Could be that Feige has authority if he and D’Esposito disagree about something or it could be that Feige does the PR. I’ve only see D’Esposito appear on (old) bonus features and red carpet premieres.
Co-president just feels like a made up title to placate someone when you’re calling the main guy the president still. Lol But yeah, I assume you’re right that Feige is probably just still the higher power. I just wanted to make fun of the guy for being the only co-president without a co-president.
I also think they need to stop listening to test audiences so much. IIRC, test audiences are why Quantumania ended with Ant-Man and Wasp being immediately rescued instead of trapped, and while that was only one issue of the film, I think Marvel would just be better served trusting themselves.
I feel like test audiences have been far wrong more than they’ve ever been right. It can definitely save a movie, but idk what they’re doing over there.
I can see why a director would be interested in a test audience. It helps to occasionally see what people on the outside think. A studio dictating changes based on tests audience however… Now I’m curious if Lucas ever held test screenings for his prequel films lol
Part of me feels like the writers and directors of these movies may to some extent be victims of the Marvel Studios model? (Similar to the visual effects artists, but like, to a significantly smaller degree of course.) Prospective directors being told they didn’t have to worry about the action. Sequences having pre vis done before a creative team or story is ready to plug those sequences into. Films starting to shoot without there being a finalized, written ending. And, of course the tight pipelines from principle photography to release date. I don’t want to overcompensate and completely wash the writers’ hands of the final films. But, I do think, to whatever extent Feige’s hands perhaps impact quality… It’s probably because the teams aren’t set up to thrive (if we call the average MCU film “thriving”) unless they’re working to realize that fanboy producer’s vision.
i don't immediately attribute the MCU's "failures" to a single person. if anything, i'd imagine Disney execs are just as much to blame. like, with Pixar having to de-queer their projects. how much of that kind of thing happens with Marvel and Star Wars that we just don't hear about?
Projecting from my own experiences with corporate America, there’s a rung of executives who are allowed to be insane and make crazy demands that make no sense and then everyone else is hyper-proficient and skilled at trying to minimize the damage of those odd, at-odds, dumb demands as much as possible. And the outcome is mediocre to good in spite of leadership and because of the uncredited extra labor of everyone else who cares and wants the thing to succeed.
Remember when Pixar famously read all the notes and the result was so bad they got told to throw it in the trash and start over and that's how we got Toy Story?