Disney’sThe Marvelskept bleeding at the box office this weekend, after deliveringa record-low openingfor the once-unbeatable Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. StarsBrie LarsonandIman Vellanibegan promoting the superhero sequel a couple of days prior to its debut, once a tentative agreement was reached in theSAG-AFTRA strike. But the writing was already on the wall by then.
The film is in a tight race for the number three spot withEli Roth’s horror filmThanksgivingat the domestic box office this weekend, and is expected to generate around $10 million, marking a hefty 78% drop — another record for the MCU. It made $46 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office whilegenerating $110 million worldwidein the same frame. And now, after 10 days of release, the movie’s global gross stands at $161 million.
For context, 10 MCU movies grossed more than this in their domestic opening weekends alone.Avengers: Endgame, for instance, nearly grossed $160 million domestically on its first day. EvenCaptain Marvelgenerated $153 million in its domestic opening weekend, and ultimately finished with over $1.1 billion worldwide. But as things stand,The Marvelswill probably conclude its theatrical run as the lowest-grossing film in the history of the MCU, which remains the highest-grossing movie franchise with nearly $30 billion in global box office revenue.
Lowest Grossing MCU Movies Worldwide
Global Gross
The Marvels
$161 million
The Incredible Hulk
$265 million
Captain America: The First Avenger
$370 million
Black Widow
$379 million
$401 million
Marvel’s Woes Began After the Pandemic
The tail-end of the MCU is currently occupied byThe Incredible Hulk($265 million worldwide),Captain America: The First Avenger($370 million),Black Widow($379 million despite a day-and-date streaming release) andEternals($401 million in mid-pandemic 2021). The franchise’s highest-grossing movie remainsEndgame, which generated $2.78 billion worldwide in 2019. Things have been rather hit-or-miss for the series in the post-Endgame/post-pandemic era, with Disney doubling down on streaming content that proved to be too much for general audiences to handle. Combined with an increasing sense of sameness, the series was dealt major blows both theatrically (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) and on Disney+ (Secret Invasion) in recent months, despite the occasional hit.
And these projects don’t come cheap;The Marvelsreportedlycost over $250 million to produce, and will need to recover $700 million worldwidein order to break even, which is impossible given its current performance and mixed reviews. Directed byNia DaCosta, the film currently sits at a borderline “fresh” 62% score on review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, and earned a franchise-low B- CinemaScore from opening day audiences. What remains to be seen now is if it’ll end its run as the first MCU film to not crack the $100 million mark domestically. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.
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