‘The Marvels’ Director Talks Reveals the Reasons Why the Movie Was a Massive Flop

The Marvels, released in 2023, is a sequel to Captain Marvel (2019) and also continues the story from the TV miniseries Ms. Marvel (2022). Nia DaCosta directed the film and co-wrote the script with Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik. The story follows Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, Monica Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris, and Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani.

The three heroes team up as “the Marvels” after discovering that their powers cause them to swap places with each other. The movie also features Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Despite high expectations, The Marvels struggled at the box office. It made $84.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $121.6 million in other countries, for a total of $206.1 million worldwide.

This was far below the estimated break-even point of $439.6 million, and according to Puck News, it would have needed around $700 million to be profitable. The movie ended up losing $237 million after adding all costs and revenues.

Critics were mixed about the movie. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 62% approval rating with an average score of 5.9 out of 10, saying, “Funny, refreshingly brief, and elevated by the chemistry of its three leads, The Marvels is easy to enjoy in the moment despite its cluttered story and jumbled tonal shifts.”

Director Nia DaCosta recently spoke about why the movie didn’t do well. She said one big reason was the unfinished script. “One of the issues I had with Candyman and Marvels was the lack of a really solid script, which is always gonna just wreak havoc on the whole process,” she told THR.

“But Alex Garland hands you a script, and you’re like, ‘This is amazing.’ You don’t really have to change it, although I did, I basically asked for more infected. [Laughs.] That was, like, my big contribution.”

In a separate interview a few months back, DaCosta also opened up about the challenges during production. Speaking at Storyhouse, she admitted the movie that reached theaters wasn’t what she had originally planned. “It was interesting because there was a certain point when I was like, ‘Ok, this isn’t going to be the movie that I pitched or even the first version of the movie that I shot,’” she said.

She explained that the film went through reshoots and rewrites that changed her vision. “So, I realized that this is now an experience, and it’s a learning curve, and it really makes you stronger as a filmmaker in terms of your ability to navigate,” she added.

DaCosta also addressed leaving post-production before the movie was finished because she had already started preparing for her next project, Hedda. “The way they make those films is very different to the way, ideally, I would make a film,” she said.

“So you just have to lean into the process and hope for the best. The best didn’t happen this time but you kind of have to trust in the machine.”

DaCosta is not the first director to mention a lack of scripts during filming; it’s one of the reasons why James Gunn believes the MCU has been suffering from an obvious lack of quality and logical storyline.

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