How much do moviegoers care about Captain Marvel these days?
Not much, it seems, as The Marvels—the new Captain Marvel movie from Marvel Studios that stars not one, but three “Marvels”—has only made $47 million domestically following its premiere last week on November 10.
The Hollywood Reporter has declared that the movie is officially a “box office bomb” in its coverage, with this figure marking a new low for Marvel Studios, worse than the $55.4 million that The Incredible Hulk and Ed Norton managed back in 2008:
…the superhero tentpole opened to an estimated $47 million at the domestic box office to rank as the worst start in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also came in behind expectations overseas, where it launched with $63.3 million from 51 material markets for a global start of $110.3 million against a hefty $200 million production budget.
Part of the problem seems to be critical reception of the film, which doesn’t seem to be good, with Rotten Tomatoes showing a Tomatometer score of 62% at the time of this posting following negative reviews from top critics.
Some got the impression that the stars showed up just to collect a paycheck, not to mention what is apparently an uninspired choice of soundtracks:
Star Brie Larson seems pretty checked out here — almost as checked out as the jokers who came up with the idea of once again tapping the Beastie Boys for the soundtrack. “Hey, they’re on a spaceship! Let’s use ‘Intergalactic!’”
…while others have opined that Marvel movies are now super boring:
What happened to superhero movies? How did a genre rooted in astonishment, weirdness, and wonder become a byword for the normative, the familiar, and the mundane?
Here’s a description of the The Marvels, which sees Brie Larson back as Carol Danvers, joined by Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani, who play Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, respectively:
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. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as “The Marvels.”
Marvel’s next movies include Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and Blade, a reboot of the series that will determine whether Mahhershala Ali can play a better dhampir than Wesley Snipes.
Deadpool 3 will be the first out, according to an update on Marvel.com.