There has been a lot of noise surrounding the whys and wherefores of the projected opening weekend gross for Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels, but now that the estimates are starting to be reported by box-office analysts, the superhero blockbuster is expected to land with a Marvel Studios low of between $47-$52 million.
Be it superhero fatigue, the recent strikes preventing the talent from promoting the film, or word-of-mouth based on middling reviews (read our ★★ take here), according to THR The Marvels will open lower than 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, which debuted with $55.4 million (not adjusted for inflation).
Internationally, The Marvels is tracking for an opening of around the $60 million mark, for a global start of $110 million, compared to nearly $190 million for 2019’s Captain Marvel. It is perhaps an unfair comparison, because that $1.13 billion grossing entry was sandwiched between 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. The MCU landscape was a whole lot more secure back then.
UPDTAE: The Marvel’s worldwide weekend opening has now been confirmed as $47 million domestically, with a further $63.3 million from international markets taking the film to $110.3 million globally.
Ultimately, the opening weekend caps a turbulent year at the box-office for Marvel, and superhero movies in general, with only James Gunn’s trilogy-capping Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 making coin with $845.5 million, but even that was down slightly on 2017’s Guardians Vol. 2. The studio’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’ – was met with a negative response from critics, fans and audiences, eventually spluttering towards $476 million worldwide.
Let us know what you thought of The Marvels by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
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 playing in cinemas worldwide now!
Originally published November 12, 2023. Updated November 13, 2023.
