THE MARVELS Ends Its Global Box Office Run As Lowest Grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie To Date

THE MARVELS Ends Its Global Box Office Run As Lowest Grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie To Date

The Marvels has ended its run at the worldwide box office, but it's done so as the lowest-grossing Marvel Studios movie ever released in theaters. However, it's comparable to a similar DCEU release...

By JoshWilding - Jan 05, 2024 06:01 AM EST
Filed Under: The Marvels

The Marvels opened to a franchise-low $46.1 million last November and, with its eight-week theatrical run at an end, it's officially Marvel Studios' lowest-grossing title in the MCU's 15+ year history. 

Disney stopped reporting box office stats early last month, but the final figures are in and the Captain Marvel sequel is tapping out with $84.5 million domestically and $121.3 million internationally for a global total of $205.8 million. Needless to say, that's not a good result. 

With a rumoured budget of more than $220 million, The Marvels has become Marvel Studios' biggest flop and now sits quite a bit beneath 2008's The Incredible Hulk (which grossed a then-respectable, albeit disappointing, $264 million worldwide). 

Interestingly, a $205.8 million haul puts The Marvels in the same ballpark as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey which, back in 2020, earned $205.3 million worldwide. This suggests that female-led superhero movies are still a tough sell to many moviegoers. 

Of course, there has been plenty of "superhero fatigue" talk but The Marvels did land a 62% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 83% Audience Score, so it's not as if the sequel was a critical flop...however, Eternals, which was deemed Rotten, ended up grossing over $400 million during the pandemic so who knows what's going on!

While Captain Marvel earned over $1 billion in 2019, we'd imagine Carol Danvers' has taken flight in her final solo outing. 

"The Marvels was shot during COVID," Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the movie's failings late last year. "There wasn't as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] really looking over what's being done day after day after day."

In The Marvels, 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."

The movie stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton and Park Seo-joon.

The Marvels doesn't currently have a confirmed release date on Disney+ or Digital/Blu-ray. 

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SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 1/5/2024, 6:07 AM
"Proof that a 90-minute blockbuster can soar, THE MARVELS is bolstered by three terrific leads and might just be the most fun you’ll have at the theater this year..." -Josh "Make Mine Marvel" Wilding 😄😆🤣
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 1/5/2024, 6:23 AM
@SuperiorHeckler - you cant shill any harder than that 😂

What a joke
MadThanos
MadThanos - 1/5/2024, 6:25 AM
@SuperiorHeckler -
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Damn, Josh.

Gabimaru
Gabimaru - 1/5/2024, 7:38 AM
@SuperiorHeckler - Josh is the embodiment of the shill definition
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 1/5/2024, 8:43 AM
@SuperiorHeckler - Hey claimed the force awakens was better than the Empire strikes back.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 1/5/2024, 10:27 AM
@SuperiorHeckler - The Incredible Hulk made more money in 2008 HAHAHA
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 1/5/2024, 6:12 AM
Not surprising, it's easily one of the most forgettable MCU films to date with one of the most bland villains yet.
Conquistador
Conquistador - 1/5/2024, 6:15 AM
Juat like Aquaman 1 with 2...followed a movie that grossed over a billion...

2023 was tired... superhero fatigue is real. The break in 2024 will be welcome, with just Deadpool 3. Now only if Sony would just cancel their 3. Lol....never!
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/5/2024, 6:43 AM
@UniqNo - Don't forget JOKER 2
Conquistador
Conquistador - 1/5/2024, 6:45 AM
@lazlodaytona - I feel that's kind of the exception. I very standalone and not really trying to build a franchise, then again, nor was the first...so.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 1/5/2024, 8:00 AM
@lazlodaytona - At least it wasn't trying to build a franchise until they went a did a musical sequel with a pop star playing Harley Quinn.
SethBullock
SethBullock - 1/5/2024, 9:26 AM
@UniqNo - It's not just superhero fatigue, it's also that everybody could see since many months ago that these movies were trash and were going to bomb hard.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/5/2024, 9:41 AM
@ObserverIO - Yeah, my mind's not made up yet whether to have hope, because I loved the 1st film, or just to avoid.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 1/5/2024, 6:16 AM
"The new face of the MCU" alright, LMFAO!🤡🤡🤡
Forthas
Forthas - 1/5/2024, 6:20 AM
"...so who knows what's going on!"

I will tell you what is going on. Ever since James Gunn introduced slapstick comedy into the MCU, and the overrated Guardians of the Galaxy was successful because it was a Marvel brand at the peak of Marvels brand value, people erroneously believed that comic book films should be colorful and full of jokes. The audience tolerated it for a couple of years but are now sick and tired of it. Get rid of the all the damn jokes! Nothing wrong with a bit of humor but to design story and scenes around a comedic payoffs is asking for box office failure.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 1/5/2024, 6:26 AM
@Forthas - you point it being Gunn's fault when nothing of that signature humor you mentioned are found in the Marvels. It might have fared better if it did. It was very bland
Forthas
Forthas - 1/5/2024, 6:31 AM
@vectorsigma - You clearly must not have been paying attention. The entire sun plot about the Marvels being entangled was solely put in the film to set up comedic moments, like them skipping rope to coordinate their powers or the cats (Flarkes or whatever the f*CK they called) just suddenly appearing on the ship so they could eat the crew. I am sure there is some serious narrative reason for those major plot points...no one has just figured it out yet. That is sarcasm.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 1/5/2024, 6:39 AM
@Forthas - it is not the presence of humor that is off, it is the execution, something that Gunn and Whedon excels with and dacosta has no knack on.

My point is, you cant blame Gunn and his style for this failing miserably. Marvel cant just realize that getting well established dirrctors/writers is important for the vision
Forthas
Forthas - 1/5/2024, 6:54 AM
@vectorsigma - I blame Gunn for the tone he set. But there is plenty of blame to go around. I also blame the studio for not knowing better since there is documented examples of the same thing happening from the Donner Superman films which limited the camp and did well only to have them go full slapstick and zany with the last two films which failed miserably. The EXACT same thing happened with Burtons Batman. The more wacky they took the film the less it did at the box office. Even more recently the more serious minded DC films performed BETTER than the comedic films. I don't know how much more evidence is needed.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/5/2024, 6:58 AM
@Forthas - You didn't think there was any slapstick humor in the Iron Man films?
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 1/5/2024, 7:07 AM
@Forthas - it is in the execution. Marvel hiring untested directors and force them to create a tone which does not jive with their styles.

And i dont think Gunn started it. It was Whedon.
Forthas
Forthas - 1/5/2024, 7:28 AM
@lazlodaytona - No the character of Tony Stark as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr is a person who comes with adversity through humor and charm. There is a difference between a character that tells a lot of jokes and a story that is set up to make jokes irrespective of the circumstances. Other than the montage of him developing his suit, there was no slapstick.
Forthas
Forthas - 1/5/2024, 7:36 AM
@vectorsigma - Whedon had a couple of moments but mostly it was played seriously. Coulson was killed, Hulk tried to kill Black Widow, the world suffered an alien invasion. I can only think of one scene that was kind of slapstick - Hulk repeatedly slamming Loki to the ground. But it was in Age of Ultron where you saw the comedy creep in a bit more and most people would probably agree that is the weaker film. That was after Guardians which went full on slapstick.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/5/2024, 7:52 AM
@Forthas - fair enough
PatchesOhulihan
PatchesOhulihan - 1/5/2024, 10:49 AM
@Forthas - And then Taika followed suit with his Comedy Central Presents: Thor Ragnarok
Forthas
Forthas - 1/5/2024, 1:57 PM
@PatchesOhulihan - EXACTLY! He took it to a whole other level of cringe!
thespiderkat
thespiderkat - 1/5/2024, 6:22 AM
“ The Marvels did land a 62% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 83% Audience Score, so it's not as if the sequel was a critical flop...however, Eternals, which was deemed Rotten, ended up grossing over $400 million ”
Well, that should tell you how relevant rotten tomatoes is or how real their scores are (specially for movies with scores that remain mysteriously frozen for days, almost like they have to be protected)
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 1/5/2024, 8:01 AM
@thespiderkat - Those audience scores can't be trusted.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 1/5/2024, 10:30 AM
@thespiderkat - when you know the secret to RT, and you can rate something a 60 or above and mark it fresh.. then these numbers really mean "did I at least barely enjoy this"
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 1/5/2024, 6:22 AM
There is no recovering if they continue prioritizing agenda over storytelling.

And I still have low expectations on DP3. Those days of fanservice to win me over for Marvel is over. And seeing that they are marketing it as such makes me cringe.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/5/2024, 6:49 AM
@vectorsigma - On top of that, no one should root for a superhero film to fail. Whether you're DC, Marvel, or both, one genre movie's failure hurts other film coming out later in the super-realm. So, seeing this makes me down, not just because of the film's failure, but all the unnecessary meanness some users are displaying because they were actively hoping this film would flop.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 1/5/2024, 6:55 AM
@lazlodaytona - i agree. But i guess the end justifies the means and we really cant blame people. If this did not flop, imagine how much more low quality films will marvel put out? I just hope they learn the lessons from it
Usernametaken
Usernametaken - 1/5/2024, 7:50 AM
@vectorsigma - Not just over storytelling, but over the action too. I mean Shang Chi was agenda driven too and had a so-so story and third act, but the action was the redeeming quality making it worth watching.

The Marvels doesn't have anything making it stand out except for the fact that they have 3 female leads (of 3 different ethnic backgrounds) and a black female director. But these points are not what helps selling an action movie blockbuster.

Men would be interested if at least the leads were dressed sexy or had half naked scenes (and before anyone calls me a misogynist, I would remind them that women loves the first 3 phases because of all the Chris boys and their abs).
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