The Marvels bombed horrendously and deservedly. And even more sadly for Disney, it couldn’t even manage to raise the usual outcry of “sexism, racism, Islamophobia” because about the only people who went to see it were white men.
And not that many of them.
What happened to The Marvels raises bigger issues because Marvel Comics had been a reliable source of movies and streaming television products that were making Disney very rich. (The actual comics don’t sell so well anymore.)
But superhero movies, despite being everywhere, are performing worse and worse. The Marvels isn’t an exception, it’s the bottom of a trend line. And there’s an ominous statistic in its failure.
As reported by IndieWire, tracking data for the studio’s latest release, The Marvels, states only 19 per cent of the opening weekend audience was between ages 18-24. 30 per cent, however, was in the 25-34 bracket, while only 8 per cent were between ages 13-17.
As noted by the outlet, 40 per cent of the audience for the film’s 2019 predecessor, Captain Marvel, was aged 18-24. This data suggests Gen-Z (defined as people born in the late ’90s and early 2000s) might be losing interest in the output of Marvel Studios.
Teens are less likely to go to movies, but this is still a sharp drop. And inevitable.
The Marvel movies are zombie pop culture left over from a previous generation. That’s exactly the kind of thing that teens are likely to reject.
This is bad news for Disney because its whole reason for taking over Marvel Comics was to supply itself with a treasure chest of IP that would allow it to get a lock on male teens. And for a while it seemed to be working.
Not so much anymore.
After spending a fortune on Marvel and Star Wars, Disney may not have much of a Plan B.
As I noted previously, Disney’s money is coming from ‘Disney Adults’. Childless millennials. And there’s a big problem there because aging millennials are becoming more conservative and on the other end, teens aren’t buying into its two big properties. On the one end, millennials are going to drop the woke versions that Disney makes. But Disney’s making them in the hopes of luring teens who are perceived to be more woke, but they’re staying away.
Disney is losing its past and its future.
Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield
