MARVEL LAYS OFF 15 EMPLOYEES

Layoffs are occurring Monday at Marvel Entertainment in New York and Marvel Studios in Burbank. Around 15 people will be affected, including junior level employees in production and development, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. No further layoffs are anticipated beyond Monday's.

The layoffs come as Marvel refocuses its slate after a content boom as it ramped up to produce numerous films and TV shows a year to feed Disney+. As part of the pullback, the studio just has one film opening this year, July's Deadpool & Wolverine, and it has already made steps to slow down its TV output. Disney CEO Bob Iger telegraphed in recent months that he expected Disney as a whole to lower its output and refocus on quality projects after several misses at the box office.

"We've reduced output, particularly at Marvel. When you fix or when you address these issues with - in movies, you do three things," Iger said during an earnings call in February. "You get aggressive at making sure the films you're making can be even better. Sometimes, you kill projects you don't believe in. And, of course, you put new things in the pipeline that you do believe in that you have much more confidence in, and we're doing all of that."

The layoffs were also partially due to efficiencies created when Disney folded the consumer products-focused Marvel Entertainment into Disney's larger business units. That move included parting ways last year with longtime chairman Ike Perlmutter.

2024-04-15T21:50:45Z dg43tfdfdgfd