Summary

The Marvels faces the challenge of promoting itself without the support of its leading ladies, which worries director Nia DaCosta. The movie’s box office performance may rely heavily on word of mouth and the lack of competition due to other films being pushed back. The expectation for Marvel Studios to perform at the box office is high, and The Marvels will need a lot of luck to exceed the success of its predecessor.

The ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have seen many movies shuffling down the list of upcoming releases, abandoning a 2023 release in favor of shifting to 2024 with the belief that by then actors will once again be able to promote big films like Dune: Part Two. One movie that has stuck with its planned release date of this November is The Marvels, the final MCU offering of a tumultuous year for Marvel Studios. However, director Nia DaCosta has some reservations about how the box office of the movie will perform without the backing of its leading ladies.

The Marvels brings together Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parrish’s Monica Rambeau, as well as the return of Samuel L. Jackson following his Disney+ adventure in Secret Invasion. Although Captain Marvel was one of the biggest financial successes of the MCU’s Infinity Saga, the film gained a lot of online hate, particularly against Larson herself. Now, The Marvels has the task of selling itself, via DaCosta rather than its A-list stars. This is something that is a worry for the director. She recently told The Abbotsford News:

“I’m hoping I’m not promoting the movie by myself. No one’s there to see me, either. They’re going to be like, ‘Where’s Brie Larson?’”

Addressing the strikes themselves, DaCosta added that she believes there is a way for a resolution to be met, but it won’t come easily. She added:

“Everything that’s happening is an existential search that our industry is doing. It won’t be solved in one round of negotiations. But I’m hoping that the studios can end the strike soon and get us all back to work — to work for them.”

As it currently stands, there is little chance of the actor’s strike coming to an end in time for the likes of Larson and Jackson to take part in any promotion of the movie, and it may have to live or die on merit alone – even if DaCosta will give it her best shot as the lone voice shouting the praises of the movie.

Related: Ms. Marvel Influenced Brie Larson’s Role in Captain Marvel

Marvel Studios Need A Big Hit With The Marvels.
Marvel Studios

The expectation on Marvel Studios to perform at the box office is second to none. Even a movie that grosses $500 million is seen as a failure when it comes to the output of the MCU, which is why the year got off to a bad start when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended its theatrical run on less than $480 million despite featuring the first real appearance of the Multiverse Saga’s big bad, Kang the Conqueror.

The summer brought a much needed boost to Phase 5 with James Gunn’s final Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which pulled in just under $850 million, around the same as 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Based on the lack of support The Marvels is going to have in the coming weeks from its stars, the box office result is going to be reliant on word of mouth and the fact that the movie has a pretty clear run thanks to other films being pushed back to 2024. One thing for certain though, is that it is going to have a lot of luck to go “higher, further, faster” than its predecessor.

The Marvels is released on November 10, 2023.