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Credit: Sony PicturesJared Leto believes that movie theaters have to be grateful for the huge success of Marvel films at the box office.
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Sony has been enjoying tremendous success from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) as the movie ended up being the highest-grossing film for 2021. Sony has confirmed more spin-off projects will be coming to the big screen as Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter (2023) is set to release next year with Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web in early development.
Related: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Is Already Streaming (Sort Of)
Now, Leto is preparing for people to finally see his new Marvel movie, Morbius (2022). While talking to Variety, Leto shared how he felt movie theaters “existed” only because of the huge success of Marvel movies:
“If it wasn’t for Marvel films, I don’t even know if theaters would exist,” he says. “It doesn’t seem like there’s room for everyone, and that starts to become a little heartbreaking.”
Leto isn’t the first person to share this concern. Other actors and directors have shared that Marvel movies have a major influence on movie theaters. Moonfall (2021) director, Roland Emmerich, believed that Marvel was ruining movie theaters because the movie industry doesn’t do “anything original anymore”:
“Because naturally Marvel and DC Comics, and Star Wars, have pretty much taken over. It’s ruining our industry a little bit, because nobody does anything original anymore.”
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Emmerich won’t be the last director to blast Marvel with their frustrations as it is sad to see movie theaters struggling to stay open without a new blockbuster movie playing. With streaming platforms playing a heavy role in everyday entertainment, it’s no surprise that theaters are starting to feel obsolete. More families will decide that it’s easier to keep their kids at home and watch a movie on Disney+ rather than go to the theaters.
Disney+ has been making big strides to include more mature content which has led the streaming platform to now have the Netflix Marvel shows. Parental controls have been added and now the service might soon hold Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018) as the streaming service can hold mature content.
As more shows and movies end up on streaming platforms, it will be interesting to see how this will affect movie theaters. Disney will make sure to have their Star Wars and Marvel movies in the theaters as long as they are open. Last year, Disney+ attempted to have some of their movies debut on the streaming platform with an additional fee to watch the movie. This had mixed results as it cost $30 to watch the movie while it was in theaters.
Morbius releases in theaters on April 1, 2022.
If you like Tom Hardy’s Venom, then Sony has you covered. The studio plans to release Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One on October 7, 2022, Kraven the Hunter on January 13, 2023, and Sony is in early development on a Madame Web project starring Dakota Johnson.
On Disney+ you can expect Moon Knight on March 30, Ms. Marvel in Summer 2022, and She-Hulk to debut this year. For movies, Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness comes out on May 6, followed by Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on November 11.