Film Theory: We KILLED the MCU! (Marvel)

as someone who actuallly works at my local movie theater I'm genuinely afraid of the theater shutting down eventually, not because of troubles with having to find a new job, but because the theater has been a great place for me, it's been how I learn about new exciting movies to watch because I just don't actively search out news about, well anything really, so if it shuts down I'll lose that source of entertainment information, it's also a place that I've come to genuinely love being in because I get to play a big part in a lot of peoples lives, a little kids first ever movie, a duo's first tentative steps at being a couple, a family's big gathering, an elderly couples anniversery, there's so many little things that go on in the theater that I genuinely adore watching and i'd genuinely feel bad to see that sort of environment disappearing

Here’s something to keep in mind: Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty were all box office disappointments not because not enough people saw them, they were all among the most successful movies of their respective years. It’s because animation was REALLY expensive compared to today, and very few animated movies made enough to recoup the costs to make them. That, and World War II meant that fewer people saw movies in general, which basically killed any chance of any of Disney’s movies turning in a profit at the time, hence why their movies released between Bambi and Cinderella were just a bunch of animated shorts loosely tied together, like Song of the South or The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

The sad truth is that when the MCU ends it’s not gonna end with a good ending. If it did then they would keep making more movies, as evidenced by endgame, it could’ve been the end but it did well so they kept going. It’s gonna end with an unsatisfying and bad ending.

Comming back to this theory about 2 years later, It's honestly shocking how well the main points of the video hold up. Especially concerning what finaly broke the MCU 1. "Over-stretching the MCU": With so many projects flying out at once both on streaming and Disney+, it wasn't fun anyomore to watch a Marvel movie because at that point it became actual homework figuing out "Is there something in here that's going to spoil another show?", "What other media is relevent to the movie I'm watching?", ontop of an already frustrating experience that feels like an uneeded extention of a story that was largely finished. 2. "Poor Leadership": It really felt like the MCU had no clear trajectory going into phase 4 and now in phase 5 other than "Make Money", and if there was a plan, It was murky at best... It also doesn't help that the MCU became one of many victims of Disney's push to artifically inflate the Disney+ library with no clear idea on how to balance the Cinema aspect of the MCU, and the Content aspect in a healtly way for the brand, essentially cauing it to implode from the sheer amount of media being produced. 3. "Decreasing cultural intrest": All of the problems I mentioned before were only exasserbated by the absolute cliff dive in quality as the MCU kept chugging along, with the head of the train shoveling in more money than the MCU was (and still is) making. It was always going to be difficult reigniting public intrest after the Infinity Saga, but that as only made worse when people realized just how low the bar for quality has gotten. People don't talk about Marvel anymore because simply, you can only make a bloated corpse insteresting for so long before people smell the stentch of the rot seeping in. The MCU fell into each of the major pitfalls, and now it's paid the price (literally).

I personally think it would be cool if marvel did a bit of slowing down, like maybe making some less world ending threats for the heroes to deal with and then building things up again for another infinity war or endgame.

“70% of people would rather stay at home and watch a movie rather than go to a theater” Well duh. I can’t pirate a movie at a theater Edit: a lot of people are misunderstanding me. I meant I can’t watch a movie for free at a theater so I instead have to scour the internet and illegally view the movie for free

Months later: MCU: Begins slowly and sytematically killing itself

A very interesting video, with a lot of points that I’d never thought about but that seem obvious now you’ve said them. I know Marvel movies are pretty much the only films I go to the cinema to see, everything else I can wait till it’s streamable

I love how he is so excited at the beginning of a video titled "We KILLED The MCU!!!"

Theory idea: What type of water would be necessary for Frozone's ice skills to actually freeze water? I'm currently rewatching Incredibles 2 and during the climax fight scene (around 1:41:08 in the movie), Frozone uses his powers to freeze the water surrounding the yacht in order to change its direction. His ice appears to be very small and shallow on/in the water, however later in this fight sequence (1:44:13) he shows just how large his ice can really be, on solid ground though (he's not freezing any water). Is freezing bodies of water possible within his power set? If so, what type of water would it have to be / conditions / would this be a "it works but..." situation, etc.

Suddenly realizing this this is going to be my "back in my day moment" I love the movies more than anything, I would go almost every weekend before the pandemic and I agree I feel like movies just aren't the same anymore there are so few original ideas and everything is so big now that its really hard to create wow factor that has people running to the theatres. I was living in a movie golden age and I didnt even know it, that makes me feel so old.

I think you can actually see this with how movies are more profitable on streaming sites than in theater with the success of Encanto. It had little buzz when it premiere on theater, and yet after its Disney+ release suddenly We Don't Talk About Bruno is the most popular and talked about song in the US rn.

Thrill Driver is perhaps the worst name of a film ever. It just sounds like a parody doesn't it? What if this film was about a heist in an amusement park would they call it Excitement Roller-coaster?

this didn't age well

Nailed it man. That was 17min of outstanding content where you nailed your hypothesis. No new information for me.. And as a comics nerd I would both hope and posit, that comics have the scope to continually push boundaries and shock the previously ignorant. So fingers crossed I'll eventually see all those amazing comics arcs I love from the comics in the big screen.....

This is interesting concerning the summer of 2023 movies released. A lot of these competitions brought people to the movie theaters for fun. Media glorified theaters with spiderman atsv and “barbenheimer”. Barbie vs Oppenheimer releasing on the same day was appealing to most of the media. Seeing both even if they didn’t fit the suggested audience. It is truely interesting how marketing can change the game

Another way the MCU might "phase" out of existence is if its comic book source material fades away. Western comics have been on the decline in recent years partly due to competition by overseas competitors like Japanese manga. Once the comics start to dry up, the MCU will be left with coming up with their own original ideas or recycle the same plot lines until there is no originality left at all....

It was really interesting seeing this from the perspective of someone who works in a movie theater. It was insane how many movies got pushed out so that SPier-Man could be shown as much as possible. It was also interesting seeing how long Venom 2 lasted in theaters with auditoriums consistently over 50% capacity. And I work at a smaller theater, with no IMAX screens and mostly small auditoriums, I can't imagine what it was like for bigger theaters with IMAX and bigger auditoriums.

Wow, you really opened up my mind. Never thought of these points, especially since i haven’t gone to a theater in like 8 years. It’s just such a drag going to the theater when I can watch everything at home with a group of friends, people I actually like that aren’t coughing or yelling at the top of their lungs during the film

I really enjoyed this theory, especially how it makes since when you look at Disney’s other properties when it comes to theatrical releases: Take Pixar’s Luca for example, Disney released it only on their streaming service because they new people wouldn’t feel motivated to get out of the house to watch a movie they have no other context of besides what they see in the trailers(a simple story about sea monsters that can turn human on land). You could argue this had to do with the pandemic however, but with Pixar releasing another one of their newest movies, Turning Red, straight to streaming, you began to see a pattern. Now with their new release of Pixar’s Lightyear they know people will feel more motivated to go to theater for a character they already have so much context about. The same can be said for Disney’s Encanto, although barely anyone was talking about it before it released on Disney plus, they new people would be familiar with Lin Manuel Miranda and his music, so they risked putting it in theaters before it blew up on Disney plus .