Was Thunderbolts doomed to fail? Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige gives his thoughts about how the studio’s strategy resulted in the film’s underwhelming box office.
It’s no secret that Marvel Studios has been struggling at the box office recently. The franchise is still an absolute juggernaut, pulling in numbers that most films could only wish to even sniff. However, those numbers have been on a steady decline over the past few years. No project was more representative of this than Thunderbolts. Despite being received miraculously well with critics and audiences, the project still underperformed all expectations at the box office.
Kevin Feige recently spoke on the struggles of Thunderbolts during a wide-ranging conversation with The Hollywood Reporter. During the chat, the head of Marvel Studios admitted that much of the franchise’s struggles at the box office come down to the “quantity over quality” mindset that has plagued the studio over the past few years, speculating that many fans were turned away by the prospect of TV characters taking center stage on the silver screen.
“It’s that expansion that I think led people to say, ‘Do I have to see all of these? It used to be fun, but now do I have to know everything about all of these? And I think The Marvels hit it hardest where people are like, ‘OK, I recognize her from a billion-dollar movie. But who are those other two? I guess they were in some TV show. I’ll skip it.'”
“Thunderbolts* I thought was a very, very good movie. But nobody knew that title and many of those characters were from a [TV] show. Some of them were still feeling the residual effects of that notion of, ‘I guess I had to have seen these other shows to understand who this is.”
“I think if you actually saw the movie, that wouldn’t be the case, and we make the movie so that’s not the case. But I think we still have to make sure the audience understands that.”
Why Marvel Studios Focused On Quantity
Of course, the issues that led to the box office struggles of Thunderbolts didn’t just manifest over night. It was a years-long and deliberate strategy decision by Marvel Studios. Continuing on, Kevin Feige admits that the team’s excitement over Disney’s mandate for “more content” led to the shift in direction, especially as it allowed them to pull the trigger on ideas they’ve had for some time.
“That’s too much. It’s the expansion that is certainly what devalued [our output],” Feige explained. “It was a big company push, and it doesn’t take too much to push us to go, ‘People have been asking for Ms. Marvel for years, and now we can do it? Do it! Oscar Isaac wants to be Moon Knight? Do it!’ So there was a mandate that we were put in the middle of, but we also thought it’d be fun to bring these to life.”
It’s always exciting to do more and get bigger. It’s a gamble that has paid off for Kevin Feige in the past. However, in this case, it ultimately led to more trouble than it was worth for Marvel Studios. With only one more project from the franchise due out in 2025 following Thunderbolts, the prolonged break may be exactly what audiences need to reset their mindset about the company’s output. At least, assuming their return in 2026 is a worthy one!
Thunderbolts is now available for digital purchase. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
