Marvel head Kevin Feige says the studio has to keep engaging and entertaining its audiences in order to get them out of their house.
Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. But that’s not just because it’s part of the MCU (we all know not every one of its entries is a fan fav); it’s because it looks like quality filmmaking and genuine entertainment. With that, you better believe it’s going to be one of the biggest box office hits of the summer. And that’s just the goal that Marvel head Kevin Feige continues to have for the studio.
Speaking with Deadline, Kevin Feige said that Marvel’s number one goal is putting butts in seats by “making engaging, entertaining films that have to be experienced in a theater with a crowd and is worth people getting into their cars and making the trip. Of the many forms of entertainment that people can get scrolling on their screen in their pocket, we as a Hollywood industry need to make product that stands above all of that and that represents a destination entertainment that you can’t get anywhere else.”
Feige in particular cited Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which opened in June and has raked in $1.35 billion worldwide, with a $154 million domestic haul on opening weekend. Notably, Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine has been pegged to bring in upwards of $165 million.
While it has become increasingly easy to just stay home instead of hitting the cinema – especially with some shrinking theater-to-VOD windows – Feige is holding strong on his morals, championing the moviegoing experience in a way that feels refreshing, even though it shouldn’t. “That’s our job at Marvel, that’s our job as the 100-year old Hollywood industry — to remind people that we have the best storytellers and can provide the best entertainment in the world. As we keep doing that in ways that engage, excite and grab onto the imagination and the psyche of the audience, that’s all we ever wanted to do, that’s all we tried to do. I think we have to keep evolving and expanding the ways we do that.”
Whether you agree with Feige that Marvel is proving that they are “evolving” and “expanding” might be besides the point here. Really, it’s all about hitting the theater and showing that you care about that experience, that you need to see these movies on a giant screen and not on your phone.
How often do you go to the movie theater compared to a few years ago? Has your habit increased or dropped? Let us know below!