Thunderbolts Tanks at Box Office: MCU’s Near-Flop Disaster

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Just as anticipated, the upcoming movie “Thunderbolts,” produced by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, seems destined to be another blockbuster flop following “Captain America: Brave New World.

Adjusted for inflation, Thunderbolts had one of the weakest debuts among Marvel Cinematic Universe films, surpassing only The Marvels in terms of ticket sales. Even more surprisingly, it didn’t manage to outperform The Eternals at the box office.

The movie is expected to have cost around $180 million, with an additional estimated $100 million spent on promotion. To earn $400 million at the box office, it’ll need to be quite successful. Its performance in its second weekend will provide a significant indication of its potential success.

Box office is low

According to industry figures, the movie “Thunderbolts” debuted with a domestic box office of $76 million, matching expectations. Internationally, it earned $86.1 million, a relatively low figure, resulting in a global total of approximately $162.1 million so far.

The estimated break-even point for “Thunderbolts” appears to be roughly between $500 million and $600 million. This suggests that Disney may face a loss of at least $100 million with the release of another Marvel movie.

Where are the Marvel fans?

Positive feedback has been plentiful, but it’s important to remember that these responses often stem from die-hard Marvel enthusiasts who attend every release and eagerly consume anything associated with Kevin Feigi’s productions, sometimes referred to as the more passionate segment of Marvel fandom.

In a comparison similar to a successful recent Marvel film, the joint release of Deadpool and Wolverine grossed approximately $211 million. This implies that around 64% of those moviegoers who watched Deadpool and Wolverine didn’t feel inclined to watch Thunderbolts.

Just wanted to clarify, I genuinely enjoyed the series called Thunderbolts. If you’re interested in my take on it, you can find my review right over here. Now, it’s not without its flaws, but it certainly has elements that dedicated fans will appreciate.

Feige’s M-She-U: A proven failure

It appears that the challenge lies not in the quality of the Thunderbolts, but rather in their recognition. For instance, the Guardians of the Galaxy opened to a staggering $127M even considering inflation. My personal view is that the issue might be that the Thunderbolts is yet another Marvel Studios production, which could potentially lead to some overlap or fatigue among fans due to the high volume of releases in this universe.

It seems that fans aren’t expressing enthusiasm for recent Marvel productions such as “The Marvels,” “Black Widow,” and the Disney+ series. However, when it comes to actors like Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, or Tom Holland, they do turn up. So, what does this suggest?

I wonder why Kevin Feigi chose not to make Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier, the leading character in Thunderbolts. It’s an intriguing decision that has left many fans puzzled (and secretly hoping for a surprise twist!).

Marvel getting an overhaul

Since the events of “Endgame”, things have taken a turn for the worse, leading to the revelation in a recent Wall Street Journal report that Feige is working on a significant restructuring of Marvel in an effort to put the studio back on a successful path.

The report offers the following:

During the opening remarks for the screening last night, “Thunderbolts” director Jake Schreier expressed: “Initially, when I began working on this film, Kevin urged me, ‘Make it unique.’ Let’s see if moviegoers who are fans of Marvel appreciate that distinctiveness when they head to the box office this weekend.

It seems quite apparent that Marvel enthusiasts aren’t keen on the idea of Thunderbolts. Perhaps this rapid name change is a result of this lack of interest.

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2025-05-05 00:04