Well, it played out exactly as I said it would, and following discount Tuesday, it’s back to reality as New Avengers – Thunderbolts – whatever you want to call it – suffers a massive drop on Wednesday at the box office.
The good news? It’s still better than Captain America: Brave New World, The Marvels, and Eternals. Of course, that’s not saying much.
Breaking: Director Jake Schreier is said to be Kevin Feige’s top choice to direct X-Men.
What is the Wednesday box office?
The spoiler rebrand to New Avengers doesn’t seem to be making any difference whatsoever.
Following Tuesday, the box office dropped a massive 42.1% drop to $4.3M on Wednesday.
It’s exactly as I said, no one went to see Thunderbolts Monday, so of course, no matter the number on Tuesday, you are going to see a large percentage increase; however, what matters is the actual numbers. They’re not good.
Also as I said, MCU fans waited until Tuesday to get the deep discount on tickets. That shows really no interest and hype for Thunderbolts. It’s also likely why Kevin Feige was quick to rebrand on Monday, in a move that made no sense.
Update: Thursday box office is the fourth-worst in the MCU. So is its second Friday.
Update #2: The second weekend also underperformed.
What are the box office numbers?
Domestically, Thunderbolts has just hit $91M on Wednesday. It will be the slowest to $100M along with The Marvels and Eternals (Cap 4 hit it in four days).
Assuming it plays out similar to Cap 4, Thunderbolts is looking like it will finish around $400M and change if it’s lucky. I’m expecting a similar drop in weekend two to Eternals and Cap 4, so somewhere around 60%, maybe higher, which would mean a $29M-$30M weekend two.
Similar to all the aforementioned, Thunderbolts also has a massive budget, where it’s looking likely it won’t break even. The budget is close to $300 million, maybe more, when all is said and done. Disney only gets half the revenue of domestic ticket sales and less than that from the foreign gross. Do the math. Disney also confirmed Captain America: Brave New World is a big bust, along with Snow White.
Thunderbolts / New Avengers Grosses:
- Domestic (51.4%):$91,090,997
- International (48.6%): $86,236,966
- Worldwide: $177,327,963
Weekend:
- May 2-4: $74,300,608
Daily:
- May 2 Friday (includes Thursday previews): $31,813,091
- May 3 Saturday: $24,683,098 -22.4%
- May 4 Sunday: $17,804,419 -27.9%
- May 5 Monday: $5,008,275 -71.9%
- May 6 Tuesday: $7,463,926 +49%
- May 7 Wednesday: $4,318,188 -42.1%
What went wrong?
Not the New Avengers
The Thunderbolts aren’t the New Avengers. If anything, they’re more similar to the Dark Avengers from the comics. It further proves how out of touch Kevin Feige is with his MCU audience and the comics.
Hey, don’t blame me, I went to see Thunderbolts on opening Thursday preview day. I also overall liked the film. However, something like 65% of MCU fans who went to see Deadpool & Wolverine haven’t bothered showing up for the “New Avengers.”
Nobody interested in the M-She-U
Why? I blame Feige’s continued failure on the M-She-U. Nobody cares about Florence Pugh as Yelena, just like nobody cares about Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel, Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk, Hailee Steinfeld as Hawkeye, and Emilia Clarke as G’iah (who?). The female audience these films are targeted at just haven’t been showing up. More fanboys show up than fangirls. That’s a fact.
What happened to the superheroes?
Yelena, just like Black Widow, also has no superpowers, and I’ll say Yelena – and the Thunderbolts movie – has zero sex appeal. Superheroes are supposed to be over-the-top, have superpowers, and, yes, be sexy (Disney just confirmed Marvel Rivals is huge!). The actors, all while appearing to promote Thunderbolts and even while attending the premiere, showed more sex appeal than the dull and grey characters in the movie (Florence even teased her keister!).
Thunderbolts really should have centered on Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier and the marketing should have focused on him, not Pugh and Yelena. There also should have been more from The Sentry. We all know why that didn’t happen, don’t we?
Up next is Fantastic Four, which looks to be more of the same. How’s that been working out? #RIPMCU continues…
