‘Hunger Games’ Opening Should Teach a Valuable Lesson to Disney After ‘The Marvels’ Disaster

One of the more peculiar, but ultimately enduring, adages in history involves the concept of “less is more” or “addition by subtraction.”

Sure, on its surface, it doesn’t seem to make a ton of sense, but in practice, it’s rather obvious why this oxymoron has lasted as long as it has.

Leaner operations tend to yield more productive (or, at least, cost-effective) results, and a shining example of that can actually be found with… 🏰Disney?

Yes, believe it or not, you don’t even have to look back that far to see examples of the House of Mouse stretching its dollar, particularly with its incredibly lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He may be a bona fide movie star these days, but people forget that in 2008, prior to the MCU’s inaugural “Iron Man” film, Robert Downey Jr. was damaged goods as an actor due to a litany of personal issues, and the titular superhero Iron Man was firmly entrenched as a B-tier Marvel property.

And yet, with an actor whose reputation was effectively in the gutter and a superhero that was not quite “Spider-man” or the “X-Men,” Marvel turned those humble beginnings into a genuine cinematic empire.

Marvel would continue to churn out these big hits with lesser-known actors and heroes (Did anyone care about “Thor” or “The Guardians of the Galaxy” before the MCU? Did anyone even know who Chris Hemsworth or Chris Pratt were, apart from the latter being the chubby comic relief of “Parks and Rec”?) and it appeared they had stumbled on a genuinely winning formula.

Well, fast forward all these years (and innumerable Marvel projects) later, and it seems Marvel needs to learn this lesson of doing more with less anew — and it could learn that lesson from a direct rival.

It’s beating a dead horse