Is the saga of Marvel Studios running its defining genre into the ground? Superhero Fatigue

You’vegrown up with Marvel in fact, you’ve never known a time when the Marvel universe didn’t exist. If you’re a fan of, or at least aware of, superhero films, you know how much they have dominated our entertainment schedules. Marvel Studios has been pumping out movies like no one’s business, and while these releases have been making millions at the box office, are we - the moviegoers - getting tired of the genre?

Although the studio’s most recent titles have been doing tremendously better than other releases in theatres, they haven’t been generating as much profit as previous works. Thor: Love and Thunder obviously did very well ticket-wise at first, but sales dropped a drastic 68% by its second weekend.

Tag spoke to Paul Nunney, General Manager of the Hailsham Pavilion, about funding for movies: “Due to the sheer volume of this type of content being produced and the relative costs of creating these films and marketing them compared to ‘smaller’ movies, they can only have an adverse effect on the budgets for other types of film.”

So far you might’ve noticed that we’re discussing Marvel but not DC, and that’s because DC arguably isn’t really as much of the culprit as Marvel is. From research conducted by the Fandom website, 81% of Marvel fans watch all releases, whereas only 67% of DC fans do the same. This could mean that, because DC fans aren’t as compelled as Marvel fans to watch new releases, they aren’t as tired of the format. A survey carried out by Morning Consult between 2021 and 2022 tells us that 26% of adults don’t enjoy superhero movies, while 23% do but admit they’re getting bored with them. Morning Consult also carried out the same survey in 2018 where the results were much lower.

Paul Nunney commented on whether or not the genre sells well, “Superhero movies do not form a significant part of our programming and do not sell well for us.

However, they do appear in part to sell well at larger multiplex circuits with larger screens and 3D projection.”

Fans and critics say that the plots for these movies have become too predictable and therefore repetitive. Another survey taken by Morning Consult shows that 53% of Gen Z fans of July 2022 enjoy superhero movies and are willing to watch them in theatres and this statistic increased from 47% in November 2021. On another note, Paul Nunney had some other statistics to share with Tag: “It’s hard to say if we are experiencing audiences tiring of this particular genre as cinema attendance in general is still struggling to regain its footing, post-COVID. The UK statistics for cinema attendance in 2022 show that audiences are still only at 70% of pre-COVID rates. This sluggish return to preCOVID business levels could be attributed in part to superhero fatigue but is more likely due to consumer relationships with home streaming platforms and the ‘cost of living crisis’ we are currently living through.”

The president of Marvel Studios himself, Kevin Feige, compares the concept of superhero fatigue to the idea of people getting tired of movies adapted from novels, ”to me it was akin to saying after Gone With The Wind, ‘Well how many more movies can be made off of novels?’ there is an inherent understanding amongst most people that a book can be anything ‘here are 80 years of the most interesting, emotional, groundbreaking stories that have been told in the Marvel comics and it is our great privilege to be able to take what we have and adapt them.”

With this in mind, is it safe to say that this issue is simply a trendy opinion to have at the moment? Or is it a genuine issue affecting the industry? Grab your popcorn as we wait to see what the second half of 2023 film releases show us.