After the blockbuster success of Avengers: Endgame, the Russo brothers offered to make a fifth film in the series. Marvel said noā¦
Hereās an interesting behind-the-scenes story from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Itās no secret that the studioās flagship Avengers series is undergoing something of a creative retooling for all sorts of reasons, not least because more Marvel projects have missed than landed of late, and also because Jonathan Majors ā once the star of the next Avengers ā is now off the project because his public reputation is in tatters.
One aspect of the projectās metamorphosis that is still in a state of flux is the projectās director. All the way back in 2022 we heard that Destin Daniel Cretton, the helmer of Marvel Studiosā Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings would be directing the film, but when the creative reset threw Marvelās project timeline way out of whack, Cretton departed late last year, potentially because he was required to focus on a Shang-Chi sequel.
Either way, the hunt for another director hasnāt been straightforward. Weāve heard several stories in the past year suggesting that Marvel has been turned down by filmmakers including Shawn Levy, the director of the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine. Levy has apparently been offered the gig again and is mulling it over this time. But one directorial duo who Marvel has reportedly decided not to reunite with is the Russo brothers.
Read more: Marvel has a problem ā and his name is Kang
According to Jeff Sneider (via World of Reel), who regularly drops nuggets of news that are sometimes true, sometimes not, the Russos offered Marvel their services for the next Avengers movie, the one that was called The Kang Dynasty but now isnāt. Despite helming the last two Avengers films (Infinity War and Endgame) and despite those films being incredibly, incredibly successful, Sneider claims that Marvel Studios declined their offer.
The Russos reuniting with Marvel sounds like an obvious win for all involved, the duoās profligacy in the years since Endgame may have ruled them out. Marvel films donāt earn like they used to, and the Russos have spent a lot of money on projects that havenāt always justified their astronomical price tags. There was the reported $200m cost of the Netflix action movie, The Gray Man, not to mention their Citadel show being some of the most expensive television ever made. Plus, their latest Netflix project, The Electric State is said to have ballooned to around $370m.
Those are whopping numbers, and while there may be justifiable reasons for them, Marvel is currently dealing with its own costing issues, such as the reported $100m reshoots for Captain America: Brave New World. In that context, bringing in directors who are used to spending lots of money may not be seen as a viable option, even if they have handed Marvel hit after hit in the past.
More on all this as we get it.