Despite The Marvels taking the top spot at the box office this weekend. The movie still ended with the unfortunate distinction of being Marvel’s lowest North American debut.
Why Did The Marvels Fail At The Box Office?
There’s going to be a lot of speculation as to why the movie failed to meet expectations. You can look at the lack of ability of the stars to market the movie due to the SAG strike; which ended on Friday. There’s also the negative press around Disney and Marvel lately; but despite bad buzz after the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 still managed to make an impressive impression at the box office.
Still, unlike Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which was labelled a box office failure after its initial release, The Marvels joins the rare distinction of being one of the only three MCU movies to make less than $100 Million in its debut. As per Box Office Mojo, the movie made $47 Million.
The other two are 2015’s Ant-Man and 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. It’s the rare instance where even with more critically panned fare, the MCU fanbase will help turn the movie into a box office success. The fans just simply didn’t show up for this movie. The SAG strike could certainly be a factor in many movies not succeeding at the box office, but Marvel has usually proven to be more resilient than that, and certainly, this can’t be purely the reason for the lack of success.
It would seem that the days of Marvel and Disney being able to casually release a movie and bank on the brand’s reputation and the series to deliver a $1 Billion or more box office success are gone. With Marvel moving many movies into 2025 and beyond, it seems they are focusing their energies on all fronts to ensure that their only 2024 theatrical release, Deadpool 3, does not repeat this mistake.
The Rest Of The Box Office
Aside from The Marvels, everything else saw a pretty drastic drop-off. Five Nights at Freddy’s was in second, and dropped 52% over last weekend, earning $9 Million. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour dropped 56%, bringing in $5.9 Million in third. Priscilla was the only film that had a small dropoff of only 5% and brought in $4.7 Million in fourth. Finally, Killers of the Flower Moon dropped to third with a 32% dropoff, bringing in $4.6 Million.
Next Weekend Sees Something For Everyone
Next weekend sees a ton of new releases and promises to deliver many options for movie fans. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Trolls Band Together, Thanksgiving, and Next Goal Wins.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is tracking for a $38-$50 Million opening. This will likely put it in the top spot next weekend, particularly as it’s over-performing in pre-sales. There’s also the relatively unknown factor of walk-ins and people just deciding to see the movie, which could bolster it further.
Trolls Band Together is tracking for a $20-$30 Million opening, and will likely place second or third, it’ll all depend on how The Marvels performs in its second week.
Thanksgiving is tracking for $15 Million and will likely land in 3rd or 4th.
Next Goal Wins is tracking for $4-$9 Million and will likely place 5th.
As always, we’ll check in next week and see how everything landed!
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