11
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‘The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes’ chirps $44m opening: Enough to reignite franchise?; ‘Marvels’ suffers worst MCU 2nd weekend drop
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- Authors
- Anthony D'Alessandro
- Published
- Nov 18 2023
- Word count
- 2857 words
I watched The Marvels this weekend, and it's definitely not a good film, but I'm surprised at how badly it's been received. It feels a lot like other Marvel films, it hits all the right beats at mostly the right times, and makes for a fun if very predictable superhero romp.
I wonder if people just aren't attached enough to Captain/Ms Marvel to turn up for the characters, and they aren't interested enough in the overarching arcs to turn up for the film itself. So you end up with either the die-hard Marvel fans, or people just turning up to the cinema to see what's going on. And apparently those aren't large enough demographics to sustain such a big movie anymore.
I went with my kids yesterday and they loved it. I didn't mind either but I'm not on the marvel hate train as much as much of the industry seems to be on.
I kinda figured this will be one of those "I never watched it but I wrote a review and then now realize it's ok" movies a few years from now.
I can see that. I certainly don't see how one could particularly hate the film except for the general superhero fatigue issue. It's very paint-by-numbers, but it paints those numbers well, and the jokes are fun - I went with a friend who enjoyed the singing planet because she could poke fun at me for singing too much, and the cat scenes were so dumb, but in a fun, ridiculous sort of way that I can imagine your kids enjoying, mainly because they made me feel like a kid again!
But it didn't feel like it had much of a bite to it, to give it any sort of staying power. All of the more meaningful moments the film had (Captain Marvel's history with the alien species, the gang learning to get on with each other, the broken relationship between Danvers and Rambeau, etc) felt really underexplored. So while I don't think it deserves the bad rap it's getting at the moment, I don't think it's going to gain any sort of "forgotten treasure" status in the future.
I'm not really a Marvel-fan but not a hater either. Let's be real, superhero movies are a safe investment. They're easily recognizable for the public and they can easily create more additional sequels without the risk of setting up something new which has to be properly set up to work.
Yes, it's pretty common now to hate Marvel but I think the problem stems from the fact that people are just getting tired of the high quantity of superhero movies that are lower in quality than their prequels.
I hadn't even heard about the new Hunger games movie, though admittedly I'm not in the target demographic. I wonder if their marketing budget was smaller or if I'm just more out of touch than usual
They actually had an edge that a lot of studio didn't have recently which was that they got an interim agreement from SAG so the Actors have been promoting the hell out of this movie.
But, admittedly, the target demo for this skews heavily female and with a big chunk being under 25.
Marvels having not only the lowest opening for the MCU but also a Morbius like second week drop just confirms total market rejection. Someone's head is gonna roll for this at Disney.
Also, Trolls Band Together came out this weekend:
Universal is probably the studio in best shape right now. There's a good chance that this out-grosses Wish, Disney's 100 year anniversary celebratory film which has received the worst reviews for Walt Disney Animation since their slump in the 00s.
Edit: In terms of Hunger Games numbers. They're alright. Compared to it's relatively low budget it's not bad. Compared to the franchise? The other Hunger Games movies grossed more than this in their opening day. These numbers are in line with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. I do believe word of mouth is better than that so it should be able to outgross it domestically (Secrets of Dumbledore didn't even hit 100M) but not world wide since the Harry Potter franchise is stronger internationally (Secrets of Dumbledore still hit 400M WW).
Captain Marvel is by far my favorite character in the MCU, mostly because of Brie Larson who I have loved ever since Short Term 12. Can't afford tickets to the cinema at the moment so I haven't seen it yet. But it really hurts to see this movie doing so poorly, knowing there won't be another Captain Marvel movie :(
I think the problem with Marvels (and Morbius) was terrible marketing. I've discussed it with a few people and none of them even knew about it until it failed, Disney expects Marvel to hype itself up but that just isn't happening
The strike limited marketing significantly