Superhero film rank lower in box office history

Superhero film The Marvels made just $47m (£38m) in its first weekend, in the US, making it the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s lowest opening.

In contrast, Avengers: Endgame made box office history in 2019 by taking a record-breaking $1.2bn (£980m) in global ticket sales in its opening run.

The Marvels, starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani and Teyonah Parris, follows 2019’s Captain Marvel film.

It was down 67% on the first film, analyst David A Gross said.

“This opening is an unprecedented Marvel box office collapse,” he said, adding that second superhero instalments usually outperform the originals and The Marvels has some way to go to recoup its $220m (£179m) production cost.

Teyonah Parris, who previously appeared in Candyman and If Beale Street Could Talk, plays Captain Monica Rambeau

But it is not clear whether this reflects superhero fatigue at the cinema after so many hugely successful blockbusters.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which opened at cinemas in May, fared better with $118m (£96m) at the US box office for its opening weekend.

Gross suggested that the growth of streaming services may be denting cinema revenue, along with the recently ended actors’ strike, which meant The Marvels’ stars were unable to do promotional work.