It is no secret that so-called “action figure tent-poles” – big-budget super-hero films that hold up a studio’s yearly schedule – have become Hollywood’s bread basket.
But rival studios Marvel and DC Comics are planning to stretch the spandex to breaking point in the next six years, with an astonishing 30 super-hero films scheduled for release.
Disney-owned Marvel and Warner Bros-owned DC Comics have spent the past two months announcing, and updating, incrementally longer release slates – arguably the longest game of chicken in cinema history.
Both studios have now announced slates that stretch to 2020.
Marvel’s slate is larger than rival DC Comics, as before its acquisition by Disney, Marvel had licensed some of its comic book characters to other studios, such as 20th Century Fox (Fantastic Four, X-Men) and Sony (Spiderman).
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