Things would've been so much worse for the Marvel Cinematic Universe if this extended hiatus took place in 2018 0r 2019, Kevin Feige said. After more than a year without new content, Marvel Studios is officially kickstarting Phase 4 with WandaVision — the first of its slate of exclusive shows for Disney+. In light of this, the franchise mastermind is looking back at the difficulties they faced as the coronavirus forced Hollywood and the rest of the world to a virtual standstill.
Avengers: Endgame capped off the Infinity Saga with Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Far From Home acting as its epilogue, both films releasing in 2019. Those were the latest projects to come out of the MCU before the global pandemic forced them to delay the beginning of Phase 4, which was initially launched by Cate Shortland and Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow. Over the last several months since coronavirus wreaked havoc, Feige and his team, much like all the other studio people, had to scramble to reschedule their confirmed slate until going to the cinemas is safe again. Others opted to drop their projects through various streaming services to not lose any more money due to the unexpected delays. It has been undoubtedly challenging for the industry and, frankly, everyone, but Feige sees a silver lining to it — at least for Marvel Studios.
Speaking with the New York Times as part of doing the press rounds for WandaVision, the MCU architect candidly said that if this essential pause happened before Endgame's release, things would've been so much worse for them. He then added that because they're also officially launching their small screen pocket via Disney+, the roll-out dates for those were only pushed back for several weeks.
"If the run we had in 2018 and 2019 had gotten disrupted this way, in the buildup to ‘Endgame,’ it would have been a bigger headache. With these projects, it worked well."
Aside from shifting their announced Phase 4 slate, the coronavirus pandemic also delayed MCU's ongoing productions. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki were all doing principal photography when they had to suspend filming for precautionary measures. It wasn't until months after that they restarted. Things were particularly difficult for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as it involved an overseas shoot in Prague. Meanwhile, Destin Cretton and Simu Liu were supposed to start work on Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in Australia when the coronavirus pandemic started to wreak havoc around the globe, also forcing them to stop. Eventually, they picked up back and finished the film without any positive test for both cast and crew, which is impressive. Currently, Marvel Studios has a string of projects in production, such as Spider-Man 3 and Hawkeye. Meanwhile, Thor: Love & Thunder is set to begin filming soon.
Overall, Feige is correct. While nothing ab0ut the coronavirus pandemic is good, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is lucky that it came at an easier time for them. Marvel Studios was already planning on a more extended break between Far From Home and Black Widow to create a clear separation between the Infinity Saga and what comes after it. Given this, there's no lingering plot that's urgently waiting to be s0lved, like in the case between Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel. Aside from the monetary issues that are delaying such a massive blockbuster as Endgame, there's also the risk of spoiling the film, which they were cautious to avoid.
Source: New York Times
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