Goodbye, The Marvels, we hardly knew you. Well, we hardly saw you, going by the excruciatingly low box office figures for the Brie Larson sequel which is disappearing from theaters as we speak.
Elsewhere, in the Marvel multiverse, the Golden Globes nominations reveal a surprise inclusion, one that might mean good things for the MCU in the short-term but will probably only benefit fierce rivals, DC, in the long. Somewhere, in Warner Bros. Land (which I’m imagining looks like it does in Space Jam), James Gunn is rubbing his hands together in glee…
The Marvels belatedly limps past $200 million at the global box office as its theatrical run is put out of its misery
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, The Marvels is so undeserving of its ignominious fate as the biggest bomb the MCU has ever seen — Quantumania, yes, maybe even Love and Thunder, but this film’s heart was in the right place even if it wasn’t perfect. Sadly, it doesn’t matter what its small band of supporters think. With its screenings drying up around the world, The Marvels is finally crossing $200 million at the global box office. For context, that’s about 20% of what its predecessor, Captain Marvel, earned and a grand total of 7% of Avengers: Endgame‘s earnings, the last film to feature Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers in a major role. Who would’ve thought back in March that Ant-Man 3‘s $475 million haul would ever seem chunky?
Guardians 3 earns a major first at the Golden Globes, but this might be more James Gunn’s win than Marvel’s
But enough of the bad news for Marvel in 2023, let’s focus on a positive. Say hello to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, an officially Golden Globe-nominated movie. Thanks to the nebulously defined new category, Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, the cosmic threequel is now the very first MCU film not to have Black Panther in the title to receive a Golden Globe nomination. That’s something to get excited about, right? Well, yes, it is, but it also has to be said that this accolade for James Gunn’s filmmaking probably speaks more to the future of the man’s DCU than the now Gunn-less MCU.
Beast in show: Former X-Men star Nicholas Hoult is officially the DCU’s Lex Luthor
Speaking of Gunn, the DCU co-CEO has at last confirmed that, yes, Nicholas Hoult is set to play Lex Luthor in Superman: Legacy. Hoult — who initially came close to playing Big Blue himself before David Corenswet swept in — is, of course, a Marvel multiverse veteran himself, thanks to playing Beast in the X-Men prequel movies. His older self, Kelsey Grammer, just made a surprise return as Hank McCoy in The Marvels, in fact. “We went out to dinner last night to celebrate & discuss how we can create a Lex that will be different from anything you’ve seen before and will never forget,” James G. teased in a celebratory announcement post on Threads. A bald — I mean, bold statement there, Mr. Gunn.
