From left: Iman Vellani, Brie Larson and Teyonah Parris in “The Marvels.”
Courtesy of Laura Radford/MARVEL
Female foreheadThe Marvels is set to open in the $75 million to $80 million range in the latest test of superhero fatigue at the box office. Releases November 10th.
The 33rd installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a follow-up to the 2019 star Brie Larson Captain Marvel, which opened to $153.4 million in North America, not adjusted for inflation. Watch for The Marvels varies widely by survey firm. NRG has it at $72 million to $88 million, while The Quorum believes $80 million to $90 million.
The superhero film is unique in that it stars three female protagonists. And directed by Nia DaCosta, who is the first black woman to direct a Marvel Studios film, as well as the youngest director of an MCU film.
The last title from Marvel Studios not to open to $70 million or more was Ant man in 2015 ($57.2 million). The majority of MCU films (25 of them) have opened to $100 million or more domestically, with eight films opening to $150 million or higher.
There is extra pressure on exhibitors to The Marvels let’s get along later Dune: Part II abandoned its November 2 release date due to the ongoing actors’ strike and the banning of talent from doing any promotion. Marvel Studios and Disney decided to keep it The Marvels her date, but hoped the strike would end in time for the cast to be released.
There is also the ongoing concern of superhero fatigue. DC has been hit the hardest, highlighted by The lightning bombing this summer after opening to $55 million domestically. One notable exception to any fatigue was Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The threequel debuted with $106 million domestically as it earns $845.6 million worldwide, just behind the second film ($863.7 million).
In the new film, Larson is joined by Iman Vellani, the star of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvelas well as Teyonah Parris as the grown-up version of him Captain Marvel character Monica Rambeau. The actress made her Marvel debut WandaVisionthat counted The Marvels Screenwriter Megan McDonnell among its writers.
The Marvels finds the heroes connected in a rather inconvenient way: Whenever one of them uses their powers, they switch locations with each other, as told in its season finale Ms. Marvel last year.
Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur and Saagar Shaikh also star in The Marvels.
October 19, 11 a.m: Updated with revised predictions.
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