The film industry still has not completely recovered from the COVID lockdowns.
Several factors have contributed to the decline.
And Disney took it in the teeth on this “woke” disaster.
Disney loses $300 million on two bombs
The pandemic response was terrible on a number of fronts.
People lost their lives, livelihoods, and children fell behind academically.
Down on the list of COVID negatives was the financial hit to the Hollywood box office.
For instance, superstar director Christopher Nolan’s movies tend to be massive hits.
However, Tenet, which was released in July 2020, only opened with a paltry $9 million, and only earned $58 million domestically.
Nolan rebounded in 2023 when Oppenheimer opened with $82 million and totaled $330 million domestically, becoming one of the most successful R-rated movies of all time.
Despite the success of Oppenheimer, and the counterprogrammed megahit Barbie, other films have not fared as well, including Marvel franchises.
Leading up to Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Marvel films were almost a slam dunk to be major hits.
But the Marvel brand has sputtered since then.
And Disney took a major loss with the third installment of Ant-Man, and the sequel to Captain Marvel.
Forbes reported that “Disney made an estimated $296.4 million loss at the box office on just two of its Marvel superhero movies in 2023 according to analysis of recently-released financial statements. They reveal that the cost of making The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came to a staggering $762.4 million before Disney banked $124.9 million in government incentives bringing its net spending on the movies down to $637.5 million. They both bombed at the box office.”
Fans were particularly unenthused with The Marvels, which was sold as a girl boss movie following up Captain Marvel.
Brie Larson, the film’s star, also has not built up much goodwill, coming off as insufferably “woke” in interviews.
Forbes added that “Quantumania grossed $476.1 million which was lower than both of its prequels and equivalent to just 17% of the $2.8 billion made by Marvel’s 2019 blockbuster Avengers: Endgame. The Marvels fared even worse with takings of just $206.1 million giving it the lowest haul of any of the 34 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
What’s next?
Many have wondered if the Marvel brand is dead.
The performance of Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels is not a good sign.
Neither is the soft interest for the most recent Disney+ shows in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
One of the problems is that Avengers: Endgame felt like the conclusion of a decade-long saga that began with Iron Man in 2008.
The defeat of supervillain Thanos left a void.
Kang the Conqueror, the supposed next supervillain in the MCU was a flop, both on and off the screen.
Kang portrayer Jonathan Majors got into #MeToo legal troubles that got him “canceled” from Hollywood, and Kang as a character never had the gravitas of Thanos.
However, there is still good news for Marvel.
Deadpool & Wolverine was a massive hit, becoming the high-grossing R-rated film of all time.
And Robert Downey, Jr. was recently revealed as Dr. Doom in the new Fantastic Four.
Downey helped launch the MCU with Iron Man.
Maybe he can save it this time as the villain.
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
