The Marvels Opening-Weekend Box Office Projections Just Got Even Worse

Marvel's next big movie, The Marvels, opens in theaters this weekend--but the movie is moving in the wrong direction when it comes to box office tracking estimates.

Weeks ago, estimates said the movie might make as much as $80 million in the US for its opening weekend. Now, Deadline reports that estimates are coming in at around $60 million, with some going lower than that, down to $50 million. Box office tracking is not an exact science, and projections are not always accurate, but this close to release, they tend to be more reliable.

The Marvels carried an estimated production budget of $200 million, and that's prior to advertising expenses. For comparison, Marvel's big movie last November, Eternals, made $71.2 million over its opening weekend. The Five Nights at Freddy's movie, meanwhile, recently opened with $80 million in the US against a budget of only $20 million.

Deadline reports that ticket presales for The Marvels are sitting at around $5 million, which is in the ballpark of the presale figures for DC's The Flash. That movie earned $55 million for its US opening and was considered a commercial disappointment.

The latest trailer for The Marvels featured Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Chris Evans as Captain America, as well as an appearance by Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Deadline suggested this was a "Hail Mary" effort from Marvel to help to generate buzz for the movie. Its stars, including Brie Larson, are unable to promote the movie due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

Reviews for The Marvels will begin to appear online on November 8 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

In other Marvel news, Insomniac's new PS5 game Spider-Man 2 is out now and putting up big-time sales numbers. For more, check out GameSpot's Spider-Man 2 review.