In troubled times, we turn to the wise and sage advice of storytellers. Long ago, in times of war and famine, we looked to Aesop, or Socrates. Today, as The Marvels does medium numbers at its box office opening, we ask the guy who wrote Christine what’s up.
Yes, Stephen King has weighed in on the hubbub brewing around The Marvels, the MCU’s latest theatrical endeavor. The film, featuring a diverse cast of three female leads, is currently on track to mark the franchise’s worst-ever box office performance, with projections pointing to a $47 million opening weekend in the U.S.
Surprising no one with an internet connection and a concept of gender, the disappointing state of The Marvels’ ticket sales has become a point of delight for a loud, misogynistic corner of social media. There’s a big enough ruckus that Stephen King, who professes to not even liking Marvel movies, has felt the need to step in and say something.
King’s response inquires, borderline rhetorically, why anyone would celebrate the failure of an artistic endeavor. The internet, managing to put together all two pieces of the puzzle, was quick to solve his little riddle.
As has been the case with many high-profile female-led blockbusters from the last few years, it’s been hard to get a good feel for how The Marvels is faring with audiences and critics after a carpet bombing of the film’s Rotten Tomatoes score. Following a war of opinion-based attrition, it currently sits at an 83% approval rating with audiences, putting it in the same neighborhood as beloved MCU servings like Loki and Thor: Ragnarok. Meanwhile, MCU entries continue to see diminishing returns at the box office, with expert analysis pointing to the Disney Plus streaming release model as the culprit, more than the chromosomal makeup of the franchise’s stars.