Marvel Studios
The Marvels is going to finish its box office run as the lowest-grossing movie in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, marking what’s certainly a low point for the franchise since it began in 2008.
While the MCU has largely struggled to find its footing following the combination of the consequences of Avengers: Endgame, the launch of Disney+, and the pandemic, the box office performance of The Marvels truly highlights just how much the Marvel brand is struggling these days, and it’s looking like it’ll end its run with $80 million domestically and $197 million globally.
For comparison, its predecessor, 2019’s Captain Marvel, cleared $1 billion at the global box office.
While The Marvels, which had a reported budget of $220 million, won’t be leaving theaters just yet, reports from Variety indicate it’ll stop playing before the new year. They also report that Disney said they will stop reporting box office data, which amounts to them essentially waving the white flag.
“As the film nears the end of its theatrical run, box office revenues won’t top 2008’s ‘The Incredible Hulk’ ($264 million, not adjusted for inflation), which previously stood as the lowest-grossing entry.” [via Variety]
The Marvels stars Academy Award winner Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Following the conclusion of the actors’ strike, Marvel Studios reshuffled a bunch of the upcoming projects on their slate, resulting in Deadpool 3 being the only MCU movie to hit theaters in 2024, as films such as Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Blade have been delayed to 2025.
According to an additional report from Variety back in early November, the recent struggles of the MCU have led to the powers that be considering an entire overall of the franchise by making moves such as reviving Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, while also pivoting away from Kang the Conqueror as the main villain.
The next live-action Marvel Cinematic Univers project set to be released is the upcoming Disney+ series Echo, which premieres on January 10.
The series is the first in the history of the franchise to receive a TV-MA rating, and is also the first entry under Marvel’s new “Spotlight” banner, which will “focus more on grounded, character-driven stories” and less about impacting the larger MCU narrative.”