2023 wasn’t a good year for the CBM genre, as both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe endured a tough year at the box office. From Brie Larson’s The Marvels to Ezra Miller’s The Flash, all underwhelmed financially.
For the first time in many years, the studios finally felt the burn of superhero fatigue, and no CBM movies made it to the top three highest-grossing films of the year. However, there wasn’t any such sign during the start of this decade. In fact, Matt Damon seemed frustrated with how Hollywood studios were rolling in the money through the genre by focusing on mass appeal.
Why Oppenheimer Star Matt Damon Slammed Superhero Films
Marvel Studios dominated the box office with their Avengers series, as all four installments comfortably crossed the $1 billion mark. Avengers: Endgame (2019) was the biggest hit of all, earning a staggering $2.7 billion globally.
Accordingly, this led to studios racing to make more and more superhero movies and in turn ignoring unique or niche stories.
During an interview with The Times in 2021, Matt Damon expressed his frustration at the trend and lamented Hollywood for making movies with “the least amount of cultural confusion.”
“So there is the rise of the superhero movie, right? They’re easy for everyone,” he added. “You know who the good person is, who the bad person is. They fight three times and the good person wins twice.”
That trend shifted significantly last year, with Damon’s Oppenheimer emerging as one such ‘unique’ blockbuster that never made it easy for its viewers to guess who was in the right and who was in the wrong, including Damon’s Leslie Groves, a lieutenant general in the United States Army and director of the Manhattan Project.
Matt Damon Once Turned Down a Key Role in a Spider-Man Movie
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) is another Marvel jewel, as it tried to set the foundation for the next stage of the MCU after the conclusion of the Avengers series.
The Tom Holland-led film, which made $1.1 billion at the global box office, also introduced fans of the CBM genre with Jake Gyllenhaal as Quentin Beck/Mysterio. However, before Gyllenhaal entered the franchise, the role was offered to Damon, who decided to turn it down.
Interestingly, The Talented Mr. Ripley star then went on to appear in Thor: Ragnarok as an actor portraying Loki in an Asgardian play.
