‘The Marvels’ has been a box office disappointment for Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
However, it’s not doom and gloom–a significant silver lining exists.
Nia DaCosta’s film has earned $161 million (as of 21st November) to become the highest-grossing film in history from a Black female director.
Nia DaCosta’s movie surpasses Ava DuVernay’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ which earned $132 million.
DaCosta’s previous movie was 2021’s ‘Candyman,’ which grossed $77 million.
So, of the three top-grossing movies directed by Black women, DaCosta has two.
Nia DaCosta’s ‘The Marvels’ Is Breaking The Right Records
Deadline shared this statistic in an article revealing the incredible test screening of DuVernay’s Origin.
However, the news was drowned by an extreme focus on The Marvels’ box office performance.
The Mary Sue reported that this move faced an uphill battle as it was affected by several challenges.
“It simply had too many things stacked against it, such as superhero fatigue, the SAG-AFTRA strike, the newness of the characters and the negativity from sexist trolls.”
Even renowned horror author Stephen King commented on the obvious gloating on social media platforms–people are happy that the movie is underperforming.
“Every media outlet was almost too eager to run dramatic headlines about The Marvels being Marvel’s worst film and marking a new low for the franchise. Then there are the sexist trolls openly gloating because they know they can twist The Marvels‘ shortcomings to insist that women don’t belong in film.”
But the silver lining is that Black female directors are proving they can lead big motion pictures.
Do you think ‘The Marvels’ deserves the hate, or should we focus on its cultural significance?
