Disney CEO says company is pulling back on Marvel and Star Wars content

Disney's CEO has announced the company is pulling back on making Marvel and Star Wars content.

The move comes as the company looks at how to cut costs following some box office loses.

“You pull back not just to focus, but also as part of our cost containment initiative. Spending less on what we make, and making less,” CEO Bob Iger told CNBC this week.

Disney bought Marvel in 2009 for about $4 billion, and then acquired Star Wars in 2012 for another $4 billion. The company has since recouped their investment, as the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has led to a multi-billion dollar film franchise.

However, not all the franchise's movies and TV shows have hit their benchmarks. Earlier this year, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania saw a sharp decline in ticket sales and mixed reviews.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did much better, grossing more than $800 million globally.

Iger said pumping out the content has diluted the company's focus.

“Marvel is a great example of that. It had not been in the television business at any significant level, and not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of TV series,” said Iger. “Frankly, it diluted focus and attention.”

In March, Iger said the company needed to assess how many sequels each character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe should get.

“Sequels typically worked well for us,” he said during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. “Do you need a third and a fourth for instance? Or is it time to turn to other characters?”

“There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand,” he continued. “I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we’re mining, and you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole different set of Avengers.”

On the Star Wars front, the company has been focused on TV series over the past few years, releasing Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus. Lucasfilm's latest movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny had softer ticket sales than expected.

Iger told CNBC he wouldn't rule out licensing Disney content to other streaming services.

“It’s a possibility. I won’t rule it out,” he said.