Kevin Feige & Louis D’Esposito Acknowledge Marvel Studios “Took A Little Hit”: “We Learned Our Lesson”

The star-studded film IF hits theaters at midnight, and many theater-goers might be wondering if there’s an end credits scene for this one.

Over the past several months, on more than one occasion, we’ve heard from Disney executives about how they’re going to be cutting back a bit on streaming and put the focus on streamlining releases. That is to say, all that talk about how Disney+ was going to be the golden goose of the company was a bit premature.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “WandaVision” spinoff “Agatha All Along” has set its Disney+ premiere date. The series will debut with two episodes on Sept.. 18.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The theme of Disney‘s 2024 upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday was “connections” — and not just because of the running bit started by “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Rob McElhenney, which involved their constant replaying of a five-second ad spot that said “Connections!” with a Disneyified logo and voiceover. No, the symbol of unity across Disney’s brands was made up of a slew of announcements from Marvel, and about such other high-wattage projects as “Star Wars,” “The Bear,” “Only Murders in the Building,” the “Wizards of Waverly Place” sequel series, “9-1-1,” Ryan Murphy’s new slate of FX titles and more franchises with intersecting talent. Disney kicked off the event when Oscar-winning “Poor Things” star Emma Stone introduced the Mouse House’s big boss, Bob Iger — a job like that would traditionally go to a top ABC star.

Shari Redstone strolled onto the red carpet in New York City tonight for the premiere of Paramount Pictures IF, John Krasinski’ star-studded PG adventure that opens this weekend. She was there to support studio chief Brian Robbins.

John Malkovich has joined Marvel‘s “The Fantastic Four” in an undisclosed role, Variety has confirmed. The veteran actor joins Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards, aka Mr.

EXCLUSIVE: John Malkovich (The New Look) is poised to enter the MCU, as Deadline understands that the actor has come aboard for a role in The Fantastic Four.

With Paramount Global and its assets currently in play, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook was asked on a call today if the nation’s biggest broadcast might look at CBS stations.

Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future, according to the CEO of Disney.Bob Iger was speaking to Wall Street analysts when he confirmed that he plans to release no more than three new Marvel films per year, as well as only two television series in the MCU.The studio head said that the plan is part of an overall strategy at Disney to focus on quality rather than quantity, with that applying particularly to their Marvel properties.“We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three,” he said. “And we’re working hard on what that path is.”He continued that the MCU will have “a couple of good films in ’25 and then we’re heading to more Avengers, which we’re extremely excited about.”“Overall, I feel great about the slate.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito admitted to Empire magazine that “it’s been a rough time” for the Marvel Cinematic Universe following a rocky 2023 that included box office flops “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.” The latter title is the lowest-grossing MCU movie of all time with just $206 million worldwide. Marvel didn’t fare better on television, where series such as “Secret Invasion” were widely panned by critics. Despite these setbacks, D’Esposito is committed to seeing the glass half full.

As everyone knows, the otherwise untouchable Marvel Studios had a particularly rough 2023. The disappointment of “Ant-Man: Quantumania,” the box office flop of “The Marvels,” and the critically reviled Disney+ series, “Secret Invasion,” severely put the studio on the ropes for the first time ever.

Marvel will be cutting back on the amount of content released per year after seeing a dip in interest.

It’s not really news to say that Disney CEO Bob Iger is going to be a bit more hands-on with Marvel Studios in the future. The executive has made several comments in the past about reducing the number of projects the studio releases, as well as making sure the films and TV series that are released are of the best quality.

Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company will limit its output of Marvel movies to “two good films” a year — three maximum — from about four and also cut the numbers of TV series spinoffs for the franchise.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company is shrinking the MCU with a new mission to drop the number of Marvel TV series to two a year and the film output to no more than three movies per year. Iger said this is part of Disney’s overall strategy to reduce output and focus on quality, a strategy “that’s particularly true with Marvel.” On the TV side, Iger says that a portion of the upcoming series set for release are “a vestige of basically a desire in the past to increase volume.” “We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three.

Sometimes the fan campaigning really works, though in this case, the fan is actor Giancarlo Esposito, known for his roles in “Breaking Bad,” and “The Mandalorian.” In the last year or more, Esposito has made it no secret that he’s been eager to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, seemingly talking it up every chance he gets and telling audiences. Previously, the actor revealed he had met with Marvel Studios and said he was keen to play a new version of Professor X in the “X-Men” movies.

Why ruin a good thing? That was the question facing Hugh Jackman when asked to be a part of the third Deadpool movie after achieving a satisfying farewell in 2017’s Logan.

As you are likely well aware, the Walt Disney Company bought 20th Century Fox back in 2019, just one year after “Deadpool 2” hit theaters, and in the process, became the owners of all of Fox’s Marvel properties, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, and the Deadpool franchise. But if you’re wondering why it took so long for a third ‘Deadpool’ movie to happen, six years after the second film, well, we finally have answers.

Yes, the countdowns to “Deadpool & Wolverine” have started; they are real; there are websites dedicated to it, and as of right now, the film is 85 days away from release. The irony around it all might be Marvel’s release strategy.

Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth, Bad Bunny and Anna Wintour serve as the Met Gala co-chairs this year, so they’ll be in attendance. It’s a pretty good bet they’ll be joined by regulars like Rihanna, Jared Leto, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington, Cara Delevingne, Serena Williams and even a Kardashsian, a Jenner or two.