When I saw footage of Marvel's Inhumans at Comic-Con, I said that it was baffling to me that they decided to debut it in IMAX theaters. Not only did it look terrible and like just another episode of a TV series, but the director they hired had no experience with major productions of ANY kind. So it was no surprise that early buzz on the debut was terrible, and that IMAX would come to regret their investment. Well, that's where we are now.
IMAX Ceo Rich Gelfond admitted to investors that the Marvel gamble did not pay off, and that the two-part premiere failed to meet anybody's expectations...
"Customers expected a production akin to a mega-budget blockbuster movie, rather than pilots for a television show. Moreover, the fact that this was Marvel IP set the bar at a level you wouldn’t see from other pieces of content or IP because of the reputation and the high production value of Marvel movies."
So how bad was it? Well, IMAX invested $11M and the episodes only earned $3.5M at the box office. Ouch. Suffice it to say, we won't be seeing many more deals of this kind, not even with Marvel...
"Going forward, we intend to take a more conservative approach consistent with the Game of Thrones approach to capital investments and content. We will be more conservative when considering whether to invest our own capital; and if so, to what extent."
Don't worry, Inhumans may not be around next season anyway.[io9]
