Interesting article. I’d say one fact it misses the importance of is that Fantastic Four is the 37th film in the MCU in 17 years. The MCU a huge sprawling and bloated mess, and it’s not surprising mainstream cinema goers have disengaged from it. That actually could hold a movie back - it’s not see as a “fantastic four” reboot, it’s seen as MCU installment 37 even if it tries not to be that.
Add to that, 17 years is a long time. Frankly a lot of the original audience have “grown out” of watching these movies, and younger cinema goers are not watching MCU movies so they’re not replacing their audience. Plus streaming took off in that time and people who are now in their 30s and 40s are not going to the cinema anywhere near as much.
For me, none of fhis is surprising. If anything I’m impressed they stayed at the top for as long as they did. But it had to end eventually - tastes change, people grow up and move on. Super Hero movies aren’t gone, but they’re not automatic mega hits anymore - things are just going back to “normal”. There isn’t anything much wrong with the MCU to fix, audiences just aren’t as interested in what it offers now.
Marvel/Disney will keep making them just as they do with Star Wars because they’re in the business of franchises, but it’s beyond it’s peak and that’s pretty normal in entertainment. Nothing dominates forever.
Interesting article. I’d say one fact it misses the importance of is that Fantastic Four is the 37th film in the MCU in 17 years. The MCU a huge sprawling and bloated mess, and it’s not surprising mainstream cinema goers have disengaged from it. That actually could hold a movie back - it’s not see as a “fantastic four” reboot, it’s seen as MCU installment 37 even if it tries not to be that.
Add to that, 17 years is a long time. Frankly a lot of the original audience have “grown out” of watching these movies, and younger cinema goers are not watching MCU movies so they’re not replacing their audience. Plus streaming took off in that time and people who are now in their 30s and 40s are not going to the cinema anywhere near as much.
For me, none of fhis is surprising. If anything I’m impressed they stayed at the top for as long as they did. But it had to end eventually - tastes change, people grow up and move on. Super Hero movies aren’t gone, but they’re not automatic mega hits anymore - things are just going back to “normal”. There isn’t anything much wrong with the MCU to fix, audiences just aren’t as interested in what it offers now.
Marvel/Disney will keep making them just as they do with Star Wars because they’re in the business of franchises, but it’s beyond it’s peak and that’s pretty normal in entertainment. Nothing dominates forever.