Marvel Studios Boss Talks About MCU's 'Rough Time' In Recent Years

There was a time when Marvel Studios movies dominated the box office and the mainstream cinema industry. Nonetheless, the studio has had a run of poorly received films in the past few years, both critically and commercially. The co-president of Marvel Studios Louis D'Esposito has now acknowledged that the past several years have been a "rough time" for the business, especially 2023. 

With the release of the poorly received Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels the MCU experienced one of its worst years ever. With only $206 million made globally, The Marvels is the lowest-earning film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. D'Esposito, however, is holding out hope that the studio can overcome its current problems.

Louis D'Esposito on Marvel's recent failures 

In a conversation with Empire, D'Esposito revealed that they have decided to reduce the output of Marvel movies– hence, Deadpool & Wolverine is the only MCU project to land in theatres this year. He said, “It’s been a rough time… If we [Marvel Studios] just stayed on top, that would have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. We took a little hit, we’re coming back strong. Maybe when you do too much, you dilute yourself a little bit. We’re not going to do that anymore. We learned our lesson. Maybe two to three films a year and one or two shows, as opposed to doing four films and four shows.”

Huge expectations for Deadpool and Wolverine

Deadpool and Wolverine is the sole Marvel film that opens in theatres this year. Marvel is in dire need of a box office smash, and the tentpole, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, is expected to be one of the biggest movies of 2024. Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, told Empire that he feels at ease with being the underdog once more—a role he held before Iron Man launched the MCU in 2008.

The third entry in the Deadpool franchise reunites director Shawn Levy with Reynolds and Jackman. It's also a reunion for the Logan star and producer Feige, whose first producing credit was 2000's X-Men. Reynolds has co-written the script with Deadpool and Deadpool 2 writers Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Zeb Wells (The Marvels, Robot Chicken) and Levy.