The studio has long been the engine that powered global cinema ticket sales. But a crowded and confusing universe has left the comic book characters running out of puff.
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the latest blockbuster in the Marvel universe. Disney/Marvel
The screen sector is whispering, tentatively, “The movies are back”. Superman, F1 and Jurassic World Rebirth have built on the stellar results of kids’ films A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch, suggesting we’ve returned to the habit of going to the multiplex.
Yet the engine that has underpinned ticket sales in Australia and globally for more than a decade, Marvel Studios (now a division of the Walt Disney Company), isn’t helping the revival.
