The Marvel Cliffhanger
The trap of the studios' thirst for financial predictability
Whatever is happening with Marvel, and with the entire superhero genre — and you can set your own preferences where this falls on the scale between blip and total meltdown — this is a big deal.
This would be a very great time for some if not most things in the studio world to go right. Given all of an industry’s other woes unfolding, things going perfectly would be an okay option too. But let’s all agree: you can't overestimate how much this particular genre means to the studio world.
I wouldn't say that several studios put all their eggs in the superhero basket, but they put enough chips on superheroes that it's hard to picture anything that looks remotely like "winning" if that bet doesn't pay off. Hollywood hasn't been this close to all-in on one genre (of $200 million+ budget films no less) since...