Why The Message Is Killing The Film Industry

This piece will talk about the idea of why people in Hollywood can’t see how the message is killing the film industry. Left wing social justice politics is very in right now with some people, these people think that everyone else is like them, and that if they are not that screaming at them and telling them they are a vile nazi will get them to change their mind, it won’t. Apply this to movie studios when you have actors and executives making statements to the press saying x film or tv show isn’t for a certain group of people, based usually around political beliefs and you can see the problem. It is an industry, and in an industry you want to make money so you have to keep everybody happy, so putting in divisive left wing themes and messages into a film to appeal to just people of one political persuasion becomes off putting for everyone else, the film will then do poorly, not always but most of the time

I am not arguing that film should be depoliticized some of the best films ever made are inherently political, but a studio deliberately doing something divisive and then insulting their fanbase is never the way to make a hit. Look at The Rings Of Power it spat on the books, and did many left wing changes to make the show appeal to a very small and vocal group of left wing activist and again what these creatives need to learn is that these are a small group, the majority don’t like this hence the poor viewership and completion rates.

Hollywood is famous for being a very left wing place, to them social justice issues are the be all and end all as they live in their mansions, and they see this small and vocal minority of people online and go see audiences agree with us lets make sure our films reflect our own personal beliefs, but this is echo chamber logic. The majority of people are aware of social justice issues but are busy trying to put food on the table or just get through the day, they don’t have the resources of the activists that don’t seem to need to work and have family money to keep going indefinitely. They go to the cinema because they want to be entertained not lectured to, or told how they are bad, this is why people are switching off. I have multiple streaming services worth of classic films to watch why would I go to the cinema and watch a modern release that screams about how anyone who eats meat is on a par with histories greatest baddies, I wouldn’t and I am not alone.

Yes streaming and rising ticket costs have brought pain to Hollywood’s door at the box office but it is the shoehorned diversity, that audiences can see is not done because they actually care about these groups or properly representing them but rather just to have them so they can show them off in an exploitative fashion, and the divisive social messages that take film from a place of entertainment into a lecture hall. I think this practice is sad because it is ruining the industry and it is stopping actual progress being made on things like making film more diverse as rather than do it for the right reasons it is just being done by an all-white board in order to appease a group of people online who aren’t numerous enough to make a film successful.

Personally I don’t think anything I have said here is particularly new nor do I think it is inherently one way or the other politically, I aim to be centrist I don’t aim to align with either side. I just think that something needs to be done about writers in Hollywood, I think that they need to stop preaching and start entertaining or they’ll be out of a job, I mean AI is only shortly around the corner anyway. Actors and executives can have their political views but they should know if they start saying to parts of the audience this film isn’t for you then they are limiting the reach of their film, and then they can’t be upset when it flops. They themselves can be very left wing if that’s who they are but it should stay out of their public image and they should remember they are actors not activists and trying to be the latter will hurt the former, look at Brie Larson she made a few probably well intended comments but her activism made her a hate figure and her career has struggled as a result. I think a return to the days of old is in order where stars were more greatly controlled by the studio whilst under contract and weren’t allowed to just say any old statement they like to the press which can then tank a 200 million dollar movie.

I think the winds of change are in the air I think people are realising audiences aren’t just people on X, that pushing social justice messages isn’t enough to make a film successful and that it may even be damaging. America and the world as a whole is a deeply divided place and if you view the split between what would be considered politically left and right down the middle you would probably find a fairly even split if more right wing people overall, so when Hollywood shoots its mouth off about who a project is and isn’t for they want to remember that ratio and remember it again when their project fails.

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Star Wars Is Dead

Written by Luke Barnes

This piece will talk about Star Wars and the recent controversy around the comments made by the director of the next cinematic release.

Now for those of you who have followed me for a while you will know where I am going with this, why alienate your audience. Kathleen Kennedy seems to think that the force is female but if you actually want to be profitable, and be able to make streaming services that aren’t haemorrhaging viewers season by season it might be time to admit that the force is genderless and stop telling the male audience to take a long walk off a short pier.

Again Kennedy in her wisdom, and likely some kind of voodoo hold over Bob Iger, has hired a documentary filmmaker for the director of the next film. Now I have no issue with the director’s work on Ms Marvel she did make the best episodes, however, I think that you need professionals not activists. I have often said studios should have it in their contracts that anyone working on any of their projects cannot make divisive political statements whilst they are under contract it just makes sense. Anyway, the new director in an interview said that she likes her film’s to make men uncomfortable, again this is not the kind of attitude you want from a director of a blockbuster.

I won’t even engage with this from a culture war outlook, but rather from a business one the Star Wars brand is on life support and the last thing you want to be doing is saying something like this that will fracture and divide your fanbase even further and create bad PR for the film before it has even come out. Yes, there are people who would hate this anyway as it carries on the sequel trilogy, but why go out of your way to make it worse.

Again Kathleen Kennedy needs to realise that her rather glaring political positions are getting in the way of her making a good film, if you say the force is female and tell the male audience to take a hike, and take it further by making a film that is seemingly now designed to make them uncomfortable then it won’t do well at the box office and will bomb because lets face facts women aren’t turning out for Star Wars, any analytics you want to look at will still tell you men are the main audience.

If I was Bob Iger right now I would be livid, I would remove Kennedy as she cannot be trusted anymore, I don’t know how after the last Indiana Jones film that killed that franchise and the Sequel trilogy she is still in a job but hey. If nothing else if for some reason they can’t get rid of her I would veto her directing choice take the bad PR and then bring in a Brice Dallas Howard someone who knows the brand well the fans like and is still female so they can still tick that progressive box.

Lets face it folks Rey, a hated character, led Star Wars film that carries on the bad blood of the sequels and is directed by someone who wants to make the majority of the audience uncomfortable is destined to bomb as it has no fan excitement, it has no hype and it will go the way of Aquaman II after the whole Amber Heard thing.

Widely this is a step to kill Star Wars as Kennedy knows her days are numbered in the top job.

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The Current State Of Cinema 2023

Written by Luke Barnes

This piece will be my first annual state of cinema address, a feature that if popular and I remember I will try and do every year going forward. In it I’ll be talking about the festering state of franchise films, the struggles of the global box office to recover in a post pandemic sense, the possible hopeful return of the mid budget film and of course the idea of the message and how film studios are finally starting to realise that not everyone is an activist. Buckle up as cinema is in a turbulent time.

With The Marvels, Antman, Mission Impossible, Indiana Jones and the slate of DCEU films all performing badly and being poorly received one has to ask is superhero fatigue real? Is franchise fatigue real? Though these are questions that have been asked to death I think we need to cover it here, yes is the answer by the by. I think that audiences are wising up and being more choosey, for the reason we will get into later, and as such are only turning out for films they think look good whereas in times gone by they may be more likely to take a risk on something. This is partially because of streaming culture though I think far more likely it is because audiences are finally starting to reject the slop that studios serve up time after time. I think that the day of the CGI fest blockbuster with no soul is coming to an end and that the reason a film like Guardians three did well whereas the other two Marvel films didn’t is because it had a heart and a care that audiences connected with, it is not a hollow CGI fest. Studio’s need to put more time into crafting stories and worlds and not just taking audience for granted because I think if this year in cinema has shown anything it is that the audiences aren’t coming anymore.

Now why is that? Where did the audience go? I believe as I have said before in other pieces that the reason why the box office can’t recover in the post covid sphere in the way some expected it would is because of a trio of factors: streaming, a lack of interest, and also money and I think it is the final factor that is key. Whilst there have been a few run away successes this year it is nothing compared to the number of success stories pre pandemic and yes you can point to how audiences are no more willing to wait until a film hits streaming but in my mind the real reason why it hasn’t recovered is because cinema’s have put up prices to try and make more money post covid and that move is mortal self-harm for them. Why has a film like Wish flopped, besides being trash, well that is because if you and your partner had two kids and the four of you wanted to go and watch the film as a family it would cost you with food well over fifty pounds, I don’t know the dollars translation, and for many these days that is just too much. Add on top of that that a family can instead just buy Disney plus for a fraction of that and wait for the film to come out in about 5 months, if not less, and bang it simply isn’t worth it any more.

One thing that is good that has come out of all this is that I think that the way studios will respond to this year will be to scale back budgets on both their franchise and non-franchise films. This is a good thing for two reasons, firstly it will bring back the mid budget movie to a degree for far too long it has either been these massive multi million dollar franchises or indie fare, the mid budget movie is in need of a comeback, also with smaller budgets studios will be more willing to take risks which again is always a good thing.

However, I think the most important issue facing contemporary cinema and something that will and is bringing a reckoning all its own is this idea of preaching. Hollywood for the most part is a very liberal and left wing place, and that has always been the case, however, at some point within the last decade celebrities and creatives started getting far more preachy and putting it into their films, again maybe it’s because of generation activist, but increasingly going to the cinema now is just being preached to by millionaires on how the world should be. What makes this worse is that these same creatives have taken to creating divides in their own franchises and fan bases telling fans that these films or this series isn’t for them anymore. Look at what happened with The Rings Of Power and how badly Amazon abused the Lotr community, and who showed up for that show? By Amazon’s own metrics not many people at all. Again studios are starting to get the message now saying they will put telling good stories ahead of the message again, which is how it should have always been and are seeing that audiences are voting against being preached to with their wallets. Look at Wish a film that might as well have been a PSA on social justice talking points who came out for it?……. No one. Audiences won’t be told how to live by millionaire liberals who are so out of touch with average moviegoers they might as well be living on another planet.

Melissa Barrera And The Murky Fate Of The Scream Franchise

Written by Luke Barnes

I have been gone for a long time now, life and doing a master’s degree will do that to a person, but what better way to return to writing these pieces about films and reviews and what not then with a highly controversial post. In this article I will be talking about the very recent news regarding Melissa Barrera and Scream 7.

Again a little preface before we get into it, if you don’t like my views don’t come after me they are just one person’s opinion, there are plenty of other people who will have a different take to them that you can blindly follow.

Before we get into it I just want to say that the Gaza situation is awful on both sides and the point of this piece is not to comment on it, or to really state my political opinion either way. I want to talk about an actor being fired from a film that is all.

I think the whole situation reflects points I have been making for a long time, actors should remain a-political and do their jobs without trying to be activists on social media. Again this a point that will upset the people on X who make their whole personalities based around how much of an activist they can be and how they are the only thing standing in the way of injustice, but as these people won’t want to admit life isn’t twitter.

Again from a studio point of view I can see exactly why she was fired and it makes a lot of sense, you want actors that will bring audience in, not turn them off, say it with me you don’t want divisive movie stars. All Spyglass needs to do is look at The Flash and what happened there they kept someone around who was incredibly divisive and the film tanked, now I am not comparing Miller to Barrera in terms of conduct rather in terms of how they are divisive. Yes, you may be screaming but what Barrera said isn’t controversial she said what me and my friends and echo chamber on X have been saying for a long time, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the world agrees with you. What Barrera has said has been called hate speech by Spyglass so again that would turn off a big section of your audience for a potential film wouldn’t it. Yes it won’t turn you off but they need more than your small twitter circle for a film to be profitable.

Again liberal Hollywood is starting to be shown that audiences don’t want to hear them preaching, they don’t want stars that tell them how to be or how to live their lives, they don’t want stars that force their politics down your throat on TikTok. What made someone like Will Smith or Nicole Kidman so popular in their peaks, they were movie stars not activists, you looked to them to give you some escapist entertainment not preach to you. Again, a star needs to bring in an audience and keep them together, not act as a divisive force.

From a business perspective it makes totally sense.

As a fan of the series this is murky as a lot of the stuff they set up in the last film will now be lost, though they could pivot to Jenna Ortega or bring back Neve Campbell with a nice big pay raise and just ignore it. I think the ideas of the rest of the cast walking out is stupid, you might get one or two more who leave but they will be blacklisted so most won’t as they’ll play the game, also the idea of bringing Berra back is likewise not happening as she keeps doubling down on her ‘hate speech’ so she’s done and likely her career is over, and ultimately you can have as many campaigns on X as you like it won’t change the fact that she is controversial now and will divide the audience so they will keep her far away from this franchise now.

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AI And The Writer’s Strike

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about AI, the writer’s strike and a few other issues effecting Hollywood right now. I will preface this by saying that I accept that a lot of the arguments out there on AI are quite alarmist and likely mine will have elements of that as well. However, I intend for this piece to talk about the possible real world implications when it comes to entertainment and as such will try and keep hyperbole, such as how AI will wipe out the human race, out of what I am about to say.

Now when it comes to the idea of AI written films a lot of people are worried, there are striking writers worried about losing their jobs, there are other people in other areas of production who are starting to worry that they may be replaced by AI as well, and then there are cinephiles and lovers of going to the cinema that are worried AI written films will make them already more generic then they already are.

In all of these areas I would argue that the worry is earned. One must believe that Hollywood executives probably can’t wait to start using AI and announce cost saving measures, IE firing all the writers or firing most and keeping a ghost crew around to punch up AI written scripts and to qualify for awards. People are greedy and always want to extend their profits, as such I think it is right that writers are striking and the topic of AI is becoming incredibly relevant to their demands.

Likewise, I find something incredibly depressing and dystopian about the idea of customised films. In this frame I am talking about one of the possible uses of AI in films, which would see studio approved AI design films directly for consumers and meet their specifications may even featuring them in the lead. That sounds incredibly off putting to me and like the death of the film industry because at that point where is the talent, where is the heart, where is the craft it is all gone in place of gluttony infused consumerism that would remove the human component entirely. One would have to imagine that a lot of these AI made film experiences would be the same and would be misused, such as someone inserting themselves into a cinematic sex scene with a certain star they like, and whilst this basically boils down to elaborate VR softcore porn, it still feels creepy. Moreover, in that example the star would likely have signed away their rights to whichever studio was putting out the film experience which is then customised by the user to have a sex scene and in that do whatever they want, which would be incredibly short sighted on the part of the star.

There is a lot of ground for things to go wrong, and for the sake of bias it is worth saying that maybe AI could improve cinema in some way, especially within animation making the overworked animators jobs a little easier, but at the same time there is more than enough reason to be concerned.

To break from my hyperbole rule for just a minute I would frame the AI debate within filmmaking as a battle for the soul of the industry and the human heart that beats within it, because you best believe if it is widely adopted their will be mass layoffs.

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Marvel’s Week From Hell

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about Marvel’s week from hell, with Victoria Alonso being fired and Jonathan Majors being accused of domestic violence.

An argument could be made that Marvel has been circling the drain for some time now, things have been getting worse and worse over the last phase as we know because Marvel Studios has been favouring quantity over quality, supposedly on the orders of the former Disney CEO. However, this week the drama has seemingly really intensified and I want to give my take on it, what it means for Marvel and what I think they should do going forward.

Regarding the situation with Alonso, I would argue they made the right call, she is threatening to take Disney to court now so it may continue to be a headache but no doubt it will be easily snuffed out. However, I think removing Alonso was a good call as she has said some culture war type tripe before, see her comments about the X-Men, and could be seen to be one of the main voices, allegedly, pushing for wider social commentary and identity politics in the films. More of that is not what the MCU needs right now, it needs to bring back audiences from both sides of the political divide. In addition there is the talk of Alonso, again allegedly, being a highly toxic force when it came to the VFX departments as she seemed to be a cruel boss who would favour those loyal to her and punish the rest, now this is unsubstantiated beyond a few people’s alleged first person accounts but if true its probably why the VFX work of late has been so bad within the MCU.

Regarding the Majors situation, everything is still quite up in the air but things don’t look good and it looks like Majors may have done some bad stuff, again all alleged at this moment. They are trying to paint it as the accuser was having some sort of break and that’s what happened and Majors is innocent, but I smell trash and think far more likely Majors and his team are trying to destroy the credibility of the witness in order to get him off and that the alleged retraction she has written is most likely being done after she has received a pay out or possibly something stronger, a court battle she probably can’t afford. Again all alleged and my opinion. I think this proves that movie studios need to better vet their actors, especially as a history of violence is starting to emerge online with regard to Majors’ past. I think regardless of where the arrest goes Marvel Studios and or Disney should conduct their own investigation and if this story is even slightly true, then Majors should be fired and the role of Kang recast.

I really think and have said many times before on social media that I think the best thing for the MCU right now would be for them to step back, delay all their productions, except maybe Guardians,into next year and rework things. Go back to the basis and quality check every project, cancel somethings that don’t need to be there and course correct as currently the MCU seems to be in freefall. I would still imagine that Guardians will do well in the coming months, but I think the Marvels much like the recent Ant-Man will do terribly for Marvel Studios and push the need for change.

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The Oscars 2023: The Good, The Bad And The Misguided

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about this year’s Oscars and the winners and losers from it, as well as some of the online responses to the results and how the latter reflects the messy and unpleasant current state of film discourse in the current year.

Straight off the bat I want to say Angela Bassett wasn’t robbed, her performance in Wakanda Forever was fine and the film itself was aggressively mediocre. With the current declining quality of MCU films they really shouldn’t be nominated for Oscars as they simply aren’t worthy of it, and probably only get the nominations because Disney get all the voters some really nice gifts and own the telecast. The response to Jaime Lee Curtis winning over Bassett was equally toxic. Many people only took to verbally abusing the actor and calling her and the Oscars racist because there preferred winner didn’t win, not only does that dilute the term incredibly, it also highlights where the discourse is at these days when it comes to cinema, it something happens that you don’t like then the people have to be ists and phobes because God forbid you can’t have your way. I don’t want to be the person ranting about kids today, but people need to realise that they can’t tantrum something into being and abusing a good actor because you don’t like that she won over someone else just makes you look bad. For what it is worth I didn’t think she should have won for the film she did and would have probably given it to Kerry Condon myself, but it was clearly a lifetime achievement award for Curtis and that is okay, the Oscars does that kind of thing.

Outside of the Best Supporting Actress drama I quite liked the results, I am glad Everything Everywhere All At Once got a lot of love, though I do think that maybe it is becoming a little overhyped and I thought it was nothing short of amazing that Brendan Fraser could comeback after all the horrible things that have happened to him over the years and win Best Actor, it truly was an inspiring moment and one that I doubt anyone could not find moving.

My one complaint on the way out would be that The Banshees Of Inisherin didn’t win at all, as I thought it deserved at least some Oscars love, but ah well.

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The Studio Vs Fan War

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the idea of studios and franchise masters being at war with the fans, and the relationship between fans, properties and those that run them.

Both sides are quick to draw first blood, fans will say that they have been harassed and called names by studios for not liking changes to IP, and studios will say that there shows/films have been the subject of trolls and abuse with the cast and crew suffering as a result. Both insist that the other can’t be right and that they are totally in the right. However, this simply isn’t possible.

Like with many things in life a compromise solution seems to be the most likely outcome, and by that I mean both sides have points that are true about the other and both have hurt and continue to hurt the other in a lasting war of attrition that only serves to ruin once beloved franchises. Can fans be toxic? Oh boy yes. I have seen first hand the way some people get bent out of shape over changes to IP, sometimes this comes from a purist argument other times from a more prejudiced place, however fans seem to believe that they have a right to be able to control what happens in IP’s they like and to be able to have their way. Whilst this is true to an extent in that people can vote with their wallets and have films flop if no one turns up, this is all the power fans have and sometimes they have to accept that these mega franchises are going to go in ways they don’t like and that they can’t stop it. That doesn’t give them the right to then harass, bully and intimidate people as that is surely the wrong way to go about it. If you don’t like the look of a film don’t watch it.

On the otherside of this divide, studios should be careful to change things that so many people love and only do so when it is in service of telling a good story that can stand on its own, it just makes sense from a business standpoint to keep giving the fans what they want. Moreover, demonising groups of people because they don’t like the direction your franchise is going is never the way, yes sometimes they are trolls, but more often then not they are just fans that are complaining that doesn’t make them a bigot or an ist, labelling people as such just comes across as antagonist and only serves to push people further and further away from your brand and divides the fanbase further, and you need all the viewers you can get. As is often the case it is the best practice to ignore the trolls and not give them the attention they want from you, if the companies didn’t respond to the review bombing then likely they would stop as people get bored and accept that these studios aren’t going to change. Another aspect to consider on this front is that often when studios seem to know that they have screwed up with a project rather than eat crow they instead prepare a narrative of trolls and abuse around their show to try and justify and hide the bad review score and viewing ratings. Fairly often these trolls happen to vote down badly produce/written series that would have failed on their own right, and I find that very convenient. I think the narrative that your show or film is getting bad reviews because of trolls and racists is a much more favourable narrative to you made a bad film/ show and that is why it is so often trotted out.

Ultimately, neither side will back down, the divides in a lot of these communities are too deeply entrenched. However, one thing I will say is that if these studios were smart they would back off and try and mend fences, not just because by not responding to the trolls they will likely go away but also because all that happens when you attack the fans is that you push even more people away from your property which then eats into profits. It is worth remembering that no show/film has an unlimited audience and you can put most if not all of your potential audience off. Sadly the main takeaway from this piece is that film discourse, especially around franchise films is really at an all time low.

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The Prospect Of New Lord Of The Rings Films

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the new Lord Of The Rings Movies that Warner Brothers Discovery are making and how this is good, bad and messy for the franchise as a whole as well as for the state of contemporary Hollywood.

So my immediate thought is why? Then I think well they are probably making them to keep hold of the rights, in some rights agreements films or shows based on the property have to be made every so often for the holder to keep them, put very simplistically, so it could of course be that. On the other hand modern Hollywood is going through something of a bad time recently as films which in the pre-pandemic times would be sure fire billion dollar grossers aren’t anymore and the box office as a whole is struggling to recover to its pre-pandemic strength. All of this is because of the cocktail of people not wanting to spend the money going to a cinema, the rise and common use of streaming platforms, and finally the fact that a lot of the films put out these days just aren’t very good, and whilst all of these factors have been around in one form or another in the past the combination of them all happening at the same time is why a lot of cinema chains are facing bankruptcy. Due to these issues Hollywood in recent years has been to become reliant on everything with even a scrap of brand recognition to try and milk it to prop itself up, more often than not this hasn’t worked.

So to get to the subject of new Lord Of The Rings films I think there many ways that this could go wrong and a lot of room for scepticism. One first has to ask what are they going to adapt, will they be a sequel to the original trilogy? Based on the writings of Tolkien himself and how those films end with most of the magic leaving the world that would seem to be a no. Will it be a reboot? This seems like a more likely idea but also one that would be met with anger and derision from the off, and with the Lord of the Rings fandom very split over The Rings Of Power this would seem to be probably one of the worst ideas they could do, likely it would see a similar effect to the sequel trilogy with Star Wars. Finally there is the idea of a prequel of some form, which to me seems the most logical and wise idea they could do. However, the big issue here would be how does this tie into the Amazon deal and the areas of Tolkien’s work they have access to. Which of course would be a very messy area rights wise and all of this.

To write somewhat as an optimist for a moment if you would indulge me, I think this new LOTR news isn’t inherently bad, as like I said before if they went into the area of the Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales and took their ques from that and adapted something more line with those stories or perhaps a fall of Númenor there could be fertile ground for some new content.

However, I think the very worst thing they could do which would almost guarantee these films to be high profile flops for WBD is to remake the original trilogy or I guess even the Hobbit and gender swap/race swap all of the characters in an idea to update these beloved films from not all that long ago. I think to do this, and putting politics to one side for the moment, would be stupid because though WBD could have the momentary bonus of saying ‘look at how progressive we are’ they would also alienate a huge number of fans and people who would show up for the film, and it wouldn’t actually of course be progressive because they would only be doing it as a shallow marketing move rather than as to actually help or champion representation in cinema.

I think right now it is very easy to be negative towards this news and to look at it through mistrusting eyes, modern Hollywood after all hasn’t given much reason for faith, however, the size and potential scope of the loss for WBD that this could represent will mean that their plans will change constantly and be updated so we really don’t know what form this will take.

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The Current State Of The MCU: The Wheels Are Coming Off

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the current state of the MCU in the post-Endgame landscape. Right from the off I will say that I have seen everything the MCU has ever put out, I am due to see Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantomania in the coming days and it is because of that that I am writing this piece. As it stands the third Ant-Man film has some of the worst reviews of any MCU Marvel film, at least from critics and is being torn apart for its terrible VFX work, as such the point of this piece is how did we get here from the heights of Endgame? Is it a one off or part of a larger pattern? I have broken down what I think are the current issues killing the MCU into 5 key areas, that are all fairly minor on their own but that when combined create a lethal cocktail for the future success of the MCU as a franchise.

Firstly, and most obviously there is the glaring issues with VFX. VFX artists have been coming out and talking about how bad they have it over at Disney/Marvel studios and how they are been rushed and forced into crunch time hours in order to get films ready in time for release. This is bad both as a means of how to treat your employees but also as it effects the final quality of the project, who remembers Heimdall’s son from Love and Thunder or the recent stills of Modok from Quantomania. Forcing out unfished and poor VFX work makes both your film look bad and also taints your brands reputation for quality.

However, quality leads into the second issue with the current MCU the idea of quantity becoming more important than quality. This can be seen with the amount of MCU content that is released and the time frame in which it comes out, we are getting north of 5 MCU projects a year and that is a lot to turn around in such a short space of time so it is no wonder they are clearly cutting corners. This is likely done on a mandate from Disney to prop up Disney + with content but make no mistake it is killing Marvel in the long run.

This constant need for more content is also leading to more and more people starting to be put off by the Marvel formula, which is readily apparent no matter how many different genres they try and adapt their films into, because the creative confines of what one can do and still have it be a Marvel film are incredibly limited. Yes, there are some films like the coming Deadpool film that have enough of a fanbase that the higher ups at Marvel Studios and Disney can justify it breaking formula, but even then I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t get the R rating everyone thinks it is going to get. Moreover, this is also feeding into the homework problem that has plagued the MCU for some time and is getting worse with the introduction of the Disney + shows, this is the idea that to understand what is happening in the MCU at current moment you need to have seen tons of films and TV shows to be able to get into the wider narrative, this was inevitable as an issue for the interconnected world, but it will put more casual audiences off for sure.

Another issue with the current slate of Marvel content, especially the Disney + shows is the pushing off smaller characters at the expense of killing off or retiring older characters. You can have She-Hulk and Hulk together you don’t need to retire one to have the other, the same concept applies for Iron Man, Captain America and Hawkeye, all of these characters have been replaced. In the comics Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson both existed at the same time, especially when the latter was Captain America, but the MCU doesn’t work like that. There is a school of thought that suggests that the MCU is getting rid of its classic heroes to make audiences care about the new ones, and this does have some merit. One has to ask why is Echo, a minor character at the best of times, getting a show before Punisher or Ghost Rider?

The answer to that question leads into my final issue with the MCU and the one that I think in the end will be the death nail for it and that is pushing a political message and focusing on being as diverse as possible rather than in telling good stories any more. I will add that many properties can do both, and that diversity and representation is important, my argument is that when you achieve this by dragging down or removing pre-established and well liked characters that this is not the way. Look at She-Hulk again, which in my mind was the lowest ebb yet of the MCU, the show as a whole went out of its way to drag down the Hulk and show how Jessica Walters was easily so much better than him. Why did you need to introduce a character in this way? Lots of fans like the Hulk as a character so to see both the character and the show completely disrespect him is a bitter pill to a lot of fans. If you want to introduce a diverse array of new characters then focus on making them likable and important in their own right, the MCU did this perfectly with Miss Marvel, rather than having them exist as a character to put the pre-established characters down. All this does is make your new heroes unlikeable.

I recently saw an article in which Kevin Feige said he thought the MCU could be around for many more decades yet, but I think this argument ignores the declining box office and the subscriber problem with Disney +, I think Feige response is in denial. Yes the X-Men and The Fantastic Four will bring some audiences back whenever they are introduced, but that won’t change any of these issues, and it is these issues that I believe will see the MCU either rebooted or retired within the next decade.

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