Remember the bright shining light that was Captain Marvel when she showed up to shepherd Tony Stark to safety in the first few minutes of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame? Well, judging by this weekend’s projections for Carol Danvers’ latest outing, that light has dimmed. Disney/Marvel’s The Marvels is headed for an estimated global opening through Sunday of $110M-$115M, which would rep the lowest start ever for a Disney MCU title worldwide.
As we noted in our preview, this sequel was already expected to see low returns. With a few days now in its pocket, The Marvels’ projected $80M international box office opening has dipped to the $60M neighborhood. Currently, from what we can see, the Brie Larson-starrer from director Nia DaCosta is at about $25M through Friday overseas.
We are expecting No. 1 starts in almost all offshore markets, and social scores are decent, but there is a lack of urgency surrounding the film. As Anthony has noted, domestic is looking at $47M-$52M. There’s confusion and overexposure surrounding the title which incorporates elements from Disney+ series Ms Marvel and WandaVision, but which, unlike its predecessor, is not benefiting from being something fresh and/or the link between Infinity War and Endgame.
Social scores are slightly better than those of critics overseas. But of course there’s the aspect of actors not having been able to promote until the strike ended on Thursday, and that didn’t help the gottasee factor of rushing to cinemas.
While we had already tempered hopes for China, that market now looks to be coming in under $15M for the three-day weekend, and that’s despite the movie having been given early notice of its approved release. There is no Maoyan score for the moment, but critics are harsh on Douban at 5.4. To be fair, China has proved increasingly tricky across the board.
We’ll have a full update tomorrow.