The Marvels Finishes as Lowest-Grossing MCU Film Ever in Domestic Box Office With $205 Million

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The Marvels is officially the lowest-grossing MCU movie of all time, finishing its theatrical run with a wordlwide box office gross of around $205 million. That puts it roughly on par with DC’s Birds of Prey, which was considered a bomb despite making back more than twice its budget.

Released back in November, The Marvels got off to a tough start and never recovered despite somewhat more positive word-of-mouth than Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania. We gave The Marvels an 8 in our review, calling it “funny and heartfelt.”

Nevertheless, it was dragged down by a tough year overall for Marvel, which struggled to build momentum outside of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The MCU wasn’t helped by questions about its overall direction amid the SAG-AFTRA strike and the Jonathan Majors trial, its struggles being a big reason that Disney failed to have a billion dollar move in 2023.

The Marvels wound up pulling in roughly $84.5 in the domestric box office, putting it well below The Incredible Hulk’s $134.8 million domestic gross way back in 2008. Its overall budget including marketing and distibution was around $270 million.

Various experts have offered suggestions on the MCU can regains it Endgame-level hype, including breakout star Iman Vellani. Disney CEO Bob Iger suggested that the studio’s movies underperformed due to a lack of executives.

With 2024 now in full swing, the MCU will try and set a new course now that Majors has been fired. Its first test will be the release of Marvel’s Echo, which is slated to arrive next week. For more, check out every release date we know about for upcoming Marvel movies and shows.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.