Posted in: Box Office, Movies | Tagged: Marvel Studios, the marvels, Weekend Box Office

The Marvels Tops Weekend Box Office With Lowest MCU Opening Ever

The Marvels won the Weekend Box Office but it is far from an opening that Marvel Studios will be bragging about anytime soon.

Published Sun, 12 Nov 2023 15:48:07 -0600

by Jeremy Konrad

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The Marvels will go down in the record books as the number one film at the weekend box office, but it will be one Marvel Studios won't be bragging about anytime soon. The opening will stand at $47 million, the lowest opening for an MCU film to date. Many factors play into this low number, not the least of which the film's three leads are not able to promote the film until Thursday night when the SAF-AFTRA strike ended. Too little, too late, it seems, as the film also scored a low "B" CinemaScore. Also odd, the film played to a 65% male audience. This is also the first sequel to open to $100 million less than the original. On the positive side, it is the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film directed by a woman of color.

The Marvels Sputters. Will Hunger Games Follow Suit?

The Marvels led what largely was a similar box office to last week. Five Nights At Freddy's added $9 million more to its total to stay in second, while Taylor Swift's Eras Tour scored another $5.9 million for third place. Fourth place saw Priscilla gross $4.8 million as it expanded into over 1,000 new theaters, and Killers of the Flower Moon rounded out the top five with $4.6 million.

Many people will use this weekend as more ammunition in the constant "superhero fatigue" argument. They are still wrong. While Ant-Man, The Flash, and Shazam were all disappointments this year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is one of the highest-grossing films of 2023, as is Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Quality is the name of the game now, not quantity. Sure, the promo for this film wasn't what it could have been, not even close. But did it really cost it over $100 million from the opening of Captain Marvel? No. This was nothing more than the public deciding that this was not the film they wanted to see across the board. Disney realized too late that bombarding people with three movies and six shows a year is just too much; it dilutes the brand and makes especially the theatrical releases not feel special anymore. That they moved everything except Deadpool 3 out of 2024 this week shows that they see the need to regroup. Superhero films are far from dead, so let's stop with that nonsense.

The weekend box office top 5 for November 10th:

The Marvels- $47 million
Five Nights At Freddy's- $9 million
Taylor Swift Eras Tour Film- $5.9 million
Priscilla- $4.8 million
Killers of the Flower Moon- $4.6 million

Next weekend, The Marvels will fall to second, maybe third place, unless Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes really drops the ball. That is not likely, though, as anticipation for the film is as high as it has been, and they have been promoting for a couple of weeks after gaining an exemption during the strike. I see $65 million, but I would not be shocked to see it increase. For all of these big fall/winter films, it will be a question of legs. Also, opening next weekend and not one to sleep on is holiday slasher Thanksgiving. Fans have been waiting eight years for this film, which could mean a big opening, around $15-20 million. That may be enough to steal second from Marvel.

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