Recently,Marvel Studioshas been accused of losing its magic touch as the MCU’s profit margins have dropped substantially. While filmmakers might be the first culprits, a new report suggests the studio’s special effects policies are to blame for the superhero downtrend.
Those claims had surfaced in several online forums, with manyMarvel Studiosleakers and fans speculating on how tight of a grip studio higher-ups had over each movie. Those rumors were fueled byVictoria Alonso being firedas Head of Post-Production and VFX. The patterns stem from Marvel Studios knowingly hiring directors with little-to-no background in the area, which only worsens prior news of the special effects firms being overwhelmed by the MCU’s demands.
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Those allegations now have more formal backing, as reporter Chris Lee summed up many of the problems inThe Town with Matthew Bellonipodcast. Lee said Marvel Studios “systemically harvests directors from the Sundance Film Festival” and specifically called out Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, and Chloé Zhao’s hiring as clear-cut examples. Without naming names, Lee referred to a conversation with a Marvel Studios who said Alonso told them, “They don’t direct the movies. We direct the movies,” thus why they simply don’t have control over the VFX end of the job that makes up so much of these films.
There is a pattern among Marvel Studios' picks for directors. Most don’t have a proper background dealing with massive special effects budgets and sequences, save for Jon Favreau, James Gunn, and the Russo brothers. In that sense, Lee likenedShang-Chidirector Destin Daniel Crettonand someone like James Cameron to apples and oranges because theAvatarcreator has spent nearly his entire career helping the VFX field progress.
In the past, Marvel Studios saw plenty of success with this approach. Movies likeThor: RagnarokandBlack Pantherare highly regarded by fans, but the MCU is “not working as well as it used to.” The MCU machine is tough to re-engineer because it spent nearly an entire decade putting out hit after hit, yetbox office loserAnt-Man 3, a film that’s almost made up entirely of blue screen scenes, appears to be the turning point for Disney.
It’s no secret there is a lot moreMarvel Studioscontent nowadays than five years ago, and with ballooning budgets all across the board, returning CEO Bob Iger wants to fix all these problems.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3seems to get a pass on all these points, but maybeNia DaCosta’sThe Marvelscould have been burdenedthe same way.
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