If you notice new construction walls outside the Avengers Headquarters building in Disney California Adventure's Avengers Campus today, don't get too excited for a new ride in that spot.
The parking lot behind the building long has been tipped as an expansion site for Disney's planned third permanent attraction in its Marvel-themed land. But the appearance of construction walls there does not indicate that work has started on that ride.
As much as I would love to be able to announce the impending addition of a new ride in Avengers Campus, I instead must report that Disneyland is working on another retail location at the Avengers Headquarters site.
Avengers Campus already has a couple of indoor retail locations, with WEB Suppliers across from the Spider-Man ride and The Collector's Warehouse at the exit of the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. But fan demand for Marvel-themed merchandise easily could support another location that sells gear themed to the many other super heroes in Marvel's line-up.
Disney has committed to a new attraction in the land, at some point, and I have heard nothing from Disney insiders to make me believe that won't happen. But the timeline for an Avengers Campus is not yet settled, so we might have to wait until this fall's Destination D23 or next year's D23 Expo for more details on what will be happening next in the land.
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Say what you will about the most recent film trilogy, but Star Wars TV has turned out some of the most exciting and also vintage-feeling Star Wars since the OT. ANDOR was absolutely peak television. Full stop. The prison arc alone was one of the best Star Wars stories ever told. Now, how all of that content translates to Galaxies Edge is beyond me. I’m just saying that the IP is far from spent IMHO.
The idea that comic ip is falling out of favor is silly. Though the most recent theatrical offerings from DC and Marvel were poorly received, both WB and especially Marvel have a long list of successes in live action and animated superhero adaptations that are evergreen in their appeal to theme park goers. Just last year Marvel put out three successful flicks along with a couple of excellent D+ specials, so the death announcement of the MCU is a smidge premature. And as the recent expansion of Universal's Wizarding World has shown, box office floppage won't stop theme park operators from exploiting the most profitable studio owned or leased franchises.
"The idea that comic ip is falling out of favor is silly."
Well that's rude. Especially given how many people have expressed that same idea:
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2022/12/13/23506826/superhero-movies-hollywood-losing-popularity-cracks-emerging
https://www.screenrant.com/2022-year-superhero-movies-lost-box-office-dominance/
https://www.cbr.com/superhero-movies-interest-dropping-poll-mcu-dceu/
https://www.cbr.com/ways-the-mcu-slowing-down/
https://www.sportskeeda.com/comics/the-end-era-is-marvel-cinematic-universe-dying
https://www.mensxp.com/entertainment/hollywood/129792-thor-love-thunder-ant-man-3-flop-reasons-why-marvel-is-dying-slowly.html
Get some manners. You can disagree with people without insulting them.
1) I criticized the idea, I didn't insult the poster, and 2) No offense, but I don't think you are the right poster to dole out advice on online etiquette.
Anyhoo, there are indeed a lot of clickbaity articles about the demise of superhero movies in general and the MCU in particular, using the popularity of the films and TV shows to drive traffic to articles about the ip's diminishing popularity. Superhero films remain huge draws in an era of declining movie theater attendance, and will likely an remain excellent basis for (quality) theme park attractions for the foreseeable future.
If the ride or attraction is fantastic then people will come and show up regardless. I've seen Star Wars movies, the main 9, and I'm not a fan. At all. But I enjoy the Galaxy Edge rides and Star Tours because of the ride itself. My dad could care less about Harry Potter and the Wizarding World but to him the "Castle" ride and "Motorcycle" ride are worth getting up for. My wife will wait 2 hours for flight of passage. Hasn't seen or cares to see Avatar. Lets us not even begin the Splash Mountain talk and the decades long run it had and fandom that ensued.
You get my point. Give us a winner of a theme park attraction. All else is extra.
Another store? As if we need more stores at the area. Heck, most of the Marvel merchandise ends up in the Cast Member only store, Company D, anyway. In other words, many are not buying it.
@AgustinMacias - What's funny is this store that they're building is supposedly going to be the exit retail for the upcoming e-ticket. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.
In regards to your point about Marvel merchandise, I'd be curious to see the sales numbers, which of course Disney would never make publicly available. The last time we were in Orlando last fall we did go over to the outlet store and were surprised to see quite a bit of Galaxy's Edge exclusive merchandise, along with some Marvel stuff too. However, I think it's just a general situation where Disney often takes a shotgun approach to merchandise knowing that not everything is going to be a hit. I would be interested to know how many people are buying the WEB Slingers for the DCA attraction.
Folks have been writing "the death of the comic book movie" for about a decade now and then another one is a big hit. As for Star Wars, I loved Galaxy's Edge when I finally visited a few weeks back, fantastic experience and didn't feel "dated" at all and Disney still plenty left with new projects to keep it going.
"However, I think it's just a general situation where Disney often takes a shotgun approach to merchandise knowing that not everything is going to be a hit."
I agree with this. The Disney approach to merchandise is ... chaotic. As a big Star Wars fan, Spider-Man fan and fan of their respective attractions, I don't think I've ever found a piece of merch that I've wanted to bring home.
On merchandise, it depends if it's park-exclusive or something I can find at a Target store or Amazon. (most of those figure packs for example).
On my recent Disneyland visit, got a "100 Years of Wonder" shirt for myself while my nephew's big gift was a "claw machine" toy at Toy Story Mania that was fun. Yet it's not like when I'd binge on park-exclusive merch as easier to find it cheaper elsewhere.
@Zarex "I criticized the idea, I didn't insult the poster, and no offense, but I don't think you are the right poster to dole out advice on online etiquette."
I'm not insulting people (or their ideas) like you. If I say your ideas are "silly" or "stupid," that's an insult, and if you're not person enough to own it, hey, that's on you too.
Indeed, Andor is a masterpiece. When Disney and Lucasfilm can get out of their own way they can produce some fantastic SW-universe content. Great to see, and most of the Mandalorian work that Favreau and Filoni have produced has been solid as well. Will be interesting to see how well Imagineering is able to translate those stories to a theme park environment (aside from the meet & greets).
Despite what the toxic fanbase of the world would like to think (and the clickbait sites that reel the haters in), Star Wars and Marvel are still multi-billion dollar franchises. The MCU is taking its lumps right now as Feige and company prep their latest heroes moving forward as the Avergers cast step away from the franchise. I’m not sure they know who those heroes will be, but it could very well be designed from the start that they know who will be next.
Star Wars has definitely decided to stay away from the theaters for the time being, but for fans of the franchise, we have Mandalorian’s continuing saga, Andor season 2, Ashoka, coming down the pipe, and I’m sure there is more planned.
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It will be interesting to see if they go through with another Marvel ride at all, given the way comic book IP is rapidly falling out of favor.
I think most of us were pretty surprised at how quickly Disney annihilated Star Wars' goodwill, to the point where many formerly die-hard fans, myself included, could now care less about new properties. In fact, the new trilogy ended so poorly it undermined the quality of RotR, an otherwise beyond fantastic ride. Who cares about Kylo Ren, or that angry red-haired guy (or even poor forgotten Finn, for that matter)? The ride is based on spoiled IP, and is certain to age very poorly as a result. Baatu has even less attraction, a nowhere land for a nowhere franchise. Disney swept its own leg and largely killed interest in the IP undergirding an entire land.
And Avengers Campus--to the extent it exists at all, and isn't just an outdoor mall that heatstroke causes everyone to believe is in Disneyland--stands ready to suffer the same fate. The MCU, like Lucasfilm, is just turning out tired mediocrity after tired mediocrity. If they build a new ride, who will it feature? The old Avengers people actually liked? Or will Disney follow the Galaxy Edge model and feature whatever lame new superheroes are being pushed today? (Hint: it will be the latter.)
I need a quinjet ride (read: star tours knockoff) or shooter (Buzz lightyear/midway mania/Spiderman) featuring the Moon Knight, Riri and the new, powerless Captain America like I need, well, another Marvel movie. Maybe Disney will just cut its losses on the lame new land and sell it to Outlet Malls USA, they could slot a men's warehouse in there without changing a thing.