An Inside Look: Marvel Studios

OVERVIEW

We've all had the chance to read the comics, seen the movies, or gone to a comic con at least once & the brand name that always resonates with this facet is Marvel. Previously known as Marvel Entertainment, Marvel began as an idea back in the 1950s when creator Stan Lee wrote the comics as an escape from the reality of the real world. Fast forward, and Marvel has become an international success. All of this is due to Marvel Studios' current president, Kevin Feige. Feige is a mastermind in every aspect of the company, and it's interesting to see how the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) will unfold in the coming years. Without getting too deep in, here is an inside look at Marvel Studios.

STRENGTHS

Dedicated community

Marvel Studios has had great success, and that has led to a dedicated community. Fans all over the world have praised the company for its unique comprehension of storytelling, and cinematography. Additionally, the way 23 movies consecutively led to an "epic conclusion" made die-hard fans unsure of what the future held. Rest assured, the fans are really where the money's at for Marvel. Allow me to drive this point even further:

"Avengers: Endgame" continues to be Marvel's biggest movie to date, grossing a total of $2.797 billion. Marvel surpassed James Cameron's "Avatar" which held the number one spot at the box office for the highest-grossing movie of $2.789 billion until it had been dethroned in July of 2019. The reason I mention this is because of how the fans saw how eager Marvel wanted to take that number one spot for the box office crown and saw fans re-watching it close to 20 times (that's not an exaggeration, there are die-hard fans out there). Though Avatar did reclaim it's box-office crown once again this past weekend with $2.80 billion, it's been the dedication and brand that has made the Marvel community tune into these films.

Brand equity

One of the many things I saw Marvel battle in the early stages of developing this universe was brand equity. If you date back to 2008, many people did not know much about Iron Man or Captain America. Even actor Tom Hiddleston who plays "Loki" explained on the Jimmy Fallon show that Marvel Studios wanted to bring in new faces to these movies, so that the audience wouldn't have any sort of association with them. It's understanding that people needed to have a connection with these characters so that they could understand and relate to them. According to Matt Lyes" Marvel chose to be different in the look, tone, feel, and voice of their movies."

Now by having a connection towards the characters and developing their story in a way that will strike an audience member, the result will be more revenue for Marvel. It's well-known that the first Iron Man movie grossed a staggering $585.3 million, and the next Iron Man 2 generating $623.9 million, and Iron Man 3 topping it off with $1.215 billion. That's not even including the development, production, and promotional costs that go into making these big-budget movies. Overall, fans have remained loyal to the brand by getting a movie ticket, buy marketing materials (toys, shirts, etc.), and standing their ground as Marvel enthusiasts.

WEAKNESSES

Film licensing Issues

One of the biggest issues that Marvel had is its inconsistency in licensing their film superheroes. Let's investigate one character that Marvel doesn't have full control over Spider-Man. The working relationship between Sony Pictures and Marvel has been a difficult one, to say the least. The Spider-Man character has been rebooted several times now, and most of the reason that plays into this is Sony having full creative control of the film rights to that character. There's a story behind this:

According to CBR, "Marvel emerged from its bankruptcy in 1998, and settled with Viacom and MGM, freeing the company to sell the Spider-Man film rights in 1999 to Columbia parent company Sony Pictures for a reported $7 million. That, of course, cleared the way for Sony to develop and produce 2002's Spider-Man, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire." Though that trilogy made up a total of $880 million with all 3 movies, there wasn't much that the director of that trilogy could do to spark an initial fourth film, which led to the character being rebooted, etc. Although Disney and Sony have a deal with current Spider-Man, Tom Holland, the deal states that Sony gets the final say in what happens in the majority of the movies.

The takeaway is that Marvel could negotiate one deal with other parent companies to be a solution and put their well-recognizable names to the screen, which has already happened on one special occasion. In December of 2017, the Marvel community was ecstatic to learn that Fox and Disney had reached a $52 billion deal on allowing Marvel to bring the X-Men, Deadpool, and the Fantastic four characters "back home." Though it's still relatively early in the development process, the idea of X-Men and Avengers characters crossing over (will elaborate later) speaks money for Marvel and the fans. 

OPPORTUNITIES

Disney + Series

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (which I will elaborate on later) Marvel has found success in its current streaming platform of Disney +. Currently, there are plenty of planned shows for 2021, which include "WandaVision", "Falcon and Winter Solider", and "Loki" just to name a few; This is a great substitute for Marvel to explore other characters that were not heavily emphasized in the movies and can look more into their own narrative story.

For instance, the recent show "WandaVision" had a budget of $25 million per episode. There was a total of 9 episodes, so the overall series cost $225 billion to film. Of course, one might think that that's just about ? of the fraction that a regular Marvel is used for, but it's also going towards the production and promotional costs of the entire series. According to Variety, "WandaVision" had an indexed audience-size figure of 8,127, meaning it was nearly 81.3 times more viewed than the average title TVision measured across SVOD platforms in January. "There's no doubt that by Marvel releasing new material throughout most of 2021 on Disney +, there's going to be a huge growth in viewership and audience increase.

Multi-verse crossover?

One of the biggest dreams for any Marvel fan has been to see Avengers and X-Men together on the big screen. Assuming now that Disney has the rights to the characters, it's possible, the question remains as to when it could happen. One of the biggest concerns with this would be how the multi-verse could occur. Since Quicksilver's appearance on "Wandavision" took Marvel fans by surprise, it opened the possibility of having that door being opened. Did you know that Evan Peters (pictured above) made a staggering $71.3 billion just for that 30-second cameo? Though it was costly, the moment was monumental. With many rumors about a multi-verse happening, it's only a matter of time to see if the door will open for a multi-verse to occur.

THREATS

COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 was supposed to kick-off Marvel's phase 4 slot starting with "Black Widow" and then COVID-19 struck before it was ever released. This was a big upset for many Marvel fans because it left with no Marvel content for the first time since 2008. "Black Widow" had very high box office expectations, part of that is mainly due to the $500 million estimated budget that it took to create the movie in the first place. The movie theaters were the principal victim of COVID-19 when its first strike.

In the Backstage article by Diep Tran, "Regal Cinemas, recently announced it would shut down all of its 536 movie theaters until further notice. The movie chain reopened some of its locations in August but soon realized that operating outside of the major cities was not financially viable." One political aspect that's interesting is how current POTUS Joe Biden plans on having most of American's vaccinated by May 2021. Even if theaters reopened again in the summertime, how would other countries be able to showcase these movies if their countries or regions haven't given the greenlight for the theaters to reopen? It remains unclear if the movie theaters will continue to operate once we live in a post-COVID-19 world, and with no plans of a hybrid release on Disney +, only time will tell if these movies will be released exclusively to the theaters.

DC Competition

This is the fine line of comic book competition with everyone asking each other if they're team Marvel or team DC. One of the biggest rivalries on the big screen has always been debated in pop culture since its inception. Though Marvel can easily take the crown on box office releases, the lack of Marvel movies until a post-COVID-19 world is worrisome. For instance, DC's Zack Snyder's Justice League Cut releasing later this Thursday is expected to generate more subscriptions on HBO Max due to its hybrid release. The most surprising aspect of this re-intentioned piece is that JL only cost about $70 million to reshoot and add VFX effects. Many comic-book fans are intrigued that a film of that caliber could deliver, but loyal Marvel fans will simply watch and enjoy the movie.

FINAL ANALYSIS

Marvel Studios has created a brand and legacy that no other movie studio will ever be able to replicate. In my opinion, the best thing Marvel can do is take its financial risks and a chance on hybrid- releases and utilize its new characters. The platform of Disney + would allow a safer and enjoyable home-style movie theater environment for its movies to be released. The acquisitions of the new characters could be developed and brainstorm ideas for the coming films. Overall, Marvel has continued to do an excellent job and has made the fans even more excited for the future of superheroes.

REFERENCES

Lyles, M. (2019, November 6). 6 Ways Marvel Studios Teaches Us to Build a Heroic Brand — Part I. Retrieved from Medium website: https://blog.markgrowth.com/6-ways-marvel-studios-teaches-us-to-build-a-heroic-brand-part-i-8c001c4ce82b

Melrose, K. (2019, August 22). Why Marvel Doesn’t Own the Spider-Man Film Rights? Retrieved March 16, 2021, from CBR website: https://www.cbr.com/how-sony-got-spider-man-film-rights/

Tran, D. (2020, November 19). Can Movie Theaters Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic? Retrieved from Backstage website: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/can-movie-theaters-survive-the-covid-19-pandemic-72123/

Tran, K., & Tran, K. (2021, February 25). “WandaVision” Audience Bigger Than Netflix’s “Bridgerton” in January, Data Suggests. Retrieved from Variety website: https://variety.com/vip/wandavision-audience-bigger-than-netflixs-bridgerton-in-january-data-suggests-1234913691/