Studios Reportedly Assembling Franchise "Superfans" for Advice on Battling Toxic Fans

A new report sheds light on the state of modern-day fandom.

By Jenna Anderson

Thanks to the Internet, online fandom is continuing to evolve in some wildly unpredictable ways — and it looks like the industry is finding one unique way to combat the negativity. A new report from Variety dives into the recent influx of "toxic fandom", and how vitriolic comments have negatively impacted fandoms such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Part of the report reveals that certain studios have begun relying on "a specialized cluster of superfans to assess possible marketing materials for a major franchise project," in hopes of getting a baseline for how a title may or may not be received by the larger fandom. The exact studios or projects are not mentioned by name in the article, but the context surrounding the report does provide an inkling of how the problem is being combatted. It also reveals that some stars are being put through "a social media boot camp" prior to their projects being released.

"They're very vocal," says the studio exec. "They will just tell us, 'If you do that, fans are going to retaliate.' ...If it's early enough and the movie isn't finished yet, we can make those kinds of changes."

Will Star Wars: The Acolyte Return?

This report comes in the wake of the social media controversy surrounding Star Wars: The Acolyte, the franchise's latest live-action series that premiered on Disney+ earlier this year. The series was cancelled after only one season this past August, after the show and its diverse cast and crew were subjected to racist, sexist, and otherwise derogatory comments and review bombing on social media. Some involved with the series, including series star Amandla Stenberg, even addressed the backlash through their personal social media accounts.

"Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation -- it's terrifying," Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy shared with The New York Times while the series was airing. "I think [series creator] Leslye [Headland] has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of the women who step into Star Wars struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fan base being so male-dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal... My belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people. That's an easy decision for me."

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Will There Be a Captain Marvel 3?

Another franchise cited in the report are the MCU's Captain Marvel films, 2019's Captain Marvel and 2023's The Marvels. While both were met with their own sexist hate campaigns, The Marvels surprised many for underperforming at the box office in the fall of last year. This performance was blamed on a lot of elements, from the year's months-longg SAG-AFTRA actors' strike to missteps in the film's marketing, but Disney CEO Bob Iger suggested another alternative entirely.

"The Marvels was shot during COVID, and there wasn't enough supervision on set [from executives,]" Iger argued during the NYT DealBook Summit 2023.

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