Fantastic Flops: The Best Marvel Film Of The Year Is A Box Office Loser

America is over the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige killed our enthusiasm

Put away the champagne. Fantastic Four: First Steps took in just $118 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, underperforming Superman’s opening. It was not at all the result that Disney-owned Marvel Studios wanted. “Especially not after the previous two MCU releases this year underperformed,” Mark Hughes writes at Forbes. “Fantastic Four debuting to less than Superman is a bad sign for the MCU in more ways than merely this film’s own box office prospects.”

This is more or less the outcome I had expected when I wrote about the new Fantastic Four film last week for premium subscribers. The consensus of reviewers I have seen is that the actors were very good, the visuals were stunning, the adaptation was faithful, and while the story is weak in the third act, Fantastic Four is entertaining. It also has a strong family-centric, reportedly bordering on pro-life, message. Marvel clearly tried to expand the audience for their films — and failed.

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Bonfire Of The Hollywood Vanities

The Marvel blockbuster formula no longer works. Even when Marvel films succeed, the drop-off, week-on-week, has been severe. Kevin Feige, the man who runs Marvel Studios for Disney, transformed the ‘boy brand’ into a feminist empowerment brand over the last several years, with predictable results.

No one is excited for the big new Marvel film. They have already been disappointed too many times, seen too many bad Marvel productions. By weaving plot threads into streaming series and across different superhero titles, Marvel has asked viewers to do a great deal of viewing just to understand what is going on in the latest Marvel film.

The most telling moment of the pre-release press blitz was Feige repeating the point for reporters that no one has to do any homework to see Fantastic Four, being a self-contained story. In the same coverage, Feige admitted the Marvel had created too much content. No one thinks of a Marvel film as an event anymore. It is no longer something that people talk about. Feige figured it out too late.

Feige currently has two huge Avengers films in production. The Fantastic Four team is supposed to join the rest of the Marvel heroes in an ensemble. The two-part story will feature Robert Downey, Jr. as Doctor Doom and set up a ‘soft reboot’ of the Marvel multiverse along with a new X-Men reboot. Big dreams were riding on that rocket along with the Fantastic Four team on Friday. A disappointing opening weekend reflects the degraded state of Marvel under Feige’s management.

For investors, it should be a flashing red warning light that Feige’s dreams will break them. If the best Marvel film of the year just breaks even after its theatrical run, it is time to reconsider the value of the brand. Are these movies really worth making, anymore?