I caught and quite enjoyed Marvel Studios’ The Marvels
Friday night … but I guess not a lot of people did.
Deadline
reports that the film – directed by Nia DaCosta and starring Brie Larson, Teyonah
Parris, Iman Vellani and Samuel L. Jackson – is posting a $47 million three-day
opening, which is the worst opening weekend in the history of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. And with a $200 million+ budget, one has to imagine that Kevin Feige and
the key stakeholders at Marvel Studios are putting plans in place to ensure it’s
only up from here.
But here’s the thing – The Marvels is actually pretty
good, and is absolutely not deserving of the
Yeah, that’s right! I liked it! And judging by its 62% Tomatometer Score and 85% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, I’m not alone. It’s fun, has a lot of Marvel wackiness that I tend to enjoy, and the three titular Marvels shine. But with all its interstellar action and kinetic power-swapping fight scenes, it somehow feels small for a Marvel movie, so the folks clamoring for the next Avengers: Endgame-level epic will find nothing like that here (although my theater ERUPTED during a certain character’s mid-credit scene appearance). But it is just “pretty good” in my eyes, and it wouldn’t crack my MCU Top 10 or even come close to it. That’s fine.
If the movie is actually enjoyable, though, then what
exactly went wrong? Some will say the brand recognition for Captain Marvel, Ms.
Marvel and Monica Rambeau isn’t very strong, and that it’s asking a lot of
casual fans to expect them to absorb two or three different streaming series to
understand how we got to this point (in reality, the film does a pretty good
job bringing people up to speed). Some will also note that the SAG-AFTRA strike
ended just one day prior to the film’s release, which didn’t really allow for
the type of media blitz and celebrity appearances that this type of film
typically entails. And, still, there will be those out there – you know the
type – who will say that people don’t want female-led blockbusters and that
Marvel Studios’ “pandering” has caught up with them, even though Barbie
and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour proved otherwise in big, big, sparkly
ways.
My hypothesis? If a film isn’t publicly perceived as a massive
cultural event, which was the case for Barbie, Taylor Swift: The Eras
Tour, Oppenheimer and, more recently, Five Nights at Freddy’s,
audiences will choose to skip the theater and remain in the comfort of their
home because it’s A) cheaper and B) where they can see everything eventually by
employing a small amount of patience. The economy still stinks, movie tickets
are more expensive than ever, and the options people have for entertainment at
home are staggering. Unless any of those factors change, “pretty good” superhero
movies like The Marvels will continue to struggle finding those Endgame
audiences, perpetuating the false narrative that the MCU is “dead” and that the
only way to save it is to either bring
back the original Avengers roster – including deceased characters Iron Man
and Black Widow – or to reboot the universe entirely. I hate both of those
options, for the record. I think it boils down to making bigger swings in
theaters and reserving “smaller” stories that don’t have universe-shattering
implications for streaming. Audiences have changed since 2019.
But as I said earlier, The Marvels is fun, and if you’re
able to cut through the static and the negative press, you’ll find an
entertaining movie that’s full of heart. The MCU is alive and well, despite
those reports of its demise, but their theatrical strategy is still struggling
to adapt to a post-COVID, pro-streaming entertainment landscape. Slowing down –
both for the benefit of the audience as well as the people working behind the
scenes – and strategically building to must-see theatrical events could be the
key to saving the universe … at the box office, at least.
No comments:
Post a Comment