Is “Superhero Fatigue” in the box office real?
If you’re the type of person who’s interested in the box office charts of movies, you may have noticed a really strange (and possibly concerning) trend with many of the films that have made their way to theaters this summer so far; a ton of them have flopped hard in the domestic box office. Some of the films that seemed like the biggest releases of the summer have floundered at the domestic box office, as audiences didn’t bother to show up.
Take The Flash, for instance. This was a film announced almost a decade ago, with a hefty budget of almost $400,000,000 after the studio’s extensive marketing campaign for it. When it finally came time to show the film to the world, it only opened with a paltry $55,000,000 in the domestic box office. The film, by every financial measure, has been a disappointment (which is sad, because I actually thought it was pretty good).
This phenomenon that’s affecting the film industry could be due to a number of factors as a whole, but I’m going to hone in on a part of the conversation that I’ve heard a lot of talk about in the recent years; what many have been referring to as “Superhero Fatigue”. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade or so, we’re currently living in an unprecedented time for superheroes in popular media; a “golden age”, if you will. Before 2008, Comic book fans would be lucky to see a good film adaptation of a character as popular as Batman. Now, multiple superhero films and TV series will come out in a single year! The Marvel Cinematic Universe has ushered in a new era of storytelling for these characters in mediums other than comic books.
However, in recent years the conversation surrounding superhero films has pivoted a bit. After some of the tremendous highs (both commercially and critically) provided by Marvel in the form of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, many of the other outings from the studio were met with lackluster reviews, and some with underwhelming financial performance in the box office as well. Out of all of Marvel’s MCU outings since Avengers: Endgame, only Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was met with critical success as well as financial, bringing in almost $900,000,000.
As for DC’s recent outings, its had no real successes under its belt besides Matt Reeve’s The Batman and Todd Phillips’ Joker. Since Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Dc’s films have struggled to retain an audience. Wonder Woman performed admirably with more than $800,000,000 worldwide, Aquaman miraculously grossed over 1 Billion dollars thanks to its worldwide performance, and Justice League skirted by with $600,000,000. Every other film in DC’s line up has struggled to make $400,000,000, which most studios would spend to make and market a movie in the first place.
After following the bread crumbs after the last five years, one could logically come to the conclusion that superhero movies, much like the western of its day, has met the end of its time as a box office juggernaut. Maybe audiences are tired of comic book heroes, and are ready for something new. While the thought has crossed my mind more than once, 2023 thus far has given me evidence to the contrary.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse have both become huge successes in their own right this year. GotG3 only came short of the previous film’s box office draw by a couple million, which came out during what many regard as the MCU’s hayday.
As for SM:AtSV, the film doubled what the first entry made, and had such strong word of mouth after its strong opening weekend that it’s very likely the 3rd entry will outperform both films. The film currently sits at an astounding 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
These two films tell me that audiences aren’t getting tired of superhero movies like some would suggest, they’re simply getting tired of being let down. The common piece of DNA between Guardians 3 and AtSV is that these are two movies of the utmost quality, with likeable characters and powerful, dramatic storytelling. These movies neither take their audience or source material for granted. Furthermore, these are two movies made by renowned visionary filmmakers that audiences have grown to expect greatness from; James Gunn, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, respectively. Where standard superhero outings have disappointed audiences multiple times over the last couple of years, these two talented auteurs have never turned in an assignment that was below an A.
So, what does this tell us about the future of Superhero movies? As James Gunn steadily prepares his DC Studios overture Superman: Legacy, it will be important to note that DC films aren’t going to start making gangbusters overnight. Part of the reason so many MCU films were successful leading up to the end of Phase 3 were because audience’s trusted Marvel studios as a whole to deliver on engaging characters and an overall satisfying experience. Needless to say, DC has lost this trust with its audience. It will take a string of critical home-runs to convince moviegoers that a DC film is worth getting out of the house for each weekend.
As for Marvel, the steady quality of their films were what put them on the map in the lead up to The Avengers. Audiences were enthralled by how real Captain America and Iron Man felt on screen, that they couldn’t help but drop in on their next adventure. I hope Marvel takes these lessons about their past to heart, because in many ways the MCU reflects both positively and negatively on the genre as a whole.
Collectively, let’s all start calling “Superhero fatigue” “mediocre movie fatigue” instead!
