Last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger hosted his first quarterly financial results investor call since returning in November following the removal of Bob Chapek.  During the investor call, Bob Iger was very straight with shareholders that the number one priority for him right now is to sort out the finances of the company, with a focus on making its streaming business more profitable.

One of the ways Bob Iger is going to achieve this is with plans to cut over $5 billion in costs, with $3 billion of that coming from the entertainment division.  This is going to result in less general entertainment content being created, with a focus on curating shows better for its streaming and linear platforms.  Bob Iger also expressed that Hulu is potentially up for sale, as the company focuses and doubles down on its profitable franchises like Marvel, Star Wars and Disney, but to be “better at curating” franchise content since it’s “extraordinarily expensive.” With Iger adding:

“We want the quality on the screen, but we have to look at what they cost us.”

But even those major franchises, will have to cut costs, with both Marvel and Lucasfilm having to make changes to their initial plans.  Back at the San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige outlined multiple projects that were scheduled to arrive on Disney+ in 2023, including:

• Secret Invasion
• Loki – Season 2
• Echo
• Ironheart
• Agatha: Coven Of Chaos
• What If? Season 2
• X-Men 97

Other shows announced to be coming out in 2024 during the presentation, included an 18-episode season of “Daredevil: Born Again”, which begins filming this month.  And two more animated projects, “Zombies” and “Spider-Man: Freshman Year”.  There are also many other projects in development, including series for “Wonder Man” and “Nova”.  Late last year, another series that had been announced at the Disney Investor Day event in 2020, “Armor Wars”, was revealed to be changing from a Disney+ series to a theatrical film.

During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige said there will be fewer Disney+ shows and that they will be more spaced out.

“The pace at which we’re putting out the Disney+ shows will change”

According to a recent report from the Hollywood Reporter, we are likely to see a drastic change in Marvel’s release plans for Disney+, with only “Secret Invasion” and “Loki” officially confirmed for a release on Disney+ in 2023.  This matches up with the advertising that Disney is doing for its 2023 titles, plus in a slideshow from the latest financial results, only those two titles, along with the animated “X-Men ’97” series, are confirmed for 2023 releases.

An insider told THR:

“There is going to be a level of rigor on Marvel and across the entire company.  Numbers matter now, and costs are going to be outlined and enforced.”

Dropping from five live-action series down to two for 2023, is a huge drop. This might have an impact on how many fans stay subscribed, though it’s likely Disney will spread out its Marvel and Star Wars shows more than it did in 2022, which saw the two franchises overlap on many occasions.

While on the Star Wars side, Disney is ramping up efforts to return the franchise to theatrical releases, having not had a film released since “The Rise Of Skywalker” in 2019, as it has been focused on making Disney+ shows like “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, “The Mandalorian” and “Andor”.

Fans of Star Wars still can look forward to three live-action shows this year, “Ahsoka”, “Skeleton Crew”, and the third season of “The Mandalorian”, but as the insider said:

“Lucasfilm may ramp up, but it will have to abide by the same fiscal discipline as the rest of the company,”

Disney’s Bob Iger has recently said that Disney became too focused on getting subscribers for Disney+ and not on making a profit, but now there is a shift. As the agency partner added:

“You can have 10 mediocre shows or you can have five great shows. People will still stay on Disney+.”

Disney+ won’t be the only streaming service to start slowing down its releases, as other platforms change their strategy to save money as the market shifts from focusing on subscribers to making money.

The good news is that the Disney+ shows that have been announced, will be coming out, since both “Echo” and “Ironheart” have wrapped shooting, which will allow more time to get the visual effects to look a little better than what we saw with some of the 2022 series, as Marvel pushed VFX artists to a limit.  Shows that are still in development, may just take a little longer to go into production.

With filming underway on shows such as “Daredevil: Born Again” and “Agatha: Coven Of Chaos”, it might be a longer wait for those to hit our screens than we wanted.  There has been some pushback from fans who felt there were too many Marvel shows, films and specials in 2022, but equally. There are just as many Disney+ subscribers who potentially will unsubscribe until the next Marvel show drops.  But ultimately, Disney+ can’t afford to be churning out expensive Marvel and Star Wars episodes almost weekly.  Though sliding in cheaper animated shows, documentaries and with major films like “Ant-Man And The Wasp”, “The Marvels”, and “Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol 3” coming this year, it won’t be anything like the drought out 2020!

What do you think of only getting two Marvel Disney+ shows in 2023?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

View all posts