www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2023/11/07/marvel-studios-woes-are-overstated/?sh=6443659e11df
Forbes response to the recent article in Variety. Marvel Studios Woes Are Overstated
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You know Forbes contributor articles are basically unedited blogs, right?
Yep. Lol “Forbes response” lol. Anyone can write a Forbes article. It is basically Medium.
A more accurate title for this post would be “Mark Hughes responds to recent Variety article on Marvel.” But then, of course, most people would react with “who the fuck is Mark Hughes and why should I care?” Which is perhaps the appropriate response, but not the one OP wanted.
Making this seem like it is an official statement from Forbes in response to Variety is so cringe 😬
No, not just "anyone" can write a Forbes article like it's a blank open space for randos to rant & make false claims, you're confusing Forbes with Reddit. Forbes pays freelancers to write, and they pay higher than any other outlet on a per-article basis (I make about five bonuses per month, on top of percentage of ad revenue and base pay). Since apparently it needs to be said every so often (b/c a lot of trolls who resent me for my opinions like to spread silly nonsense): I was hired by a VP editor at Forbes, my readership is in the millions, and I get invited regularly to the Oscars and Marvel premieres and DCEU sets during filming etc etc etc precisely because while some fanboys who don't understand freelance journalism might not know my name, luckily for me the people who actually *make the movies you watch* DO know my name. But that said, you're correct that this is an article expressing MY views, not Forbes' official views. But it's an article and a view that's *correct,* and that's why folks who resent Marvel or resent me tend to whine & trash-talk about anything else *except* addressing my actual points in the article. Access journalists at other outlets frequently run quotes and claims from their sources whom they owe favors and plant PR for them, or just act as stenographers who reprint whatever execs and publicists say to them, while relying consistently on clickbait & hyperbolic claims that frequently don't come to fruition. Yet certain fans flock to it and repeat it, and then forget the next time another clickbait headline arrives. And the same fans who feed that process will complain if anyone points out it's a bunch of b.s.
Since you have just blocked me on Twitter without any explanation, I would like to reengage you here. I'm not sure what you have found so offensive - or maybe you just don't like to engage in meaningful debate but I'll try again because I do think that your arguments are seriously flawed.
- You include the box office of the outlier, i.e. Spiderman - NWH. When you create a statistical average on a small sample size, you have to clean the data first, i.e. remove the outliers, otherwise you create a seriously distorted outcome. In this case NWH is an obvious outlier as it had more than twice the box office as the second biggest Marvel hit in the Multiverse Saga, Doctor Strange 2.
- You fail to include the inflation rate. US movie ticket prices have risen more than 20% since 2020, which should be factored into your analysis. This means that for instance even the relatively succesful GoTG3 was seriously underperforming compared to the two previous entries in the franchise.
- When you write about Marvel series, you only focus on their critical reception while their actual viewership rating has been steadily declining. Ms. Marvel and Secret Invasion, for instance, had abysmal numbers but every other Marvel show is also underperforming compared to the initial successes such as Loki and Vandavision.
In sum, if we focused on the actual numbers (both in terms of revenue and viewership), we had a complete different picture that you had depicted in your article. Overall, your article seems like a projection of your faith in Marvel Studios as opposed to the Variety article, which was based on actual insider information.