Summary

Gwyneth Paltrow believes there’s a limit to original, quality superhero stories in the over-saturated genre.
Huge blockbusters have struggled at the box office, needing ridiculous sums to profit in an age where streaming is preferred.
Low-budget films prosper while Marvel and other big movies rely on costly CGI, facing financial challenges.

Gwyneth Paltrow was one of those present when the MCU took its first steps with Iron Man back in 2008, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t willing to make a point about how not all big budget movies are good ones. While the Pepper Potts actress had roles in all three Iron Man movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming and several Avengers movies, all of which rank as some of the highest of the Marvel Studios franchise, she recently shared her opinion on the originality of superhero movies.

Iron Man 3 Release Date April 18, 2013 Runtime 130 Studio Walt Disney Pictures Tagline Unleash the power behind the armor.

Paltrow appeared on First We Feast’s Hot Ones, and was asked by host Sean Evans about the recent speech made by director Cord Jefferson on his Oscar win for the screenplay of American Fiction. During his acceptance speech, Jefferson seemed to take aim at studios such as Marvel Studios who are willing to throw huge sums of money at movies in order to supposedly be successful. “Instead of making one $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies,” he said.

Responding to this on Hot Ones, Paltrow admitted that there are only so many good, original stories to tell in the superhero genre. She said:

“I absolutely understand where he’s coming from. You want the best chance to have a strong ROI. People put a lot of money into these things, and they want them to be profitable. But if I look at the industry as a whole, this big push into superhero movies … you can only make so many good ones that feel truly original, and yet they’re still always trying to reach as many people as possible, which sometimes hinders quality or specificity or real point of view.”

Huge Blockbusters Are Failing at the Box Office
Marvel Studios

From The Marvels, to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and even Ridley Scott’s great epic, Napoleon, all of them and more have struggled when it comes to the overbearing weight of their budgets and the ridiculously high gross they have to earn to make a profit. While several years ago, before a boom in streaming platforms and a worldwide pandemic that brought cinemas to their knees, blockbuster movies were almost guaranteed to surpass $1 billion during their theatrical run.

However, since 2020 only six movies have crossed the $1 billion mark, including last year’s Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. For comparison, in 2019 alone, nine movies achieved this feat. While there have been plenty of comments made about the quantity of many franchise movies taking precedent over their quality, a recent survey that suggested two-thirds of Americans would rather watch a movie via a streaming platform in their own homes than venture out too cinemas seems to highlight the biggest challenge for the theatrical experience.

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In stark contrast to the failures of mega-budget movies, the last few years have seen a spike in popular and massively profitable low-budget films. This has included many horror movies, such as the Terrifier franchise and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. However, while these films have been made on the basis of working within their means to achieve their goal, Marvel movies and other blockbusters rely on the ever-increasing cost involved in making impressive CGI worlds and characters come alive on screen. Unfortunately for them, they have seemingly dug that hole so deep, they can never get out of it.