As soon as ‘Inhumans’ transitioned from being a Marvel Studios feature film to a Marvel Television series on ABC, it appeared to be doomed from the start. Even with the unprecedented collaboration with IMAX, the lack of interest only grew among True Believers when the first photos and trailers began to emerge from the from the Hawaiian set due to subpar costumes and special effects. And the lackluster assessment was confirmed when the first two episodes were released theatrically and they were met with lukewarm to negative reviews from critics and moviegoers alike. So what exactly went wrong? While the House of Ideas has largely remained silent, IMAX is finally speaking out.
According to Deadline, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond blamed the disappointing $3.5 million box office on a “misalignment of customer expectations”. When Marvel fans go to the movie theater to see a Marvel movie, they’re looking for a blockbuster-level cinematic experience. But as the exec pointed out on a recent conference call, that was just not something that could be reached with this show:
“Customers expected a production akin to a mega-budget blockbuster movie, rather than pilots for a television show. Moreover, the fact that this was Marvel IP set the bar at a level you wouldn’t see from other pieces of content or IP because of the reputation and the high production value of Marvel movies.”
With this experiment being the first of it’s kind, where does that leave IMAX when it comes to working on more projects like this? The old saying goes to go big or go home, but the company isn’t ready to pack it up just yet. Instead, they’re just going to be more cautious before doing it again and look to their previously successful theatrical events as an inspiration going forward:
“Going forward, we intend to take a more conservative approach consistent with the ‘Game of Thrones’ approach to capital investments and content. We will be more conservative when considering whether to invest our own capital; and if so, to what extent.”
As another old saying goes, you live and you learn. IMAX clearly learned a very important lesson thanks to ‘Inhumans’. And even though it likely won’t get discussed publicly, let’s hope that the lesson that Jeph Loeb and Marvel TV learned from all of this is that they should never bring Scott Buck back to work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again after what he did to Danny Rand and the Inhuman Royal Family. But what else should both sides take away from this experience? Sound off in the comments.
’Inhumans’ starring Anson Mount, Serinda Swan, Ken Leung, Eme Ikwuakor, Isabelle Cornish, Ellen Woglom, Mike Moh, Sonya Balmores, and Iwan Rheon airs on Fridays at 8:00pm EST on ABC.
