Disney+ Oversaturation Backfires as Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar Face Brand Damage: "People Don't Care Now"

When Disney+ first launched, it felt like a dream for fans. It gave us The Mandalorian, WandaVision, and long-awaited character spotlights that wouldn’t have made it to the big screen for these franchises.

But five years later, the dream is showing cracks. A new report breaks down how Disney’s biggest franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar have been worn down by an overstuffed content pipeline, and now the fallout is real.

Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, didn’t sugarcoat things recently:

"It was just too much. It was a big company push. And it doesn’t take too much to push us to go. There was a mandate that we were put in the middle of."

That mandate pushed Marvel into overdrive, delivering shows like Moon Knight and She-Hulk, while also expanding the MCU with supporting characters like Loki and the Scarlet Witch. It was exciting at first, but the novelty wore off fast.

According to The Wrap, the studio's declining momentum has led to a significant subscriber loss. 700,000 Disney+ users in Q1 of 2025 alone. One anonymous producer with Marvel experience said:

"Given the quality of the Marvel Disney+ output has been incredibly mediocre, it’s dragged the entire brand down and diluted its creative. People don’t care now."

That sense of burnout isn’t exclusive to Marvel. Star Wars has also suffered from its own content overload. A marketing executive shared:

"When you went to a Star Wars movie, it used to be special. But there’s a difference between let’s have a movie every four years versus let’s have three shows on the air all the time and have a movie every year."

Lucasfilm seems to be adjusting. Besides a second season of Ahsoka, Star Wars has pulled back on streaming series. Films like The Mandalorian and Grogu are heading to theaters, aiming to recapture the magic.

But perhaps the harshest reality check came from Dave Gonzales, co-author of MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. He explained:

"I do think that it has eroded the branding. All of the sub-brands have been eroded. They were finally getting to do what they wanted to do – put everything in development.

“Marvel remade how they made franchise movies but they thought they could do the same thing with television – you can’t. They think they’re more nimble than they actually are."

Shows like WandaVision may have broken ground, but they also cost hundreds of millions to produce, without bringing in the same return as box office blockbusters.

Then there’s Pixar. Of all the major Disney brands, it’s been hit hardest. The move to release films like Soul and Turning Red straight to streaming weakened the prestige Pixar once carried.

Meanwhile, other arms like Walt Disney Animation and Walt Disney Studios have largely escaped the fallout, in part because they weren’t pushed as aggressively on Disney+.

Now, Disney is playing catch-up. There’s a strategic shift happening. Marvel is easing back, with just one or two Disney+ shows planned per year moving forward. These series will mostly be stand-alone stories, disconnected from the broader film narratives. Titles like Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps haven’t lit the box office on fire, but they’ve been well-received critically, which is a possible sign of recovery.

Only time will tell if that’s enough. For now, it’s clear that Disney’s ambitious streaming plans over the past few years may have hurt the very franchises that made it a powerhouse in the first place.