Be that as it may, it looks like it’s going to be a tight race. That said, coming in number one isn’t what’s important here. What we’re looking at is a Marvel movie that is, in all likelihood, going to open below “Morbius,” which debuted at just $39 million in 2022 before topping out with just $167 million worldwide. That film, as part of Sony’s ever-expanding “Spider-Man” spin-off universe, was met with lousy reviews and its greatest legacy was a slew of internet memes. The only saving grace was the movie’s very reasonable budget, which was said to be in the $75 million range.
Luckily, Sony also kept the budget reasonable for “Madame Web,” with the film costing less than $100 million. Yes, that’s still a lot of money, but it’s cheap for a superhero film. That means the Marvel Comics adaptation can avoid becoming a financial catastrophe even with a soft opening weekend. But if it suffers a massive drop in its second weekend and, like “Morbius,” suffers terrible reviews, it might still have a tough time making its money back. At best, it’s going to deliver modest ticket sales, and theaters need more than that right now to hang their hopes on.
2023 was a watershed year for superhero cinema. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was the only outright successful live-action comic book film last year, with “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle,” “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Marvels,” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” all greatly disappointing against sky-high expectations. Sony did score an animated hit with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” but outside of that, it was tough sledding. In the early going, it appears things won’t be any easier in 2024 and beyond. There is no longer a presumed level of success just because that Marvel logo is stamped on a project.
“Madame Web” hits theaters on February 14, 2024.
Source link
