[Woke choke...] 'Thunderbolts*' Lost Millions of Dollars Despite Great Reviews. Where Does Marvel Go Next?

https://variety.com/2025/film/box-office/thunderbolts-lost-millions-box-
office-marvel-next-1236427994/

Days after “Thunderbolts*” hit the big screen, Disney CEO Bob Iger was 
feeling celebratory. He publicly touted the comic book adventure as the 
“first and best” example of Marvel’s new movie strategy, referring to the 
film’s positive reception from audiences and critics. And what a relief, 
following a bumpy few years and a string of poorly reviewed misfires in 
the franchise.

Six weeks later, “Thunderbolts*” has cratered at the box office. With $371 
million globally, it’s one of the lowest-grossing installments in all of 
Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. If this is the second coming of 
Marvel, the superhero empire might need another reboot.

“Marvel’s calculus has changed,” says Shawn Robbins, Fandango’s movie 
analytics director. “We’re in a new era where not every Marvel movie is 
going to hit $1 billion.”

Since the MCU’s inception with 2008’s “Iron Man,” Marvel has been 
Hollywood’s most consistent hit maker. It’s also the highest-grossing film 
franchise in history, with $31 billion across 36 films. A billion dollars 
per movie shouldn’t be a barometer for success. But before COVID scrambled 
things, even less-beloved installments were guaranteed a certain level of 
box office. Pre-pandemic, 19 out of its 22 films at least cracked $500 
million globally. Since then, the once-Teflon brand has struggled with 
commercial consistency. Starting in 2020, just six out of 13 films have 
reached the half-billion benchmark.

At least February’s “Captain America: Brave New World” and 2023’s “The 
Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” could blame their 
disastrous grosses on terrible reviews. “Thunderbolts*” had enthusiastic 
word-of-mouth but is yet to climb out of the red, suggesting there’s a new 
ceiling for superhero movies that aren’t based on marquee characters.

A diminished global marketplace and oversaturation of superhero stories on 
the big and small screen are partly responsible for the decline. 
Audiences’ habits and tastes also have shifted: This year’s biggest 
blockbusters have been kid-friendly films like “A Minecraft Movie” and 
“Lilo & Stitch” or original fare such as “Sinners.”

“These lower-tier comic book movies aren’t cinematic slam dunks anymore,” 
says Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock. “‘Thunderbolts*’ wrapping up 
after just a month in theaters is also a concern. These films aren’t 
legging out like previous iterations.”

It’s coming at an inflection point for the MCU. After inundating viewers 
with complex, interconnected stories across film and television, Marvel is 
intentionally slowing down to focus on quality over quantity. Is there an 
incentive to back stand-alone stories that are no longer safe bets? Or 
will the studio only greenlight sure things, à la the Avengers or Spider-
Man?

After July’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” another cinematic 
introduction of sorts, Marvel seems to be embracing a go-big-or-go-home 
mentality. The upcoming calendar is populated only by heavy hitters with 
hefty budgets: “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Spider-Man 4” in 2026 and 
“Avengers: Secret Wars” in 2027. An untitled film is set for July 2027, 
and “X-Men” and “Black Panther” movies are in the works. But other 
projects that focus on one character, like “Blade,” have been stuck in 
protracted limbo.

What’s been working for the MCU is major team-ups like 2021’s “Spider-Man: 
No Way Home” ($1.9 billion) and 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($1.33 
billion), or sequels to series-within-a-series such as “Doctor Strange in 
the Multiverse of Madness” ($955 million), “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($760 
million), “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($845 million) and “Black 
Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($859 million).

Marvel used to thrive on the unfamiliar. When Kevin Feige was assembling a 
cinematic universe in the early aughts, X-Men and Spider-Man, Marvel’s 
best-known characters, had been licensed to other studios. Yet he created 
an enormously popular property by introducing Iron Man and Thor in stand-
alone adventures and then bringing them together for “The Avengers.” Those 
victories emboldened Feige to place bets on dicier comic book propositions 
such as “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which paid off spectacularly and 
expanded the franchise. But after too many confusing spinoffs and 
lackluster sequels, audiences seem less invested in new additions to 
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Robert Downey Jr. can’t return each time the MCU lands in dire straits. 
(He’ll be back as the villainous Doctor Doom in “Avengers: Doomsday.”) If 
the studio wants to replenish the well with new vigilantes, it needs to 
spend less on origin stories. But belt tightening is getting harder as the 
cost of everything — from actors’ pay to visual effects to catering — has 
drastically risen. And turning these movies into can’t-miss events 
requires huge promotional dollars for globe-trotting press tours and 
premieres.

Marvel reined in spending on “Thunderbolts*,” aware that its characters 
hailed from the pandemic-hobbled “Black Widow” and underseen Disney+ 
series. Typically, the studio’s tentpoles cost $200 million to $250 
million to produce and another $120 million to $140 million to market. 
“Thunderbolts” was slightly cheaper, costing $180 million to make and 
closer to $100 million to market.

“Studios are working hard to bring the high-end budgets down,” says David 
A. Gross, an analyst with Franchise Entertainment Research. “We’re going 
to see less over-spending than the years after the pandemic.”  

Still, “Thunderbolts*” needed to make $425 million worldwide to break 
even, a figure that seems unachievable. Marvel is unique because it isn’t 
as encumbered as rivals by the profits or losses of single films. The 
company can recoup some costs through Disney+ and other home entertainment 
markets, to say nothing of the massive revenue streams from merchandising, 
theme parks and cruises.

And every film between “Avengers” installments can be viewed as a 
marketing tool. Case in point: Disney revealed the motley crew of reformed 
baddies in “Thunderbolts*” will return in “Avengers: Doomsday.” If 
audiences missed that chapter, they can always catch up on Disney+.


-- 
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look 
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama 
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.