Captain Marvel is the new addition in the Marvel universe that lands in theaters this Friday (Thursday night).
The highly anticipated new Marvel movie is on track to make a boatload of cash this weekend and if the reviews are any indication of the quality, Rotten Tomatoes currently has its meter percentage at 83%. And while that’s a high bar for any other movie, it’s about average for a Marvel release.
But Captain Marvel might be overshadowed for a very different reason.
Say what you will about Marvel studios but nobody has a better track record since Iron Man first landed in theaters eleven years ago.
Every year Marvel does damage at the box office, which is unprecedented in the Hollywood industry.
Captain Marvel is looking at a $150 million domestic opening.
According to the Hollywood Reporter. “Marvel’s first female-fronted superhero pic, starring Brie Larson, is tracking to open this weekend to a mighty $125 million to $145 million at the North American box office, where revenue year to date is down 26 percent over 2018 following a dismal February, which hit a 17-year low. Some even think the movie could hit $150 million through Sunday.”
While these seem like eye-popping numbers that producers of any other studio would drool over, it has become the standard for Marvel.
But Captain Marvel might be completely overlooked by April with the release of the much more highly anticipated release of Avengers: Endgame.
Scheduling these two releases so close together is kind of a conundrum. Why would Marvel eat into their profits?
This is the first time that Marvel released two movies only 6 weeks apart. That is not the wisest financial move.
Captain Marvel will literally still be in theaters when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters April 26th.
That would be like if Apple released an iPhone and then the next month released the next generation of it. It’s a silly strategy.
However, these two might be inextricably linked by design.
Some who have already seen the movie are reporting that Captain Marvel was manufactured to specifically be the bridge between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
A leaked credits sequence of the movie has the character Fury talking about how powerful Captain Marvel is and what her specific time manipulating powers are.
And if you’ve read the comic books you’d know that she is one of the most powerful characters in the entire Marvel universe, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she will be an integral part of the upcoming movie.
With that said, why release these movies so close together?
One of the reasons why Titanic is one of the highest grossing box office movies of all time is because it was in theaters for a literal calendar year. Hardcore fans went to see it over and over again.
Why not release them at least three months apart and let Captain Marvel make its money in the worldwide box office?
It’s an arrogant strategy and that means it might be overshadowed once Avengers: Endgame hits theaters.