The Marvels box office: Lowest opening weekend in MCU history

Chris Tilly
Monica, Carol, and Kamala in The Marvels.

The Marvels is in cinemas now, but the movie made a disappointing debut, scoring the lowest opening weekend in MCU history.

The Marvels is the third Marvel movie to hit screens this year. And the studio has had mixed fortunes, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 hitting big to the tine of $845 million. And Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania tapping out with just $475 million.

The early forecasts weren’t good for The Marvels. And it’s plight wasn’t helped by the fact that the movie’s stars weren’t able to promote their product due to the ongoing actor’s strike. Which ironically ended at much the same time that the film released.

So did The Marvels succeed or fail? Read on to find out.

The Marvels box office: How much did it make?

UPDATE: The Marvels made $47 million at the domestic box office over the weekend. Far below early forecasts. And the lowest for any movie in MCU history.

The film – which stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani – also failed at the international box office, grossing just $63 million, for a worldwide start of $110 million. With The Marvels rumored to have cost $220 million, the film will now struggle to turn any kind of profit once advertising and marketing costs are added to the mix.

Original story follows…

The Marvels is predicted to gross $60 million domestically over the weekend, though some commentators believe that number might be as low as $50 million. These figures come courtesy of Deadline, who just a few days ago were calling a $75-$80 million opening weekend. So it sounds like interest in the Marvel movie is diminishing as that release date approaches.

Overseas projection for the movie is apparently $80 million, meaning the movie is on course for $140 million globally. That’s lower than the $160 million debut of Eternals, and the $148 start that Black Widow got. Though the latter opened day-and-date on Disney+, which dented its worldwide gross.

For comparison, Captain Marvel debuted to $153.4 million in the US, and $456.7 worldwide, giving it the biggest opening ever for a female superhero movie.

As for advance purchases, Deadline states: “Pre-sales for The Marvels sit just north of $5 million, which is on par with Warner Bros/DC’s The Flash, that movie flaming out with a $55 million start stateside… The worry is that if previews, which start at 3p.m. Thursday, come in around $6 million, The Marvels’ weekend would crater to $40+ million.”

We’ll update this story as and when the first figures come in.

What is The Marvels about?

Here’s the official synopsis for the movie, via Marvel: “Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe.

“When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau.”

The Marvels hits screens this week – for more on the movie head here, or click on the below articles:

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About The Author

Chris Tilly is the TV and Movies Editor at Dexerto. He has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Newspaper Journalism, and over the last 20 years, he's worked for the likes of Time Out, IGN, and Fandom. Chris loves Star Wars, Marvel, DC, sci-fi, and especially horror, while he knows maybe too much about Alan Partridge. You can email him here: chris.tilly@dexerto.com.