Marvel Studios
Since we’re talking about the intersection between Marvel Studios and their money, here’s the way I’ve recently been contextualizing the success that Disney has had in the past decade: the Mouse House purchased Marvel and Lucasfilm for around $8 billion. So far, nine of the 23 Marvel Cinematic Universe films have grossed over $1 billion, some of which even crossed the $2 billion mark.
Put simply: the box-office returns of 33% of the Marvel and Star Wars films made by Disney thus far represent what it cost to acquire those intellectual properties in the first place. The remaining 66% has been all profit (minus the cost of production and marketing, of course). That, my friends, is good business, and why Disney was and will remain King.
But, similar to Thanos, while they may be close to immortal, they may not be perfect, as one of their recent records was overtaken by the Chinese film Detective Chinatown 3, which reportedly made $424 million during its first weekend of release (given China’s recent history of reporting key numerical data, though, forgive me if I’m a bit skeptical). Avengers: Endgame previously held the record with $357 million grossed in its opening weeked.
China made history this weekend with record ticket sales of nearly $775 million (RMB5.0 billion) within the first three days of the Chinese New Year holiday, led by an incredible $424 million (RMB2.74 billion) debut from “Detective Chinatown 3.”
This marked the first time the country’s national box office has ever broken RMB1 billion ($155 million) a day for three consecutive days, a feat achieved despite caps on max theater capacity at 75% in most of the country and 50% in areas particularly at risk for COVID-19, such as the Beijing-adjacent Hebei province. [via Variety]
Depending on how thirsty movie fans are for the theater-going experiences and how many Spider-Mans (Spider-Men just doesn’t sound right) they can cram in there, maybe this December’s still-untitled Spider-Man 3 can wrestle the title back for the good guys.
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