Bob Iger has revealed that Disney has quietly scrapped some secret projects, and although they haven't released any names, fans think they know which movies have got the axe.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney CEO Iger announced the news at a conference in San Francisco. "You have to kill things you no longer believe in, and that’s not easy in this business, because either you’ve gotten started, you have some sunk costs, or it’s a relationship with either your employees or with the creative community," Iger said. "It’s not an easy thing, but you got to make those tough calls. We’ve actually made those tough calls. We’ve not been that public about it, but we’ve killed a few projects already that we just didn’t feel were strong enough."
Although Iger failed to mention which exact projects have been canceled, fans are already speculating which movies Disney is letting go. Judging by the discussions taking place in this Reddit thread, it looks like Marvel movies, in particular, might have been the ones in danger.
The first MCU project fans have put on the chopping block is Armor Wars. After being announced way back in 2022, not much is known about the Marvel adaptation other than it is thought to be a sequel to Secret Invasion and was first pitched as a TV show before Disney decided to turn it into a movie. "Armor Wars got the axe," stated one Reddit user, whilst another replied, "Secret invasion ruined the future of any character in that show."
Further down the thread, another user pointed out: "We should have had a damn Shang Chi sequel by now", suggesting that the anticipated sequel may have been scrapped. The first movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings dropped in 2021 based on the popular comic series. Soon after a sequel was announced, but was pushed back thanks to an Avengers movie being delayed to 2026. Fans in the thread seem to think this is what has killed Shang-Chi 2, as one user writes: "The mistake is writing a sequel that depends on Avengers." We're not totally sure about this one though, as we did have a slightly positive update in November when director Destin Daniel Cretton left Avengers 5 to work on the film.
While it wouldn't be a huge shock for Disney to trim down Marvel projects in the wake of superhero fatigue, Iger doesn't seem too bothered about that. Elsewhere at the conference, he said: "A lot of people think it’s audience fatigue, it’s not audience fatigue. They want great films. We reduced the output of Marvel, both number of films they make and the number of TV shows, and that really becomes critical, but I feel good about the team.”
For more on the MCU, check out our guide on how to watch Marvel movies in order, or keep up to date with upcoming Marvel movies heading your way in 2024 and beyond.
