Layoffs are occurring Monday at Marvel Entertainment in New York and Marvel Studios in Burbank. Around 15 people will be affected, including junior level employees in production and development, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. No further layoffs are anticipated beyond Monday’s.
The layoffs come as Marvel refocuses its slate after a content boom as it ramped up to produce numerous films and TV shows a year to feed Disney+. As part of the pullback, the studio just has one film opening this year, July’s Deadpool & Wolverine, and is expected to have just two-live action TV shows this year. Disney CEO Bob Iger telegraphed in recent months that he expected Disney as a whole to lower its output and refocus on quality projects after several misses at the box office.
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“We’ve reduced output, particularly at Marvel. When you fix or when you address these issues with — in movies, you do three things,” Iger said during an earnings call in February. “You get aggressive at making sure the films you’re making can be even better. Sometimes, you kill projects you don’t believe in. And, of course, you put new things in the pipeline that you do believe in that you have much more confidence in, and we’re doing all of that.”
The moves come after the busiest time in Marvel’s history, an era that saw diminishing returns on some of its projects. In 2021 it released four films and five TV shows, while in 2022, it put out three films and three TV shows, plus a few specials. The pullback was already felt in 2023, with three films and three TV shows.
The layoffs were also partially due to efficiencies created when Disney folded the consumer products-focused Marvel Entertainment into Disney’s larger business units. That move included parting ways last year with longtime chairman Ike Perlmutter.
