The eventual box office performance of “The Marvels” lacks any heroic qualities. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s officially lowest-grossing film to date is the superhero follow-up.
With $80 million in North America and $197 million worldwide, the comic book tentpole is losing steam after four weeks on the big screen. Normally, there would be hope that attendance could increase over the hectic holiday season, but it doesn’t seem like Disney anticipates that happening. “With ‘The Marvels’ box office now winding down, we will stop weekend reporting of international and global grosses on this title,” the studio announced in a note to the press on Sunday.
The $220 million+ budgeted tentpole won’t be leaving cinemas anytime soon; it’s scheduled to run through New Year’s. This document does, however, indicate that “The Marvels” is not anticipated to produce any noteworthy revenue for the remainder of December. With barely $2.4 million in its fourth release, the film fell to 11th place on the box office charts during the weekend.
“The Marvels” made the lowest MCU launch yet when it debuted on November 10 with a $46 million domestic opening weekend. This was the franchise’s infrequent early misstep. Things only become more dismal. In its second performance, ticket sales plummeted by 78%, setting yet another shameful record: the largest second-weekend decline in the series. The film’s box office earnings won’t reach the record set by 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk,” which was the lowest-grossing release ($264 million, not adjusted for inflation).
With $29.8 billion in revenue across 33 films, Marvel is the most commercially successful film series ever, so this level of disappointment is remarkable. Furthermore, the ardent MCU audience has attended less well-received entries. Even though “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Qunatumania” had lower reviews than “The Marvels,” the movie nevertheless made $214 million domestically and $476 million worldwide this February.
The action-adventure film, which Nia DaCosta helms, centers on three Spandexed heroines who must save the universe from forces that want to destroy it: Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel. Although there were mixed reviews, the main issue is that “The Marvels” ended up taking the brunt of the audience’s disillusionment with this constantly growing franchise that is available on both large and small screens. Marvel has already released three Disney+ TV shows and two more movies this year.
Additionally, “The Marvels” is the first Marvel movie to fall short of earning $100 million at the US box office. This indicates that the whole theatrical run of the follow-up fell well short of “Captain Marvel’s” ($153 million debut) opening weekend in 2019. The first adventure starring Larson as Carol Danvers, however, gained additional impetus due to its prime release date sandwiched between two of the greatest films ever made, “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame” (2019). “Captain Marvel” ended its global run with $1.13 billion.
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In response to the film’s underwhelming box office performance, Disney CEO Bob Iger hypothesized that pandemic-related production limitations had a negative impact on the film’s final quality. “The Marvels” was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Iger revealed. “There wasn’t as much oversight on the set, so to speak, where we have executives who really keep an eye on everything that’s done on a daily basis.”
He continued by saying that its previous run of billion-dollar blockbusters had skewed expectations regarding the potential of the studio’s films. “We were disappointed if a movie didn’t make $1 billion at the box office worldwide,” Iger stated. “That’s an incredibly high bar, and we need to start being more reasonable.”
Box office observers do not think that the general public has become permanently jaded by superhero fatigue. The summer blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845 million) and the upcoming 2024 blockbuster “Deadpool 3,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, are both predicted to be successes. The strongest evidence, however, is that comic book enthusiasts would no longer consistently visit theaters simply because a movie features the Marvel logo in front of it: “The Marvels.”
Disney still has a few MCU films in the works, but it could need to reimagine what lies ahead for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Due to production delays brought on by the strikes, the studio recently announced the postponement of “Thunderbolts,” “Blade,” and “Captain America: A Brave New World” until 2025. That means that the only Marvel film scheduled for release in 2019 is “Deadpool 3.” Hopefully, the Merc with a Mouth can save the MCU and the day.