Although “Avengers: Endgame” was always going to be a difficult film to beat, the revelations made by Disney and Marvel Studios after that epic have demoralized followers of the series.
There was optimism that “The Marvels,” which opens in cinemas on Friday, would build on “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3’s” earlier this year’s box office triumph. However, there’s a good possibility it will have one of the worst opening weekends in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history.
Prior estimates for the movie’s domestic opening weekend ranged from $75 million to $80 million, but in recent weeks, those numbers have dropped to a range of $60 million to $65 million. Since 2011, no MCU movie has debuted in that area, according to Comscore data.
The only movies to open for less than $60 million were “Ant-Man” (2015), which made $57 million at opening, and “Incredible Hulk” (2008), which brought in $55 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said, “The Marvel track record at the box office is virtually unrivaled in terms of the depth and breadth of titles, the staggering number of records broken, fan appreciation, and sheer revenue generating power over the decades.”
“Unfortunately, mixed reviews and fan reactions have led to disappointing box office results for some of Marvel’s recent big screen offerings. This is because of countless spinoffs, sequels, and universes in both big screen and small screen iterations, as well as an occasionally ambiguous marketing message,” he continued.
Does The Marvels now have too much homework?
There are also more reasons for the low expectations for “The Marvels,” even though it is obvious that Marvel missed out on actor marketing for the movie as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike—which seems to have now been resolved.
But in its haste to support its nascent streaming service Disney+ during the epidemic, Disney oversaturated the market with mediocre TV shows. It changed the world in which earlier movies had been set and brought in scores of new heroes and villains. The abundance of material started to seem more like homework than enjoyment to many casual viewers.
In addition, viewers haven’t been satisfied with the material on either the large or small screen.
“Secret Invasion” failed, whereas series like “Loki,” “Ms. Marvel,” and “Moon Knight” did well with reviewers and audiences in general. Comparably, theatergoers were entertained by “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Guardians 3,” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” but they were left wondering about the future of the series by “The Eternals,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
On Rotten Tomatoes, “The Marvels” currently has a soft score. The screenplay for the movie was especially attacked by critics, who referred to it as “paper thin,” “charmless,” and “pandering in all the wrong places.”
However, Iman Vellani, who plays the courageous, recently created heroine Ms. Marvel, seems to be a standout performance in the film, receiving high marks from reviewers.
Analysts analyzing box office performance aren’t prepared to declare war on superhero material, arguing instead that fans are just tired of lousy tales rather than apathy toward superheroes. After all, consider the popularity of the animated programs “Invincible” and “The Boys” on Amazon Prime Video, along with “Gen V.” Additionally, Max has his “Peacemaker.”
Shawn Robbins, top analyst at BoxOffice.com, said, “This is not a fatigue of Marvel or superheroes, but a fatigue of creative and studio missteps that are not unique to any one film or franchise.” “It just so happens that everything is more scrutinized and magnified—whether things are going right or wrong—because it’s Marvel.”
What does the future hold for the MCU?
Analysts analyzing the box office have identified Marvel’s film advertising as yet another problem for the company. “The Marvels” was first promoted to the public as a comedy starring female heroes who would randomly switch abilities as they figured out how to work as a team.
Marvel presents “The Marvels” in its most current teaser as a standard action film in which the antagonist uses a mystical MacGuffin to destroy the cosmos. In addition, a good deal of footage from earlier Marvel films, including scenes with now-retired franchise characters like Steve Rogers’ Captain America and Tony Stark’s Iron Man, are included in the teaser.
“It’s a red flag in and of itself that the promotional materials for this specific film rely so heavily on nostalgia and scenes from ‘Endgame,'” Robbins said.
In the past, Marvel’s teasers were appealing in part because of their dishonest marketing. To hide spoilers or lure viewers in, video was manipulated or purposely modified. As an example, the “Avengers: Infinity War” previews included snippets of Thanos’ gauntlet with less infinity stones so as to avoid giving away that he would have amassed more throughout the movie.
The striking difference between “The Marvels”‘ first and final trailers’ marketing reveals that Disney was concerned about the presales’ weak performance and intended to entice fans with references to their earlier works.
Disney could be forced to search for a fresh start more actively if “The Marvels” does not do well at the box office. Particularly considering that it already has an uphill fight with actor Jonathan Majors, who it selected to play the part of Kang, the MCU’s newest antagonist. Majors is facing legal issues resulting from claims of abuse and violence.
“We were leaning into a huge increase in how much we were making at the time the pandemic hit,” CEO Bob Iger said on Wednesday during Disney’s earnings call. And I believe that’s precisely what occurred. I’ve always believed that quantity may really be detrimental to quality. A little concentration was lost.
According to Iger, the firm wants to concentrate more on quality and reduce the quantity of movies it produces in the future.
“There aren’t any simple solutions for Marvel’s current problems in the grand scheme of things, but there is one silver lining: a lot of moviegoers and fans still care,” Robbins said. “They would prefer a course correction to be made as soon as possible.”
At least there’s still some positive news, according to Dergarabedian of Comscore. “The Marvels” will have lots of high-end theaters to play in and won’t be up against “Dune: Part Two,” which decided to push its release date to 2024. These screenings, which are usually more expensive than regular ones, could boost the movie’s box office receipts.
“Given the inconsistent performances of some of the brand’s recent releases, it would be prudent to temper opening weekend expectations and look more at the ultimate box office result as the true measure of success for this latest Marvel release,” he said.
Source : NBC NEWS
