CEO Bob Iger provides a little bit of that Disney spin during his quarterly investors call on Wednesday, where he touts the Thunderbolts box office, the hype for Fantastic Four, the viewership for Daredevil: Born Again, and the reactions to Andor Season 2.
Disney released its quarterly investors report on Wednesday, where overall it’s good news, which has seen the stock price jump, currently by over 10%.
However, Disney did confirm big busts for Snow White and Captain America: Brave New World, but it wasn’t all bad news for Marvel, as Disney has confirmed the big success of the Marvel Rivals video game.
Iger Calls Thunderbolts a Hit, But the Box Office Says Otherwise
Regarding what Iger said about Thunderbolts (now New Avengers) on the conference call, Iger said:
Thunderbolts* from Marvel Studios opened last week and is currently the number one movie in the world…
While Iger tries to sell investors that Thunderbolts is a success, the actual box office numbers tell a different tale. Thunderbolts/New Avengers happens to currently be bombing at the box office.
It sports the second-lowest opening for an MCU movie, only outperforming the big-time failure of The Marvels. It’s speculated the reason for the title change to New Avengers is because the box office is so bad.
Iger also spun excuses for Marvel failing, blaming things on putting out too much content:
“We all know that in our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content, that we turned to all of our creative engines, including Marvel, and had them produce a lot more. We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much. By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality. I think the first and best example is ‘Thunderbolts*.’ I feel very good about that.”
The reason for the MCU faltering post-Endgame is not the quantity but the creative direction Disney, Marvel, and Feige chose to go, which hasn’t been a success with the fans.
Iger Hypes Fantastic Four, But Early Reaction Isn’t Looking So Fantastic
Thunderbolts happens to tease the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Iger gives it a mention in the call as well:
…and we have many more highly anticipated titles coming to theaters later this year, including the live-action Lilo & Stitch, Elio, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Freakier Friday, Zootopia 2, and the spectacular Avatar: Fire and Ash.
It’s still too early for box office estimates for Fantastic Four, as it opens in July. However, the reaction to the trailers has been mixed and I would say leaning more on the negative side, especially after the last one revealing the gender bent female Silver Surfer.
Iger Spins Daredevil: Born Again Numbers, But Viewership Tells a Different Story
The spin from Bob Iger continues as he mentions Daredevil: Born Again:
Meanwhile, streaming originals such as Daredevil: Born Again, Paradise, and The Fall of Ruby Franke driving strong viewership, with the premiere episodes of these titles garnering more than 7 million views each during their first few days of streaming.
That 7 million views number actually isn’t good. It’s less than Agatha. Also thanks to Nielsen tracking which Disney+ has automatically turned on in accounts, it’s known the viewership of Daredevil: Born Again is among the lowest and the show is among the least-watched of the MCU on Disney+.
Charlie Cox has promised Season 2 gets a lot better, so there is that.
Iger Ignores Andor‘s Low Viewership, Touts Rotten Tomatoes Score Instead
Next up is Andor Season 2, which is looking like it is getting watched even less than Season 1, one of the least-watched Star Wars series on Disney+. Funny enough, Bob Iger doesn’t mention anything about the viewership numbers but only of the shill reviews over at Rotten Tomatoes:
The second season of Andor also just became the highest-rated Star Wars TV series or movie with a 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
I’ve only watched the first three episode of Andor Season 2 and found them to be really boring and slow. Since it’s the final season, to me, it comes off as creator Tony Gilroy is making things more about The Message. No one cares.
