The Marvels’ Likely Failure Being Blamed on Strikes

Movies

Hollywood is making the best of the writers’ and actors’ strikes. In an article by The Abbotsford News, filmmakers are preparing the masses for a season of cinematic bombs, with The Marvels leading the charge. Director Nia DaCosta spoke about the inability of the film’s stars to promote the movie alongside her and how detrimental that will be to fomenting hype for the next big superhero movie.

“I’m hoping I’m not promotingthe movie by myself… No one’s there to see me, either. They’re going to be like, ‘Where’s Brie Larson?’”

The problem with this take is that the people who want to see Brie Larson are already sold on The Marvels. These are the moviegoers who continue to see Marvel’s output or enjoyed Captain Marvel (or Ms. Marvel, or WandaVision, or maybe all of them) and want more. The trailers are more than enough to draw these fans to the theater; just let them know when to buy tickets. Those who need to be won over aren’t going to be swayed by Brie Larson, or anyone else for any other movie. When people say, “The age of the movie star is over,” this is what they mean; rarely do actors bring anyone to the movies anymore, especially big superhero movies. It’s the concept or the brand, and not only are superhero movies falling out of favor, but Marvel has lost its brand luster.

But Disney knows that. (I have no idea whether DaCosta does, but I suspect so.) This isn’t their honest belief but the new party line, shifting the blame for their failures to the next scapegoat. They’ve got to be thankful something new came along because the COVID canard hasn’t been fooling anyone for a while. I don’t think many people will buy this one either, but they’ve got to say something, and “We’ve lost the audience’s trust” is too painful for them to admit publicly. Regardless, they’re in spin mode for The Marvels, and plenty of others will follow suit as movies are released to shrugs this fall.