Harvard Cracked Marvel’s Formula For Success: Now One Of Its Legs Is Broken And Another Isn’t Working At All

The franchise led by Kevin Feige is not going through its best moment in this new era after ‘Avengers: Endgame’.

He Marvel Cinematic Universe It will go down in history for being the most important franchise of recent years. What began in 2008 with Hombre de Hierro It was escalating until finding an outcome in Avengers: Endgame. And becoming the second highest-grossing film in history – even for a period it was the first – is not achieved overnight. years ago, harvard He did a study on the franchise and concluded the four keys to its success. But that was before because now things have changed.

Marvel Studios is left without one of its veterans: It was there since ‘Iron Man’ and leaves almost two decades later (when the UCM is at its worst)

The end of the Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe marked a before and after in the saga. It was the end of an era. Specifically, that of the Infinity Saga. Now, already immersed in the baptized as Multiverse Sagathe franchise is not going through its best moment: the films are not provoking all the curiosity and expectations that their predecessors did and the generational change is not having much effect. If we now analyze that Harvard study, the UCM has a broken leg and another is not going as expected.

THE FOUR KEYS TO SUCCESS

Let’s go in parts with the four keys to the success of the UCM according to the prestigious Boston University. The first is hire managers with experience in areas in which they have no experience. The filmmakers who have been behind the scenes of the installments of the franchise were experts in genres other than superheroes.

Kenneth Branagh is an expert on William Shakespeare, hence Thor remember the work of the playwright, and the brothers Joe and Anthony Russo made a full-fledged spy movie with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This aspect has been maintained by the UCM with directors like Sam Raimi in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the first film with horror overtones of the franchise. Chloé Zhao, winner of the oscar by nomadland, led Eternals.

The second key is take advantage of the stable core of professionals. That is, find the balance between new talents and those more veterans. Marvel Studios has been adding new features to its team and maintaining a percentage of the same people in each project.

This is when, facing Phase 4, things have started to break down. What the group formed by Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain AmericaScarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/black widowRobert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Hombre de HierroChris Hemsworth as ThorJeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawk Eye and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk it is not being replicated in this new era. It is true that new characters like Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) have caught on with the fans, but the rest have not. Not even when they have been accompanied by some veterans of the franchise.

Third key: Not following the formula to the letter. This connects with the first point, in which Marvel movies have a different film genre: ‘thriller’, heists, family comedy, horror, martial arts… In Phase 4 we have continued to see it and it is something that Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studiosstands out in order to deny superhero fatigue.

Marvel and superhero fatigue: Kevin Feige explains how they can avoid one of the biggest criticisms their movies receive

But, despite the fact that Feige says that this does not happen, the truth is that it does happen. Hence the fourth key of it is broken: Cultivate customer curiosity. There is a loss of interest in the face of Marvel releases and that is reflected in the box office. Only a couple of Phase 4 movies have done very well: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

FULL IN PHASE 5

The UCM is not achieving the figures it did in the past and, in addition, the fact that for a period of time the films arrived at Disney+ a month and a half after their theatrical release made it many people decided to wait to see the movie at home rather than pay for a ticket.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniathe film with which Marvel has kicked off its phase 5has not done so well at the box office: more than 469 million dollars worldwide, a figure below what the company used to collect. Marvel Studios has also signed up for the series since its Phase 4 with the launch of Disney + and that has added another effort for the fans. Now, in order to understand all this network of films, you also have to keep an eye on their fiction on a weekly basis.

Like everything, things can change and return to normal. We will have to wait to see how Phase 5 of the UCM evolves to confirm if the franchise begins to die or go back. This new chapter in the saga also faces the departure of the veteran Victoria Alonso -producer who has been in the studio since Hombre de Hierro– and the accusation of Jonathan Majors –Kang, the new great villain of this era of the MCU- for harassment and assault. Something does seem clear: an event like the one that was Avengers: Endgame it will not happen again.

If you want to be up to date and receive new releases in your email, sign up for the SensaCine Newsletter