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.

 

[Caligura]

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.

Nothing to do with it bringing big crungo girlboss energy. Based on this, I'm sure the writing is on-par with She-Hulk.

I'm not into capeshit but I think Captain Marvel is basically superman -- almost no weaknesses and can do p'much anything. Boring. Who cares.

To be fair, Superman is supposed to be more than just his powers if a writer doesn't really know how to fit him into a story because he's 'too strong'. At the very east he's supposed to be the moral paragon, the 'standard' for what a superhero ought to be and the leader or key figure in whatever super-powered community exists. His status as a symbol is as strong as his strength in a sense and it was all rightfully earned.

Captain Marvel doesn't really have any of that, they're just a powerful meathead if you look past the snarky corporate girlboss personality. Logically, they should've been propping her up as the new 'leading woman' of the MCU because of her power, but that honor originally went to Black Panther and then the actor of that died so, shiiiiiieeeeeeet.

 

[SBG]

View attachment 5487567
The costume on the right is more true to the source material, but put her next to no-ass sourpuss Brie Larson and it just looks boring. Monika Rambo is the most interesting part visually which is sad... Though they should have straightened the hair so they could have that joke in the movie.

There's also (according to a puff piece I read) "the beautiful" Zawe Ashton:
View attachment 5487604

Plus a korean twink for the k-pop schlickers
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Not only that, there is also a cat!
View attachment 5487586

Who is this movie very specifically made for and will they spend a billion bucks to see it? No. If they wanted to squeeze money out of that market they should just have made a movie where Thor and Loki wrestle naked.

The cat and Korean guy seem fine as they're likely side characters or whatever. But it's weird how Disney has done nothing to really advertise this movie to tell audiences what the fuck the deal is with these characters.


I can watch this trailer and have zero idea what the hell this movie is about. It makes me honestly respect the first Thor movie a bit, since it was mostly just Thor cast down to Earth, then fucking around in small town. It was a simple plot, but easily understood.

So I wonder how much it'd help if they just scaled down these movies. Just sticking to smaller settings rather than trying to make everything intergalactic now.

 

[make_it_so]

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I'm only half kidding. Sooner or later Hollywood will find out that they can cash in on the anime craze by doing actual big budget non bullshit live action movies. But probably rather later than sooner.

Netflix is already doing this, and I shudder to think what will happen when Hollywood proper gets in on the action.

As much as might love to see a live action Black Lagoon shootout or a live action Gundam blowing apart Zakus, you know there's no way they're going to do the actual story or material justice.

I yearn for the return of the Yostverse with Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Wolverine & The X-Men.

It's kind of wild how the animated interpretations of these characters always seem to be the most well executed. Like how outside of the Nolan Batman trilogy, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's DCAU was the best portrayal of the DC superheroes and mythos in the last 20 years.

 

[tehpope]

As much as might love to see a live action Black Lagoon shootout or a live action Gundam blowing apart Zakus, you know there's no way they're going to do the actual story or material justice.

There was a live action Gundam for its 20th anniversary. It was ass. Shot in Canada. Everyone likes to forget it happened.

 

[Positron]

 

[Cpl. Long Dong Silver]

View attachment 5489340

Fuck you Bob

 

[12345]

I hear they stole the plot of my movie? Time to change the luggage combo I guess.

 

[HOMO FOR LIFE RETURNS]

Three totally unlikable female heroines all gathered in one. Who the fuck are these kikes.

Meanwhile Loki had one of the best finale of 2023.

What the fuck is going on in Marvel Studios....

 

[anustart76]

What the fuck happened? Were they afraid she would upstage Brie Larson or did the actress just put on a ton of weight in a desperate attempt to escape from being cast in this dumpster fire?

What's sad is that by most accounts, that actress is a pretty nice kid. She's supposedly even a fan of the comics. Even the people I watch that love to shit on Marvel are taking pity on her.

It's kind of wild how the animated interpretations of these characters always seem to be the most well executed. Like how outside of the Nolan Batman trilogy, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's DCAU was the best portrayal of the DC superheroes and mythos in the last 20 years.

No, not outside of Nolan Batman, including Nolan Batman. The DCAU is the best Batman, and hugely influential on everything that came after. The entire character of Harley Quinn, and Mr. Freeze's most iconic origin story both came from it. The closest thing after it is the Arkham games, the first two of which were written by Paul Dini.
The Nolan movies were good movies, but not great as Batman movies, especially toward the end.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

To be fair, Superman is supposed to be more than just his powers if a writer doesn't really know how to fit him into a story because he's 'too strong'. At the very east he's supposed to be the moral paragon, the 'standard' for what a superhero ought to be and the leader or key figure in whatever super-powered community exists. His status as a symbol is as strong as his strength in a sense and it was all rightfully earned.

Captain Marvel doesn't really have any of that, they're just a powerful meathead if you look past the snarky corporate girlboss personality. Logically, they should've been propping her up as the new 'leading woman' of the MCU because of her power, but that honor originally went to Black Panther and then the actor of that died so, shiiiiiieeeeeeet.

Superman has at least the Kryptonite to keep his powers in check...and since then, even the hackiest of writers knows that to prevent a boring, invincible hero, you have to have the powers be able to be nullified, countered, limited, or otherwise done in such a way that every fight isn't a guaranteed win.

What weaknesses does Captain Marvel have that would instantly shut her down in a fight?

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Superman has at least the Kryptonite to keep his powers in check...and since then, even the hackiest of writers knows that to prevent a boring, invincible hero, you have to have the powers be able to be nullified, countered, limited, or otherwise done in such a way that every fight isn't a guaranteed win.

What weaknesses does Captain Marvel have that would instantly shut her down in a fight?

And Supes's weaknesses have multiplied. Magic, Red Sun radiation, or just having roughly equivalent strength villains like other Kryptonians and other aliens. Captain Marvel? No one thought about that, which I consider to be more of a bad comic book writer issue than a woke issue.

 

[Positron]

that actress is a pretty nice kid.

That actress is 21. Even when she made that film she was hardly a kid.

 

[lindor]

My boyfriend and I have an unlimited cinema ticket. Yesterday mid afternoon on a Sunday we were the *only* people in the whole screen for this movie- not a small screen either. It was cringy nonsense (I didn't like loki either honestly, all the mcu shit is awful) but it was good to be able to chat shit loudly over the top of it. RIP to their numbers.

 

[Foltest]

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…. What the fuck?
I read it twice and I don’t fucking understand what they wrote.

 

[sheepworldvizor]

My boyfriend and I have an unlimited cinema ticket. Yesterday mid afternoon on a Sunday we were the *only* people in the whole screen for this movie- not a small screen either. It was cringy nonsense (I didn't like loki either honestly, all the mcu shit is awful) but it was good to be able to chat shit loudly over the top of it. RIP to their numbers.

What a surprise. Turns out that cutting cinema release windows to zero and streaming all your movies for two years during coof really turns people off the big screen. Wow. No way etc

Disney share price Nov 2019 144, now 88

Warner (aww sheet let’s just owe 47bil for merging with Discovery lol) 30, now 10

Keep going guys, I’m sure another sequel will be the fix.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

…. What the fuck?
I read it twice and I don’t fucking understand what they wrote.

Still trying to grok what the hell a "glass closet" is. Sounds like a woman who's into the dicks of the Chaddiest of Chads but wants to be a cultural lesbian or something weird like that, and at any rate doesn't want to be like all the other girls. Yeah, I know google is only a tab away, but sometimes I like trying to come up with my own definition of these weird neologisms this sort vomit out. The fact that over time my guesses have become more accurate may or may not be a good thing.

Also, pretty sure ol' Brie would just love being told she looks like a 60 year old, too. That's a compliment?

My boyfriend and I have an unlimited cinema ticket. Yesterday mid afternoon on a Sunday we were the *only* people in the whole screen for this movie-

How bad was the musical number? Sounds like they wanted to go full Bollywood but pussied out.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

I'm only half kidding. Sooner or later Hollywood will find out that they can cash in on the anime craze by doing actual big budget non bullshit live action movies. But probably rather later than sooner.

They've tried already and have failed multiple times. I'm also not sucking Japan's dick either. They don't treat their legacy franchises any better. Don't forget how they rushed the end of Naruto and forced Kishimoto to change everything so they could shit out Boruto.

 

[lindor]

How bad was the musical number? Sounds like they wanted to go full Bollywood but pussied out.

It felt like it was from a different film. It not long after they left a bunch of alien kids to die on a different planet. Second hand embarrassing to watch. All the people in the scene then presumably die. They do a bit with a song from cats as well which was similarly cringy and a weird tone shift. It's all over the place.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

They've tried already and have failed multiple times.

Wasn't that all low budget crap? Edge of Tomorrow (based on a japanese light novel) was good and Battle Angel Alita was good-ish. And now there is a One Piece Live actions series which is also kinda good, there will also be a Season 2. There is potential.

 

[Overly Serious]

Carol works better in a group than solo, imo. And yes, her powers can dwarf a lot of other heroes' powers but the reason she benefits from a group is because she can be very unlikeable. That's actually part of her comics identity. BUT, she is also very competent and very driven. In some ways she's an anti-Captain America as he is all about the inspiring, freedom and believe in yourself. And she is more of a kick your arse and move it type leader. Which does have its place. But it takes a good writer and co-stars to make that work. Otherwise you just have a solo movie about someone with some sharp personal edges.

If I were writing a Captain Marvel movie, I would have half of the runtime be her saddled with a bad bunch of not-quite heroes who she moulds into a real team and in the second half they come together and work together like she taught them and maybe save her in doing so.

I don't want to overstate her personality issues. She's someone you could get on with and is undoubtedly a good guy, but she's very alpha and a little disciplinarian. If you saw Cap or Nick Fury handing a class of new recruits over to Carol to train, you ought to be able to see the groans on the recruits' faces as they anticipate a timed 8 mile run with pack. You need to lean into her personality a little. The Captain Marvel movie tried to have its cake and eat it by having her be a bit like that but still be a audience-warming friend. You can do it, but like I say, works better in an ensemble where you can sympathise with her personality because you aren't the sole receiving end of it - her team mates are and the writers can show how they benefit from it.

The game Marvel's Midnight Suns wrote her very well. Greatly underrated game.