Sorry (not sorry) to those of you who were hoping that Captain Marvel might flop, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is on track to do incredibly well at the box office. The site is reporting that it’s headed towards a $100 million-plus opening in North America, pulling numbers similar to Wonder Woman‘s opening weekend of $103 million. The article states that “rival studios with access to tracking say metrics for the film are ‘giant,’ including unaided awareness and definite interest.”
Best news of the day:@captainmarvel tracking to open at $100 million. @WonderWomanFilm opened at $103 million in 2017. AWESOMEhttps://t.co/l1lgUAmozn
— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) February 14, 2019
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Representation does well at the box office. Look at the smash success of Black Panther and Wonder Woman. Black Panther was a cultural event, and has remained key to the zeitgeist ever since it first premiered, with free screenings to celebrate Black History Month playing this February, a year later. Wonder Woman is the highest grossing film directed by a woman, and though it never crossed the one billion mark at the box office, it garnered critical approval and is one of the highest performing origin story films in the superhero canon.
For an even more recent look at the success of inclusive superhero films, check out the runaway success of Aquaman. Once the butt of every DC comics joke, the character’s James Wan-directed and Jason Momoa-led film is shattering box office expectations at every turn. It features a lead of color and strong female characters, and that is definitely part of the appeal of the fantasy epic. Who doesn’t like films that are inclusive?
After 54 days of domestic release, less than a million dollars away from BvS domestic box office and now No. 21 in all-time worldwide box office at $1.121 billion, #Aquaman is finally starting to slow down, lol pic.twitter.com/iOYO1LskPE
— TheFliteCast (@TheFliteCast) February 14, 2019
Yes, there were Comicsgaters who felt that it would flop at the box office for being “SJW propaganda.” After all, star Brie Larson is vocally supportive of #TimesUp and women in journalism, and is an advocate for survivors of sexual violence. The trailers hype up the feminist aspect of the film immensely, with tag lines like “Discover what makes her a hero” and Carol herself saying, “I’m kinda done with people telling me what I can’t do,” and ticket sales seem to confirm that as a winning strategy.
It’s worth noting that Wonder Woman also featured a similar marketing campaign, with ads highlighting the famous No Man’s Land scene and featuring clips of Diana telling Steve that “what I do is not up to you,” and with that girl-power marketing and all-female screenings, it made a killing at the box office.
Captain Marvel is a film that many Marvel fans have been waiting for a long time. It is the first Marvel superhero film that is not only co-directed by a woman, but starring a woman. Carol is not playing second fiddle to any of the men in the film. She’s the lead, pure and simple. It makes sense that the film would fly to success.
Only time will tell what Captain Marvel‘s overall gross will be, but I assume it will probably make similar numbers to Wonder Woman and be one of Marvel’s top-grossing origin films, which is what it deserves.
(via The Hollywood Reporter, image: Marvel)
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