Brie Larson stars as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, in Marvel Studios’ ‘The Marvels’.
Disney
“The Marvels” didn’t go higher, further or faster during its opening weekend in theaters.
The newest newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has raked in an estimated $47 million domestically in its debut weekend, the lowest in the history of the 30-plus film franchise.
Initial projections called for the film to do between $75 million and $80 million domestically, but those numbers dropped to a range between $60 million and $65 million before Friday’s opening.
Internationally, “The Marvels” collected $63.3 million in ticket sales, bringing its worldwide gross to $110.3 million.
Lowest-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe openings
- “The Marvels” (2023) — $47 million
- “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) — $55.4 million
- “Ant-Man” (2015) — $57.2 million
- “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011) – $65.1 million
- “Thor” (2011) — $65.7 million
- “The Eternals” (2021) — $71.3 million
Source: Comscore
“Despite the lowest domestic debut for the MCU, ‘The Marvels’ has once again proven the importance of the international market to the Marvel brand,” said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “The film will now rely on Thanksgiving movies to bring the big-budget superhero movie closer to profitability and help determine the film’s ultimate success at the box office.”
While critics were lukewarm about ‘The Marvels’, giving the film a 62% score on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences were more receptive with a score of 85%. Still, Disney had an uphill battle to attract moviegoers to theaters for its 33rd MCU film, which the company probably understood. CEO Bob Iger already said this year that the studio would scale back its Marvel offerings.
After the ‘Endgame’
Following 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which wrapped up storylines and arcs for fan-favorite characters like Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Marvel Studios’ theatrical and streaming content is hitting the mark at audience . It has also struggled to market its new projects to the public, as it tries to hit nostalgic notes but also push its stories forward.
“Marvel has simply set a very high standard for itself,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “When a new movie or series comes out, they have more pressure to stand on their own and move the universe forward at the same time.”
Not to mention that the studio flooded Disney+ with series in an effort to bolster its platform, leaving some fans feeling like they had to wade through hours of stories to understand what was happening in the movies.
“Extending the MCU brand beyond the Goldilocks zone of balanced exposure without feeling like it’s homework for mainstream audiences has created a challenge for the franchise to correct for,” Robbins said.
That may be why “The Marvels” had the second-lowest opening day for an MCU film, taking in just $21.5 million on Friday. This figure includes $6.6 million from Thursday night previews. The only film to have lower first-day ticket sales in domestic theaters was 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk,” the second-ever MCU film after “Iron Man” became a surprise hit earlier that year.
Robbins was quick to emphasize that this box office stumble doesn’t mean audiences are ready to give up on the MCU. After all, the franchise has generated nearly $30 billion since 2008.
“In fact, this disappointing box office performance comes at the same time that Loki’s second season is, ironically, being hailed as one of the few Disney+ Marvel series to resonate positively with a large portion of the fanbase,” he said.
Sure, a $47 million opening isn’t bad for any film, but compared to the lofty heights Marvel has reached over the past decade, it’s seen as a disappointment. It could also act as a catalyst for studio leadership to rethink future release plans.
Iger has already said he is looking at the company’s overall theatrical and streaming strategy to limit the amount of content it creates.
“When the pandemic hit, we were trending towards a huge increase in how much we were making,” Iger said during Disney’s earnings call last week. “And I’ve always felt that quantity can be a negative when it comes to quality, and I think that’s exactly what happened. We’ve lost some focus.”
Additionally, Marvel Studios is facing an uphill battle with actor Jonathan Majors, who has chosen to take on the role of Kang, the next big villain in the MCU. Majors has been embroiled in legal troubles following allegations of assault and abuse.
“If there’s one IP that has the depth and ability to do that, it’s Marvel led by Kevin Feige and his teams,” Robbins said. “This is certainly a crossroads from a creative and business perspective. Perhaps the relative slowdown of Marvel content next year will provide a healthy and necessary cushion for the studio, for Disney and for audiences.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes.