In great news for everybody wanting it to fail but bad news for the struggling Marvel Cinematic Universe, next month’s release of The Marvels could be in with a shot of scoring the long-running superhero franchise’s worst-ever opening weekend at the box office.
Only the most optimistic of optimists would have been confident the Nia DaCosta-directed sequel stood a genuine shot at matching the $153 million domestic bow of its predecessor or coming within touching distance of its $1.1 billion worldwide haul, but the early projections are nothing short of disastrous.
According to Box Office Pro, Brie Larson’s long-awaited return to headline status is only tracking for a three-day opening in the $50-75 million range. If it comes in at the lowest end of those projections then it would slip below the $55 million of The Incredible Hulk and the $57 million of Ant-Man to secure the MCU’s worst first frame ever, but things don’t get much better whatever way you want to cut it.
Even at the highest end, a $75 million bow is less than half of what Captain Marvel netted, while a total domestic haul being predicted to end between $121-189 million could realistically see The Marvels make less money through the entirety of its run than the first chapter did in three days, or at best a week.
Not exactly the news Marvel Studios would have been hoping for, then, but with almost a month to go there’s still time for The Marvels to sell enough tickets to fly much higher, further, and faster than it’s currently expected to.
