Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers in The Marvels.
Courtesy of Marvel Studios
Marvel’s disappointing start at the North American box office over the weekend – $47 million, a record low for a Marvel Studios release – reinforces analysts’ concerns that superhero fatigue is a pressing and growing problem for major studios. But in China, moviegoers have been snubbing America’s caped crusaders for much longer — and “The Marvels” just marks a new low.
The Marvels opened with just $11.5 million in China and lost the three-day weekend to local holdover crime thriller “Who’s the Suspect,” which grossed $11.7 million. Including Thursday night previews, the four-day total for “The Marvels” is $11.8 million.
MCU releases have underperformed in China since the pandemic, but The Marvels’ face is particularly striking. In 2019, Brie Larson’s franchise starter Captain Marvel opened with $89.3 million on its way to a strong total of $154 million in China. According to current projections, the Marvels will be lucky to break the $20 million mark.
Marvel’s other releases in 2023 also did not resonate well with moviegoers in mainland China. Even James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – which was a hit in North America, grossing $359 million – only grossed $27.8 million in China, compared to $48.5 million for Guardians 2 (2017) and $86 million for Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania grossed $39.4 million in China this February, a 67 percent decline from Ant-Man and the Wasp’s $121 million total in 2018. The MCU releases from 2020 to 2022 was significantly impacted by pandemic-related delays and cinema release closures in China, but the social scores of the country’s top ticketing apps also began to decline during this period.
US studio franchises are declining across the board in China, but other action genres have fared slightly better than superhero films. Universal’s Fast And Transformers: Rise of the Beasts opened with $40 million and peaked at $92 million. However, the first installments of both film series grossed significantly more in China, indicating a general franchise erosion for the studios.
As elsewhere, the Barbenheimer originals were the outstanding models on the Chinese market this year. Oppenheimer earned $62 million, Christopher Nolan’s second-best performance to date in China behind “Interstellar” ($122 million) – and a phenomenal performance for a long-form English-language period drama in the country. Warner Bros.’ Barbie, meanwhile, opened weakly at $8.1 million, largely lacking awareness in the market, but word of mouth among cosmopolitan Chinese women pushed its total price to a whopping $35.2 million – significant, considering , that Barbie dolls have almost no history in the country.
“Who’s The Suspect” (aka “Last Suspect”), China’s weekend winner, opened a week ago with $23.4 million, including previews. The film is directed by Mo Zhang, daughter of Chinese film legend Zhang Yimou. Produced by Beijing Dino Films, the thriller stars actress Zhang Xiaofei as a lawyer who is forced to defend a death row suspect after her own daughter is kidnapped. Chinese ticketing app Maoyan currently predicts the film will end its run with around US$71 million (RMB515 million).
The next U.S. film to hit its Chinese screens will be Lionsgate’s prequel “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which opens promptly in North America on Friday.