Highlights

  • The Marvels had a disappointing box office performance, but star Iman Vellani remains happy and proud of the finished product and the enjoyment it brought to viewers.
  • Negative online reactions to the film's box office struggles have been criticized by both Vellani and author Stephen King, who described them as "mean-spirited" and "adolescent fanboy hate."
  • The film's financial success is more of a concern for Marvel Studios' boss, Bob Iger, as it needs to earn a significant amount to break even, given its reported budget of $275 million.

As The Marvels continues into its second week after its ill-fated start at the box office, one star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel film has weighed in again on the state of the film’s theatrical run.

The Marvels is a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel and sees Brie Larson's Carol Danvers joined by Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani and Teyonah Parris reprising her role as Monica Rambeau in a story with a unique premise overseen by director Nia DaCosta. While the first film was a massive success with a billion dollars to its credit, early predictions were proven correct when The Marvels opened to a new MCU record low box office only days after the SAG-AFTRA strike ended and its stars could promote the film.

the marvels poster featuring captain marvel, ms. marvel and monica rambaeu
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The bad news continues: The Marvels' second-weekend drop exceeded the MCU's worst, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Speaking to Yahoo! News about the film and the online discussion, the young star expressed an admirably detached attitude towards the film's commercial performance. "I don't want to focus on something that's not even in my control, because what's the point?" the star asked, addressing the online box-office discourse. "That's for Bob Iger." Going further, Vellani also expressed her satisfaction with the work done on The Marvels, which she described as fun.

[The box office] has nothing to do with me. I'm happy with the finished product, and the people that I care about enjoyed the film. It's genuinely a good time watching this movie, and that's all we can ask for with these films. It has superheroes, it takes place in space, it's not that deep and it's about teamwork and sisterhood. It's a fun movie, and I'm just so happy that I can share it with people.

While the film’s box office numbers are not encouraging, many viewers had fun watching, as even some harsh critics of the film’s plot still had words of praise for the performances of the three leads and their supporting cast, which made for a good time despite the execution not meeting up to the ambitious premise. Vellani previously reacted to The Marvels box office struggles to express some surprise at what she saw as people online taking the situation far too seriously and expecting too much for a franchise nearing the midpoint of its second decade of global box office dominance.

The online discourse surrounding The Marvels has leaned heavily on the box office performance, with some almost celebrating the film’s commercial struggles on social media platforms while deriding the cast, crew, and studio. Prolific author and King of Horror Stephen King lambasted these mean-spirited reactions to The Marvels box office performance in a spirited tweet shortly after the film premiered, a fact that Vellani described as “pretty awesome” in the interview. The author also described some negative reactions as “adolescent fanboy hate." This is likely true, but The Marvels' box office struggles could also be attributed to the lack of promotion and negative press during development. Furthermore, reports suggest that women, the film’s preferred demographic, made up a minority of viewers at the film’s premiere.

Vellani is right to suggest that the box officer performance of the sequel film is a problem for Iger more so than the stars who have already put in their performance. Unfortunately for Iger, the amount that The Marvels needs to break even is significantly higher than its already girthy reported budget of $275 million. How close the film will come to recouping the studios’ costs is anyone’s guess.

The Marvels is currently available in theaters worldwide.

MORE: The Marvels: Best Quotes

Source: Yahoo! News