Marvel Shake-Up: Film Chief Kevin Feige Breaks Free of CEO Ike Perlmutter

[Napoleon]

As far as I'm concerned most of the fanboy sites are guilty of spreading rumors from bad sources or no sources at all. Faraci has his own weird track record that includes multiple instances of "confirming" rumors from others (el maybe, etc.) or trying to refute stories in the trades because he didn't break them first. Recently Faraci disgraced himself by being one of the 8% who loved the FF reboot, after months of touting the movie on his site(s). He is about as reliable as his colleague el maybe, though much more intellectually dishonest.

That's most likely because he's friends with Josh Trank and Jeremy Slater (one of the writers). Talk about journalistic integrity.

 

[starscream22]

Age of Ultron's made well over a billion dollars worldwide and it's still in theaters.

What's Disney's idea of a successful movie? Or even an okay movie, since this was, apparently, a failure?

Relax... News like this is for the Fox-Marvel followers and DC stan's to mill over.

Could AOU have been better? Sure! Is it a failure? H3ll no! Failure is what Fox released on 8/7/15 while the MCU has 2 films this year that are edging close to $2B combined with good RT ratings and I've enjoyed them both.

As for this shake up, well if Kevin's power move makes for the better then everybody wins. Beyond that, Fox fans desperately looking for an opening to throw rocks at MCU's flagship series means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Now "Oozepocalypse" is what they really should be concerned about since I'll be watching Civil War again when that crap releases.

 

[Zant]

Sheesh, someone is obsessed with Fox studios. Why don't you express your feelings about Xmen Apocalypse in the X men thread. Apparently you have seen it already.

 

[TheVileOne]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme...of-ultron-a-failure-in-the-eyes-of-hollywood/

All this article does is speculate on the statements made by the Bleeding Cool one.

Everyone is hyper-sensitive about this. And to a degree I understand. These movies are important for all of us. They are a culmination of years of our fantasies and desires ever since we started seeing X-Men and Spider-Man movies finally realized onscreen.

I think calling the film a failure is extreme. However, it would not surprise me if execs see it as a failure. Why? This is Hollywood. We have already seen how this can be like a gossipy high school. But I think it's based on the performance of The Avengers.

After The Avengers, Disney's expectations for this film were very high. When you release a film like this, the general goal is to match or surpass the take of the original, which Age of Ultron was not able to do. Reviews were not as strong either. Not to mention, Marvel had all sorts of momentum riding the wave of 2014 from The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. After Guardians, Marvel could essentially do no wrong. It might not seem like a big deal, but the fact that Guardians' performance made WB blink and move the release date of Batman v. Superman away from Civil War was huge. It was a battle that Marvel Studios essentially won over WB/DC.

Now do I think everyone's expectations were a little too high and unrealistic for Age of Ultron? Yes. In many instances, it is not often that a sequel in a franchise like this will top the original, especially when the original so well done and well received.

Also, the studio really spends untolds amounts of money on these pictures. This goes well beyond the production budget. There's advertising, there's the cost of wide international distribution for a major release, and then there is the actor fees. Robert Downey Jr. was paid $50 million for The Avengers. Think about that. He got $50 million for that film. Chances are, he walked away with a hefty chunk of change for Age of Ultron for his renegotiated deal. So while we might read $250 million or so for the budget, there is quite possibly a lot more expenses that make it a lot harder and a lot longer for a film like this to make money. And for a film like this, a studio doesn't just want to "break even" it wants to rake in tons of profit.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Rich Johnson gave credit on twitter to Ike Perlmutter for the Captain Marvel movie, even though Joss Whedon said it was something Kevin Feige was pushing for. So why should I take anything Rich Johnson said with anything but a grain of salt?

 

[TalismanRing]

So while we might read $250 million or so for the budget, there is quite possibly a lot more expenses that make it a lot harder and a lot longer for a film like this to make money. And for a film like this, a studio doesn't just want to "break even" it wants to rake in tons of profit.

AOU would have had to cost about $700m for it to just break even and even then it would make profit in DVD, TV, Streaming etc and all the attendant merchandise. Avengers merchandise did more than $1b in sales in 2014. AOU will indeed make tons of profit for Disney.

 

[Mjölnir]

I'd bet my house on that AoU is not seen as a failure by Disney any day of the week. Making a 1.5+ billion dollar movie is not something you do on order. Hence why there's only been 5 to ever do that. A studio knows better than to just expect that a movie will make that kind of money although they can certainly have big numbers in their "happy calculations", as all companies have several calculations for upcoming ventures.

I also don't know how much money some think Marvel wastes left and right if they don't make a huge profit off a money making over 1.4 billion dollars. That's kind of crazy even without accounting for that they have one of the, if not the cheapest, CEO's in movie history.

And this has nothing to do with being sensitive. The movie doesn't get the least bit better or worse for any of us depending on how much money it makes. We don't get any of the money (quite the contrary) so box office results shouldn't matter much to us other than to estimate the chances of a sequel.

As for RDJ, he most certainly earned a ton of money, but unless he had a cut of the movie's profits his salary should be included in the budget as should include everything they spent on making the movie.

Age of Ultron was of course not a perfect success, but certainly not a failure either.

 

[Comic Book Guy]

If you've read all these pieces, it's pretty clear Bleeding Cool are getting their info from sources within Ike/New York Marvel's camp and obviously BC themselves as a site will be pissed about this turn of events because they will no longer have any sources as it relates to Marvel movies with Marvel Studios separating themselves from Ike/New York Marvel. Sad to see Bleeding Cool doing this.

 

[Angryfantasyfan]

Rich Johnson gave credit on twitter to Ike Perlmutter for the Captain Marvel movie, even though Joss Whedon said it was something Kevin Feige was pushing for. So why should I take anything Rich Johnson said with anything but a grain of salt?

Why would anyone believe Perlmutter was pushing for a female led movie after what we saw in the Sony emails? I just can't take Rich seriously.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Why don't you express your feelings about Xmen Apocalypse in the X men thread

If there is a less hospitable section of the hype than the X-Boards I'm not sure what it would be. Maybe the Bat section during the Nolan years.

 

[Val_Zod]

So according to BC, the MCC were heavily involved with the better received films, such as Ironman 1, GOTG, and TWS, and movies they had little involvement in were Ironman 2, Ironman 3 and here's the kicker, AOU.

Now, this makes no sense if we consider they said Feige used AOU's "failure" as a sort of bargaining chip to change management, but why remove the management that had "nothing" to do with the "failures"? One of these "reports" is not accurate, and my money is on the latter..

 

[Napoleon]

If there is a less hospitable section of the hype than the X-Boards I'm not sure what it would be. Maybe the Bat section during the Nolan years.

The F4 boards and the Killing Joke thread.

 

[InCali]

All this article does is speculate on the statements made by the Bleeding Cool one.

Everyone is hyper-sensitive about this. And to a degree I understand. These movies are important for all of us. They are a culmination of years of our fantasies and desires ever since we started seeing X-Men and Spider-Man movies finally realized onscreen.

I think calling the film a failure is extreme. However, it would not surprise me if execs see it as a failure. Why? This is Hollywood. We have already seen how this can be like a gossipy high school. But I think it's based on the performance of The Avengers.

After The Avengers, Disney's expectations for this film were very high. When you release a film like this, the general goal is to match or surpass the take of the original, which Age of Ultron was not able to do. Reviews were not as strong either. Not to mention, Marvel had all sorts of momentum riding the wave of 2014 from The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy. After Guardians, Marvel could essentially do no wrong. It might not seem like a big deal, but the fact that Guardians' performance made WB blink and move the release date of Batman v. Superman away from Civil War was huge. It was a battle that Marvel Studios essentially won over WB/DC.

Now do I think everyone's expectations were a little too high and unrealistic for Age of Ultron? Yes. In many instances, it is not often that a sequel in a franchise like this will top the original, especially when the original so well done and well received.

Also, the studio really spends untolds amounts of money on these pictures. This goes well beyond the production budget. There's advertising, there's the cost of wide international distribution for a major release, and then there is the actor fees. Robert Downey Jr. was paid $50 million for The Avengers. Think about that. He got $50 million for that film. Chances are, he walked away with a hefty chunk of change for Age of Ultron for his renegotiated deal. So while we might read $250 million or so for the budget, there is quite possibly a lot more expenses that make it a lot harder and a lot longer for a film like this to make money. And for a film like this, a studio doesn't just want to "break even" it wants to rake in tons of profit.

 

[TheVileOne]

This is why you fail in pushing the limits.

 

[TheVileOne]

AOU would have had to cost about $700m for it to just break even and even then it would make profit in DVD, TV, Streaming etc and all the attendant merchandise. Avengers merchandise did more than $1b in sales in 2014. AOU will indeed make tons of profit for Disney.

How do you know they didn't close to that much. If Downey got paid $50 million for Avengers, how much do you think he got for Avengers 2?

 

[TeeKay]

Doesn't RDJ make most of his money through back end deals?

 

[Zant]

If there is a less hospitable section of the hype than the X-Boards I'm not sure what it would be. Maybe the Bat section during the Nolan years.

It's only less hospitable for trolls and people who call a movie crap even before release.

 

[TalismanRing]

How do you know they didn't close to that much. If Downey got paid $50 million for Avengers, how much do you think he got for Avengers 2?

Because the movie didn't costs $300m to market. $100m worldwide might be pushing it. AOU spent less to market in the US than Antman did. It spent less on TV ads than FF4, Entourage, Mad Max, and about the same as Man From Uncle. Much of the publicity was centered on it's incredibly popular cast which is one of the reasons they're so valuable - and a lot of that value is in RDJ.

RDJ makes about the same 5% of the gross for AOU he did for Avengers and IM3. If his salary was onerous enough to make Avengers barely break even then it wouldn't have been extended toward IM3 and AOU and beyond.

His back end deal is no different than what Disney has done with Depp and the Pirates series except Depp's gross % was I think bigger. Stars like DiCaprio and Bullock get similar deals it's just that their films gross much less money. Heck, Bullock's back end deal for Gravity was over $70m - 10% of the gross which is more than RDJ got for IM3 which made $500m more dollars at the box office. Tell me who's more valuable to the success and box office of their movie?

RDJ is also the only actor in Marvel who gets a % of the gross because he negotiated that deal way back for IM2 The others get smaller bonuses when their films make it past certain B.O. milestones. ($500m ww, $600m ww, $700m ww etc)

RDJ's approx 5% gross points on AOU might make him around $70m in salary which would be would still be less than the approximated (by Deadline) $100m the DOFP director, producer, cast got in combined participation on a movie that cost well over $200m to produce and made a bit more than half what AOU did at the box office. And yet Fox is still making X-men movies and they don't have the enormous revenue Disney has from it's merchandising.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

If there is a less hospitable section of the hype than the X-Boards I'm not sure what it would be. Maybe the Bat section during the Nolan years.

I have found plenty of MCU threads less hospitable than the X-Boards.

 

[Adhesive Boy]

Spending months talking negative about the newest movie can probably make most boards less than optimally cuddly. Fant4stic might be an exception.

 

[First Avenger]

It's only less hospitable for trolls and people who call a movie crap even before release.

Yeah 'cause Fant4stic Turned out so great...oh wait,only the blind Fox fanboys didn't see that coming. Besides people on the x-boards talk crap about other studios'movies lots of times. Mods always keep an eye on that.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Yeah 'cause Fant4stic Turned out so great...oh wait,only the blind Fox fanboys didn't see that coming. Besides people on the x-boards talk crap about other studios'movies lots of times. Mods always keep an eye on that.

And that doesn't happen on MCU boards? Or the DCCU ones? Come on dude ALL fans do it you can't just claim one group does. And no, it wasn't just the blind fox fanboys who looked forward to F4, I did myself as I look forward to all CBM movies. Once I saw the reviews I didn't go and see it. So am I a blind Fox fanboy for that?

 

[First Avenger]

I may not agree with some things you say Jamon,but at least you come to the boards to express your opinion.Personally if I want to criticize a movie I go to the movie's boards. I noticed recently that this doesn't happen on the x-boards. I don't want to name the obvious people who did this but the x-men fans do it a lot. Fortunately I am a MARVEL fan so I'd prefer if all Marvel movies were good,that's not the case for many people (both MCU and Fox fans). If someone thinks that the MCU movies suck say it on MCU boards,because when the same people disappear from the boards the moment the movie they defended so much ended up being crap,it's rather ridicolous.

 

[Flint Marko]

And that doesn't happen on MCU boards? Or the DCCU ones? Come on dude ALL fans do it you can't just claim one group does. And no, it wasn't just the blind fox fanboys who looked forward to F4, I did myself as I look forward to all CBM movies. Once I saw the reviews I didn't go and see it. So am I a blind Fox fanboy for that?

I'm going to assume you just didn't visit the FF boards that much. Defending the FFINO film before it came out is one thing, but it got to a point where defending the movie and burying your head in the sand became one in the same.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I may not agree with some things you say Jamon,but at least you come to the boards to express your opinion.Personally if I want to criticize a movie I go to the movie's boards. I noticed recently that this doesn't happen on the x-boards. I don't want to name the obvious people who did this but the x-men fans do it a lot. Fortunately I am a MARVEL fan so I'd prefer if all Marvel movies were good,that's not the case for many people (both MCU and Fox fans). If someone thinks that the MCU movies suck say it on MCU boards,because when the same people disappear from the boards the moment the movie they defended so much ended up being crap,it's rather ridicolous.

Well, if I have something to say about a movie whether it be good or bad, like you I will go to the boards to do it, but I have been in altercations with just as many people on the MCU boards as I have others, if not more. With certain posters on here you can't say anything bad about the MCU and if you do you MUST be a Fox or DC fan, it's ridiculous. I don't care what company a CBM comes from, if I like or dislike a movie I will say so.

I'm going to assume you just didn't visit the FF boards that much. Defending the FFINO film before it came out is one thing, but it got to a point where defending the movie and burying your head in the sand became one in the same.

I was there plenty before release, after seeing the reviews not so much. There were people overly defensive toward the movie but there were people overly the opposite as well.