The Marvels had an even more disastrous opening weekend than initially predicted, with the most up-to-date projections suggesting it earned just $47 million in North America and $63 million internationally.
There's time for the Captain Marvel sequel to turn things around, but with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes set to arrive in theaters this Friday, the odds are stacked against the Marvel Studios blockbuster.
There are many reasons why The Marvels has struggled. However, there's a pretty vocal contingent online who are taking great delight in the movie's financial misfortunes; and then there's the "superhero fatigue" crowd desperate to will this genre out of existence, of course.
Today, horror author Stephen King has decided to chime in. Despite not being an MCU fan, he's baffled by the reactions he's seen to The Marvels' opening weekend, calling it "unpleasant" and later wondering if it "may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, 'Yuck! GIRLS!'"
He might be on to something there! The fact is, moviegoers didn't flock to see the latest Marvel Studios movie this weekend and it's now down to Kevin Feige (and Disney) to figure out what went wrong. That's going to be more important than pandering to those rejoicing that a female-led superhero team-up has flopped, anyway.
"Proof that a 90-minute blockbuster can soar," we said in our review, "The Marvels is bolstered by three terrific leads and might just be the most fun you’ll have at the theater this year, even if it’s not necessarily destined to be remembered as a mighty Marvel classic."
Check out what King had to say about the reactions to The Marvels' box office struggles in the Tweets/Xs below.
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 is now playing in theaters.