THE MARVELS Ends Up With the Lowest Marvel Movie Box Office Opening
As expected, The Marvels did not end up performing very well at the box office on its opening weekend. With superhero movie fatigue in full swing, this was very much expected. I even enjoyed aspects of the movie, but I also knew people still weren’t going to go see it.
The Marvels ended up earning only $47 million at the box office, and that’s with the movie playing in 4,030 theaters! It is now the lowest Marvel movie box office opening, surpassing The Incredible Hulk, which used to be the lowest with its $55.4 million opening. Just to compare, the first Captain Marvel movie made $153 million!
These are definitely concerning numbers for Marvel Studios and Disney. It’s pretty wild that Marvel Studios used to guarantee great films and big box office numbers. In recent years the quality of Marvel movies has dropped and so have the box office returns.
I’ve been saying from the early days of Marvel Studios that if they continued to pump out great stories and quality films fans would continue to support them, well… we now see what that has led to, and audiences are starting to speak with their wallets. It’s not cheap to go to the movies these days and the ridiculous inflation we’ve seen in recent years isn’t helping. It’s a time when people are being picky about what moves the watch in theaters.
I even have several hardcore Marvel fan friends who have told me they are skipping out on The Marvels and waiting for it to come out on Disney+ because they won’t have to wait long for that. They also feel this is a movie they don’t need to spend money on seeing in theaters, which I completely understand!
The reviews for the movie have been lukewarm, and it received a B grade on Cinema Score, which I think is on target. It’s not really a disastrous reception from critics and fans, but obviously, it’s not a movie that audiences are flocking to see.
Marvel Studios even made a big marketing push right before the film was released telling audiences and fans to “be there for the moment that changes everything,” hoping to perk some interest. That moment doesn’t come until the mid-credits scene and teasing it in the marketing obviously didn’t help because audiences are seeing the writing on the wall.
Marvel thinks they know what fans want to see, but they are obviously missing the mark. I have no doubt we are going to see some big changes with how Marvel Studios moves forward after The Marvels bombed at the box office.
What are your thoughts!?