Why did ‘The Marvels’ flop on its opening weekend? The MCU film was marred by poor timing and an ever-increasing feeling of superhero movie fatigue.
The Gist:
The Marvelspremiered in theaters on Nov. 10, 2023.
It is currently the biggest box office flop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Several factors were working against its financial success.
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Whereas the Marvel Cinematic Universe once stood at the summit of pop culture conversations and box office success, it now stands on some rather shaky footing. Its post-Endgame phases have been plagued by inconsistent quality, lackluster animation, over-saturation between films and streaming series, and troubled productions that place even the most anticipated projects on thin ice. But despite the divisive reactions that Phase Four and Five have gotten, Marvel Studios could at least bank on regular box office success.
Unfortunately, even that may no longer be a safe bet. After all, The Marvels premiered in theaters on Nov. 10, 2023 to become the biggest box office flop of the MCU thus far. According to Variety, the film made a scant $47 million in North America during its opening weekend and $63 million internationally. But why did The Marvels flop? If you take away all of the needless bigoted criticisms lobbied against Brie Larson, there were plenty of factors working against the film’s success.
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Source: Marvel Studios
‘The Marvels’ flopping can be chaled up to bad timing and way too much Marvel in the 2020s.
The Marvels unites three separate heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the film, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and teenager Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) accidentally become linked through their cosmic powers and must work together in order to stop an evil warlord named Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) from continuing her interplanetary conquest.
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From a Marvel fan’s perspective, there’s already an issue with how approachable the film is for general audiences. In order to keep up with The Marvels, one would have to have watched two movies (one of which is three hours long) and two separate shows streaming on Disney Plus that otherwise have nothing to do with each other. Even dedicated MCU fanatics who could check off the first two things on this list may have trouble keeping up, especially when taking everything else into consideration.
Throughout the 2020s, Marvel Studios has oversaturated the market with more releases than one can be reasonably expected to keep up with. Thanks in no small part to having to make up ground for the lack of production caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as former Disney CEO Bob Iger’s insistence on constant releases toward that end, movies and streaming shows were being released at a blistering pace.
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Not only would this stretch production teams remarkably thin, but the rate at which projects were put out would tire out even the most dedicated Marvel fans trying to keep themselves abreast for whenever the next big thing drops.
But that alone doesn’t explain The Marvels financial failure. After all, several MCU films released in the 2020s still managed to conquer the box office during their releases despite the overabundance of Marvel. Of course, those films didn’t have a strike to contend with.
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Part of the reason for The Marvels flopping can be attributed to the SAG-AFTRA strike being timed against the film’s release. With hundreds of Hollywood actors enacting a movement against unfair wages and the encroaching influence of AI in filmmaking, those same actors were unable to promote any upcoming projects that were already slated for release. As such, Brie, Teyonah, and Iman couldn’t perform the regular promotional circuit for their own superhero movie.
This certainly isn’t meant to say that the actors didn’t deserve to strike. They have every right to fight back against studios that take their work for granted. But the lack of promotional material from said actors would be enough to rattle any release, even a Marvel film.
Regardless of the film’s overall quality, The Marvels’ success was marred by its inability to promote itself properly and audiences coming to grips with how much Marvel is officially too much Marvel.
A 10-second video shows before and after pictures of a man who fought in World War II. He looks shell shocked and many viewers could relate.
Singer-songwriter Julia Still told a sobering story in a video only 10 seconds long, sharing photos of her grandfather before his time in World War II and after.
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“Thinking about how my grandfather looked like a totally different person after serving in WWII,” Julia wrote in the Nov. 29 TikTok video as she posted the before-and-after comparison.
The before-and-after photos of Julia’s grandfather are a “clear representation” of the ravages of WWII.
In the first photo, Julia’s grandfather looks like a self-assured young man, fixing a steely gaze toward the camera. In the second photo, however, he appears gaunt and his eyes aren’t as focused — the “thousand-yard stare” exhibited by so many WWII veterans — as he poses next to his wife.
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“It’s the most clear representation of what war does to a man that I’ve ever seen,” Julia wrote in the photo caption. “The second picture is his wedding photo. They got married as soon as he came home.”
When a TikTok commenter observed that the man’s eyes “look so haunted” in the second pic, Julia agreed. “They do,” she wrote.
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Another commenter, meanwhile, wrote, “He is so handsome before, and after, he looks… lost. Sad.”
To that, Julia replied, “It breaks my heart. He spent most of his life self-medicating with alcohol and was a pretty distant man.”
And in another comment, Julia told her TikTok audience that her grandfather wouldn’t tell anyone what he went through. “Always said he was ‘just a cook,’” she added.
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Other TikTok users shared similar stories from the veterans in their families.
Elsewhere in the comments under Julia’s video, TikTok users described how war trauma impacted their family members.
“Mine aged as well,” one person wrote. “You could see in his face. He had such bad shell shock, too. I always remember people telling me to never wake him up. I miss him.”
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Another user commented, “Mine came back and fed every stray animal he saw because he was a [prisoner of war] and understood their hunger after that. He was presumed dead for a while.”
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A third TikToker said their grandfather fought in the Pacific during WWII. “Lived until he was 97 and always said he could still hear their screams, taste their blood, and feel the bombs,” that TikToker wrote.
Another person commented, “My grandma and mom sat up nights with my grandfather hallucinating he was in France, about to fight, 30 years later. Hid anything he could use as a weapon.”
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Someone else shared, “My grandpa was on the beaches of Normandy. Never talked about it, and one day we found his draft papers. When reading them out loud, I saw that man cry for the first time.”
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And there were yet more stories of shell shock. “My papa went in at 17 and came back a year after most of the men had come home,” a different TikTok wrote. “He looked completely different, too. Left a boy and came back a haunted man.”
FYI, if you’re dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or you know someone who is, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website offers information, treatment options, and programs for service members impacted by PTSD.
Looking for the ‘RHOP’ cast’s ages? See how old the current stars of Bravo’s reality show ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac’ are.
Source: Bravo
The Gist:
The Real Housewives of Potomac casts have diverse ages within multiple generations.
The eldest RHOP star is over 20 years older than the youngest star.
Each of the RHOP cast shares a birthday with several A-listers.
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The RHOP cast’s ages don’t make them the oldest active stars of the Real Housewives franchise: That title belongs to 66-year-old Real Housewives of New York City star Ramona Singer, Screen Rant reports.
But the women of The Real Housewives of Potomac do run the gamut from baby boomers to Gen X to millennials! Thanks to Famous Birthdays, we know the date of birth for each Potomac Housewife—and the celebs who celebrate birthdays on the same day!
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Karen Huger is 63.
Source: Sophy Holland/Bravo
The oldest Housewife of the bunch—no shade!—is Karen Huger, one of the show’s original cast members. This “Grand Dame of the Potomac” has made a name for her with her successful fragrance and wig lines.
Karen was born on May 3, 1963, and shares a birthday with late singer James Brown, The Wonder Years star Dulé Hill, and Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash.
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Gizelle Bryant is 53.
Source: Bravo
Another O.G. star of RHOP, Gizelle Bryant is a philanthropist, a cosmetics entrepreneur, and now a published author, with her novel My Word hitting bookshelves in 2019.
Gizelle was born on Sept. 9, 1970, and shares a birthday with comedian Adam Sandler, singer Michael Bublé, and The Undoing star Hugh Grant.
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Robyn Dixon is 44.
Source: Bravo
Original RHOP Housewife Robyn Dixon is a full-time mom who somehow ekes out time to be a real estate investor and a fashion accessory mogul as well.
Robyn was born on March 31, 1979, and shares a birthday with reality star Kourtney Kardashian, comedian Kevin Hart, Jurassic World actor Chris Pratt, and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine.
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Ashley Darby is 35.
Source: Sophy Holland/Bravo
The youngest of the original RHOP stars, Ashley Darby is a former Miss District of Columbia who went on to become a certified yoga instructor and a philanthropist.
Ashley was born on June 8, 1988, and shares a birthday with rapper Kanye West, late comedian Joan Rivers, and TV host Maria Menounos.
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Candiace Dillard Bassett is 35.
Source: Bravo
A RHOP Housewife since Season 3, Candiace Dillard Bassett has beauty-pageant roots, too: She was crowned Miss United States in 2013. The Atlanta native also worked in the White House Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, too, and she became a recording artist with her R&B single “I See You.”
Candiace was born on Dec. 14, 1986, and shares a birthday with High School Musical alum Vanessa Hudgens, rapper Offset, and singer Tori Kelly.
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Wendy Osefo is 39.
Source: Bravo
The fifth season of the Bravo reality show saw Wendy Osefo join the cast. Bravo touts that this Maryland native is an award-winning Nigerian-American television personality and the founder and CEO of the 1954 Equity Project, LLC.
Wendy was born on May 21, 1984, and shares a birthday with late rapper Biggie Smalls, Olympic diver Tom Daley, musician Gotye, actor Mr. T, and Teen Mom 2 star Briana DeJesus.
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Mia Thornton is 38.
Source: Kelvin Bulluck/Bravo
The newest RHOP Housewife, Mia Thornton joined the show for its sixth season. She earned a degree in neuromuscular massage therapy and owned Massage Envy spas before developing the Joint Chiropractic franchise with husband Gordon.
Mia was born on November 25, 1984, and shares a birthday with On My Block actor Diego Tonoco, Dead Like Me star Christina Applegate, Dancing With the Starsjudge Bruno Tonioli, and TODAY co-host Jenna Bush Hager.
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Nneka Ihim — 36
Source: Bravo
Nneka came to The Real Housewives of Potomac in Season 7 ready to flaunt her “drive and appreciation for the finer things in life.” Like any newbie, Nneka has stirred up some drama with her new castmates, particularly Wendy Osefo and her mother, Iyom Susan Okuzu.
Born on Sept. 11, 1987, Nneka was born on a day forever remembered by most people in the U.S. The Bravo newcomer shares her birthday with several celebrities, including Taraji P. Henson, Ludacris, Harry Connick, Jr., Amy Madigan, Virginia Madsen, and Moby.
The star of ‘Elvis’ is now dating model and fashion icon Kaia Gerber. Rumors of the two dating first began swirling in December 2021.
Source: Getty Images
The Gist:
Austin Butler’s current girlfriend is Kaia Gerber.
Kaia is a model and actress, and you might recognize her as the daughter of model icon Cindy Crawford.
Prior to dating Kaia, Austin was romantically linked to actress Vanessa Hudgens.
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January 2020 marked a turbulent period for Austin Butler, the star of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, Elvis, and Kaia Gerber, who has appeared on the cover of Vogue, Love Magazine, and others.
Austin announced his split from his partner of nine years, Vanessa Hudgens, on Jan. 14, 2020. Meanwhile, Kaia sparked breakup rumors with The King of Staten Island writer and SNL starPete Davidson on Jan. 17, 2020. Are Austin and Kaia dating now?
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Source: Getty Images
Who is Austin Butler dating? Austin and Kaia sparked dating rumors in December 2021.
A prolific actor, Austin scored roles in Disney shows like Hannah Montana and Nickelodeon staples like Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide,iCarly, and Zoey 101. Soon, he was appearing in projects like CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and The Bling Ring. When did he start hanging out with Kaia?
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Austin and Vanessa Hudgens reportedly met on the set of High School Musical in 2005. They started dating in 2011, staying together for nine years. Meanwhile, Kaia was linked to Wellington Grant, Pete, and Jacob Elordi before she started spending time together with Austin in the second half of 2021.
Kaia and Austin have yet to confirm their relationship status. They were first snapped by paparazzi together after attending a hot yoga class on Dec. 21, 2021. They were then spotted on Feb. 14, 2022, while taking a casual stroll in London. On Feb. 17, they were seen again in Soho, New York.
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According to IMDb, Austin is currently working on Masters of the Air, a forthcoming TV show executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Filming locations include Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, U.K., and Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and others. Austin’s new project with Baz Luhrmann, Elvis, is slated to be released on June 24, 2022. Austin plays the lead role.
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The rumors about Austin and Kaia took fans by surprise.
“What. Wasn’t Kaia Gerber just dating Jacob Elordi not too long ago? And now she’s together with Austin Butler? Damn, where does she get all these men? Please send some my way,” tweeted @olsensonfilm.
“But the 10-year age gap between Kaia and Austin though. Has she learned anything from Taylor Swift?” tweeted @AWeedInAGarden.
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Before meeting Kaia Gerber, Austin Butler sparked dating rumors with Lily-Rose Depp, Olivia DeJonge, and Cody Kennedy.
After his nearly decade-long relationship with Vanessa Hudgens ended in January 2020, Austin went on dates with Lily-Rose Depp and Olivia DeJonge, who plays Priscilla Presley in Elvis.
Austin and Lily-Rose put on a steamy display in August 2021, following a romantic dinner date in London. Lily-Rose split up with Timothée Chalamet in 2020, only to spark reunion rumors several times in 2021.
Austin and Olivia DeJonge sparked dating rumors several times in 2020 and 2021, but they didn’t make the relationship official. Before embarking on a long-term relationship with Vanessa, Austin was also linked to Cody Kennedy.
Elvis is slated to arrive in cinemas on June 24, 2022.
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