Wakanda Forever made 859 million at the worldwide box office, and in the post pandemic world that's a pretty solid number. Bear in mind that people in China don't go see American movies anymore because we have a shit head for a President. That's a big chunk of your global box office right there. And domestically, I totally get Americans wanting to wait for movies to hit streaming instead of going to theaters. You've got your big 70 inch screen TV, you've got your surround sound, you've got your own snacks and soda that you're not paying a small fortune at the counter for, you don't have kids running around and people talking, and you can hit the pause button when you have to go potty. I get it. I can't argue with it. But basically what that means is the days of movies making two billion at the box office are over. The one billion dollar movies are going to be very few and far between. I know people talk about "superhero fatigue" and I suppose there's some truth to that. but honestly it's not just limited to superheroes. It's really "going to the movies in general fatigue." Yep, every once in a while you're going to get a Barbie or a Minecraft that surprises pundits and does quite well. But those are the exceptions. My local theater is dead on Fridays and Saturdays now when it used to be packed. Seriously, when you can walk into your local mulitplex and see more employees than paying customers, you have a problem.
There's most likely going to be a Black Panther 3. Ryan Coogler, a director that Marvel likes quite a bit, has talked to Denzel Washington about a part, so he has a story in mind. It's going to have to wait until after Secret Wars, but we'll see it.
There was a plan for Shang Chi 2. It was going to be called "Shang Chi and the Wreckage of Time" and it was going to tie into the ten rings and the Multiverse saga. But then that real life thing reared it's ugly head again. The crap with Jonathan Majors happened and Kang got tossed out. So too, did the Wreckage of Time. I believe there'll be another Shang Chi but like with Black Panther, it's going to have to wait until after Secret Wars now.
I know that five and six years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but there's nothing anyone can do about writer's strikes, actors getting arrested, CEO's changing hands, pandemics, and other assorted real life stuff. I don't think a long wait between movies is a big deal. There was 27 years between Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, and that did okay. Just make a good movie and people will go see it. Or at least watch it on Disney + if nothing else.
I've said this before, but I think Secret Wars will result in a soft reboot for the MCU, like the Secret Wars mini series resulted in a soft reboot in the comics. You will see a major narrative reset with the Fantastic Four and the X-Men fully integrated into the MCU. That will provide a clean slate and a single, unified reality. Of course there will be a few characters who will remember the old timeline. Loki (The God of Stories) will be one. The Fantastic Four, because they came from a different world. Peter Parker, because he was already erased from the timeline by Doctor Strange. Wanda possibly. The Vision.
The advantages to a reset: It gets rid of the five year snap and erases that confusion. It gets a world that has the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and SHIELD all existing together along with untold story possibilities. And the best part? You can bring back what was lost along the way with a new cast. Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, T'Challa and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. In other words, Marvel Studios can have what they didn't have when they started the MCU: a complete Marvel Universe.
And if you hate that idea? You're going to have to tell Marvel. Because I'm pretty sure that's what they're going to do.
