Big-budget superhero movies have dominated the box office for nearly a decade, but trends in 2023 proved attitudes toward staple franchises have shifted dramatically.

Since its start in 2008, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been the money maker for superhero blockbusters. Even if a film had a bad theatrical run, being under the MCU umbrella was almost a guarantee that a film would make a profit.  

Since 2020 however, Marvel films have been doing increasingly worse. “Black Widow” and “Eternals” were the first films to show this box office giant might not last forever, and the disastrous flop of “The Marvels” in 2023 was further evidence that blockbuster superhero films could be on the way out.

Similarly, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), produced by Warner Bros. Pictures saw its share of bad runs in 2023. “The Flash,” “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and “Blue Beetle” all failed to make back their cost of production.  

“The Flash” in particular lost nearly $200 million, making it one of the biggest theatrical flops in the history of film. While the DCEU has had its share of problems since it began, the failure of its 2023 releases ultimately meant that the franchise was officially considered to be canceled after the release of “Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom” in December of 2023.  

The end of superhero supremacy at the box office seems inevitable at this point. The market has become saturated with content and audiences are clearly showing signs of fatigue with the genre. Instead, audiences seem to be searching for something new to replace the once unkillable box office titans.  

With the release of “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Napoleon,” the auteur style of filmmaking, which places the creative control of a film in the hands of its director, seems to be back in the mainstream. Instead of movies being sold under the label of a giant superhero franchise, it’s possible that in the next few years directors’ names alone may be able to bring audiences to the box office.  

Likewise, video game movies did very well at the box office in 2023, with “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” performing exceptionally well.  Video game movies seem uniquely well-positioned to take advantage of the excitement of adapting existing off-screen characters to film. 

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” was particularly praised for its costume design in bringing the animatronic characters from the video game to life on screen.  With video games being more accessible to younger audiences than comic books, the appeal of video game movies will continue to grow.  

All in all, the death of the superhero movie isn’t a bad thing for the film industry. The bloated budgets and diminishing returns have put superhero movies in a place where they may not be as financially viable as they once were. The question is now, what do we as an audience want to see replace superheroes in the future?

Categories: Arts & Entertainment