Marvel, after a spate of disappointing performances, has decided to cut back its release schedule for both films and TV series to focus on quality over quantity.
Bob Iger, chief executive officer of Marvel’s parent company Disney, said during an earnings call this week that Marvel will scale back its TV series release schedule from four to two per year and won’t release more than three movies annually.
“I’ve been working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus more on quality,” Iger said on the call.
This reduction will likely impact Georgia, where a majority of Marvel movies and Disney+ TV shows have been produced over the past decade. Most were shot at Fayetteville’s Trilith Studios, which opened in 2013 as Pinewood Studios in a joint venture with London’s Pinewood Studios and River’s Rock, a trust managed by the Cathy family, founders of Chick-fil-A. In 2019, River’s Rock purchased Pinewood’s share and renamed it Trilith Studios a year later.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU as it has been dubbed, for many years possessed the magic touch, generating consistent praise and profits.
But some recent Marvel movies have disappointed both critically and at the box office, including 2022′s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” 2023′s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.”
This year, the only Marvel movie scheduled for release is “Deadpool & Wolverine” in July. (It was shot in England.)
Georgia has been home to many of Marvel’s biggest hits, including “Ant-Man” (2015), “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2″ (2017), “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017), “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), “Black Panther” (2018), “Ant-Man and the Wasp” (2018), “Avengers: Endgame” (2019), “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021), “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022) and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3″ (2023).
The MCU has gone through multiple “phases.” Of the 11 films released during the third phase from 2016 to 2019, eight of them shot at least partly in Georgia.
In the fourth phase, which included seven movies released between 2021 and 2022, three shot at least some scenes in Georgia. In the current fifth phase, four of six movies are based out of Georgia.
Currently, Marvel is shooting “Thunderbolts” starring Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz at Trilith, the 16th Marvel movie to date to have Georgia connections. Trilith is also home to two active projects from Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC brand: “Superman: Legacy” and Max series “Peacemaker” starring John Cena.
When Marvel started working with the new Disney+ streaming service, it used Trilith Studios as the home base for seven of its nine series to date: Disney+’s “WandaVision” (2021), “Hawkeye” (2021), “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021), season one of “Loki” (2021), “Ms. Marvel” (2022), “She-Hulk” (2022) and “Echo” (2024).
The second season of “Loki” moved to London, but an upcoming “WandaVision” spin-off series “Agatha,” set for release later this year, was shot at Trilith in 2023.
Credit: DISNEY+
Credit: DISNEY+
