Disney will release no more than three Marvel films and up to two Disney+ shows each year as it works to place more focus on quality output.

CEO Bob Iger made the announcement as Disney shares plunged 8% in trading Tuesday after Disney released its quarterly earnings.

Just one Marvel film will be released this year: ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, scheduled for a July 26 release.

The next Marvel film, a Captain America sequel, won’t be released until at least February, according to Disney’s latest earnings presentation. ‘Thunderbolts,’ a film focused on Captain America sidekick Bucky Barnes, is scheduled for May 2025.

Disney also has Marvel content in the works for Disney+, including projects related to Black Panther and Spider-Man — but no release dates yet.

‘I’ve been working hard with the studio to reduce output and focus more on quality,’ Iger said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday.

‘That’s particularly true with Marvel. … Some of what is coming up is a vestige of basically a desire in the past [to] increase volume. We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, to the maximum three, and we’re working hard on what that path is.’

Disney reported quarterly revenues of $22.1 billion, short of Wall Street expectations; Disney+ subscribership of 153.6 million also failed to hit analysts’ targets.

It was the company’s first earnings report following a tumultuous vote on whether to continue down a course led by Iger, who faced a challenge from outside investors critical of the company’s performance.

While Iger ultimately won the vote, Tuesday’s results could spark new fears that the company may take longer to reach its financial goals.

Iger also announced that the company intends to derive significant revenues from limits on Disney+ password-sharing. It has already begun limiting sharing on its Hulu platform, and it previously signaled account-sharing restrictions would start rolling out in June.

There’s a massive wealth transfer underway.

“It has started and it’s only going to accelerate,” said Liz Koehler, head of advisor engagement for BlackRock’s wealth advisory business.

Baby boomers are set to pass more than $68 trillion on to their children. And yet, some millennials and Generation Z may not be inheriting as much as they think.

Recent reports show a growing disconnect between how much the next generation expects to receive in the “great wealth transfer” and how much their aging parents plan on leaving them.

To that point, 68%, of millennials and Gen Zers have received or expect to receive an inheritance of nearly $320,000, on average, USA Today Blueprint found. Additionally, 52% of millennials think they’ll get even more — at least $350,000 — according to a separate survey by Alliant Credit Union.

However, 55% of baby boomers who plan to leave behind an inheritance said they will pass on less than $250,000, Alliant found.

Further, just one-third of white families and about one in every 10 Black families receive any inheritance at all, and more than half of those inheritances will amount to less than $50,000, according to a separate study by Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Part of the discrepancy is because “parents are just not communicating well with their adult children about financial topics,” said Isabel Barrow, director of financial planning at Edelman Financial Engines.

Tack on inflation, high healthcare costs and longer life expectancies, and boomers suddenly may be feeling less secure about their financial standing — and less generous when it comes to giving money away.

Overall, fewer Americans are feeling financially confident these days, a report by Edelman Financial Engines found, and just 14% would consider themselves wealthy.

Still, over the next decade this intergenerational transfer could make millennials “the richest generation in history,” according to the annual Wealth Report by global real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

These funds come at a time when millennials and Gen Zers are having a harder time making it on their own.

In addition to soaring food and housing costs, today’s young adults face other financial challenges their parents did not at that age. Not only are their wages lower than their parents’ earnings when they were in their 20s and 30s, after adjusting for inflation, but they are also carrying larger student loan balances, recent reports show.

With so much at stake, “there is so much missing that needs to be discussed with our adult children when it comes to what happens with our money,” Barrow said.

At the same time, views of inherited wealth are changing, according to BlackRock’s Koehler. Parents want to feel confident that the next generation is going to have the same value system around building wealth.

“Firms and advisors who are doing this well are finding ways to open up the conversation so it is clear and transparent and setting common family values and expectations around philanthropic endeavors,” she said.

The failure to create such a strategy is a major issue, the Edelman report found: 90% of parents intend to leave an inheritance to their children but 48% do not have a specific plan in place.

That makes it even more important to map out how that money will be handed down as well as exactly how much will change hands, Barrow said, in addition to discussing it as a family.

“It’s not only what are you getting but how you are getting it — all of this needs to be part of a big-picture financial plan,” she said.

The Biden administration has told the online banking group Chime it must pay $4.55 million for failing to issue refunds in a timely manner to customers who had closed their accounts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday that Chime must provide at least $1.3 million in compensation to consumers who were harmed and pay a $3.25 million penalty for continually failing to debit consumers in a timely manner after they had closed their accounts with outstanding balances — including thousands of instances when Chime waited at least 90 days.

“Chime’s customers had to wait weeks or months for access to their own money and were forced to use alternative funds to cover their essential expenses,” including running up credit card balances, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “Fast-growing financial firms must treat their customers fairly and understand that federal law is not a suggestion.”

In many cases, affected customers could not cover basic living expenses, the CFPB said.

It said Chime is responsible for processing account payments, though it acknowledged it does so by contracting with a third-party payment processor.

It said Chime is also responsible for nearly all consumer communications concerning accounts, as well as how they are serviced, including with its partner banks.

In a statement, Chime said the majority of the delayed refunds were caused by a ‘configuration error’ with a third-party vendor in 2020 and 2021.

It said its settlement agreement with the CFPB “reflects our belief that the timely handling of customer matters is critical, even amid the pandemic’s unique challenges.”

‘When Chime discovered the issue, we worked with our vendor to resolve the error and issued refunds to impacted consumers,’ it said.

‘We share the Bureau’s goal to create a more competitive and accessible financial landscape that is good for everyday consumers. We look forward to continuing in this mission and are pleased to have resolved this matter,’ it said.

For the first time since 2009, the box office doesn’t have a Marvel film to kick off the summer movie season — and it shows.

Since the 2008 release of “Iron Man,” Marvel Cinematic Universe films have consistently launched this highly lucrative moviegoing season, with only two films generating less than $100 million openings in that time (not including pandemic years).

This year, the headline film for the first summer weekend was Universal’s “The Fall Guy.” And despite strong marketing efforts and solid reviews, it failed to drum up ticket sales during its opening last weekend. The film tallied less than $28 million during its domestic debut. (Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.)

“‘The Fall Guy’ had quality co-stars in Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, but the lack of a known franchise brand and a niche storyline made it too narrow to attract a mass summer-like audience,” Eric Handler, managing director at Roth MKM, wrote in a note to investors Monday.

Ryan Gosling in ‘The Fall Guy.’Eric Laciste / Universal Pictures via AP

That stumble doesn’t bode well for the summer box office, which was already set to decline from last year’s $4.1 billion haul after dual Hollywood labor strikes halted production and clogged the pipeline of new film releases.

The result could send the 2024 summer box office down as much as $800 million compared to 2023, according to Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian, and have ripple effects for the whole year. After all, the key summer period, which runs from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, typically accounts for 40% of the total annual domestic box office.

A limited and unsteady stream of new films means moviegoers haven’t been exposed to film trailers and poster promotions at their local cinemas and may not be aware of what features are headed to the big screen. Additionally, this summer’s movie slate is not as strong as prior years, with fewer blockbusters and major franchise films.

There’s only one superhero film slated for the summer — “Deadpool and Wolverine,” the first R-rated Disney Marvel flick — and it doesn’t arrive until late July.

At present, analysts believe the summer movie season will exceed $3 billion in ticket sales, but just barely. Before Covid, the summer box office consistently topped more than $4 billion. The last time ticket sales were as low as $3 billion during this season was in 2000, according to data from Comscore.

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.’20th Century Studios / Marvel Studios via AP

“Even with the inevitable year-over-year revenue downturn, the summer of ’24 should be judged more by the quality and value of the moviegoing experience than the quantity of box office cash in the drawer,” said Dergarabedian.

So far this quarter, the box office is tracking down 48% year-over-year, Handler noted. While he expects the May slate to help strengthen ticket sales, the box office “will need to see some big splashes” to “reclaim some lost ground.”

“Right now, cinema operators are in need of a significant content infusion,” Handler wrote. “Not only is the volume of content down in 2Q, but it also lacks sizzle.”

For the rest of May, Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is currently tracking for a domestic opening weekend of between $55 million and $60 million. Paramount’s “IF” is looking at around $40 million. And Warner Bros.′ “Furiosa” is expected to hit between $40 million and $50 million.

However, those forecasts pale in comparison to major releases during the same month last year. Universal’s “Fast X” tallied $67 million during its opening, and Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” opened to $96 million.

Owen Teague, Freya Allan and Peter Macon in ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.’20th Century Studios via AP

It’s yet to be seen if this summer will have any breakout hits, like Angel’s “Sound of Freedom” last year, that could bolster the overall box office.

What the summer 2024 slate has going for it is more family-friendly fare. A slew of animated features from established franchises should draw out parents and kids during school vacation.

Currently, Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” is the second-highest grossing film domestically for 2024, with $188.4 million in ticket sales. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “Dune: Part Two” is the highest-grossing domestic release so far this year with $281.3 million.

And there’s some heavy-hitters coming during the last stretch of the year.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” arrives in early September, “Joker: Folie a Deux” hits in October alongside “Venom: The Last Dance,” and November sees “Gladiator II,” “Moana 2” and “Wicked.” Additionally, December will have “Kraven the Hunter,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3″ and “Mufasa: The Lion King.”

Notably, the first “Joker” tallied $335 million domestically in 2019, both “Venom” films generated $213 million apiece, 2016′s Moana took in $248.7 million and the two previous “Sonic” movies scored $146 million and $190 million during their runs in theaters.

“Ultimately the race is won at the multiplex and not on a spreadsheet,” said Dergarabedian.

The former president of the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas is set to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon on a federal criminal charge related to his failure to report millions of dollars in wagers by an illegal bookmaker at his casino.

Scott Sibella, the ex-MGM executive, pleaded guilty in January to one count of failure to file reports of suspicious transactions required to be made by casinos under the Bank Secrecy Act.

Sibella’s lawyers have asked that he be sentenced to probation, as have prosecutors.

Sibella admitted knowing that a patron of his casino, Wayne Nix, ran an illegal bookmaking business, according to the Department of Justice.

“Despite this knowledge, Sibella allowed Nix to gamble at MGM Grand and affiliated properties with illicit proceeds generated from the illegal gambling business without notifying the casino’s compliance department,” the DOJ said in a press release in January.

“Not only did Sibella allow Nix to gamble at the casino, he also authorized Nix to receive complimentary benefits at the casino, including meals, room, board and golf trips with senior executives and other high net-worth customers of the casinos to further encourage Nix to patronize the casino and/or other affiliated properties,” the DOJ added in the statement.

At the time of Sibella’s guilty plea, the DOJ also said it had resolved an investigation into alleged violations of money laundering laws and the Bank Secrecy Act at MGM Grand and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The casinos agreed to settlements that required them to pay a combined $7.45 million, as well as to enhance their anti-money laundering compliance program.

“In their respective [non-prosecution agreements] MGM Grand and the Cosmopolitan each accepted

responsibility for laundering Nix’s illicit funds and failing to properly file suspicious activity reports (SARs) on Nix, who conducted numerous transactions involving millions of dollars at the casinos between 2017 and 2020,” the DOJ said at that time.

The bundle is back.

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are planning to offer their streaming services — Disney+, Hulu and Max — in a bundle mirroring the traditional cable TV package, the companies said Wednesday.

The latest iteration of the bundle, which will be available this summer, will be offered on both the ad-supported and commercial-free tiers. Pricing has yet to be disclosed, but the option will be offered at a discount, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Disney will essentially act as the distributor in this case, collecting subscription fees from subscribers and paying out Warner Bros. Discovery a percentage, the person added.

This mash up of Max, Disney+ and Hulu will give streaming subscribers access to a wide breadth of content from the cable TV bundle. It’ll include broadcast networks ABC and Fox (Fox, which doesn’t have its own entertainment streaming subscription service, licenses it content on Hulu) as well as from cable networks including TNT, TBS, CNN, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Disney Channel and more.

The offering, reminiscent of the traditional cable TV bundle that has been upended in recent years and continues to bleed customers at a fast clip, is the latest partnership between the two media giants in recent months.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney’s ESPN, along with Fox Corp., have also joined forces to offer a sports streaming service, which is expected to launch this fall.

Earlier on Wednesday, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on an earnings call he thought the sports streaming venture would likely be bundled with other entertainment streaming services.

Disney has been offering its streaming services — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — as a bundle for sometime. ESPN+ will still coexist with the sports streaming venture, but is not included in the Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney bundle. Hulu content has also been recently integrated into the Disney+ platform, though they still require separate subscriptions.

Max costs $9.99 a month with ads, or $15.99 without. Disney+’s basic tier with ads costs $7.99 per month — or bundled with Hulu, $9.99 a month — while its premium plan is $13.99 per month, or $19.99 with Hulu. Meanwhile, Hulu on its own costs $7.99 with ads, or $17.99 ad-free.