Marvel’s Streaming Chief Says New, Slimmed-Down Release Schedule Allows MCU Shows More Time to ‘Bake’
Speaking with the “Phase Zero” podcast, Marvel’s Brad Winderbaum revealed some interesting details about the early days of the franchise on Disney+.
Five years ago, it seemed that with Marvel’s Midus Touch, everything that the studio put out immediately turned into gold. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was able to crank out billion-dollar hit after billion-dollar hit for parent company Disney, but things have changed significantly since then. Nowadays, Disney CEO Bob Iger is having to fend off questions about franchise fatigue when it comes to Marvel content, and the company has cut back dramatically on the number of Disney+-exclusive shows on its calendar. Marvel Studio’s streaming, television and animation head Brad Winderbaum sat down with Comicbook.com's “Phase Zero” podcast recently to talk about the changes, saying that viewers can expect Marvel projects to continue to be spread out more widely i the future, in large part to avoid exhausting audiences.
- Winderbaum said that in the early days, there was a “mandate” to crank out new Marvel shows for Disney+ as fast as possible.
- The exec also said he believes a less crowded release schedule will lead to better quality from the titles on Disney+.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger said recently that the company had killed projects in various stages of production for fear that they wouldn’t resonate with audiences.
The pared-back release schedule for Marvel shows on Disney+ is likely a relief to fans, especially younger audiences. A recent survey commissioned by Tubi and The Harris Poll indicates that 74% of millennials and Gen Z viewers would rather see originals than titles generated from a franchise, and the Marvel calendar for Disney+ indicates that Disney officials are listening. In 2024, the only Marvel content slated to hit Disney+ is the already-released “Echo,” the upcoming “X-Men '97” which premieres this week, and the “WandaVision” spin-off “Agatha” which will release later this year.
Winderbaum acknowledges this is a big change from the old way of doing things for Disney and Marvel. In the years following Disney+’s release in 2019, Disney turned on the Marvel firehose and insisted that it stay on, pummeling customers with nonstop releases in the name of populating the streamer with more original content.
“Frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+, as quickly as we could,” Winderbaum told the “Phase Zero” podcast.
Head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige first told audiences in February 2023 that a change was coming and that in Phases 5 and 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fewer shows would be released on Disney+, and that those that did get a release would see a longer waiting between Marvel projects on the streamer.
“The pace at which we’re putting out the Disney+ shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine,” Feige said.
For some fans, the slowdown is welcome, as keeping up with the constant releases became tedious, especially as the audience and critical reception for the titles declined. Winderbaum insisted that the studio is using the extra time between releases to improve the quality of the shows. He also points to the fact that priorities have shifted not only at Disney, but at all legacy media companies that own a streaming service. Media firms are currently focused on making their streaming services profitable, and that drive to boost revenue has had consequences for even the most marquee franchises in Hollywood. Disney also faces the challenge of declining revenues from its linear channels, which are bringing in less as cord-cutting eats into the number of cable and satellite customers in the United States.
“You can bake certain things a little more,” Winderbaum said of Marvel’s skinnier production slate. “It’s actually, I think, ultimately, it’s only going to make things better. But, most of it is just frankly shrapnel from the business.”
Is Disney’s New Marvel Strategy Here to Stay?
Fans shouldn’t expect Disney to start churning out Marvel projects the way it used to any time in the near future. Winderbaum indicates that Marvel is still developing titles at a fast pace, but that like the traditional pattern at Hollywood studios, not all projects that enter development will end up being released. That differs from how the MCU had been run when the intricately mapped out plans for the larger cinematic universe required everything that the studio worked on to eventually make it to screens large or small.
“We’re more like a traditional studio now,” he said. “We’re developing more than we actually will produce.”
It’s highly possible that Disney has already moved on from some Marvel projects that made it to various stages of development. Speaking at the 2024 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference in February, Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts that his company had killed several projects already in development of late, as it tries to prioritize its money and fund productions that have the best chance of being big revenue drivers for the company. Despite the change in Marvel release strategy, Iger denied that the franchise was suffering from audience fatigue.
“A lot of people think it’s audience fatigue. It’s not audience fatigue,” he argued. “They want great films. And if you build it, great, they will come. And there are countless examples of that.”
The next MCU release scheduled to hit theaters is “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which Disney is hoping will breathe some life back into the somewhat moribund franchise. This will be the first time that the two title characters have appeared in an MCU title as the previous Deadpool and X-Men movies were under the 21st Century Fox umbrella, which Disney acquired in 2019.
The film’s trailer garnered a record-breaking number of views when it came out on Super Bowl Sunday, and it’s got a good shot of drawing major crowds. But Disney remains committed to a smaller release schedule of Marvel shows on Disney+ going forward, as it chases streaming profits and battles declining linear revenues.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”