Superhero Movies Are Struggling at the Box Office: Are They Dying Out?

As a seasoned gamer and movie enthusiast who has witnessed the rise and fall of various cinematic trends over the past few decades, I can’t help but feel a tinge of melancholy when observing the current state of superhero movies at the box office.


As we stand here in late 2024, the cinematic landscape isn’t looking too promising for the upcoming box office season. Despite the remarkable success of “Inside Out 2,” which single-handedly revitalized the summer box office, and the continued triumph of “Deadpool & Wolverine” surpassing the $1 billion mark, these are the only films this year to achieve that milestone. However, the issue appears to run deeper when it comes to superhero movies specifically.

It appears that following the COVID period, superhero films have struggled significantly at the box office, ranging from poor to incredibly poor performance. This problem might run deeper than initially assumed.

To put it simply, while some superhero films have received positive reviews, they’ve been having a tough time drawing crowds at the cinema, whether Marvel or DC productions – post-COVID times. On the other hand, movies not tied to the superhero genre have been thriving. Could there be a reason for this?

Let’s pause for a moment and check out this video, which has been kindly put together by Culture Crave team: before we proceed with our examination.

8 films have crossed $1B at the worldwide box office post-covid 🍿

Rank em’ ⬇️

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) August 13, 2024

In the aftermath of COVID-19, a grand total of eight films have surpassed the $1 billion milestone globally. However, only two of these are superhero movies, with the first one being Spider-Man: No Way Home, released in 2021. This film stood out due to its unique aspect of gathering all three Spider-Men on the big screen. Since then, no other superhero movie, including Deadpool and Wolverine this year, has been able to achieve this feat in the post-COVID era, which might come across as somewhat underwhelming.

Prior to the pandemic, superhero flicks often hit or nearly exceeded this level of success, but they’ve been facing difficulties since then. Conversely, animated films and other genres have seen significantly more victories, possibly indicating that the golden age of superhero movies might be over.

Despite repeated assertions from all parties involved that the supposed “superhero fatigue” isn’t real – notably Kevin Feige – it appears that audiences are no longer eagerly flocking to superhero films as they once did. For instance, ‘Venom’ underperformed, DC’s movies improved following the demise of the DCEU but failed to draw crowds, and Marvel has had one failure after another until ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’.

Regarding future trends, it’s uncertain where they might lead, but one thing is clear: the data we have cannot be ignored and it sends a strong message to major production companies to revise their strategies and tactics moving forward.

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2024-08-15 18:14