‘The Marvels’ Tracking for a Less-Than-Marvelous Opening
Tracking for The Marvels indicates that the superhero film directed by Nia DaCosta and starring Brie Larson is looking at an opening in the $75-80 million range. That's about a 50% drop from the three-day opening of 2019's Captain Marvel, also starring Larson as Carol Danvers, which made $153 million.
According to Deadline, the projection is from box office analytics firm Quorum. One reason for the drop-off is that the stars of the movie — Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Park Seo-joon, and Samuel L. Jackson — are not permitted to promote the Marvel movie via interviews or appearances at comic conventions. Another reason is general superhero fatigue, as evidenced by the performance of Black Adam, The Flash, and Blue Beetle. As reported by Forbes, Disney spent more than $270 million making The Marvels, which doesn't even including marketing costs.
The Marvels Is the 21st Movie in the MCU
According to the official The Marvels advance press notes, “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 superfan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as ‘The Marvels.'”
Larson supports the choice of Candyman director DaCosta at the helm. “It was just clear from the first meeting with her,” says Larson. “Nia’s a nerd like me. She knows all about these comics and rolls so deep with all of this. Therefore, it’s shorthand to her, she knows how all this stuff comes into play. And then on top of it she has the leadership, the vision, the clarity and the temperament to do something like this. Nia guided this team to success and just had fun.”
DaCosta says, “When you sign on for Marvel movies, the first thing they tell you is to talk to the other directors. So there’s this beautiful network of people that you can communicate with and get advice from, so you always feel like you have someone there to guide you along the way.”
The Marvels opens in theaters nationwide on November 10.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
