Disney pulling back on making Marvel, Star Wars content, Iger says

Disney is slowing down when it comes to making movies and TV series for its Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm franchises, CEO Bob Iger said Thursday on CNBC.

The move comes as the company is looking to cut costs during a time when its recent films, from Marvel to animation, have underwhelmed at the box office.

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“You pull back not just to focus, but also as part of our cost containment initiative. Spending less on what we make, and making less,” Iger said Thursday.

Earlier this year, Disney rolled out a broad reorganization of the business that included $5.5 billion in cutting costs, of which $3 billion would be slashed from content excluding sports.

Iger said Thursday that a lot of decisions were made to prop up the company’s flagship streaming service, Disney+, and beckon more customers.

While also noting that Disney had some Pixar animation misses in recent months, he called out Marvel as being a particular example of the company’s “zeal” to pump up its original content on streaming.

“Marvel is a great example of that. It had not been in the television business at any significant level, and not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of TV series,” said Iger. “Frankly, it diluted focus and attention.”

Disney acquired Marvel for more than $4 billion in 2009, and the franchise has since grossed billions of dollars at the global box office for the company.

Earlier this year, Iger had said the company needed to assess how many sequels each character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe should spur, and it was time to explore “newness” for the brand. He added there was “nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand” at an investor conference.

Earlier this year, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” debuted as the 31st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, kicking off the fifth…