by The sleepy American box office finally lifted its lids over the holiday weekend. “Bob Marley: One Love,” a feel-good musical biopic, was on track to gross $33.2 million from Friday to Monday, for a strong total of about $51 million since its Valentine’s Day release. , according to Paramount Pictures.
“Excuse me while I light my joint,” read a celebratory post on X’s official account for Marley, who died in 1981.
“One Love,” which cost around $70 million to make, landed in what has become over the past year a box office sweet spot (stories that feel nostalgic and new at the same time), allowing it to surpass weak reviewssaid box office analysts. (Marley had never before been the subject of a big-screen musical biopic.)
But the movie business, for the most part, was anything but euphoric. The weekend’s other new big-release movie, “Madame Web,” based on a supporting character from the Spider-Man comics, added to what has recently been a clear message from ticket buyers: the rise of comic book characters is over. “Madame Web” was on track to sell $17.6 million in tickets from Friday to Monday, for a total of $25.8 million since its arrival on Valentine’s Day, according to Sony Pictures.
Ticket sales for “Madame Web” were among the lowest ever recorded for a superhero movie, a genre that, for decades, has been one of Hollywood’s most reliable cash cows. By comparison, “Elektra,” considered a hall of fame superhero flop, grossed $12.8 million during its first three days in 2005, or about $21 million in today’s dollars.
It’s not that superhero movies are over. Rather, “the superhero universe is no longer expanding,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a Newsletter in box office figures. The most popular characters will continue to draw audiences, he said, pointing to initial interest in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” an upcoming superhero sequel from Marvel Studios. The first trailer for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” released during the Super Bowl, generated more than 365 million online views in its first 24 hours. setting a record.
“Madame Web” received disastrous reviews; one critic called them the “cats” of superhero movies. The film, directed by SJ Clarkson, whose previous experience was primarily in television and starring an all-female ensemble led by Dakota Johnson, was also undermined by some of the same misogyny that thwarted female-oriented films like “The Marvels” and “ Ghostbusters” (2016). Social media users and some movie sites reveled in the destruction of “Madame Web” in general and Mrs. Johnson in particular.
Financially, it wasn’t a catastrophe for Sony, compared to “The Marvels,” which cost Disney about $220 million to produce and grossed just $200 million worldwide last year. (Studios receive about 50 percent of ticket sales, and theaters keep the rest.) “Madame Web,” intended as a thriller for young women, cost about $80 million, in part because it didn’t rely on lavish visual effects. (His only superpower is clairvoyance).
“Madame Web” grossed an additional $26 million in its soft international release over the weekend.
“Bob Marley: One Love,” directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (“King Richard”) and starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, sold around $29 million in tickets abroad, where it was also shown in partial release.
Movie theaters have been ghost towns some weekends this year, the result of big-budget films like “Argyle” failing to attract ticket buyers, Oscar-oriented art films failing to reach the mainstream and even less wide releases. So far this year, theaters in the United States and Canada have sold about $764 million in tickets, down 15 percent from the same period last year, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data.
The slowdown was particularly pronounced on Super Bowl weekend, when domestic theaters took in just $38.9 million, the worst result for a Super Bowl weekend (excluding the pandemic year of 2021) since at least mid-2020. the 1980s, when complete box office records began to be broken. compiled, according to Comscore.
Several major movies, including “Dune: Part Two,” are coming in the coming weeks. But the box office is expected to continue to struggle, in part because studios pulled several films from the March release schedule as a result of union strikes that paralyzed production for much of last year. “Disney’s Snow White,” for example, was due to arrive on March 22. Citing production delays, Disney moved it up to March 2025.
“This is not another existential industry crisis; we had them and we have overcome them,” Gross said. “Going to the movies has proven effective in recent years. “This is a release schedule and product issue that will take some time to resolve.”
