of this sound familiar? Yes! It may also be for this reason that the number of superhero films has decreased drastically.

The film itself is certainly not a bad work, but we will feel the unmistakable feeling of déjà vu, because we have seen it before. Countless time.

It seems that more discerning filmgoers have grown tired of the same generic superhero formula; and now suffers from superhero fatigue.

Where every time we meet an invincible villain, who is about to destroy half the United States, and then the world, before he (usually a man) is beaten back by a (slightly ironic) superhero – after which it all comes to a head in a half hour melee which is endless.

Marvel itself is trying to renew itself, by immersing its films in metascience Extraordinary fail Thor: Love and Thunder. It’s really a pillow movie, because it’s so bad!

The number of cinema visitors has indeed decreased in recent years, but this figure is far from the disastrous figures experienced by Disney/Marvel currently. Wonder.

After its premiere, the film generated ticket revenues of kn 47 million dollars. Production costs alone reached $270 million. But what’s worse, in the second week attendance dropped almost 80%, to just $10 million. Those were the worst attendance figures for any Marvel film.

If you look more locally, several previous Marvel films have reached 300,000 visitors in the first week. Against comparison have Wonder only 14,500 tickets have been sold since its premiere on November 8!

Is this the end of superhero movies?

It’s not necessarily the end, but even top executives at the MCU and DC are now realizing that they need to take a break, put the handbrake on and cut back on very expensive production and frequency.

According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, three Marvel films were originally planned for 2024 – now there will only be one (Deadpool 3). Iger said his company now has one “lose focus”and have to reorient themselves.

Some of the cutbacks were of course due to the protracted strikes (which recently ended) that hit, and crippled, Hollywood this year, but the main reason was that companies realized that people were tired of the same films in new packaging, over time. afterwards. time.

And that’s great!

It’s still there Lots superhero films are being planned for Marvel and DC, hopefully the film companies invest more in the future quality over quantity, and spending more time on an original script than a good “bang and bang” – because there are indeed examples of great, entertaining superhero films, such as Black widow.

Read our reviews of Marvel films