Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito have addressed the halting of various productions due to the ongoing strikes in Hollywood.
The Hollywood Reporter obtained an email Feige and D’Esposito sent to the Marvel Studios staff on Thursday, July 13. “We recognize how much you’ve all done on your specific projects and it’s disappointing when carefully laid plans have to shift, but constant change is the nature of the production business, and our teams are no stranger to unexpected challenges and rising to meet them,” they wrote. “We deeply appreciate all your efforts to make the best of the situation, and we can all hope that a new agreement will be finalized soon so we can resume the great work we have in process.”
Which Marvel Studios projects have paused production?
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) officially went on strike on Friday, July 14 after contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down. Due to the strike, Marvel Studios’ upcoming film Deadpool 3 has temporarily shuttered production. A number of other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects had already been forced to pause or delay production due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which began in early May. These include the feature films Blade and Thunderbolts, as well as the Disney+ series Wonder Man and Daredevil: Born Again.
The SAG-AFTRA strike has also halted filming on Sony’s non-MCU Marvel film Venom 3. Film and television productions outside the Marvel sphere entirely have been affected as well. These include Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, Gladiator 2, and The Sandman Season 2.
SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are both seeking better streaming residuals and safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence in their negotiations with the AMPTP. These labor disputes mark the first time the WGA has been on strike since 2008 — and the first time SAG-AFTRA (then simply known as SAG) has been on strike since 1980. This is also first time Hollywood’s actors and writers have been on strike at the same time since 1960.
