The Marvels gets off to a weak start

UPDATE: On Monday, the final U.S. weekend box office was released at $46.1 million.

The Marvels, the latest movie from Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios, underperformed during its U.S. opening weekend, at least by Marvel standards.

The movie generated an estimated $47 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The figure includes Thursday preview showings.

Until now, the lowest opening for a Marvel Studios film was 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. It had an opening U.S. weekend of $55.4 million, back when movie ticket prices were lower compared to today. In 2008, the average ticket price was $7.18. The average price for the first quarter of 2023 was an estimated $10.81.

What’s more, The Marvels opened at 4,030 screens compared with 3,505 for The Incredible Hulk.

Marvel seemed invincible through 2019 when Avengers: Endgame generated almost $2.8 billion at the global box office. Since then, it has mostly relied on lesser-known characters. Also, the studio has cranked out various shows for the Disney + streaming channel.

The Marvels was a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel and also featured characters from some of the Disney + shows.

Indiana Jones 5 has $60M U.S. weekend opening

Promotional image for Indiana and the Dial of Destiny

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Desinty generated an estimated U.S. box office of $60 million for the June 30-July 2 weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

That was comparable to the 2021 U.S. opening of No Time to Die, which checked in at $55.2 million on its way to a global box office of $774.2 million

The two movies have a number of similarities. Both had production budgets approaching $300 million. Both the Indiana Jones and 007 film series shared cast and crew members.

Both movies also generated comments about their eventual financial success during their theater runs (excluding their eventual home video results). Both are long-running film franchises.

NTTD advances to $763M global box office

No Time to Die’s worldwide box office has reached $763 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That’s up from about $758 million a week ago.

The 25th James Bond film is reaching the end of its theatrical run. It has been available on premium video on demand since last month. It will become available on home video later in December.

No Time to Die’s U.S. box office stands at $158.6 million. That’s 20.8 percent of the global figure.

The Bond film is No. 1 globally for 2021 among non-Chinese movies. In the U.S., No Time to Die is No. 6 for the year.

Bond 25 questions: What’s up with the U.S.?

No Time to Die poster

No Time to Die is the No. 1 box office movie among non-Chinese-made films. Happy days are here again, right? Well, there may be one nagging concern, the (relative) gap between international and the U.S.

The U.S., even with China emerging as the world’s largest market, remains a pretty big market for movies. Yet, relatively speaking, James Bond’s support in Britain’s former colonies appears to be eroding.

Naturally, the blog has questions.

What do you mean by eroding support?

Here is are the figures during the Daniel Craig era, according to Box Office Mojo:

Casino Royale, $167.4 million, 27.2 percent of the global total

Quantum of Solace, $168.4 million, 28.6 percent of the global total

Skyfall, $304.4 million, 27.5 percent of the global total

SPECTRE, $200.1 million, 22.7 percent of the global total

No Time to Die, $158.1 million, 20.9 percent of the global total.

So?

Some British fans attribute that to Brits having better taste than Americans. These same fans dismiss the importance of the American market at all.

Are you being serious?

Mostly not (though such fans as described above do exist). Rather, it raises the question whether there should be more changes for U.S. Bond marketing versus international Bond marketing.

With No Time to Time, U.S. trailers were different than international trailers. But is that enough?

Remember, Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions said in 2015 that Eon controls the marketing and that studios just execute that plan.

If anybody at Eon is disappointed with the U.S. box office — and no one has said so publicly — they should perhaps look in the mirror.

Anything else?

For better or worse, the U.S. market likes superhero movies more than international markets The No. 1 U.S. movie in 2021 is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at $224.6 million. It’s based on a lesser-known Marvel Comics title from the 1970s.

Still, $158.1 million in the U.S. for No Time to Die, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, is nothing to sneeze at and not a flop. Many movies would love that size of box office.

Going forward, though, Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Amazon (which has agreed to buy MGM) may want to ponder Bond’s position in the U.S.

NTTD passes $758M in global box office

No Time to Die has surpassed the $758 million mark in worldwide box office as the 25th James Bond film’s theatrical rollout begins to wind down.

The Bond movie was at $758.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That included $600 million outside the U.S. It is the No. 1 global film among non-Chinese-made movies.

No Time to Die debuted in late September in the U.K. and came out in Australia earlier this month. The international release, handled by Universal, accounts for 79.1 percent of the total box office. The U.K. alone has generated $127.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

In the U.S., No Time to Die was No. 9 for the Nov. 26-28 weekend at $1.7 million. The movie’s U.S. total is an estimated $158.1 million. That puts No Time to Die at No. 6 in the U.S. so far in 2021. That accounts for 20.9 percent of the global total.

No Time to Die already is available on premium video on demand. The movie’s home video debut is scheduled for next month.

The Bond film is the fifth, and final, to feature Daniel Craig as James Bond.

No Time to Die passes F9 in global box office

No Time to Die passed F9: The Fast Saga in global box office.

The 25th James Bond film’s worldwide box office was $734.1 million as of early Sunday afternoon, according to Box Office Mojo.

That put No Time to Die at the top spot for 2021 among movies released by major U.S. studios. F9 previously held that spot at $721.1 million.

Since late last week, various outlets, such as digital service Puck, Deadline: Hollywood, and Forbes.com said No Time to Die was on the verge of passing F9.

In the U.S., No Time to Die, in its seventh weekend, was No. 7 with $2.7 million. The movie has been available via premium video on demand since Nov. 9. The U.S. theatrical total is $154.7 million, or about 21 percent of the global total.

NTTD to debut on VOD in U.S. next week, Screen Rant says

No Time to Die logo

No Time to Die will debut in the U.S. on video on demand Nov. 9, Screen Rant reported.

The entertainment news site said that United Artists Releasing confirmed the VOD date. United Artists Releasing, a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Annapurna Pictures, is handling distribution of No Time to Die in the U.S. Universal is in charge of international distribution.

Earlier, Screen Rant writer Cade Onder shared a screenshot of a YouTube ad via Twitter.

God damn that was quick, No Time To Die is going to VOD on Tuesday, November 9. pic.twitter.com/dpxAlASgMa

— Cade Onder (@Cade_Onder) November 5, 2021

Studios have moved to reduce the time that films are available only in theaters. Warner Bros. this year has been debuting films simultaneously in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service.

In the U.S., Oct. 8 was No Time to Die’s official release date, although there were Oct. 6 showings at Imax theaters and Oct. 7 preview showings at theaters generally.

The 25th James Bond film has had a U.S. box office of almost $137 million as of Nov. 4, according to Box Office Mojo. The film’s global box office is about $610.4 million.

Movie attendance generally has been held down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus also spurred three delays in the release of the Bond movie from spring 2020 to fall 2021.

In pre-pandemic times, 2012’s Skyfall generated a U.S. box office of $304.4 million while 2015’s SPECTRE scored $200.1 million in the U.S.

No Time to Die passes $600M in global box office

No Time to Die logo

No Time to Die has passed the $600 million global box office mark as the 25th James Bond movie nears the end of its worldwide rollout.

The movie’s global figure is now an estimated $605.8 million, according to Box Office Mojo. This weekend saw the Bond film debut in China.

In the U.S., No Time to Die’s fourth weekend was an estimated $7.8 million for Oct. 29-31. That was 36 percent below the Oct. 22-24 weekend. A decline weekend decline below 50 percent is considered a strong box office performance.

In the U.S., No Time has generated an estimated box office of $133.3 million. That’s not as popular as globally but nothing to sneeze at.

Context: Globally, No Time to Die is one of the most popular films of the COVID-19 pandemic era. The champ is F9: The Fast Saga at $721.1 million.

However, the pandemic has changed things. The champ for 2019 (the last year before the pandemic) was Avengers: Endgame at almost $2.8 billion.

Keep in mind: These figures are called grosses (as opposed to profits) for a reason. The studios split the money with theaters.

No Time to Die’s production budget approached $300 million. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer spent millions of dollars beyond that in marketing.

Conclusion: It’s good news and bad news. Bond still is popular overall. It’s not so great for those who pay the bills. All concerned might want to be more budget-conscious for Bond 26.

From the producers of The Rhythm Section…

Eon Productions logo

Eon Productions is getting involved in another non-Bond spy movie.

Here’s an excerpt from a story by the Deadline: Hollywood website.

The upcoming EFM just got a shot in the arm with the launch of Gerard Butler action-thriller Remote Control from Hyde Park, STX, G-Base and James Bond producers Eon.

STX will distribute in the U.S. and launch international sales this week in Berlin on the movie which will follow Michael Rafter (Butler), a former war correspondent turned corporate security consultant, whose life is overturned when he receives a mysterious phone call from an unknown source.

Eon’s Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson will be executive producers on the movie. “Ashok Amritraj will produce through Hyde Park Entertainment Group alongside Butler and Alan Siegel through their G-Base Entertainment banner,” according to Deadline.

Eon’s most recent attempt at a non-Bond espionage film, The Rhythm Section, flopped. It grossed $5.4 million in the U.S., $434,400 in the U.K. and $5,419 in Asia as of today, according to Box Office Mojo. The movie had a production budget of $50 million.

Remote Control, like The Rhythm Section, is based on a novel by Mark Burnell. Burnell did the screenplay for both projects. Remote Control is to be directed by John Mathieson, an experienced cinematographer.

Avengers: Infinity War sets U.S. box office record

Avengers: Infinity War poster

UPDATE (April 30): Avengers: Infinity War did better than-expected business on Sunday. Its final weekend figure was $258.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

ORIGINAL POST (April 29): Superhero fatigue? Not yet.

Avengers: Infinity War is generating an estimated opening domestic weekend of $250 million, Exhibitor Relations, which tracks box office data, said on Twitter.

That broke the record of almost $248 million for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.

Meanwhile, Avengers: Infinity War’s estimated global weekend is $630 million, according to the Box Office Mojo website.

The previous highest domestic opening weekend for a Marvel Studios film was $207.4 million for Marvel’s The Avengers in 2012.

Infinity War is the first of two movies intended as concluding story lines that began with 2008’s Iron Man. The next film, currently known as Avengers 4, is scheduled for May 2019.

Avengers: Infinity War features not only Avengers-related characters but also Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The movie’s villain, Thanos, has been teased for years in Marvel films but this is his first time as the primary antagonist.

Marvel already had a huge 2018. The Walt Disney Co.-owned studio in February came out with Black Panther, which generated global box office of $1.3 billion. Marvel has another film, Ant-Man and the Wasp, coming out this year.

Footnote: Kings, a drama with Daniel Craig and Halle Berry, had an opening U.S. weekend of $173,000, Exhibitor Relations said in a separate tweet.

Here are Avengers tweets from Exhibitor Relations.

BOOM! Later, Star Wars. Marvel’s AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR is the highest grossing domestic opening of all-time: $250M. How ya like them stones?

— Exhibitor Relations (@ERCboxoffice) April 29, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR domestic weekend breakdown: FRI ($106) SAT ($83M) SUN ($61M)–$250M total, and possibly more, we’ll just have to wait and see for actuals on Monday.

— Exhibitor Relations (@ERCboxoffice) April 29, 2018