If CinemaCon has taught us one thing, it’s that Disney is currently presiding over one of the most enviable collections of IP in entertainment history. And at the forefront of that lucrative dominion are Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The latter is on the verge of cinematic history thanks to the release of Avengers: Infinity War, while Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently spoke to The Star Wars Show (h/t ComicBook.com) about the imminent crossover and how the MCU draws inspiration from Lucasfilm’s crown jewel.
Feige began by outlining his own childhood obsession with that galaxy far, far away, and recalled the hours spent poring over Star Wars role-playing games.
I read it from cover to cover and it was a wealth of new information. And one of the great things about Star Wars and one things that I think is great about the Marvel characters from the comics and what we try to emulate in the movies is if you’re the kind of person that wants to go see it on opening weekend, our job is to make sure you have a great time.
If you want to see it a second time, our job is to make sure there’s more there. Third, fourth, fifth time, still more there. And even the deeper you go, there’ll be things to reward you. And I learned that directly from Star Wars and from those West End Sourcebooks.
Meanwhile, at Lucasfilm HQ Kathleen Kennedy and Co. have bent and molded their new Star Wars franchise into shape – its latest expansion, Resistance, is due to air via Disney Channel this fall – and Feige went on to discuss how Marvel calls upon a similar strategy when handling Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and their superpowered allies.
We have the core group of filmmakers of the executive producer teams. Again, we’ve been together for almost ten years. And it’s a little internal group that for various reasons we call Parliament. At the least of which is we often yell at each other across tables. And keeping track of that is not as complicated I think for us as it is for Star Wars. We’ve got ten years, Star Wars has got like 40 plus years. But it really comes out of each individual film and what’s best for each individual story that we’re telling but it is the core group of filmmakers that work on all these movies that keep track of all that.
Expect the MCU to reach dizzying new heights when Avengers: Infinity War hits North America at midnight. Hell, there’s even been talk of Marvel’s crossover eclipsing $500 million worldwide by Sunday. Five. Hundred. Million.