‘The Marvels’ Crashes at the Box Office

While Marvel has had troublesome titles before, the latest release has proved to be a major stumbling block for the company, which saw an unprecedented run of successes.

Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios' 'The Marvels.'

Preview:

‘The Marvels’ opened to $47 million at the domestic box office.
Globally, the movie has made just $88 million.
The movie stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani.

The movie’s tagline read, “Higher. Further. Faster. Together.”, but the box office results for ‘The Marvels’ has sadly proved to be more “Lower. Slower. Alone.” It’s true: the latest release from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, once considered a license to print money, has cratered at the domestic and international box office.

‘The Marvels’, the sequel to 2019’s ‘Captain Marvel’ (which soared to $1.13 billion in total from its own worldwide release), has failed to capture the imaginations of audiences, and earned just $47 million domestically, with $88.5 million worldwide.

The Marvels

"Higher. Further. Faster. Together."

PG-131 hr 45 minNov 7th, 2023

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch The Marvels Online

What’s the Story of ‘The Marvels’?

Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, and Teyonah Parris as Captain Monica Rambeau in Marvel Studios' 'The Marvels.'

(L to R) Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, and Teyonah Parris as Captain Monica Rambeau in Marvel Studios' 'The Marvels.' Photo by Laura Radford. © 2023 MARVEL.

‘The Marvels’, directed by ‘Candyman’s Nia DaCosta, picks up the story of Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) as she’s forced to face the consequences of her actions destroying the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree race.

A vengeful Kree leader, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) has discovered a powerful weapon in her crusade to strike back against both Carol and the Kree’s ancient rivals, the Skrulls.

And the use of the weapon, plus some malfunctioning space transport portals is also affecting the powers of Carol, Monica Rambeau (who knew her as a child and who we met as an adult in ‘WandaVision’, played by Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan , AKA Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), causing them to trade places whenever they employ their abilities.

The result is a chaotic chase through space to stop Dar-Benn’s plan to wreak havoc on the Skrulls and humanity, one that also ropes in both Kamala’s family and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

‘The Marvels’: What Happened at the Box Office?

Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers in Marvel Studios' 'The Marvels.'

Critics are already pointing to a slightly confusing storyline, a need to have some knowledge of previous Marvels shows and movies to understand all the characters’ motivations (a common complaint with the MCU’s output) and a general feeling of superhero fatigue –– which has affected fellow superhero studio DC and others in the genre of late.

There’s also a disappointing notion that despite the movie being a fun, funny adventure, some sections of the audience were turned off by a film in the genre directed by a woman and starring three women.

Finally, the SAG-AFTRA strike meant that the stars couldn’t promote the movie until the night of release, all of which didn’t help its fate.

What's next for Marvel?

(L to R) Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in 'Deadpool 3.' Photo courtesy of Ryan Reynolds Instagram account.

A bad box office result is by no means the end of the MCU –– after all, Marvel titles have had issues before (the likes of the ‘Ant-Man’ series, for one have rarely big giant cinematic hits). But it will almost certainly mean a reconsideration of strategy and ideas moving forward, as has been seen with the company’s small screen output.

There is no doubt that Disney and Marvel will be pinning their hopes on ‘Deadpool 3’ (which will mark the full formal entry of Ryan Reynolds’ chatty character into the MCU) next year to deliver, and 2025 is now bringing ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ and ‘Thunderbolts’.

Yet it’s certainly not a good time for the box office behemoth.