Marvel/Walt Disney Studios
EXCLUSIVE, UPDATE, FRIDAY AFTERNOON: “The Marvels” is shaping up to be the lowest domestic opening ever for a Disney Marvel Cinematic Universe title with a three-day bounce $47 million to $55 million. That’s less than Marvel/Universal’s The Incredible Hulk ($55.4 million) and less than Ant-Man ($57.2 million). How about 1986’s “Howard the Duck,” which grossed $5 million for the first time? We’re talking about all the films helmed and produced by Kevin Feige, mostly while he was producing Paramount and Disney-Marvel films (Incredible Hulk is in the canon with cameos from Iron Man’s Robert Downey Jr.).
But aside from the lowly opening slots for Marvel films, there have also been others outside of Disney’s MCU, such as: B. Sony/Marvel’s Morbius ($39 million), the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four for $25.6 million, 1998’s Blade for $17 million and Fox/Marvel’s Daredevil Spin- off, Elektra for $12.8 million. When you compare The Marvels to these films, it’s not the lowest score ever for a Marvel feature film adaptation.
As of Friday, it’s expected to hit $21 million to $22 million, including previews for the film starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani. Hopefully the last minute stunting will help with stars getting back to work after the actors’ strike.
No. 2 belongs to the third weekend of Universal’s Peacock daytime title “Five Nights at Freddys,” which opened in 3,691 theaters with $2.6 million Friday and a three-day total of $7.8 million, -59%, and a running total of $126 million.
EXCLUSIVE, updated: According to sources, Marvel Studios’ sequel, The Marvels, grossed around $6.5 million in Thursday night previews. Disney called the evening $6.6 million for performances that began yesterday at 3 p.m.
Many fear that this $200 million-budgeted sequel to 2019’s “Captain Marvel” – considered the highest-grossing female superhero film of all time – could score the lowest opening ever for a Marvel Studios film; lower than The Incredible Hulk (which was a Universal release before Disney took over the MCU), which opened at $55.4 million. While the tracking has cut its projections for “The Marvels” from $80 million to $60 million, there are fears that “The Marvels” could see a launch north of $40 million.
At $6.5 million, this is one of the lower previews we’ve seen from Marvel recently, just a step above Ant-Man ($6.4 million, $57.2 million) and lower than Disney’s November false open “The Eternals” ($9.5 million preview, $71.2 million opening). and Thor: Dark World ($7.1 million preview, $85.7 million). The Incredible Hulk has the lowest previews for an MCU title in the preview era at $2 million, but at this point previews began at midnight.
The $5 million in advance ticket sales suggested that The Marvels would be venturing into The Flash territory right from the start. However, The Flash’s preview price was higher, at $9.7 million off the showtimes that began Thursday at 3 p.m.
Critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are 61% fresh, but the RT audience rating is higher at 85% – which is promising, although the diehards always come out on Thursday nights. PostTrak’s exits from ComScore/Screen Engine on Thursday night were tough on general audiences at 3.5 stars, but 4 1/2 stars from parents and 5 stars from kids under 12. However, children and parents combined only made up 9% of last night’s audience. For the Marvels, male turnout was 63%, with men over 25 having the highest turnout at 45% and women over 25 at 24%. The latter demo achieved the best recommendation rating of all demos at 61%.
There’s a cacophony of reasons why The Marvels doesn’t fare better. One of them is the recently ended actors’ strike, which stifled promotion of the picture at the San Diego and NY Comic-Cons. In the last two days since the strike ended, the picture’s cast has been in full swing, appearing on late-night television (Brie Larson will appear on The Tonight Show tonight) and in movie theaters as well; Iman Vellani and director Nia DaCosta did so yesterday at El Captain in Hollywood.
With the strike over, Larson can finally shout to the world that the Marvels are here:
Social media analytics firm RelishMix notes that conversations about “The Marvels” follow a mixed trend of dissatisfaction, while issues of superhero fatigue are debated and this title is compared to Marvel titles of the last decade, saying: “All of us miss The Avengers.” Additional frustration comes from the need to watch multiple television series to become familiar with the film.”
The social media universe per RelishMix for The Marvels in TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube views is 599 million, which is 14% below comps norms for superhero titles. Pooh.
Another film hitting theaters this weekend is the Sony/Affirm musical Faith Travel to Bethlehem what deserved $250,000 last night from previews that began at 2 p.m. at 1,823 locations. The picture is expected to arrive in the low single digits.
Elsewhere at the box office, Universal/Blumhouse’s second Thursday of its Peacock daytime series “Five Nights Freddys” grossed $1.1 million yesterday, +15% from Wednesday, for a second week of $24 million and a total of 118 $.2 million in 3,789 theaters.
AMC’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour grossed an estimated $767,000 and $14.3 million in its fourth week, for a total of $166.8 million at 3,604.
Paramount’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” brought in an estimated $650,000, -8%, for a third week of $9.95 million for a running total of $55.2 million from 3,786 theaters.
A24’s Priscilla posted a second Thursday of $627,000 at 1,359, +8%, second week of $7.5 million and a running total of $7.8 million.
Angel Studios’ “After Death” booked into 2,730 theaters and grossed $200,000 on Thursday, down 20%, and $3.08 million in its second week, for a running total of $10 million corresponds.