The Marvels wasn’t exactly a hit for Disney. It’s the follow up to 2019’s box office success Captain Marvel, however it certainly isn’t living up to it’s predecessor. The Brie Larson-led film opened at $47 million, which is the lowest Marvel box office opening ever, and the reviews certainly weren’t as stellar as the studio may have hoped. The following weeks haven’t made up for the losses, as it has crawled through each box office week, as more titles have been released. This weekend, Disney even released a statement regarding future reporting on the box office for The Marvels.
Disney recently put out a PR statement finally addressing how they planned on addressing The Marvels gross from now on. Clearly a disappointment for the studio, Disney has made the decision to no longer report on the film’s theatrical gross, despite The Marvels remaining in theaters through the New Year. The report read:
With The Marvels box office now winding down, we will stop weekend reporting of international/global grosses on this title.
This is definitely telling, as The Marvels is a major theatrical title for Disney right now. The studio also has the animated film, Wish, in cinemas as well, which is also having disappointing returns. It looks like the studio will be looking towards the Emma Stone-led Poor Things and indie drama All of Us Strangers to round out the year, however those are likely only to be modest successes at best, nowhere close to a Marvel-ous year end finale Disney was probably hoping for.
How Much Has The Marvels Made At the Box Office So Far?
After opening to only $47 million, The Marvels never really found a way to break through and find that famously dedicated MCU crowd. According to Box Office Mojo, the film has currently grossed $80.7 million domestically, meaning it made over half of its current gross on opening weekend. The international box office number is a little bit friendlier, making the total worldwide gross as of now $197 million. While this would be a major hit for a number of other films coming out in 2023, it is a massive blow for Disney when you consider that the overall production budget for The Marvels is estimated to be around $274.8 million.
This is also worse when you bring in the context of its predecessors. Captain Marvel grossed over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, and the sequel wasn’t even able to achieve a fraction of the previous success. This is starting to become a bad trend for the MCU, which also had a disappointing turnout for Ant-Man: Quantumania earlier this year. However, even that film would be considered a success compared to The Marvels. Ant-Man: Quantumania grossed $106 million opening weekend, and ended its theatrical run with a $476 million worldwide gross.
There are several factors that may have contributed to such a poor performance for The Marvels. The movie released right after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ended, therefore was unable to benefit from cast promotion in the months leading up to the movie’s release. In addition, due to the pandemic delaying production schedules, The Marvels was released four years after Captain Marvel and couldn't take advantage of the momentum and fandom of the original film. This also could be a symptom of something much larger, as “superhero fatigue” seems to be setting in and audiences are having less of an interest in Marvel IP as the universe gets larger and larger.
The Marvels still plans to remain in theaters through 2023, so you can still check out the film in cinemas nationwide. For more information on other releases from the MCU coming down the pike, make sure to consult our upcoming Marvel movie release schedule.
