“Astounding Levels of Bullsh**” — ‘Spider-Verse’ Director Calls Bob Iger Out on ‘The Marvels’ Comments

It hasn’t been the best year for Disney movies.

After initial box office struggles (looking at you, Elemental), and even further disappointments at the theater, 2023 could end up being an abysmal year for Disney at the box office. CEO Bob Iger shared his thoughts on what he thought went wrong with The Marvels, but now, another Hollywood name is calling him out.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Peter Ramsey has called Bob Iger out for his recent comments on The Marvels lack of success at the box office.

Analysts blamed the failure on studios rolling out too many films, focusing on quantity over quality. But Iger believes that The Marvels needed more supervision on its set.

“The Marvels was shot during COVID,” he said. “There wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.”

Nia DaCosta directed the film, and was the first Black woman to direct a Marvel film — in addition to The Marvels featuring three female leads. While reviews were mostly positive, they weren’t convincing enough to get people in the theaters.

But, Iger is convinced that Disney needs to think differently when determining what a “box office success” really is.

He said, “I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved. I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed. That’s an unbelievably high standard, and I think we have to get more realistic.”

Peter Ramsey, however, isn’t as convinced. He called Iger’s comment on the lack of supervision on set “Astounding levels of bulls***,” when it was suggested that Iger was right and Kevin Feige, Marvel boss, was stretched too thin.

Astounding level of bullshit https://t.co/E4Rj1NHMd7

— Peter (or is it?) Ramsey (@pramsey342) November 30, 2023

Ramsey continued, “Sorry, that’s just silly. Nothing happens on those movies w/out lots of scrutiny from Feige and co. Marvel’s issues seem to go deeper than that.” He said Iger “has to sound like he’s got an answer,” and defended Nia DaCosta by adding, “How do you know that it wasn’t ‘supervision’ that caused what you don’t like about it?”

Sorry, that’s just silly. Nothing happens on those movies w/out lots of scrutiny from Feige and co. Marvel’s issues seem to go deeper than that.

— Peter (or is it?) Ramsey (@pramsey342) November 30, 2023

The Marvels isn’t the only Disney-owned movie that failed to deliver at the box office in 2023. This year marks the first non-pandemic year that Disney failed to deliver a $1 billion box office hit, although Wish, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania all debuted in theaters in 2023.

We’ll ultimately have to wait and see if The Marvels will continue to do poorly at the box office or if it’s a potential slow burn like Elemental. Either way, stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney news and more.

Bob Iger Comments On What Went Wrong With ‘The Marvels’

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