Down to days before the release of The Marvels, Marvel Studios has made some significant changes in its marketing approach. Facing a disappointing opening weekend at the box office, the studio released a new trailer full of scenes ripped from the film’s third act (something they have typically avoided over the years) that play up the film’s multiversal stakes. Now, a new synopsis further teases the problems caused by the tear in space.
In Marvel Studios’ “The Marvels,” 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.”
As seen in the trailer, Monica Rambeau is tasked with investigating and repairing the wormhole created by Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn. Given what awaits on the other side of that tear, it’s shocking that the studio featured it in the latest trailer (they’ve also already shown what’s over there as well). While all signs point to The Marvels winding up as a box office disappointment for the studios, first reactions will hit social media later today so maybe some positive last-minute word of mouth can help boost the opening weekend take.
Currently, projections are down for The Marvels given that the presales didn’t pick up much speed over the course of the last few weeks. It remains a surprise that Marvel Studios didn’t risk pushing the project back further given the current climate and uncertainty surrounding the SAG-AFTRA strike ending anytime soon and how important the main cast is to the film. Yet, it could also be that pushing it back again would’ve made the project even more expensive moving forward.
Initial local projections went from $60M down to $50M, though some even had it at a potential $70M – $80M. BoxOfficePro has also lowered expectations at a potential $45M to $65M opening weekend with a domestic total of $109M. That would put it on track where The Flash ended up and could mean that the film will definitely not make up its $250M production budget at the box office alone.
Is it superhero fatigue? At this point, it doesn’t really matter what it is as the box office in general is struggling. Five Nights at Freddy’s second weekend plummeted in the worst weekend we’ve seen in a long time after a big frontloading by fans. It had a strong forecast going by early presales which is why The Marvels is currently faltering as it seemed to not pick up any pace in the earlier weeks, but also hasn’t had a lot of output by Marvel Studios or Disney outside of a big final trailer push yesterday.
The strikes are definitely hurting this film as its main selling point was the trio cast at the forefront, which was a no-show during any of the film promotions. That means no showcase during talk shows, interviews, or anything else one would hope to promote their film with. Even the long-awaited prequel to The Hunger Games is looking at a soft $38M to $50M opening currently. Who knows if this fall is going to be just a depressing reflection of the summer box office?
Globally, the predictions stand at a $140M opening worldwide, which is on par with what The Flash had in the summer (taking into context an off-season release it hurts just a smidge less than one of the expected biggest blockbuster releases). The big questions in the room are the initial reactions to the film, which are expected to drop some time tonight, and the reviews. As mentioned previously: people are a bit more frugal with their money and after going all-in with Barbenheimer, viewers may be a bit more cautious going into the rest of the year as inflation and the cost of living crisis is a big factor in decision-making nowadays. Plus, if it releases on Disney+ in the coming months it hurts far less than spending upwards of $40 bucks to go to the movies.
It’s not an excuse and it will stand to reason that The Marvels could potentially end up as the worst box office opening for any MCU release so far. Even lower than Eternals which had to fight off COVID during its initial release, but also benefitted from far fewer releases in theaters. It all depends on those previews as if they open to around $6M on Thursday, the film could face a $40M opening weekend. It all depends on word-of-mouth and reviews ahead of time; something Marvel Studios hasn’t been dependent on in a long time.
A big point is that men in the age range of 18 to 34 are the key factor for most Marvel releases, but, oddly, expectations are purely on this demographic given the film’s very strong female leads. If the film hits the right cords with its core audience, women between 17 and 34 could make up for that fact as they are closer to what the film is aiming for going by its leads and core demographic. That may also be one of the reasons its unusual presales core audience isn’t really invested given the current (depressing) political climate. Perhaps showing a special trailer ahead of Taylor Swift’s films may turn out as a surprise push for the release. For now, we have to wait and see just a few more days until the numbers give us a clearer picture.
In the wake of multiple Marvel Studios hit pieces that have made the rounds in the past week, actual news about one of the studio’s most frequently targeted properties has emerged. In an interview with Deadline, director Yann Demange, who replaced Bassam Tariq as the director of Blade in November of 2022, detailed plans for the film, including its rating.
Since SDCC 2019, when Kevin Feige revealed that the studio was working with Mahershala Ali to bring the Daywalker to the MCU, the film’s rating has been the subject of speculation and debate among fans. While it’s not unheard of for vampire films to be rated PG-13, it’s certainly much more commonplace for them to receive an R-rating. Each of Wesley Snipes‘ Blade trilogy films, which introduced the character to mainstream audiences beginning in the late 1990s, received an R-rating and fans seem to staunchly believe that the MCU’s take on the character needs to be every bit as mature and violent. As it turns out, Demange shares that belief.
“They gave me the R, which is so important,” said Demange of the rating of the Ali-led reboot. According to the director, part of why that rating was so important to him was because of the singular talent of the project’s star. “We are going to have fun because Mahershala is such a deep actor. I’m excited to show a kind of ruthlessness, a roughness he has, that allows him to walk the earth in a particular way. I love him for that. He’s got a dignity and integrity, but there is a ferocity there that he usually keeps under the surface. I want to unleash that and put it on the screen.“
Though the film has had its share of issues in pre-production, Marvel Studios renewned committment to ensuring its upcoming projects hold up to the high expectations of the audience should pay dividends…and Blade, depsite all its ups and downs, may end up being the poster child of those efforts. Blade is currently slated to release on February 14th, 2025.
At the current rate, The Marvels‘ may be facing the lowest opening since The Eternals,w which opened to $71.2M during the pandemic. Of course, it’s not definite but the presales are currently tracing behind Black Adam and The Flash according to a new piece by Deadline. It’s the first MCU film truly affected by the strike, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was still able to promote with its cast before SAG went on strike as well. There’s also the hot debate regarding Marvel and superhero fatigue with the latter showing its fangs with other releases like Blue Beetle, Shazam: Fury of Gods, and The Flash.
Marvel normally pulls in viewership and has strong openings with bigger drops going into its second weekend. So, it’s unclear if it’ll pick up the pace going into its final week, especially with hopes that the SAG strike is wrapped this weekend and the cast can start promoting the film. Whether that’ll make a major change is a different point of discussion and remains surprising that Marvel Studios has yet to postpone the release.
Some are pointing to the “homework” aspect which is a hot debate online. It’s hard to believe that those expectations are set by non-online viewers given that we’re introduced to a variety of characters in films for the first time and not everyone watches every single MCU project faithfully.
Of course, there’s also the potential that current film visits are closer to a “wait and see” approach rather than going all-in with presales. While Five Nights at Freddy’s managed to pull in strong numbers, they were above the initial expectations due to strong word-of-mouth. The same could also go for the MCU’s latest entry. So, all eyes are going to be on those reviews which are also only going to drop shortly before the release. For now, we can only wait until the film releases with the first Thursday preview numbers and its Friday box office hinting at where the film will end.
Five Nights at Freddy’s had a record-breaking opening for a horror film, which some believed was the highlight of the continued rise of video game adaptations. While it’ll take some time before people get tired of these adaptations, it seems that fans have front-loaded the latest entry quite a bit. As of now, the horror adaptation is going to have a second weekend at around $17.8M. That would mark a painful 78% drop.
The weekend is looking to be quite slow in general, especially as Dune Part 2 was delayed from its original release date due to the writer’s strike. Still, it’s not a good sign for day-and-date streaming releases to remain a thing moving forward, but there’s also a good chance that the film generally was frontloaded by fans similar to what we’ve seen with Marvel films throughout the last few years since the pandemic.
The rest of the weekend isn’t looking too great. Taylor Swift: Eras Tour is still at the second spot with $12M to $15M, which is a stronghold so far. Killers of the Flower Moon dropped to $6.5M which isn’t too bad given it’s initially a streaming release but given its $200M price tag still stings a bit. Priscilla also opens this weekend with a minor release with around $5M, which will put it on the fourth spot.
Here’s a rather fascinating surprise. It looks like Marvel Studios was tired of people complaining about what is and isn’t part of the mainline storyline and has established a new brand. As the internet complains about fatigue and “filler” in the build-up towards the grander storyline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems they decided to establish a “Marvel Spotlight” with a brand new fanfare composed by Michael Giacchino. Its name is inspired by the anthology comic book series from 1971 and gives them the opportunity to explore smaller stories without the weight of “having to watch it all” the internet claims.
Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum shared the following on the new branding:
Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity. Just like comics fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.
Brad Winderbaum
You can listen to the fanfare here:
The opening intro for Marvel Spotlight, the MCU’s new label.
These projects will focus on more grounded, character-driven stories with street-level stakes. pic.twitter.com/OaylT8HLd4
It makes sense and gives people the opportunity to be a bit more selective in what is or isn’t relevant. Ironically, it seems that the “homework” accusations are technically solved with this but it does expect that people are informed of what exactly this branding means. In a way, this is also their version of the Marvel Knights branding used in the comics to introduce darker, more grounded storylines. We’ll see how they use it in the future.
Surprising everyone: the first trailer for the next Disney+ series Echo has dropped. It dropped in quite a fashion, as not only is it now a Disney+ and Hulu simultaneous release, but it’s also going to be Marvel Studios’ first TV-MA release. So, we’ll have to wait for its binge-release in January to see if the story delivers on the MA promise.
In a small interview ahead of its release, director Sydney Freeland also teased that this version of the character might be quite a bit different from the comics. Echo was famous for her ability to copy anyone’s ability, which made her a formidable fighter against characters like Daredevil. It seems they have other plans for her according to the director.
Her power in the comics is she can copy anything, any movement, any whatever. It’s kind of lame. I will say, that is not her power.
Sydney Freeland
Details are still scarce on what exactly her new power set might be; if there even will be one but it’s definitely interesting that they are trying to head into a new direction with the character. We’ll see if we get some teases in the coming months. A January release is kind of fitting given it’s a sequel to Hawkeye, which was released in December.
As Loki nears the completion of its second season, it continues to stand as the nonpareil of what Marvel Studios television was initially intended to be and should endeavor to continue to be. Thanks in no small measure to the continued brilliance of Tom Hiddleston, the show continues, in modern parlance, to slap, slay and dish out weekly bangers. While it’s illogical, even preposterous, premise all but guarantees it’s not for everybody, Loki continues to embrace its place as a true sci-fi show and seems with each passing episode to submerge further into those depths. To that end, it’s no surprise that Season 2’s fifth episode, “Science/Fiction” turned out not only to be the most convoluted and nonsensical entry to date but also one of the series’ best and maybe one of Marvel Studios’ best episodic efforts.
As the penultimate episode of Season 2, “Science Fiction” does what penultimate episodes do. It makes real the consequences of the season’s ongoing concerns about the stability of the Temporal Loom which finally gave out in Episode 4’s cliffhanger. The destruction of the Loom, which refines raw time into the timelines where people live their lives, resulted in both the destruction of the TVA and, as revealed in Episode 5, the destruction of those timelines. When the Loom isn’t Looming, entire realities and their inhabitants are reduced to spaghetti, something that not even Sylvie, the colder-hearted Loki Variant, can abide. The loss of the Temporal Loom also puts Loki back in a familiar predicament as his time-slipping, thought to have been remedied in the season’s first episode, resumes albeit with an interesting twist as he bops about to different realities where familiar faces from the TVA are living their lives. By episode’s end and with the help of Ke Huy Quan’s A.D. Doug, PhD, Loki is empowered to control time-slipping, creates a bare-bones TVA and puts himself on the path to make an effort to save all of reality in the Season 2 finale. Job well done.
However, as part of Marvel’s longest longform episodic narrative to date, “Science/Fiction” serves as a linchpin not only for Season 2 but for the series as a whole. Season 2 head writer Eric Martin’s presence as a key contributor to Season 1 allowed for continuity of the creatives behind the series which means that the big ideas from the first six episodes are far from forgotten. Indeed, “Science/Fiction” may have just put Loki and Sylvie right in the same boat in which they found themselves when they met He Who Remains in the Citadel at the End of Time. In that meeting, He Who Remains offered the pair the power to be curators of the Sacred Timeline as his replacement as the man behind the curtain of the TVA. By assembling an all-new, all-different team and learning to slip time at will, Loki has put himself in position to prevent the destruction of the TVA (man, the time wimey stuff here is so fun–and painful–to think through) and, with no leadership left to speak of, take control. Take a bow, Al Ewing, as Loki is about to become the God of Stories.
There is, however, one fairly large question left to ponder as we wait for Episode 6: is Loki really writing this or any other story? Should Loki end up in charge of the TVA, isn’t that right where He Who Remains wanted him? Of course, as the God of Stories, Loki may somehow find a way to use Victor Timely’s Multiplier to allow the newly branched timelines to continue on but if not, if the decision is made keep all of reality intact by refining time back into the Sacred Timeline, won’t He Who Remains have accomplished exactly what he wanted? While he’s not the most trustworthy narrator, He Who Remains made it very clear that he was the architect of Loki’s existence and it was through his machinations that Loki ended up in the Citadel in the first place. As this Variant of Loki who has come so far on his road to redemption finally finds himself on the precipice of becoming the hero of all time, always, would Marvel Studios dare take his agency from him and reveal that he’s simply been He Who Remains marionette all along? With one episode left to go, it looks like we’ll all find out together just how much of this story has truly been written for Loki and how much has been written by him.
Blade has been Marvel Studios’ one project that isn’t seemingly getting off the ground. While they did announce a while back that Mahershala Ali would play the iconic character many years ago, the film never seems to have a finalized script or even a production start. There was one time it almost got the ball rolling but swiftly had to postpone again.
It seems a problem is that the story keeps evolving depending on who is writing it after going through at least five writers. There’s a weird phrasing by Variety where they state: “the story at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons” as if life lessons aren’t a common element in many of these films’ core themes. Yet, who knows where the sentiment came but it would be strange to have Ali’s Blade not be the main character.
Either way, it seems that the script issues almost led to Ali leaving the project (something that has been hinted at in the past) and Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios’ CEO, has hired Logan writer Michael Green to start from scratch. The upside is that Marvel may be learning from the budget bloats and hopes to make the film with a “smaller” budget of $100M, which may become more common moving forward.
Was only a question of time but it looks like Disney is dead set on owning Hulu 100% moving forward. It has been announced that they are set to purchase the remaining 33% stake for around $8.61 billion from Comcast. The following statement has been shared on why they are now invested in getting their hands on the rest of that streaming service.
The acquisition of Comcast’s stake in Hulu at fair market value will further Disney’s streaming objectives.
It’s unclear what exactly their streaming objectives are and if moving forward Hulu and Disney+ will become a more united streaming service, but it seems Disney has some plans to at least counteract the continued drop in linear TV viewership. As much as people are discussing the streaming wars, TV as we know it is still dying with viewership dropping steadily over the last few years.
So, we might see a major shake-up in the streaming market moving forward as everyone is ensuring they have the equity stake in the various platforms to ensure long-term investments. We will see if a new disruptor might pop up in the coming years but for now: streaming is here to stay.
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