There’s nothing heroic about “The Marvels”‘s final box office performance. The superhero sequel is officially the lowest-grossing installment in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After four weeks on the big screen, the comic book movie is starting to lose ground, with revenues of $80 million in North America and $197 million worldwide. There would normally be optimism that attendance might rebound during the busy holiday season, but Disney doesn’t seem to expect that to be the case. “With the box office completion of The Marvels, we will stop reporting over the weekend on international and worldwide box office revenue for this title,” the studio wrote Sunday in a note to press.
The film has not left theaters yet, and the film, which has a budget of $220 million, is expected to be released during the New Year. However, this note indicates that no significant coin production is expected during the remainder of December. Over the weekend, “The Marvels” fell to 11th place at the box office, earning just $2.4 million in its fourth showing.
The Marvels opened on November 10 to $46 million domestically to mark the worst debut in the MCU, a rare flop for the franchise out of the gate. Things got bleaker. Ticket sales were down 78% on Cement’s sophomore trip last Shameful Record: The biggest drop in the second weekend of the series. Now, as the film nears the end of its theatrical run, its box office receipts will never surpass 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” ($264 million, not adjusted for inflation), which was previously the lowest-grossing film.
This degree of disappointment is unusual given that Marvel is the most commercially successful film series of all time, with $29.8 billion worldwide across 33 films. Furthermore, the MCU’s ardent fan base has turned to less well-received entries. In February, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Qunatumania” managed to gross $214 million domestically and $476 million worldwide despite the film being underwhelmed. Worse ratings From “Wonders”.
Directed by Nia DaCosta, the action-adventure film highlights a trio of spandex heroes – Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Villani as Ms. Marvel – tasked with saving the universe from forces seeking to destroy it. Reviews were mixed, but the bigger problem was that “The Marvels” ended up bearing the brunt of audience fatigue with this ever-expanding series that spans the big and small screen. This year alone, Marvel has released two more films and three Disney+ TV series.
“The Marvels” is also the first Marvel film to not exceed $100 million at the domestic box office. That means the sequel’s entire big-screen showing didn’t come close to matching the opening weekend of its predecessor, 2019’s “Captain Marvel” ($153 million). However, the original adventure with Larson’s Carol Danvers received extra momentum due to its key release date between two of the biggest films of all time, 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the film’s poor theatrical performance, noting that pandemic-related production restrictions ended up affecting the bottom line. “The Marvels movie was filmed during the coronavirus crisis,” Iger said recently. “There wasn’t a lot of supervision on set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] I really look forward to what is accomplished day after day after day.
He added that the studio’s previous chain of billion-dollar behemoths had beaten expectations about the potential of their films. “We’ve gotten to the point where we’re disappointed if a movie doesn’t make $1 billion at the global box office,” Iger said. “This is an incredibly high bar, and I think we have to be more realistic.”
Box office analysts don’t think superhero fatigue has struck audiences once and for all. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845 million) was a hit over the summer, and “Deadpool 3,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, is expected to be a hit in 2024. But “The Marvels” is the clearest indication that book fans Comics won’t. It’s a reliable showing in theaters just because the Marvel logo appears in front of the movie.
Disney still has several MCU films on the horizon, but it may have to retool the future of its Mightiest Heroes on Earth. The studio recently postponed “Captain America: A Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts” and “Blade” to 2025 due to production delays related to the strike. This leaves Deadpool 3 as the only Marvel movie on next year’s calendar. Hopefully the Merc with a Mouth can save the day – and the MCU.
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