It's a trying time for films at the box office, and with studios attempting everything they can to get moviegoers back into theaters, it's going to be an interesting few months for blockbuster titles.
With so many people refusing the vaccine and the Delta variant of COVID-19 causing problems across the globe, it's going to be a while before movies start grossing $1 billion again. However, there are some upcoming Marvel and DC superhero titles we think will really struggle to make an impact.
We're not rooting for them to fail, and certainly hope we're proved wrong, but even looking beyond the worst of the pandemic, these all stand a chance of flopping when they arrive in theaters.
Something tells us you'll have some thoughts on the movies listed here, so check 'em out below...
5. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
The first Venom made a surprise $850+ million haul at the box office back in 2018 despite scathing reviews and criticisms from comic book fans.
The popularity of the title character, Tom Hardy's goofball performance, and a lack of competition may have been the driving force behind this film's success, while a lack of understanding from general audiences that not every Marvel picture is a Marvel Studios movie could have also helped matters.
As for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, it arrives in a month that's fairly busy, but also one which could see a sudden surge in COVID cases as we approach the Fall. The trailer certainly doesn't inspire much confidence, and it looks like we might be getting more of the same - even with Andy Serkis directing.
The years that have followed Venom's release have seen it come to be regarded as a mostly bad film, so excitement will probably be dulled, and compared to that first effort, this sequel will struggle.
4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Black Widow is trending to perform about as well as early Marvel Studios films like The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, and that's with a lead as popular as Scarlett Johansson. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has the advantage of not coming out on Disney+ the same time it drops in theaters, but how much that will help is up for debate.
We're expecting the film itself to be an action-packed, epic blockbuster, and one that puts Shang-Chi on the map in a big way. Unfortunately, convincing moviegoers to check this one out could be a struggle.
Shang-Chi is not a well-known character, while the trailers really haven't played heavily enough into those wider MCU connections with The Mandarin to give casual fans a reason to be excited. Seeing Abomination fighting Wong was a good start, but short of some blistering new sneak peeks, the response to this one so far still feels somewhat dulled.
In normal times, we think it would have performed better, but as it stands, even Marvel Studios might struggle to make an impact at the box office with what looks like a major departure for them.
3. Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Yes, we're taking a break from the pandemic for a moment and looking ahead to June 2023, a time we hope where the world will actually be a lot more normal than it is as we write this piece.
Why, then, are we concerned about a film that's a little under two years away? In 2019, Shazam! grossed only $366 million at the global box office despite glowing reviews that praised it as a step in the right direction for the DCEU. What the film failed to really do is leave a lasting impact, and while Fury of the Gods has attracted some big name cast members, they're playing pretty obscure characters.
Even a lot of die-hard comic book fans are unfamiliar with Atlas and his daughters, and it feels like the completely wrong direction to take this sequel in after that big Monster Society of Evil tease.
Throw in the fact that we're not going to see Superman or Black Adam, and this feels like one of those sequels that will likely fail to live up to its predecessor (a four-year gap also feels way too long for a non-Avengers/Batman property).
2. Morbius
We're heading to Sony Pictures' Universe of Marvel Characters for a second time with Morbius, a film we think is probably the only guaranteed flop listed here.
That Adrian Toomes cameo and those shots with Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man may have intrigued fans, but the film looks like an absolute stinker and the sort of thing that should have been released in the mid-2000s (alongside Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider). If you've read the leaked plot, you'll probably have about as much faith as us in this being good.
It's easy to imagine this being slated by critics, and unlike Venom, it doesn't look fun enough to exceed expectations...assuming you found that juvenile humor "fun."
We don't know who the target audience for Morbius is (it's PG-13, so not hardcore horror fans), but do know that it's going to bomb, even with a "post-pandemic" release date.
1. The Suicide Squad
We must be mad, right? The Suicide Squad is sitting pretty on Rotten Tomatoes with a 99% score and in a non-COVID world, positive word of mouth could have carried this one to epic heights at the box office.
Unfortunately, it's saddled with a release date at a time when moviegoers are growing increasingly reluctant to head back to theaters (either because of increasing infection rates or mask mandates). This is another film with an extremely successful predecessor, but like Venom, Suicide Squad has come to be known as one of DC's worst comic book movies in the past five years.
For your Average Joe consumer who remembers sitting through that sh*t show, returning for more of the same has to be an unappealing prospect. The biggest issue, however, is the day-and-date HBO Max release, as that stands a chance of crippling The Suicide Squad at the box office.
As a result, this feels a lot like a film that's going to struggle to find the audience it deserves. And sadly, the DCEU films haven't become well-known for being very good in recent years.