Disney has “killed some projects” amid the implosion of Marvel superhero movies, says CEO Bob Iger, but we haven’t been “as public about it”

Disney has quietly scrapped “some” film projects as it tries to recover from a string of underperforming films both at the box office and in reviews.

CEO Bob Iger told investors that the entertainment giant was focusing on creating quality movies that audiences would want to see.

Superhero movies like The Marvels and last year’s Ant-Man sequel lost money, along with other new releases Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Haunted Mansion were also panned by critics, the latter averaging a particularly bad 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Iger said Disney “already killed some projects that we just didn’t think were strong enough,” while trying to back the most promising ones.

‘You have to kill things you no longer believe in. And that’s not easy in this business. Because either you’ve started, you have some… costs,” he said at an investor conference.

‘It’s a relationship with your employees or with a creative community. And it is not something easy. But you have to make those difficult decisions.

‘In fact, we have made those difficult decisions. We haven’t been that public about it.

Iger gave no clue as to which projects were abandoned, but insisted it was simply because they didn’t live up to his high standards.

‘You have to look at everything you are doing, what you believe in. And you have to take a position that good is not good enough. “You basically have to strive for perfection,” he said.

The box office disappointments of Ant-Man and The Marvels led some to argue that the studio is suffering from audience “superhero fatigue” with too many movies a year.

However, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 last May and Black Panther 2 in November 2022 both made substantial profits in the same time period.

‘It’s not audience fatigue. They want great movies. And if you build it right, they will come,” Iger said.

“You have to put things in place that you really believe in. And we know that we are working on that too.”

However, the studio boss previously said that the Disney+ streaming platform being flooded with MCU TV shows affected The Marvels’ box office.

Iger noted that the Marvel franchise earned $30 billion with 33 films and that it was necessary to return to that trend in the future.

He said the studio needed to work more closely with filmmakers and “engage in a respectful process that results in improvements,” as well as give them more time and money to improve quality.

The last two years have included blockbuster flops for movies based on Disney properties that, in theory, should be profitable.

Haunted Mansion, based on the Disney World attraction, earned an RT score of 37 percent and grossed $117 million against a production budget of $150 million, not including much else in marketing expenses.

Jungle Cruise, also based on an attraction, was better received by critics with 62 percent, but grossed only $221 million, far less than the $600 million it needed to break even.

The Marvels also scored 62 percent on RT, but only earned $206 million against a break-even target of $439.6 million.

Ant-Man’s results were even worse: panned by critics at 46 percent on RT and falling short of its $600 million break-even point at $476.1 million.

This was made worse when the film’s co-star, Jonathan Majors, hit his girlfriend weeks after the film’s release and was later found guilty of assault.

Live-action remakes of Disney classics such as The Little Mermaid and Mulan also underperformed, although they received positive critical responses.