There are a myriad of reasons why “The Marvels” failed at the box office, and one of them is that Marvel Studios emphasized quantity over quality, thus diminishing the brand. However, it’s somewhat dishonest to blame the COVID-19 pandemic for the project’s shortcomings. Several blockbusters were shot and produced during the COVID-19 pandemic and they didn’t fail at the box office due to a lack of on-set supervision.
Take Marvel Studios’ very own “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which debuted in early May 2022 to box office glory, grossing over $955 million worldwide. That film didn’t start production until November 2020, months after the COVID-19 pandemic began. The “Doctor Strange” sequel managed to successfully handle pandemic restrictions and emerged as a hit for Marvel. Even rival studio DC found a winner with “The Batman,” which was also shot during the pandemic. The Robert Pattison-starring film managed to bring in over $765 million for Warner Bros in 2022.
“The Marvels” didn’t start production until Summer 2021, which means Disney and Marvel Studios had enough time to learn how to handle filming during the restriction-heavy period. While it is completely fair for Iger to suggest that quantity began to trump quality, it doesn’t seem practical to blame the film’s woes on the pandemic when precedent suggests that quality blockbusters were produced during that era. Iger should instead consider just how potent superhero fatigue currently is, which more than likely led to the box office failure of “The Marvels.”
