‘The Marvels’ Meltdown: Disney MCU Posts Lowest B.O. Opening Ever At $47M — What Went Wrong
‘The Marvels’ Meltdown: Disney MCU Posts Lowest B.O. Opening Ever At $47M — What Went Wrong
SUNDAY AM WRITETHRU — after Saturday update: The last-minute push for The Marvels with an appearance by star Brie Larson on Friday’s The Tonight Show and at a theater in NYC post-actors…
While it may not necessarily be "superhero fatigue", it could well be correct to say it's "Marvel fatigue". It's not like Disney haven't been pumping out content for the franchise in enormous quantities, to the point that even those who don't really follow the franchise are aware that it's absolutely massive and there's a lot of content you have to consume if you want to actually know what's going on. This is always a problem with big franchises: either you have to consume all of it (which means you get tired of it quicker), or you have to skip some and then be confused later when suddenly there's a character or enemy or event or whatever that you're supposed to know all about, but you don't because you didn't watch that other series/film.
Superheroes aren't my favourite genre, but I like to dabble every now and then, and there are some superhero TV series and films that I have genuinely loved. But frankly at this point I wouldn't even know where to start with Marvel because there's literally too much of it. Keeping up with a franchise shouldn't be a full time job. But Disney is essentially assuming that everybody has time to watch everything it pumps out for its franchises, but somehow simultaneously never go "you know what, I've watched a lot of this lately, I'm in the mood for something else." The more stuff becomes required viewing, the more of the audience you lose due to people just not having enough time.
People could well be experiencing some Marvel fatigue without feeling superhero fatigue, just like I feel a little Star Wars fatigue while still being interested in other sci-fi. Disney want a monopoly on entertainment, but they also don't want to risk spending money on a wide variety of franchises in case some of them make a loss, because the short term losses on a few failed experiments are more important than the long term gains of creating something new that endures. So all they do is recycle the same stuff over and over, oblivious to the fact that audiences won't just keep buying the same stuff over and over. Marvel, Star Wars, remakes of animated films from 30-80 years ago... Disney won't take risks anymore, so they've over-saturated their own market with repetitive products that consumers are losing interest in.
38I think you've hit the nail on the head here. I think a lot of people haven't got back into going to the cinema since COVID which adds to the problem of not having the energy to see everything. My inertia for getting out to the cinema is much worse than it used to be, which seems to be the same with my social group. Collectively that makes it much more likely that as a group someone will be the voice of "anyone fancy a cinema trip".
13Yep, that's definitely a factor. If people are going to the cinema less, then they're going to prioritise films that they really, really want to see, rather than just anything that looks like it might be fun. The economic issues contribute to this too, because who's going to spend money they don't have on a film that might be good but is also likely to be extremely mediocre? And there's also the fact that behaviour in cinemas is... not great these days, which creates an incentive for people who want to enjoy a film instead of, you know, throwing crap and screaming and assaulting the staff, to just stay home.
And when you add onto that the issue I identified with the quantity of content, if you're a couple of years behind on the franchise, but a TV series you haven't got around to yet is required viewing for a film in the cinema, then you're not going to rush to go see it the very first weekend. What you might do instead is stream it or buy the Blu-ray a couple of years from now, when you've caught up on X, Y, and Z you need to watch first so the film makes sense, but then your purchase doesn't show up in the sales figures until 2-3 years in the future. And by that point, Disney have already decided the film was a failure.
6There's not a lot being released anymore that gains a lot from seeing it in a theater vs watching at home. The quality difference isn't significant enough to effect the experience with most films.
2
Marvel fatigue + poor advertising mostly, I would think. As someone who likes all the characters in this movie and the marvel universe in general... even I am waiting to watch it on Disney+. No Marvel movie is a must-watch for me anymore, hardly any movies are. Theatres are just too damned expensive.
36I've actually been wanting to watch this one and didn't even realize it had released. I thought it was scheduled for early next year. Poor marketing for sure.
18The poor marketing is partly because actors couldn't promote it, so that is another way the strike was effective. It is just a little delayed.
12
They really aren’t. Go to a Cinemark on a Tuesday, or at a Matinee showing, and it’s like $6 in a HCOL area.
2Well youre right, there are ways to see stuff on the cheap. In Canada we have some cheaper theatres, and cheap tuesday. But matinees arent a thing here anymore.
Also because of my job and family I can rarely go til the weekend. And its always me and my kids... its always fun but it ends up being very very expensive.
Better to just wait and watch it at home. Im sure its the same for a lot of people.
4
Just burnt out from all of Marvel and Starwars stuff
30Tbh I'm not caring so much about the movies, I catch them at some point or other, but I've been enjoying a lot of the series. Just finished Ahsoka, I enjoyed the Mando stuff and Andor was fun too. Just watched the first episode of season 2 of Loki as well and it's got me hooked again already.
I think it's just the stories they're trying to tell are too big to squeeze into a movie, 3 hours is already at the limit of what I'd watch for a movie but it's too short to tell the story without feeling like it's a ton of action sequences slammed together and the overall MCU doesn't really feel like it's building to anything in particular on the movie side. Maybe a smaller number of core movies with a more focussed narrative and faster release cadence would help.
3
I'm addition to what others have said, Marvel shows and movies with female leads get more flak than they deserve in my opinion. There still seems to be some misogyny in this niche.
23Although I'm too burned out on the franchise to be excited about new releases, Captain Marvel 2018 was one of the best movies they made in general without qualification. Wanda + Vision was phenomenal until the last episode and Ms. Marvel was great until the 3rd episode. This movie has plenty of potential that at this point I'm not sure they care about using anymore.
7I fully disagree
Most people really don't give a shit if the lead is female, black or a martian. They care about good movies with primarily good stories.
The captain Marvel movies were shit stories trying to push yet again the female narrative instead of just making a good story. Add to that a VERY unlikable lead actress who just bitches and brags about herself to the point that her co actors are just "suuuuuurrreee" right next to her, and you got a recipe for Disaster.
2
I used to love all the Marvel movies. and then I started watching one film and couldn't tell if I'd seen it already and didn't want to watch it if I hadn't... and then realised they're basically just identical stories player by different characters.
no reason to hit up the opening weekend if you're just going to watch a rerun.
20This.
I kinda just fell out of it because when people would discuss one of the movies, it always seemed vaguely familiar but I could never quite remember if that was one of the ones I had seen.
6
Honestly as someone who didnt catch the Marvels universe movies earlier (there is like what...dozens of movies and I dunno how many TV dramas?), I don't even bother anymore.
The amount of "homework" needed to understand what is going on is just tiring. Can a movie just be a movie and not part of a universe?
15Ehhhh they are all pretty self contained with a majority of the cross over stuff happening in after credit scenes. Way easier to follow than the comics they were derived from. As a comic book fan, having that continuity is pretty awesome. There aren't many other tv/movie franchises that do it at that scale.
3
All the superhero movies and star wars movies are the same. It's like every new COD. Do non-superhero stories and quit being so risk-adverse, it's bad for the shareholders anyways.
15None of those movies have any grit. Every story told is safe, it's meant for mass appeal, it's sanitized corporate garbage. Even the Barbie movie had more going for it in terms of commentary, story, and backbone.
16There's nothing wrong with mindless entertainment, unless that's all you watch, and then the problem is probably circumstances.
2
I knew about it, but especially since the pandemic, there’s very, very little incentive for me to go to a theater.
A few reasons for this…
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Streaming services supply high quality audio and video that I get a near enough theater experience at home. I’m willing to wait.
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As others have stated, with buying snacks, the theater experience is effectively a $50 per person event now. It’s ridiculous. And this whole notion of “well snacks are the only way the theater makes its money” is enough of a justification that perhaps it’s time for theaters to die. For roughly the same price and enjoyment, I can go get a very nice, large steak dinner, or quite a lot of high-quality sushi, or buy a video game.
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I don’t have to deal with other people.
So many people and journalists like to lament of the plight of movie theaters, but aside from the pandemic, this is of their own making (well, not my aversion to people, of course). There will still be blockbuster movies, but after Avengers Endgame, it’s going to take a lot for another Marvel superhero movie to get to that level.
15Yeah, ever since the pandemic, I just don't see any reason to go to theaters anymore. I tried my best to go see Oppenheimer and 70 mm here in Tucson, and found the experience so sub par that it was insulting. Remind me why film is somehow better again? What I saw was absolute garbage.
The movie industry will get what it deserves. After all, apparently the director knows better than everybody else. The customers don't matter.
1In the before times, my partner and I had a monthly subscription at Cinemark. It was great, comfy seats, beer, and good enough food. We would go at least twice a month and easily got our money's worth. Now that we are still dealing with COVID and the fact that our home theater setup is great, we have zero reason to risk it, even for a night out.
1
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more marvel failures please
14Didn't even know this existed until a couple days ago. Like there was no cultural interest or impact within my sphere...
13I noped out of this one when I heard I needed to watch a whole TV show to make sense of it.
The MCU worked better when all I needed to keep up on was 2 or 3 movies a year.
9I noped out of this one when I heard I needed to watch a whole TV show to make sense of it.
Which one? Ms. Marvel? Wanda Vision? Or did you really mean the movie Captain Marvel?
1Ms. Marvel, I did see the original Captain Marvel in 2019.
1
Great movie, on par with phase 2 movies but people have high expectations thinking every movie should be end game level.
8What went wrong is I wouldn't watch this if you paid me
8Well yeah. Nobody was really hyped about any of these characters. Only reason the first Ms. Marvel movie did good was cause it was during peak MCU.
6I think it’s mostly due to advertising impacted by the strike. I watched it this week and really liked it honestly. I’m glad the strike had this kind of impact, though most people are going to chalk it up to all sorts of other issues and won’t give credit to the labor movement I’ll bet.
6I’m so far behind the MCI—like a dozen films and a half dozen series. I’m not watching any new films until I’ve caught up, so…
Also, I only found out this WAS a film a few days before it came out.
5PSA: Stop. Making. Politically. Correct. Movies.
5Or - And hear me out - It may be because there was a huge 100+ day strike that resulted in almost zero promotion of this movie.
11🤮🙄😂
PSA: Stop getting worked up about silly things ya dang ❄
10Lol. Triggered.
7this is cringe. go away.
3This just in - 3 female super heroes count as politically correct. More at 11.
2Yeah I really, really don't understand why dudes are so triggered about a female superhero. Like, there's 3 out of how many male superheroes. And it's not even new stuff, they used it from the comics! I honestly don't know how you have so little going on in your life that you're triggered by women playing superheroes.
2
PSA: Keep. Getting. Mad. At. Barbie. Movies. We. Got. Sequels. Ready. For. You.
2
Had no idea this was even releasing.
I guess I'll wait until it's on Disney+ who the hell wants to go to theaters anyway, it's just too expensive4I had my fill after Endgame.
And the female lead movies just didn't appeal to me, as they have been consistently bad at writing "strong female characters" as they call it. It tends to just come off as cringy.
It's kinda the same writing problem with "The Justice League". Close to the entire movies dialog is just shitty one-liners. One-dimensional.
Like they only have two types of characters. The 'über bad-ass with the one-liners' or the 'overly emotional one with a chip on their shoulders'.
The latter worked for 'Scarlet Witch', but even that got to be a bit much in the end.
2What went wrong?
ROFL! Is this a joke?
2