Kevin Feige’s M-She-U could be in for another blow as the Thunderbolts box office is still tracking horribly, now said to be on par with Marvel’s bomb of Eternals.
It’s also said again that Thunderbolts‘ box office is tracking lower than Captain America: Brave New World, Feige’s latest bomb, which follows the massive bomb of The Marvels.
Thunderbolts looks to basically be a sequel to Black Widow, another Feige bomb, which focuses on Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Who wanted that? Feige hasn’t learned his lesson, as the majority of the marketing has been about Florence Pugh’s Yelena. Well, the girls didn’t show up for The Marvels, just the opposite, as only the fanboys showed up. So, following The Marvels‘ performance as the worst MCU movie of all time, Feige doubles down? Make it make sense. The DEI money must still be flowing.
What is the latest Thunderbolts tracking?
Needle hasn’t moved
Via the trades, the latest Thunderbolts tracking numbers offer only a $70M-$75M domestic box office opening at 4,300 theaters, which, if it holds, would be the second lowest opening for an MCU film behind The Marvels ($46.1M).
That’s pretty much the same number from a couple of weeks ago, which means marketing has failed to move the needle. Additional estimates from different outlets offer a potential $85M opening.
Presales are in the gutter
It’s also learned that presales for Thunderbolts are only around $12M — similar to 2021’s Eternals, which opened to only $71.2 M. Presales are also trailing behind this year’s Captain America: Brave New World, which bombed with an $88.8M opening and $414.8 worldwide.
Thunderbolts is also another expensive MCU movie, costing $180M plus marketing. It needs to make a boatload just to break even.
Faces stiff competition
Another potential pitfall is that Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has been performing well, and WB announced special edition screenings of Minecraft, both of which could take a bite out of the Thunderbolts‘ box office.
Needs good word-of-mouth
What could save Thunderbolts, assuming it’s a good movie is word-of-mouth. Minecraft also had terrible pre-sales but word-of-mouth spread like wild fire due to all those viral videos of fans going nuts. It’s probably safe to say that won’t be happening with Thunderbolts. Likewise, word-of-mouth helped Sinners in its second weekend to only drop 4.8%.
Rotten Tomatoes dropping
The Thunderbolts Rotten Tomatoes Score is also dropping but is still respectable, currently at 88% with 110 reviews. Thanks to the shill reviewers, Thunderbolts started out of the gate really high and topped the MCU in terms of the Rotten Tomatoes Score, but things have come back down to earth.
I’ll see the flick on Thursday and will be getting my review and thoughts out ASAP on our Facebook. To be honest, I’m looking forward to it and am pretty excited, something I haven’t been about a lone MCU movie in years. For the record, I found Captain America: Brave New World to be at least fun.
Release info
Thunderbolts opens Thursday with previews and officially on Friday. Jake Schreier directs.
Starring includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Plot description
Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes—Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
