Originally Posted by kane

In the case of many of the Marvel movies, they are owned by Disney who is not going to be taking risks on many unknowns to begin with. In other cases, having a big blockbuster like this can give them the money to buy other smaller movies that they have to take a risk on because they are flush with cash.

These days, with VOD, iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and even places like Youtube and Vimeo there are plenty of ways for smaller independent movies to find an audience. If Disney decided not to make another Marvel or Star Wars movie it doesn't mean they would then invest that money into a bunch of other movies.