Just how much Marvel has been under-marketing their other movies and shows lately.
Obviously, F4 is a massive event for Marvel. It’s been years in the making, and there’s a ton of pressure on it to perform well, especially after the financial flop of Thunderbolts. And to be clear, I’m not saying F4 shouldn’t be getting this level of marketing... it absolutely deserves the big push. I just wish Marvel gave the same energy and creativity to their other projects too. Especially since Marvel's first family doesn't need as much help getting fans interested as other characters do.
Over the last few years, I’ve seen countless comments like, “Wait, that’s out already? I had no idea,” or “Why haven't they released a trailer yet?”. It feels like Marvel has been relying too heavily on the idea that the brand alone will carry these projects, instead of actually investing in consistent, inventive marketing to get people genuinely excited.
Take The Marvels, for example. Yes, the actors’ strikes made traditional promotion almost impossible... no press tours, no interviews, no big late-night appearances. But even then, The Marvels needed more marketing to actually get people interested in the first place. There were so many creative ways they could have kept it in the public eye and made it feel like a real event. Instead, it kind of slipped quietly into theaters, and a lot of people just didn’t even know it was happening.
Meanwhile, with Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel is going all in... huge ad buys, viral social media campaigns, brand tie-ins, merch drops, and even stunts like skywriting a giant 4 over Chicago, the fan letter to Johnny and giving the Baxter Building its own page on Zillow. That’s exactly the kind of fun, out-of-the-box thinking that could have helped other projects stand out. Surely a movie like Thunderbolts*, which was well received by both fans and critics despite it's financial flop, could have really been hyped up a lot more.
It really makes me wonder if Marvel is intentionally putting all their eggs in a few big “event” projects and just letting the rest sink or swim. Maybe they’re cutting marketing budgets for smaller or riskier shows because they think only the major tentpoles need hype.
What do you think? Is this strategy actually smart, or is it hurting Marvel’s overall brand in the long run?
Im pretty sick of posts about “flops”, marketing, actor strikes, writer problems… We’re trying to suspend disbelief over here. It’s tedious.
But also, it’s COVID. It’s not the writers, it’s not Marvel somehow failing, it’s the fact that people stopped going to theaters due to Covid, which is still happening, and it never returned to normal. I see films in empty theaters often, where’s everyone else? Home, streaming.
Half right. People are just a lot more selective with what they go to see in theaters. Dune, Avatar, Top Gun, Minecraft and even Barbie were busy for theaters because masses went to see them post-covid. People went to see GotG3 and Now Way Home, but Marvel hasn't been putting in the effort to make every movie worth seeing in theaters, nor has the marketing/hype for many of these movies been there.
Blue Beetle was surprisingly good yet bombed because DC had set a track record for themselves after Justice League, Suicide Squad, WW86,Shazam Fury of the gods and Black Adam, so it bombed because the expectation based on their track record suggested it wasn't worth it. Thunderbolts was the same after Quantimania, The Marvels, Love and Thunder. The pattern of what is expected suggests Marvel is incredibly hit or miss, with most of it's hits being familiar characters while it's misses are the new characters. Deadpool and Wolverine did far better compared Brave New World.
My parents rarely see movies in theaters but they saw Jurassic world rebirth opening weekend lol I beg people to see stuff in theaters but unless it’s something they are familiar with or a movie so good that everyone is talking about it it will fall through the cracks
Pretty much
It sucks. But the studios are doing it to themselves with the streaming services
Some more than others. Legendary seem to be consistently drawing people into theaters with both Godzilla x Kong and Dune in recent years. Pixar is near-flatlinig because their movies get dropped onto D+ a few weeks after release, creating an insensitive to not go to theaters in favor of waiting a few weeks. Marvel has had several minor issues, I don’t think the D+ insensitive is the same as with Pixar, but ever since Endgame, it's become easier to just skip a movie if it doesn't interest people, I've still not seen Eternals or Wakanda Forever, but the D+ shows have also been hit or miss, not to mention to high demand resulting in sub par cgi from high profile indie directors who don't have a background in heavy cgi projects making the final cgi fights clunky.
Well a lot of that was Covid too and the sag strikes. Dune did well because it was genuinely fantastic. People like dumb monster movies so Godzilla does well. With marvel they were releasing too much stuff and a lot of it was mediocre but people will still show up for the event movies like Deadpool and Spider-Man. The quality seems to be better now with thunderbolts and fantastic 4 so we will see
Correct, it's this. Unless your movie becomes a meme, there's now a ceiling on how much it can make because the casual fans/moviegoers aren't interested.
But also, it’s COVID. It’s not the writers, it’s not Marvel somehow failing, it’s the fact that people stopped going to theaters due to Covid, which is still happening, and it never returned to normal
That's not true. Marvel was pretty successful in 2021 and 2022.
It's not Covid. People have no money any more. Everything is too expensive.
Theater prices are robbery.
Covid has a lot to do with why people don't have money. The capitalists didn't stop demanding more just because the world came to a screeching halt. Not to mention some people got hit way worse than others by the disease. (Permanent lung scarring. Nasty shit.)
And yet 4 of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time came out after COVID including one that came out in the height of it.
Combination of Covid, TVs at home being much better, things coming to streaming quickly, and the price of tickets are crazy
See that’s half right but we still have movies like avatar, top gun, dune, Jurassic world, Barbie, inside out 2 etc etc etc. that do well I think using Covid as a catch all as to why marvel movies aren’t doing as well as they use to is a bit of an excuse
Honestly, I’m so sick of seeing this same sentiment upvoted every time MCU box office underperforming is brought up. Jurassic World literally just made $322mil in a weekend. Superman is tracking for a $200mil opening. You cannot continue blaming it all on “people don’t go to movies anymore”
Exactly like obviously it’s deeper then that lmaoo, sometimes it just comes off like coping
Incredibly reductive to say “it’s covid” to describe what is happening
It’s getting better though. My local theater is more packed than ever. That being said studios need to change how they market these movies and not send them to streaming right away. It should be minimum 6 months until you can watch something on streaming
Incredibly bad take when Jurassic World just opened to $322 mil worldwide with Superman on track for $200 mil.
Why are you trying to suspend disbelief in a discussion forum? Also the fact fewer people are going to theatres doesn't explain the lack of marketing for TV shows.
I've seen those comments too, but I've ALSO seen all the marketing materials that those comments claim don't exist.
I don't think Disney is failing to market their films (except for The Marvels, which genuinely got screwed on that front). I think algorithmically-distributed advertising is failing to show it to everybody.
What? Brave New World and Thunderbolts were marketed everywhere especially domestically.
Not in the same way that F4 is being marketed.
you want marvel to draw yelenas face in the sky or what
Better than a giant cereal box.
Aren’t the cereal boxes the out of the box marketing you’re referring to?
Not really. The history of promoting things on cereal boxes is the point of that joke, Alexei wants to be like the heroes on the Wheaties box. That's like saying he wants to be the toy in a Happy Meal.
I’ve never seen outside the writers strike, any MCU movie that wasn’t marketed everywhere domestically. Sometimes after this many movies and especially after how “finale” Endgame felt it’s tough to keep audiences as interested with each new release. Plus not every movie is as easy to plaster on every product imaginable at a grocery store.
What about the shows?
The shows don’t matter to a majority of people who just watched the movies. You make much more money at the box office than subscriptions for a streaming service that isn’t competing as the top platform.
There's more ways to make money off a show than subscriptions.
It doesn’t sound like you know what your saying OP. You probably can’t find a company who markets their brand or products more aggressively than Disney and The MCU is marketed all the time.
Do you have any data to back this up or is it speculation on your behalf?
Data? No. Just making an observation based on personal experience. I don't recall anything that went beyond the usual movie marketing for those films. I'd love to see some examples though.
You're making the claim it's on you to back it up lol
OK, I'll go through all the reddit comments and find every time someone has been surprised to learn something has been released or comments discussing the lack of marketing for certain things. It might take me a while, I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
But these are also just random people with no actual data. I personally saw alot of advertising for ironheart. Like My opinion and this random guy's experience are rated equally. If you are saying something so definitively I would expect you to have more empirical data than a Reddit comment.
Am I saying something definitively? I thought I was sharing a personal observation.
What kind of data do you suggest I find in order to prove that there has been more observable creative marketing for First Steps than previous movies and shows?
And just out of curiosity, do you think Ironheart and First Steps have had the same amount of marketing?
Something you can measure like marketing budget for example. And I Saw More for ironheart 🤷🏿♂️
I never made a claim about the budgets. Do you have any data for Ironheart being marketed more than First Steps?
Again do you have something besides random Reddit comments? Like something measurable, empirical data not what's tantamount to hearsay
I'm not making a claim that can be backed up with data. I said Over the last few years, I’ve seen countless comments like, “Wait, that’s out already? I had no idea,” or “Why haven't they released a trailer yet?”. I'm giving you examples of what I'm talking about. I'm giving you examples of people discussing how some stuff has been under marketed.
I have observed that First Steps has been marketed in more frequent and unique ways than previous movies and shows. Beyond just trailers and billboards. This is a post about my observations. If you have empirical data that disproves my opinion feel free to share it.
Absolutely not. I am terminally online and have seen every Marvel film. Comment often in multiple Marvel subs...Not an ounce of marketing for those prior to their releases made it to my eyes. Absolutely none. I still haven't seen Thunderbolts since this sub was the only source trying to convince me to see it. I'm waiting for streaming now I guess since Marvel/Disney didn't convince me.
ETA: The commenter saying they ran NFL ads so how could I not know proves my point. It costs millions of dollars for a single 30 second ad placement...but I don't watch the NFL.
Yeah but this isn’t true like at all and absolutely not true domestically for these movies. The NFL is the most watched programming in the US and just using one example, for Brave New World you would see tv spots all the time for multiple months.
Okay, so? I don't watch NFL. How many Marvel Cinematic Universe fans watch NFL? If they're spending millions to play NFL ads, but cant run a single targeted internet ad, then they deserve to fail.
There was also tons of targeted internet adds. Also millions upon millions of Americans watch the NFL every week of the season/post season. The MCU is largest box office winning franchise of all time which means a lot of the public goes to the movies and a lot of the public also watches the NFL.
You got a point or something not obvious to say?
I have a difficult time believing tons of targeted ads were run considering I didn't see a single one and they think dumping money into NFL ads was the way to go. As I asked before, how many NFL fans are reliable Marvel fans? Someone who's seen a Marvel movie since COVID?
How many? Tons of them because you don’t get as many billion dollar box office hits with giant domestic box office without the majority of the public going to the theatre. The majority of the public are watching those NFL games but even if your not there was targeted adds everywhere and podcasts everywhere and tv interviews on late night talk shows everywhere.
That's great. It clearly isn't working anymore, even when the movie is good. Why?
Nothing to do with marketing. The MCU built up public awareness and earned the constant interest in seeing some big name heroes in an episodic big screen story.
After 2019 and how much of a finale Endgame was there was just a huge mountain to climb and besides Guardians Vol. 3 and Doctor Strange 2 a lot of things just didn’t have the same level of interest.
It was cool if your a comic fan to see more heroes get introduced on the big screen or in a streaming series but after a decade of so many millions of fans caring about specific heroes it’s just all overdone to a lot of the public.
Spider-Man: No Way Home worked for nostalgia for older films. Deadpool & Wolverine worked because of nostalgia for Hugh Jackman. Doomsday and Secret Wars will likely work for lots of nostalgia.
Hopefully the public cares about Fantastic 4 so it can help make there involvement to the next two Avengers movies feel important to the public.
There’s never been a movie franchise or live action media franchise with anywhere near the amount of content the MCU has and since 2019 it’s been tough to make the masses care because “they saw Iron Man die and Captain America get very old”.
It’s a miracle we’ve gotten as much as we have but the genre by and large will reach a bubble bursting moment. Hopefully the MCU can overall thrive another decade but eventually it will go the way of the Western.
You could argue about how the public views critical consensus also since lots of the post 2019 MCU entries have been much more panned but then you have Thunderbolts get rave reviews and it’s just not enough after all this time.
Fantastic 4 is obviously being marketed like crazy and maybe that won’t matter just like the reviews could end up meaning nothing to the public in a crowded month of comic book movies.
Lastly the MCU raised an entire generation, lots of kids grew up and matured from let’s say age 8 to 18 by the time Endgame released. Those new adults are now mid twenties and lots of those people simply age out of the genre for more challenging movies/stories being told.
Because the internet is becoming more and more splintered into different silos/subgroup/bubbles, it becomes harder to reach every one unless you're an event film. Marvel advertised it a ton on the major platforms I am on, but obviously that was not everyone's feed.
You're One dude lol your experience isn't the norm.
Sorry.
I'm with that other guy.
I dropped out of Marvel fandom (movies and comics) a few years ago and I saw no promotions for Thunderbolts in the months leading up to it. I only started seeing ads after I got back into comics/MCU fandom because of watching Thunderbolts.
The only reason I even knew it was coming out is because I like Sebastian Stan, so I saw the interviews and appearances he made promoting A Different Man and The Apprentice.
So I did see it in theaters opening week, but not because of Disney marketing.
The whole *New Avengers stunt just managed to completely pass you by? Shit was all over my timeline on every social media. The film got great reviews and amazing word of mouth. What more do you need?
I read HERE comments about the new avengers, but some of us avoid spoilers.
Idk what "stunt" you're even referring to.
The great reviews is the only thing that brought it to my attention and almost made me go see it. I've still yet to even see a trailer in the hours I've spent on YouTube in the past months.
Damn, not really a MCU fan..great reviews and still not watching?..what!
The film to not lose money?
Deadpool & Wolverine also had huge marketing so it's not because of Thunderbolts and The Marvels
So Marvel markets all things equally...
The First Family definitely needs it more than the others, did you forget the blip that was the 2015 film?
It would be really hard to wrestle with previous iteration if it managed to polarize everyone. Ask Superman fans how it feels living in Snyder's shadow for years before Gunn, and even after Gunn's take got glowing review Snyder cult is still at it.
Not sure I understand the comparison to Superman. Fant4stic fell flat and became a meme but for the most part I think the general public have forgotten it's existence. If anything the Fox movies are more in people's minds than the 2015 one. Especially after Johnny Storm's return in D&W. I just feel like people have been waiting for an MCU Fantastic Four movie since the MCU began. Even casual fans.
Both the current Superman and Fantastic Four need convincing because they were antiquated ideas modernized in the wrong way (and thus gave the younger generation who saw them the wrong impression) long before both the DCU and MCU get to touch their respective properties.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
It's hard to convince the general audience to give unknown idea a chance. That's Thunderbolts.
It's harder to convince the GA to give bad idea (in their perception) being redone a second chance. That's Fantastic Four.
It'a an absolute tall order to both convince the GA to give up on the previous version of a polarizing idea that they grew nostalgic for in the wrong way (see Snyder cult) and to give that idea done right a second chance. That's Superman.
That's when marketing has to work overtime to address these issues to the average Joe whose exposure to anything comic book happens to be games, movies and other avenues.
I don't think the marketing team for Superman is giving the Snyder Cult a second thought. Same with Marvel and Fant4stic.
It’s pretty simple IMO - the MCU has lost a lot of favour since Disney+ came out, they want the Fantastic Four to be cornerstone characters of the next era of storytelling for the franchise, and this is one of the first films coming out since the new quality mandate. All the stars align for them to want this to be a smash hit and revitalize interest in the MCU.
They likely also know they have a hit on their hands - they haven’t gone this hard on the marketing side since Deadpool and Wolverine.
I don’t think it’s marketing tbh. People don’t go to theaters anymore, they’re burnt out on Marvel, and the world is going to shit. We got other things on our mind lol
Isn't F4 the first movie since Marvel decided to slow down and focus on quality? I recall they were changing up their process so they would firm up the script before writing, before they would still be making changes which is what lead to reshoots and big changes to movies overall arc.
So if this is the first movie with this new method, it makes sense to do a big push so they can try to get some excitement back in the brand. Marvel used to have back to back bangers but now it seems like we get something that breaks through to the mainstream once every 2 years. Disney+ and a few mid movies really dragged down their reputation and they are no longer a must see experience so hopefully they can get that back.
How are they spending all this money on the movies themselves but not on putting butts in seats for them? Makes no sense. You'd think they would have learned from Thunderbolts which financially flopped but seems to be widely loved by people who actually saw it (I wouldn't know because I haven't seen it because I am not chronically online or watching cable TV so I didn't hear when it came out!)
I saw marketing a lot for Brave New World and Thunderbolts. Except for the Marvels which they couldn't really market for as much as the others they all felt generally well marketed for.
Don’t know if this is also due to the fact that F4 is so well known to theatre goers, whereas if you haven’t seen the Black Widow movie and Ant Man 2, you may not know who any of the leads are in Thunderbolts and have no interest in it
I saw Thunderbolts especially because it was something 'new' and 'different' (with the exception of Bucky Barns). F4 has been done so many times, if you are an elder fan like me myself, why watch it yet again? I will probably pass on it.
There are other cool movies out too as of right now: Formula 1, Superman, Jurassic World, The Phoenician Scheme, MI: The Final Reckoning, John Wick/Ballerina, Megan 2.0, ... . I think F4 will have tough competition.
The marketing that I need for any superhero movies is like the ones from early 2000’s, where if you go to toy stores, there is like a dedicated section for that movie with random stuff such as action figures for adults collectors and kids, stuffed toys, etc)
I have seen huge marketing for almost all of the movies, you cannot base your statement for just one movie, as it had the unfortunate timing of being released just after the strike, so little to no time for promotion.
And Secondly, huge promotion ≠ great movie. BNW was a huge pile of groot's goo. Marvels was also spectacularly meh. I don't think more promotions would have changed that.
The strike just meant that the actors couldn't do promotion. It had no bearing on all possible marketing strategies. I mean, Fantastic Four is being marketed on a real estate website...
I didn't say huge promotion = great movie. I also never suggested that marketing improves the quality of a movie. But more promotions might have changed the box office returns.
Thunderbolts marketing team squeezed that movie till it’s last drop. Many people in reddit just say shit to force narratives that aren’t even true
Just because Thunderbolts flopped doesn't mean Marvel didn't spend $100 million marketing the damn thing. As far as I'm concerned, they OVER marketed it, which is what put me off from seeing it. I never liked the lineup to start with, so they had to convince me to see it, but all the over the top "Absolute Cinema!" and "best film since Endgame" marketing felt totally disingenuous and downright insulting to the MCU films and their casts and creators than came out in Phase 4 and 5. Completely unprofessional to dismiss the work of colleagues within your own franchise like that. Add in the two world premieres and then the doubled up post-release marketing, rebranding them as New Avengers, which was also ridiculous. So just because the marketing failed and the film flopped, doesn't mean they didn't spend the same amount of money promoting it and F4.
The marvels got fucked over big time
Which sucks because iman vellani is a treasure
thanks to james gunn competition,
marvel is finally stepping up with good cgi and marketing.
Ads and promotions for Cap were everywhere. The sent Anthony Mackie to go do a Peloton class and teach millions to train like a superhero. They put the toys in the happy meals. What else did you want them to do?
How does that help Ironheart?
You’re tying underperformance to perceived marketing. I’m saying a crazy amount of marketing isn’t helping their more established characters. They need to give the people what they want and the general audience will take a third reboot over C tier characters.
What do the people want?
It's not marketing, which caused some of the MCU movies to flop. It's the genuine lack of interest of the general audience. Outside US F4 might not be hit due to that.
Fantastic Four seems like something meant for a time and place (the 60s).
It's the genuine lack of interest of the general audience.
That's where marketing comes in...
The leading or support characters should generate interest, which is the reason why cap4 grossed more than Thunderbolts because of name captain America and Red Hulk. The Marvels didn't have that much interesting to market outside US which is why it bombed
They been putting out ticking over movies and tv and it shows.
They should stop trying to please shareholders with constant revenue. If they don’t then they gonna milk this cow until it’s dead.
Just had a conversation with a fellow dad about the new Stitch movie. Given the cost of going to a movie, plus the behavior of other theater goers (talking, cell phones, etc.) he tends to wait and stream at home on the home theater set up he got during covid...
Covid killed the urge for a lot of people to go see movies especially on opening weekend when in a few weeks it will be streamed to their home where they’re comfortable couches and they don’t have to deal with assholes
I was thinking this today. In London I’ve feed superman donuts, superman suspended in the shard… for fantastic four I get the trailer in my cheap ass Disney subscription.
I hope it means they’re confident the movie is awesome.
It depends on the movie. I think when marvel is confident in something they market the shit out of it.
You also have to remember that when the Marvels was being released there was a writer/actor strike so the actors literally couldn’t market their movies.
That being said I think starting with thunderbolts we are starting to see marvel get their groove back and we will be back to the good days of the MCU
They have creepy Pedro, an actor playing The Thing they should have cast in a non CGI role, Vanessa Kirby doing...whatever, and the actor from Stranger Things to cash in on the awareness. This is DOA.
For how good it is, it's criminal how undermarketed Ironheart was.
I thought this was gonna be a joke about The Thing
Shit, I didn't even realise I set that up.
Came here for this joke. Thank you.
Ben Grimm is the only Big Thing we acknowledge in this house
He’s this family’s rock