Box Office Bomb: ‘The Marvels’ Opening to $47M-$52M in New Low for Marvel Studios

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The movie's performance fuels the theory that superhero fatigue is a real thing if a pic doesn't deliver on every front.

The Marvels is anything but marvelous so far at the box office.

Based on Friday earnings of $21.5 million, the Marvel Studios and Disney superhero tentpole is headed for a domestic opening of $47 million to $52 million to rank as the worst start in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Marvels marks a new low for Kevin Feige‘s Marvel Studios, which for years was unrivaled in its success, and bolsters the theory that superhero fatigue is a real thing as fanboys grow weary of a glut of titles and are far less forgiving.

Until now, rival DC was the superhero studio that endured the biggest ups and downs, with a good number of its films opening to $50 million or less (in comparison, many MCU releases started with $100 million or more domestically). This summer, DC’s The Flash debuted to a dismal $55 million domestically on its way to topping out at a paltry $270.6 million globally.

Word of mouth is already hurting The Marvels, which is only the third MCU title to receive a B CinemaScore from audiences after Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania. The vast majority of MCU releases have earned some variation of an A. Its Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 62 percent is likewise on the lower end.

The 33rd installment in the MCU is a sequel to the 2019 Brie Larson starrer Captain Marvel, which opened to $153.4 million in North America on its way to earning a massive $1.13 billion worldwide, not adjusted for inflation. That movie had a clear advantage in that it was teased in the post-credit scene of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, while its titular star was a player in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame (it was released between the two Marvel mega-blockbusters).

To date, 2008’s The Incredible Hulk holds the record for the lowest domestic opening of any MCU title at $55.4 million, not adjusted for inflation (Marvel, which wasn’t owned by Disney at the time, partnered with Universal for Hulk). The next lowest MCU opening belongs to Marvel/Disney’s Ant-Man, which started with $57.2 million domestically in 2015.

In the new movie, Larson is joined by Iman Vellani, the breakout star of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, as well as Teyonah Parris as the grown-up version of Captain Marvel character Monica Rambeau. The actor made her Marvel debut with WandaVision, which counted The Marvels screenwriter Megan McDonnell among its writers.

The Marvels is unique for a superhero film in that it stars three female leads. It was directed by Nia DaCosta, who is the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios movie, as well as the youngest director of an MCU film (DaCosta turns 34 on Nov. . Marvel has taken pride in fostering such indie directors as Ryan Coogler, Taika Waititi and Chloé Zhao.

The cast of The Marvels wasn’t able to do any promotion or publicity because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, although Larson and her co-stars sprung into action Thursday after the strike ended. Larson appeared on The Tonight Show on Friday, while she and her co-stars will surprise fans at various screenings of the movie in New York City.

Overseas, The Marvels is pacing to open to $60 million for a global start of $140 million, compared to nearly $190 million for Captain Marvel.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

due to alcoholicism.

We could have had a wine aunt superhero but instead they gave us a Mary Sue. Marvel's making all the mistakes.

 

[make_it_so]

Why are they so determined to make Iman Vellani a thing? She's a short dumpy and annoying teenager. Nobody would give her a second glance at the mall.

But, muh muslims! Muh immagrints! Muh overseas MidEast box office (which will either ban our films or censor them to hell and back)!

 

[Corpun]

How much longer will they be milking capeshit until they get the message? There is no way these projects aren't hemorrhaging money with production values at this point.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

We could have had a wine aunt superhero but instead they gave us a Mary Sue. Marvel's making all the mistakes.

oh no it gets worse.

Monica Rambeau was a very no-nonsense conservatively raised african-american woman from New Orleans that's been referred to as "Auntie Monica" in Nextwave and post-Nextwave comics (Nextwave was a parody-ish schizoid comic by Warren Ellis right before Civil War.) and Monica's kinda developed from being a nascent superhero to Avengers leader and is now kinda the nice but no-nonsense "auntie". (Yeah, idk if it's intentional, but it seems like it's a sorta maybe a stereotype that she became a conservative black woman that takes no nonsense?)

She was willing to be a worldkiller during the lead-up to the Secret Wars event and almost killed the Ultimate Universe Earth to save her own, only being foiled by The Maker because of a nanosecond's hesitation. Woman would have been a fun character if they portrayed her right in the MCU, but rip.

Christ, I'd probably say I'm closer to being a Monica fan than I am a Carol or T'Challa fan.

 

[Nigger Stripes]

wine aunt superhero

I think she prefers her drink a little stiffer

 

[frozen_runner]

This movie would have done better if Brie Larson had an ass, any ass.

 

[Pentex]

Hollywood has acquired the peculiar fetish of seeking out stories/IPs with built in audiences, pissing in those same audiences' faces, and then scratching their heads when the audiences don't show up for their annual/biannual re-up of urine.

If I had infinite Blackrock bucks, my business model would probably be strange too.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

He

Why are they so determined to make Iman Vellani a thing? She's a short dumpy and annoying teenager. Nobody would give her a second glance at the mall.

Her Pakistani cousins would....

 

[OrionBalls]

Is it weird that I legitimately like Kamala Khan, and the actress who plays her? I liked her show. It was small, and didn't mean a damn. She did well with what she was given. That's why I liked it.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

How much longer will they be milking capeshit until they get the message?

they are de facto taking the year off next year, so i think they got the message. outside of deadpool is maybe a few tv shows no one will watch. Between them and DCCU not releasing shit 2024 will have the smallest amount of superhero films in a super long time. Hilariously enough Sony has like 3 different spiderman spinoffs they're releasing that year. This is actually Disney's worst year in a long time in terms of ROI% of budget. They had one hit and it wasn't even that big, meanwhile multiple high budget flops. You have to go pre-eisner to find a worse year.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

The constant decline of this Franchise makes me glad I stopped back at Infinity War. I watched that, Thanos snapped, Thanos won, and I felt that was a fine conclusion for me. Never watched Endgame or anything past that, and feel like that was the right call. Didn't even have a good reason, just couldn't be bothered to go, and by the time I realized it I was like three films, a subscription fee and two television series behind the ball. Felt like too much work at that point, and if I wanted to put work into being entertained, I'd go and try and figure out where to find all the various Evangelion media for a rewatch.

I am curious what we will see as the 'next' cash cow style of cinema. There's exceedingly little that isn't cinematic universe bullshit at the Cinemas these days, and of the handful that are our there and being successes (Horror and mystery, mostly) none of them have anywhere close to the potential to scale to be a billion dollar franchise hit. I wonder how ragged the studios are gonna run themselves trying to catch lightning in a bottle the second time, and how they'll even manage to survive the attempt.

Yeah, the incessant NEED to have every movie be some part of a franchise for the last 10-15 years has ruined Hollywood. What happened to a movie just being.... Good? Sure you'd have a mega hit or two that would get a sequel or two and maybe you'd have a long running franchise like Bond, Godzilla, or similar to draw from.kr even reboot on occasion.

Now it's just about spraying out content as fast as possible

There's almost 40 Godzilla movies. admittedly over 70 years with multiple gaps in between

Because Toho puts that big Lizard to WORK

They have him turning tricks like crazy

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

Now it's just about spraying out content as fast as possible

Not even that, but every piece of content HAS to be written with enough hanging plot and character hooks, if not a straight up setup, for sequels and all this other crap. I've come to believe that one of the biggest things making a lotta these movies shit is that you finish watching the movie but the damned thing didn't actually conclude anything. Half the movie becomes setup to something that just doesn't get to be finished.

 

[The Connected Nose]

if I wanted to put work into being entertained, I'd go and try and figure out where to find all the various Evangelion media for a rewatch.

At least with Evangelion, you only need to watch one season and EoE. That's it. You've seen the whole story. Everything beyond that is just icing to dabble in if you like, but not essential to the overall plot. And if you don't like any of the icing, literally anything you can come up with is canon, according to the last episode.

The last two modern films going completely off the rails (even by Eva standards) is another matter entirely...

Hollywood has acquired the peculiar fetish of seeking out stories/IPs with built in audiences, pissing in those same audiences' faces, and then scratching their heads when the audiences don't show up for their annual/biannual re-up of urine.

That's because their goal isn't to make money (Black Rock supplies that fresh from the printer). Their goal is to ruin everything you once loved, and to do it as obviously as possible. It's nothing more complex than demoralization. The same reason they push faggots/troons/racemixing/etc. all over the media. It's not because they think anyone benefits from it, it's because they know you don't want it, but can't stop them.

 

[Would]

The Marvels is unique for a superhero film in that it stars three female leads. It was directed by Nia DaCosta, who is the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios movie

Lol niggers and birthing persons can't make a movie for shit in 2023.

 

[make_it_so]

How much longer will they be milking capeshit until they get the message? There is no way these projects aren't hemorrhaging money with production values at this point.

Inertia is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. Once Hollywood finds a formula that works once and makes them a shitton of cash, they will stick with it until it crashes face first into the dirt.

It's probably going to take a potentially studio-ruining Cleopatra or Kingdom of Heaven level bomb before they decide that capeshit isn't worth it anymore, and then desperately try to move on to something different and cheaper.

This movie would have done better if Brie Larson had an ass, any ass.

The problem with Brie's Captain Marvel isn't that her ass is flat, but that her character is.

Is it weird that I legitimately like Kamala Khan, and the actress who plays her? I liked her show. It was small, and didn't mean a damn. She did well with what she was given. That's why I liked it.

I think Kamala is unfortunately a casualty of the Current Year+ culture war bullshit. If you go back to the original Ms. Marvel comics in which she debuted, it was a really sweet little story of a first-generation American girl discovering that she has superpowers and trying to work with that as well as all the challenges that come with being a teenager and growing up. Her being a Muslim and the child of immigrants was only incidental to her identity and her story.

But then around 2015 or so everyone in the entertainment industry decided that Donald Trump and his voters were the most evil and malicious force in the world that had to be battled and stopped no matter what, and so the Ms. Marvel comics became yet another IDpol property to tell stories about the evils of those fucking white Republican chuds, just as every other "diverse" character in Marvel Comics fell into the same zeitgeist. That this was the case for over five years or more pretty much poisoned the well for her TV show, and in fact I think it's why the MCU's diverse Nu-Vengers aren't getting much of a warm reception either - audiences know what bullshit the comics starring these characters were doing for half a decade, and they're going in assuming that the TV shows and movies with those same characters are going to be the same thing and they don't bother.

 

[SmugAutist]

Yeah nothing to do with the fact that the movie is full of nobodies and Brie Larson is literally less like-able than Amber Heard (come at me Man-Hate thread goblins). She also has no ass and extremely mid breasts.

I don't know. Amber is a legit narcissist. Haven't seen much of Brie's stuff but from what I understand, she can actually act in some roles. Honestly, I think that the main problem is the direction of the movies. It's like they told her "be more detached" in every scene until she delivered everything like a plank of wood. This is not a purely Brie issue. Every Disney girlboss is told to be like this. I've become convinced that women are incapable of potraying stoicism.

As for the interviews and comments that got her into trouble, it seems like her PR team gave her some terrible advice. Notice that she hasn't really as much stupid shit (relatively speaking, all of Hollywood is retarded) since 2019 despite having ample chances to do so.

From looking at that infamous "does anybody still want me to do it?" clip, I think she has realized that being Carol is a net negative in her career and just wants to get it over with so she can go back to more artsy roles.

 

[Would]

make a movie about Michael LeRois, the Shadow Man.

No way. Black male voodoo man would be torn to shreds over racist stereotyping by twitter, regardless of how badass Michael is.

 

[make_it_so]

No way. Black male voodoo man would be torn to shreds over racist stereotyping by twitter, regardless of how badass Michael is.

If there's one lesson that studio and other execs should take from the last decade, it's that Twitter does not matter.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Is it weird that I legitimately like Kamala Khan, and the actress who plays her? I liked her show. It was small, and didn't mean a damn. She did well with what she was given. That's why I liked it.

Kamala's core of her character is being a dorky first generation immigrant who just wants to do the right thing, like all the superheroes she admires. It's a decent core, and plenty of her earlier tales at least tried to keep that consistency. Calling her powerset "embiggening" was a nice little charming bit. The meeting she had with Carol right as the world ended before Secret Wars was also at least a little nice, although I do remember hearing that Kamala's original hero she worshipped was Mr. Fantastic (makes sense with her powerset and nerdiness).

I don't know. Amber is a legit narcissist. Haven't seen much of Brie's stuff but from what I understand, she can actually act in some roles. Honestly, I think that the main problem is the direction of the movies. It's like they told her "be more detached" in every scene until she delivered everything like a plank of wood. This is not a purely Brie issue. Every Disney girlboss is told to be like this. I've become convinced that women are incapable of potraying stoicism.

As for the interviews and comments that got her into trouble, it seems like her PR team gave her some terrible advice. Notice that she hasn't really as much stupid shit (relatively speaking, all of Hollywood is retarded) since 2019 despite having ample chances to do so.

From looking at that infamous "does anybody still want me to do it?" clip, I think she has realized that being Carol is a net negative in her career and just wants to get it over with so she can go back to more artsy roles.

what's funny is that if they'd given the Carol role to a better actress, the character wouldn't be mocked all the time.

I think Kamala is unfortunately a casualty of the Current Year+ culture war bullshit. If you go back to the original Ms. Marvel comics in which she debuted, it was a really sweet little story of a first-generation American girl discovering that she has superpowers and trying to work with that as well as all the challenges that come with being a teenager and growing up. Her being a Muslim and the child of immigrants was only incidental to her identity and her story.

But then around 2015 or so everyone in the entertainment industry decided that Donald Trump and his voters were the most evil and malicious force in the world that had to be battled and stopped no matter what, and so the Ms. Marvel comics became yet another IDpol property to tell stories about the evils of those fucking white Republican chuds, just as every other "diverse" character in Marvel Comics fell into the same zeitgeist. That this was the case for over five years or more pretty much poisoned the well for her TV show, and in fact I think it's why the MCU's diverse Nu-Vengers aren't getting much of a warm reception either - audiences know what bullshit the comics starring these characters were doing for half a decade, and they're going in assuming that the TV shows and movies with those same characters are going to be the same thing and they don't bother.

Yeah, I do agree. I think Kamala's had a well of untapped potential. She still does. Her death this year was kinda abrupt, but the "memoriam" one-shot was at least nice and cheesy in that way, with the cheesy corny way of explaining islamic funeral/mourning traditions. That entire deal was really corny, but it was that kinda corny schlock that I'd missed and it acknowledged the character's core of being someone who just kept trying to do the right thing while growing up.

Spoiler: Here's some corny stuff from the end of the first Ms. Marvel run, the writer was a bit of a hack, but the art at least kinda works in that YA-novel ish way.

Yadda yadda, the world ends before Secret Wars, her mom admits she knows Kamala's the local superhero. It's a cutesy scene and they still implicitly acknowledge islamic culture's gender roles leading to the tension of Kamala not wanting to talk about her powers/heroics to her family, but still being a first gen immigrant without doing the sob story bullshit or egregiously leftist talking points (this was before Trump, so yeah people weren't completely batshit insane about politics).

I think that had the MSM not been so batshit crazy, Kamala would have organically become a solid B-lister without needing to get astroturfed.

Spoiler: Images and whatnot from the "Fallen Friend" issue.

Yes, you know what. They had Carol Danvers in a hijab.

or the weird imagery of Iron Man taking off his boots.

The entire issue was extremely corny. Kamala died while shifting into and taking Mary Jane Watson's place as bait for a cosmic villain and prevented an apocalypse of sorts. This hasn't really gone acknowledged by MJ at all, which speaks more to the writer/MJ being dipshits.

The entire thing was corny and the fucking issue ended on such a corny and sweet note.

And then, they ressurected her within what, a month or two after she died and slapped her on a solo book tied to the current X-Men books with the premise that she's also got a mutant gene that can't be activated due to her inhuman gene being active. None of this pathos is there. Her loved ones were brainwashed into forgetting the death. She was ressurected via technicality due to possessing a dormant X-Gene by the X-men's krakoan stuff. Yadda yadda. It was just kind of a bummer that they didn't let the other books at least go through like an "event cycle" to mourn her.

And yes, I did just type and find all this shit to sperg about a character I barely like. God, fuck the globohomo for ruining what could have been a sweet coming of age superheroine story for ESG points.

 

[make_it_so]

Honestly, I think that the main problem is the direction of the movies. It's like they told her "be more detached" in every scene until she delivered everything like a plank of wood. This is not a purely Brie issue. Every Disney girlboss is told to be like this. I've become convinced that women are incapable of potraying stoicism.

I don't think women are incapable of portraying stoicism, I just think that most modern writers, producers, and directors that get attached to these capeshit genre films simply don't know what the fuck stoicism looks like (see the painfully dull performances by all the lead actresses in the live action Star Wars Ahsoka series, for example).

And then, they ressurected her within what, a month or two after she died and slapped her on a solo book tied to the current X-Men books with the premise that she's also got a mutant gene that can't be activated due to her inhuman gene being active. None of this pathos is there. Her loved ones were brainwashed into forgetting the death. She was ressurected via technicality due to possessing a dormant X-Gene by the X-men's krakoan stuff. Yadda yadda. It was just kind of a bummer that they didn't let the other books at least go through like an "event cycle" to mourn her.

I know it's a running gag that no one in comics stays dead forever, but seriously? Just one or two months? In comic book terms that translates to one or two issues. I'm pretty sure it was at least a year after Marvel "killed" Tony Stark in Civil War 2 before they brought him back.