“The Marvels,” a superhero film, managed to earn only $47 million (£38 million) during its first weekend in the United States, making it the lowest opening in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In contrast, “Avengers: Endgame” made box office history in 2019 with a global ticket revenue of $1.2 billion (£980 million) in its opening week.
“The Marvels,” starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris, is a sequel to the 2019 film “Captain Marvel.”
According to analyst David A. Gross, “The Marvels” saw a 67% drop in earnings compared to the first film. He stated, “This opening is an unprecedented box office plummet for Marvel,” and added that superhero sequels typically outperform their original films. “The Marvels” still has a long way to go to recoup its $220 million (£179 million) production costs.
However, it’s not yet clear whether this reflects audience fatigue with superhero films in theaters after many highly successful blockbusters.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which was released in May, managed to earn $118 million (£96 million) during its first weekend in the United States.
Gross suggested that the growth of streaming services may have impacted box office earnings, along with the end of actor strikes, meaning the stars of “The Marvels” couldn’t do promotional work.
He also cited “average and poor films” in the genre as contributing factors.
According to Dani Di Placido of Forbes in March, superhero films seem to no longer feel essential, and “Marvel Studios appears to be facing the same problem as comics, releasing too much, too quickly, resulting in confused and saturated audiences.”
Nearly a year ago, Miles Surrey mentioned that “after 20 years and billions in box office revenue, early signs suggest that superhero fatigue as a dominant force in pop culture is beginning to emerge.” He stated that “survey results support the theory that superhero fatigue is beginning to surface/free/free/free/free/free/free/.”
“The Marvels” tells the story of Captain Marvel trying to save a destabilized universe with the help of Ms. Marvel, played by Vellani from the TV series, and Captain Monica Rambeau, played by Parris.
The film received mixed reviews from critics, with The New York Times stating, “You’ve seen this film 32 times before,” and The Guardian referring to it as “a superhero failure in adding to a bland franchise.”
Variety called it a “sequel burdened with MCU baggage,” while Screen Rant highlighted that the Rotten Tomatoes audience score was better than expected after initial negative reviews.
In the second position at the U.S. box office was the horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” while “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” ranked third, followed by Sofia Coppola’s biopic of “Priscilla.”
Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone, held the fifth position.
