Thunderbolts* opened in theaters to overwhelmingly positive reviews, but struggled to make an impact at the box office. The movie ended its run with less than $400 million worldwide, a disappointing result for *The New Avengers.
The movie's lead characters weren't well-known to anyone who hadn't been paying attention to Marvel Studios' streaming shows. Plus, despite an inventive marketing campaign, the "Thunderbolts" don't exactly have much in the way of name recognition.
Thunderbolts* is now available on Digital and hits 4K and Blu-ray next week, giving people the chance to discover this team at home. Talking to Variety, filmmaker Jake Schreier was asked to reflect on his movie's box office performance in theaters.
"For me, it’s so strange trying to grasp how many people watch these things," he started. "It was really fun to go around to audience screenings. You can’t even take for granted that you’re going to get a theatrical release, so to be part of a movie that goes out there...it really is about the theatrical experience."
"People can share it and talk about it and say what they think, whether they liked it or didn’t, and then have that continue, it’s nice to be part of a movie that gets to have that life," Schreier added, clearly not eager to be drawn into a conversation about box office receipts.
Either way, it hasn't made much difference to the director as he's already signed up to take the helm of Marvel Studios' X-Men reboot.
During a recent interview, Olga Kurylenko addressed learning her major role in Thunderbolts* had been reduced to a glorified cameo (which ended with her death) after returning to work following 2023's strikes.
Responding to the Black Widow star's comments, Schreier said, "Yeah, I think Olga has spoken about that. It was something that happened after the strike, when we were redeveloping the script. I know that there are people that have reached out to let me know that they’re displeased with this, and I totally understand that. It’s not something we did lightly."
"Obviously, I think Olga is a wonderful actress. It’s a hard thing to do," he noted. "It’s just showing that, for these characters, this is a thing that’s done, and they feel that all of their lives don’t have a ton of value."
While many fans have demanded justice for Taskmaster, there are equally as many who seem unbothered by Antonia Dreykov's shocking demise. The female Taskmaster wasn't exactly a hit in 2021, but we'll never find out whether the original version of Thunderbolts* redeemed her.
You can check out our interview with Schreier in the player below.