Marvel's latest blockbuster has seen one of the worst opening weekends ever which may not come as a shock to some.
The Marvels is the 33rd installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and tells the story of Carol Danvers (played by Brie Larson) getting her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (played by Teyonah Parris), which forces them to work together to save the universe.
As a sequel to 2019’s billion-dollar movie Captain Marvel, which included some big names including Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson, and Park Seo-Joon, many hoped that this film would pay off during its opening weekend, but Variety recently reported that it only managed to secure $47 million in North America and $63 million internationally - the lowest opening weekend in the franchise’s history.
Check out the trailer for The Marvels:
Prior to the release of The Marvels, the worst debut belonged to 2008’s rendition of The Incredible Hulk which came in at approximately $55.4 million (not adjusted for inflation) and premiered in the early stages of the development of the MCU.
The outlet also compared the abysmal statistics to the Marvel hits released in and around the Covid-19 pandemic, which still saw higher profits on their opening weekends than this one. Black Widow managed to rake in $80 million while landing simultaneously a spot on Disney's streaming platform, Disney+. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings also earned itself $75 million and Eternals, which was initially branded a "disappointment" despite also having an all-star cast secured a respectable $71 million.
Yikes.
And with other major blockbuster's ready to hit the big screens including The Hunger Games' prequel titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as well as Disney’s latest animation, Wish, things aren't looking any better for the Marvel flick.
The film, which was released on November 10, gained some mixed reviews by critics and fans alike.
Wendy Ide of The Guardian gave it a pathetic two stars, writing that it was a "superheroes to zeros in [a] tepid franchise addition."
In her piece, she also slammed the cast members and their lack of enthusiasm throughout the scenes.
"You get the sense that everyone involved is going through the motions," Ide wrote. Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn enunciates in a crisply villainous upper-class British accent but is a little underpowered as a baddie. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel drops a bombshell halfway through the movie while visiting a planet whose inhabitants communicate with show tunes and jazz hands.
"But of the cast, it’s only Iman Vellani, as Marvel fangirl turned superhero Kamala Khan, who seems genuinely excited to be in the film," she added.
However, Clarisse Loughrey of the Independent was actually quite kind amongst all the hate, calling the movie "marvellous."
"Marvel has reached a crisis point – caught in a thunderstorm of its own making, its profits dwindling in the face of exploitative labour practices and overstuffed production lines," she wrote in her review. "So, isn’t it ironic that the project that the studio has publicly shown the least amount of faith in is the one to provide them with a blueprint for their own survival?"
The Marvels in now available to watch in all major theatres around the world.