The Marvels has bombed with its Thursday box office bringing in the lowest preview night for an MCU movie and much lower than Captain Marvel in 2019 which soared with $$20.7 million.
Opening at 3pm on Thursday, Disney is reporting The Marvels brought in $6.6 million, which when adjusted for inflation, is the lowest Thursday preview for an MCU movie. Deadline is actually saying their sources are reporting lower at $6.5M.
The number trails the Thursday previews for 2015’s Ant-Man when inflation is factored in ($6.4M / $8.43 with inflation), as well as recent the MCU bombs of Black Widow ($13.2M), Shang-Chi ($8.8M), and The Eternals ($9.5M).
The Marvels is also expected to have a much lower opening weekend than not only first estimated but lower than the recent revisions. Three weeks ago the film was tracking for $80 million+ but earlier in the week projections dropped to $60 million.
Now the estimates are looking like $40 million+.
Update: Estimates are offering $47M-$55M. The Friday opening looks to be $21M-$22M which includes Thursday. The first Captain Marvel had a Friday opening of $61.7M.
That’s also the lowest MCU box office opening of all time: lower than The Incredible Hulk ($55.4M), and the aforementioned flicks: Ant-Man ($57.2M), The Eternals ($71.2M), Shang-Chi ($75M), Black Widow ($80M).
Reviews aren’t good
The reviews aren’t looking good as well, as The Marvels is currently a 61% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics, which is actually up a bit but I believe the top critics have slammed the movie hard and the top critics score is a lot lower. The critics have the first Captain Marvel a 79%.
The Audience Score isn’t too bad and comes in at 85%, though it should be said the Marvel zombie fans who eat anything Feige throws at them all go on Thursday so it will be interesting to see what happens there.
Where are the families, kids, and women?
Some other stats via Deadline:
For the Thursday previews, kids and parents only repped 9% of the audience.
Kids have off on Friday for Veteran’s Day, so they didn’t come out to see The Marvels on Thursday.
Where are the women?
While men are being blamed for not going to see The Marvels by social media shills, Deadline reports The Marvels skewed guys at 63%, with men over 25 the biggest turnout at 45%, and women over 25 at 24%.”
Blame the strikes? Superhero fatigue?
Deadline also provides some shilling of their own and blames the strikes for the actors not being able to promote the film and not appearing at the San Diego and New York Comic-Cons. Marvel could have still promoted the flick at SDCC if they wanted to, and Marvel movies don’t get promoted at the NYCC, though the costumes were there on the floor.
Superhero fatigue is now the excuse everyone seems to be using to explain why Marvel has been failing. However, it’s actually fatigue of garbage content to really blame. We all know that.
Social media is also lacking
“The Marvels [social media] is tracking mixed leaning toward discontent, while debating issues of superhero fatigue and comparing this title to Marvel titles over the last decade stating, ‘We all miss The Avengers,’” states Social media analytics firm RelishMix. “Added frustration comes from the need to watch several of the TV series to get up to speed on the movie.”
Yeah, we miss The Avengers, but again, we miss quality storytelling which Kevin Feige’s approach to Phase 4 and beyond is severely lacking. It’s obvious not having Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, James Gunn, and the Russos around has impacted things.
I do agree with it being frustrating to have to watch the TV series, again because they are simply so bad. Ms. Marvel is the least-watched MCU show on Disney+. The character has never been popular. None of this is coming off as a surprise.
Social media chatter also proves fans aren’t into the movie as: “The social media universe per RelishMix for The Marvels across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube views stands at 599M which is 14% under comps norms for superhero titles.”
The Marvels simply isn’t a good movie
Following the strike ending, the actors can now promote their various projects, including The Marvels.
The first thing Brie Larson does is post an image of herself looking miserable (see below). Any questions?
Regarding The Marvels, read my review here, but the flick is awful. It’s torn between a goofy script and an underlying story that shows promise but there is never any fulfillment. It’s also another MCU movie with a lackluster villain. The three main characters are all unlikeable. The studio also came off as super desperate with its last-minute promotion of various related Marvel properties, which is backfiring.
Do I want The Avengers back? Not attached to any of this.
