Disney CEO Bob Iger has some ideas about what led to the The Marvels‘ lackluster performance at the box office last month.
While speaking at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit earlier this week, Iger explained that the movie was “shot during Covid,” which meant “there wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] really looking over what’s being done day after day after day,” per CNBC.
He also reportedly acknowledged that the company has “made too many” sequels over the past few years.
“It doesn’t mean we’re not going to continue to make them,” Iger said. “We’re making a number of them right now, as a matter of fact. But we will only greenlight a sequel if we believe the story that the creators want to tell is worth telling.”
The Marvels isn’t the only Disney movie to perform below expectations at the box office this year. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also underperformed, making 2023 the first year since 2014 that Disney hasn’t had a billion-dollar release, aside from the pandemic.
But Iger admitted it might be time for the company “to get more realistic” about their expectations.
“I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved,” Iger said. “I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed. That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.”
The Marvels opened to $47 million when it premiered in November, but suffered a 78 percent drop in sales by its second weekend, earning only $10.2 million. It’s since netted a total of $76 million.
Actress Iman Vellani, the Marvel newcomer who teams up with Brie Larson‘s hero in this installment, recently addressed the movie’s box office performance.
“I don’t want to focus on something that’s not even in my control, because what’s the point?” she told Yahoo Entertainment. “That’s for Bob Iger.”
She maintained that the box office “has nothing to do with me,” saying, “I’m happy with the finished product, and the people that I care about enjoyed the film. It’s genuinely a good time watching this movie, and that’s all we can ask for with these films. It has superheroes, it take place in space, it’s not that deep and it’s about teamwork and sisterhood. It’s a fun movie, and I’m just so happy that I can share it with people.”
The Marvels is now playing in theaters.
