After 22 Films, How Has Marvel Studios Stayed Surprising and Successful?

Published July 21, 2023, 5:35 p.m. by Arrik Motley

The secret seems to be finding the right balance between creating innovative films and retaining enough continuity to make them all recognizably part of a coherent family.

In just a decade Marvel Studios has redefined the franchise movie. Its 22 films have grossed some $17 billion—more than any other movie franchise in history. At the same time, they average an impressive 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the average for the 15 top-grossing franchises is 68%) and receive an average of 64 nominations and awards per movie. Avengers: Endgame,released in the spring, has won rave reviews and generated so much demand that online movie ticket retailers had to overhaul their systems to manage the number of requests.

Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, offered a deceptively simple explanation in Variety: “I’ve always believed in expanding the definition of what a Marvel Studios movie could be. We try to keep audiences coming back in greater numbers by doing the unexpected and not simply following a pattern or a mold or a formula.” The secret seems to be finding the right balance between creating innovative films and retaining enough continuity to make them all recognizably part of a coherent family.

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