Featured Image Credit: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo. Marvel
Topics: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kevin Feige, Film and TV
Stewart Perrie
Topics: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kevin Feige, Film and TV
Kevin Feige is extremely optimistic about the future of the comic book film industry.
There's no denying audiences have absolutely lapped up comic book movies in the past as there are 11 in the top 30 highest grossing films of all time.
People appear to flock to cinemas to see the latest hero defeat the baddy and the Marvel President thinks this will go on for a very long time.
He spoke with Jason E. Squire on the The Movie Business Podcast about how the comic book movie genre has grown over the past few years.
Advert
“I’ve been at Marvel Studios for over 22 years, and most of us here at Marvel Studios have been around a decade or longer together,” he explained.
“From probably my second year at Marvel, people were asking, ‘Well, how long is this going to last? Is this fad of comic book movies going to end?'”
Squire asked whether he thinks there will be a moment in the future where the audience will lose interest.
Feige replied: "I didn’t really understand the question. Because to me, it was akin to saying after Gone With the Wind, ‘Well, how many more movies can be made off of novels? Do you think the audience will sour on movies being adapted from books?’
"You would never ask that because there’s an inherent understanding among most people that a book can be anything.
"A novel can have any type of story whatsoever.
"So it all depends on what story you’re translating. Non-comic readers don’t understand that it’s the same thing in comics.”
He's not wrong, but then again there are way more books to adapt into a film or TV series than there are relevant and engaging comic books.
But Feige says the comic book world is so vast and rich with characters and stories that the end of adaptations is nowhere near the horizon.
"I found that if we tell the story right, and we adapt them in a way that the audience still — knock on wood so far — is following us along 22-plus years later...we can [make] any types of movies that share two things: the Marvel Studios logo above the title and a seed of an idea from our publishing history," he added.
However, a study published last year found audiences certainly are getting bored of the superhero storyline.
A Morning Consult survey revealed 59 per cent of all respondents enjoy superhero movies.
While that doesn't seem too bad, that number is down from 64 per cent from November 2021.
People responding to the study said they were 'getting a little tired of so many of them', which is fair considering how many productions have been greenlit in the last few years.
The number of self-identified Marvel fans who like superhero flicks was also down from 87 to 82 per cent.