18 Yuan Zhang’s chapter

The Marvels was a box-office flop: most fans may not have been that enthusiastic

Fans of Marvel’s movies may not be happy with what Marvel offers this year. Looking at Marvel’s entire year of film and television output, only Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Gunn, 2023) was relatively successful at the box office. And here is what The BBC has to say about the recently released The Marvels (DaCosta, 2023): “Superhero film The Marvels made just $47m (£38m) in its first weekend, in the US, making it the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s lowest opening.” (Bushby, 2023) In the face of such dismal results, CNN gave the evaluation as “audiences firmly rejecting the “Captain Marvel” sequel in a not-so-subtle fashion.” (Darcy, 2023) In fact, Marvel’s decline started after the release of 2019 Avengers: Endgame (Russo, 2019). “This is all an unprecedented turn of fortune for a company that has enjoyed a nearly uninterrupted string of hits ever since it started independently producing its movies with 2008’s “Iron Man.” That wildly profitable run culminated in the $2.8 billion success of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” a high-water mark for the studio that has earned nearly $30 billion over 32 films.” (Siegel, 2023) However, after that, Marvel seemed to be headed in the wrong direction. Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, the primary means of film distribution has had to shift from offline cinemas to online streaming services. At the time, Disney wanted Marvel to “help boost Disney’s stock price with an endless torrent of interconnected Marvel content for the studio’s fledgling streaming platform.” (Siegel, 2023) “The promise was that the events of the shows would come full circle and influence the content of Marvel’s films. In reality, for many, the inundation began to feel more like homework than entertainment.” (Whitten, 2023) With so many films being produced so quickly, it did not seem easy to maintain the quality of the content. Employees began to complain about endless overtime, and management on the set became chaotic. To make matters worse, scandals in the lead roles and changes in top management greatly delayed filming and even led to reshoots. Some fans have already spotted the problems earlier and voiced their opinions. Some fans complained about the quality of the film. In either case, the voices of these fans should be valued by Marvel. Perhaps the support and encouragement of some fans blinded them, or the once-dazzling achievements led to Marvel’s blind confidence or arrogance. They did not solve these problems in time. These problems, like time bombs, finally detonated when The Marvels were released. This also reflects that Marvel fans do not blindly support Marvel movies. If a movie is not good, fans will not buy it, as reflected in the box office. This paper will use X to analyze fans’ activities after the release of The Marvels from three perspectives: Fans vs. Anti-Fans, Audience as Commodity vs. Consumer Fandom and Celebrity Fandom.

Why use X as a platform

As one of the mainstream social media, X has a huge user base. Using the information on X as a sample for analysis can ensure diversity and comprehensiveness. In addition, “As a social media platform, X allows its users to post short messages, videos, and photos through tweets. The platform’s features, such as replying, retweeting, and liking, encourage users to interact with one another, which contributes to building rich discussions. The instant and open nature of X makes its users more likely to voice their opinions compared to other social media platforms, which presents a more authentic representation of an individual’s true perspectives and behaviors.” (Tabitha, 2023) This is helpful for the collection and understanding of information in this paper. Finally, all Marvel related accounts and the accounts of actors and actresses can be found on X, which helps this paper distinguish fan attributes.

Fans and Anti-Fans

The commenting fans fall into the following categories below the post on the official Marvel account about the release of The Marvels. The first is to have a positive attitude towards the film. These fans said the movie was very interesting or wanted to see it more often, and some defended the bad reviews. The second is to express disappointment with the movie. Such fans say the film is boring or not worth buying a ticket, and some want the authorities to make changes soon. The last one says they do not care or refuse to watch the film, perhaps because the subject matter does not interest them. It is worth noting that only a few fans have expressed a positive attitude towards the film. Most fans expressed their dissatisfaction with the film. The first comment reads: “Since Disney and most of Hollywood men in charge are gay, trans or effeminate. The women in charge lesbian, trans or feminist. You wonder why most Americans didn’t show up? You made a very, very, VERY expensive home movie that your neighbors didn’t want to…” (@JerryVSmith1954, 2023) Given the hate speech in his remarks, his dissatisfaction with the film may have more to do with the cast of the film than the content. There were also some honest comments from fans: “I’m a great writer. I can hook you up for a good movie. I have a few ready to go. I know it hurts to be missing target for a while now. Good story, good actors and good production. Boom! A good movie. No agenda, propaganda or pandering.” (@AmberitePrince, 2023) In the first example, the characteristics of this fan fit Gray’s concept of Hatewatching. To wit: “hatewatching is distinct from enjoying a guilty pleasure, wherein you like something despite its obvious badness.” (Gary, 2019) This was despite the fact that this fan did not like the genre of films with female leads and co-stars and that he already knew the genre of the film before he entered the theater. As an LGBTQ hatewatcher, he still chose to watch. In the second example, the characteristics of the fan fit Gary’s concept of Disappointed Anti-Fandom. He noted: “we will often find anti-fandom and fandom working in tandem, an inseparable pair.” (Gary, 2019) Sometimes, “Fans like a text to a point but reject parts of the text and feel the need to renovate or cure those parts. In other words, they are fans of the text as a whole yet also anti-fans of specific parts.” (Gary, 2019) As a loyal Marvel fan, this fan tends to view all Marvel movies positively. However, when the film’s content was unacceptable to him, he proposed improvements.  He hopes that when he walks into a movie theater again, he will be able to continue enjoying movies as a fan. Moreover, one fan tried to defend the film, “Had a thought, re: super hero fatigue & bad box office. I love how all the shows & movies are connected. Perhaps, though, that’s the problem. Non-Marvel heads may feel that if they haven’t seen everything, they won’t know what’s happening, so they stay away.” (@MGobills, 2023) In his comments, he argued that people who do not like Marvel see Marvel as Bad Objects. To wit “based on a widespread agreement—whether moral, aesthetic, affective, or political—about what is inappropriate in the media world.” (Gary, 2019) He believes that many people have a stereotype about Marvel that they can not get a complete viewing experience by watching a single film. Interestingly, most of those who had a negative view of the film pointed out specific problems with the film, meaning that they actually went to see it. Those who have expressed positive opinions have yet to point out what is good about the film. The comments they post are only a few words, not even a full sentence. It can be seen that fans and anti-fans are dynamic, and a person may, for some reason, have a fan become an anti-fan, but it is also entirely possible for him to become a fan at some point. If people want to be an anti-fan of something, they have to know enough about it as a premise, which means that the premise of being an anti-fan is to be a fan. For fans of Marvel movies, being an anti-fan is determined by both the quality of the movie and the fan’s taste.

Audience as Commodity vs. Consumer Fandom

“Audience as Commodity” refers to “audiences and readerships perform ‘work’ by spending their time watching commercial media (and the advertising endemic in it) and that this work was a form of labor which produced a valuable commodity, the attention of the audience, which could be sold to advertisers” (Miller, 2023) In the same way, Marvel’s practice of showing post-credits scene at the end of the films can also be seen as an advertisement for other Marvel movies. “Marvel Studios borrows the storytelling strategy developed by Marvel Comics in the 1960s as a modular way to increase the audience of its movie franchise.” (Lähdesmäki, 2022) In general, potential Marvel fans make up a large proportion of the audience of Marvel movies, and by playing the post-credits scene to these Marvel fans, they will be more likely to buy tickets to see the relevant Marvel movie. This is a commercial activity, which is understandable as long as it does not affect the audience’s experience. However, some fans who watched The Marvels said that the most valuable part of the film was the post-credits scene, and they were excited about the contents of the post-credits scene. According to Guo’s research on the post-credits scene of the Marvel movie  in 2019: “the influence of post-credit scene on people’s choice of movie was not as significant as expected. Being presented with a post-credit scene with spoilers of new characters in the next coming film will not affect people’s perception of the new movie.” (Guo, 2019) This suggests that the post-credits scene may not be generating as much revenue as people think, and Marvel films should focus more on films’ content rather than the post-credits scene. Most fans are rational; they can tell the good parts of the post-credits scene, and of course, they can tell if the movie’s content is sincere. The box office failure of The Marvels illustrates the volatile nature of Marvel fandom as a commodity, with many Marvel fans deciding whether to buy a ticket to see a movie based on word of mouth rather than binge-watching every movie. Of course, in the comments under Marvel Studios’ X account, there are also fans who mention that they watch every movie Marvel releases for the first time, even if they are not satisfied with it sometimes. “I am a huge fan of marvel movies. Have seen all the movies first day 1st or 2nd show since 2008. But now I have to admit that after Endgame their quality has degraded a lot. @Kevfeige u need to look into the matter with utter seriousness before the fans disappear.” (@RajarshiG21, 2023) This fan’s behavior fits the concept of Consumer Fandom. In Kulinicheva’s study of sneaker fandom, he noted: “In the case of sneaker collectors and enthusiasts, we might contrast participation with fashion consumerism to describe sneakerheads not simply as consumers of mass-produced goods but also as a creative community that in many cases uses commercial goods transformatively, as raw materials for their own creative practices.” (Kulinicheva, 2021) The fan behavior of the above example who watches all Marvel movies is essentially the same as sneaker collectors. He wants to know all there is to know about Marvel movies and actively shares the knowledge and information he has gained on social media. His process of trying to gather all the “experiences of watching Marvel movies” is essentially his process of gathering background and knowledge about the Marvel Universe. Unlike the passive acceptance of fans in the concept of Audience as Commodity, fans in Consumer Fandom are more active in this process and have higher brand loyalty. Marvel wishes it could have more fans with this attribute, but there may not be that many fans with this attribute.

Celebrity Fandom

Although many Marvel movie audiences enter the theater as fans of the Marvel movies, a portion of the Audience buys tickets because they are fans of the lead actors.  Instead of the content of the movie, these fans may care more about the performance of their idols in the movie. In De Backer’s article, he tries to define Celebrity in three dimensions. They are “Achieved, Inherited, and Attributed.” (De Backer, 2012) He believes that: “When it comes to defining who is a celebrity, the increase in recognition needed to become well-known as opposed to renowned is undoubtedly the most important factor. Being recognized by large numbers of people is an indicator of fame.” (De Backer, 2012) Such high popularity can bring huge economic benefits. For example, most of the fans of the leading role will buy tickets to watch the movie to show their support for the idol, and some fans will even buy several times to show their contribution to the idol. The more famous the lead actor is, the more fans he has, and the more economic benefits that fans bring. Following The Marvels star Brie’s post promoting the film’s release, fans mostly spoke in support of her, in addition to those arguing for and against LGBTQ. One fan thought the movie was good and commented: “Movie was amazing and you are amazing! Thank you for your hard work!” (@Teyachu, 2023) Many fans who have not yet seen the film say they are very excited to see it. In contrast to the attitude of Marvel fans, Brie’s fans mostly tend to support The Marvels. The same film has a polarized evaluation among different groups. This shows that celebrities can influence not only financial gains, but also the ideology of their fans. This influence is unique. When studying Lady Gaga fans, Click et al. believe that in the process of Lady Gaga’s influence on fans, “Social media, X in particular, play a crucial role.” (Click, 2017) They point out that: “Lady Gaga has demonstrated how social media can change the nature of ‘parasocial’ relationships, allowing fans to feel their relationships with celebrities in social media are ‘real’.” (Click, 2017) In the same way, with X, Brie’s image in the eyes of her fans is closer to what she shows on social media than what she shows in films. When her films suffer, fans instinctively defend her. Brie’s fans would argue that the problem was with the film itself and would leave Brie a message saying “she deserves a better script or team”. Marvel fans, on the other hand, may not know much about a lead’s off-screen life, but judge them by their performance in the film. Without the influence of other factors, these assessments may be more accurate.

Conclusion

From the perspective of box office, Marvel’s strategy was successful before the 2019 Avengers: Endgame release. The success of this pioneering strategy greatly boosted the confidence of management. Of course, in some decisions, this inflated confidence even starts to turn into hubris. Marvel fans have long been known to be highly engaged, and social media has played a big role in that. “After interaction among the participants of the digital community, the social audience experienced enriched enjoyment and sought new content or revisited already consumed content to reread it with a fresh perspective developed through social interaction.” (Atarama-Rojas, 2023) However, fan loyalty is based on Marvel’s ability to produce high-quality content. Once the quality of content begins to decline, fans will give a high tolerance for a short period of time, but will not always give Marvel the opportunity to trial and error. When fans reach the limit of their tolerance, they express it by refusing to accept the content. Marvel had excessive confidence in the loyalty of its fans, which was one of the main reasons for The Marvels‘ failure. As it turns out, Marvel fans are mostly less fanatical, and if the movie is not good enough, fans will not buy it. Marvel is clearly aware of this, “Disney chief executive Bob Iger said Wednesday that his number one priority for the entertainment giant is turning around the creative engine at Marvel Studios.” (Reilly; Passantino, 2023) “Quality needs attention to deliver quality, it doesn’t happen by accident, and quantity, in our case, diluted quality — and Marvel has suffered greatly from that.” (Reilly; Passantino, 2023)

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