While 2023 has been a disastrous year financially for the DC Extended Universe as Warner Bros. unveiled the final instalments in its shared universe to zero fanfare pre-James Gunn reboot, it’s not been a particularly memorable year for the once all-conquering box office juggernaut Marvel Studios either.
Gunn’s trilogy-closing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 may have amassed $845.5 million, but that was down slightly on 2017’s Guardians Vol. 2, while Marvel’s big Phase Five launching film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – a film which set up Jonathan Majors’ Kang as the big bad of the whole ‘Multiverse Saga’ – flopped with critics, fans and audiences and fell short of a reported $600 million break-even point with $476 million. to become a rare financial failure for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Coupled with its recent TV production issues, including slamming the breaks on Daredevil: Born Again for a complete retooling, could the MCU be in some serious trouble?
Well, Kevin Feige will be hoping to take a leaf out of Nick Fury’s book as he calls in Carol Danvers with the upcoming release of the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels, which sees Brie Larson’s Carol joining forces with Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau in a team-up that Feige has described as “akin to the first Avengers movie”. Unfortunately audiences don’t seem to be viewing it that way at present, with the first box office tracking estimates for The Marvels making their way online and pointing towards a $50-$75 million domestic opening weekend for the sequel and a total North American gross of between $121-$189 million.
If those figures end up accurate, then The Marvels could end up its domestic run with less than Captain Marvel’s domestic opening weekend of $145 million (the first film went on to earn $426.8 million at the North American box office and $1.128 billion worldwide), while lower end of the estimates could well see The Marvels suffering Marvel Studios’ lowest ever domestic box office debut – an unwanted record held since 2008 by The Incredible Hulk on $55.4 million. Even at the top end of the $75 million projection, The Marvels would find itself alongside the likes of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals, both of which were released while cinemas were still suffering due to the pandemic.
It’s worth noting at this point that these are only early tracking estimates; plenty could change between now and the release, and of course audience reception to the film will ultimately determine its level of box office success. In the meantime, we’ve got some new character posters for the sequel which showcase Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Prince Yan (Park Seo-joon) and Goose…
Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as “The Marvels.”
Directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman), The Marvels stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, and Samuel L. Jackson.
The Marvels is set for release on November 10th, 2023.
