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“The Marvels” is poised to take off at the box office, but it won’t be as dizzying as its predecessor “Captain Marvel” and many of its fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
The MCU’s latest adventure grossed $6.6 million in box office previews. “The Marvels” is expected to gross $60 million to $65 million when it opens this weekend. That’s a far cry from Brie Larson’s first outing in the MCU as Captain Marvel, which opened to $153 million in 2019 compared to $20.7 million in Thursday previews. That film, which eventually crossed the billion-dollar mark, had the added benefit of being released between “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame” and was the first female-led MCU film.
The “Captain Marvel” sequel is also expected to be inferior to this year’s two previous Marvel films, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which grossed $104 million and $118 million, respectively, when they opened. They each earned $17.5 million during Thursday’s previews.
The only MCU films with opening weekends smaller than “The Marvels” showings are 2008’s “Incredible Hulk” ($55.4 million) and 2015’s “Ant-Man” ($57.2 million dollars), not adjusted for inflation. That could spell trouble for “The Marvels,” which cost $220 million to produce and about $100 million to promote. At the international box office, it is estimated to gross $80 million for a global start of $140 million or more.
Larson returns in “The Marvels,” which stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani as young heroine Ms. Marvel. Parris and Vellani originated their roles on the Disney+ shows “WandaVision” and “Ms. Marvel,” respectively, making “The Marvels” their big screen debut. The trio of women team up to fight the latest world-threatening villain, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), who holds the power to tear holes in the fabric of space and time.