As The Marvels struggles at the box office, its second week in theaters brings even more bad news for the high-budget superhero project that might seal its fate.

From the onset, Captain Marvel 2 had a looming shadow of adversity to the film’s success evident, as its trailer set a new dislike record for the MCU and early speculation predicted an unimpressive box office start. The leadup to the film’s November 10 release was equally bleak, with the prognosis getting even worse when The Marvels box office projections plummeted right before it premiered.

Unfortunately, The Marvels debuted to a new MCU-low box office draw over its opening weekend, and its current performance offers no encouragement. According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, The Marvels set another undesirable record for the MCU, as its second-weekend drop ranks as not just the worst in the franchise but the worst second-weekend drop for any big-budget superhero movie in the industry’s modern history, including the 74% drop Morbius suffered in its sophomore weekend. The decline, which saw The Marvels fall 78% to beat Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s 69% drop, doesn’t bode well for its overall theatrical run despite a return to full promotional force just the film’s release.

In its second weekend, The Marvels brought in around $10.2 million domestically and $19.5 million from international markets to bring its total box office earnings to an unimpressive $161.3 million globally as its theatrical run continues. While its reported budget sits at a pricey $275 million and makes this figure worrying, The Marvels needs far more to break even and start making a profit for Marvel Studios, which had a bad start to the year with Quantumania. Compared to Captain Marvel, which was produced on a considerable fraction of The Marvel budget and started its $1.131 billion theatrical run with a $456.7 million international opening, the sequel has disappointed.

While unfortunate, it is unsurprising considering the negative projections and conditions working against the film’s success. While the SAG-AFTRA strike ended before The Marvels premiered and the film’s stars went into promotion overdrive, it was too little too late. The BTS reports that alleged extensive issues, reshoots, and director Nia DaCosta’s absence didn’t help the film’s chances either, as it fed into the section of discourse already dismissive of the film. This intensified after the film fell short on opening weekend, and even admitted MCU abstainer Stephen King reprimanded reactions to The Marvels bombing, which seemed to be celebrating the early failure of the project’s theatrical run.

While the failure of the most recent Marvel outing is bad news, the blame doesn’t necessarily rest on the cast and certainly doesn’t extend to the crew. Some people believe the MCU was setting The Marvels up to fail by its lack of action to address the fatigue and dissatisfaction that has become a hallmark of the once-unbeatable franchise’s more recent releases. Fans can only hope this final grim outing will be the expensive wake-up call needed to catalyze real change at Marvel Studios.

The Marvels is now playing in theaters.

The Marvels

Carol Danvers teams up with Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan in The Marvels. As the three heroes find their powers entangled, they must work together to stop Dar-Benn from enacting her evil plan. 

Release Date

November 10, 2023

Director

Nia DaCosta

Cast

Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Samuel L. Jackson

Runtime

105 Minutes

Studio

Marvel Studios

Franchise

MCU

Source: The Hollywood Reporter