Over May 2025’s first weekend, Thunderbolts* opened to $74 million, one of the lower MCU domestic bows but still not a bad debut. If positive word-of-mouth can carry it to decent holds in the weekends to come, it could leg out and make a few dollars for Disney and Marvel Studios. Still, that outcome’s a far cry from the 2010s, when Marvel Cinematic Universe projects were a license to print money. Audience trust in the Marvel brand, not to mention an exciting ongoing story related to the Infinity Stones, kept audiences coming back to multiplexes.
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Though Marvel Studios has been associated with non-stop box office hits, the studio has lost money on certain motion pictures in the past. If one follows the general rule that motion pictures have to do 2.5 times their budget in their worldwide box office run to be profitable, then five MCU titles qualify as losing money in their theatrical runs. Behold, the features running against the MCU’s stellar box office track record.
1) The Incredible Hulk
Only the second Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever, The Incredible Hulk arrived just six weeks after Iron Man, hoping to deliver a more crowd-pleasing Hulk feature than Ang Lee’s divisive 2003 take on the character. Costing $137.5 million to make, Incredible Hulk only grossed $265.57 million worldwide. While slightly ahead of Hulk’s $245.28 million global haul, Incredible Hulk couldn’t make a profit in its theatrical run. Considering even 2007’s Ghost Rider doubled its budget worldwide, Marvel Studios had to have higher hopes for this star-studded June 2008 tentpole.
2) Eternals
Hopes were riding high for Eternals and its box office prospects before its November 2021 debut. The most optimistic initial opening weekend projections even hoped it would become the first post-March 2020 movie to open to over $100+ million domestically. In the end, though, divisive reviews and a darker tone led to Eternals being a frontloaded enterprise that couldn’t quite cut the mustard at the box office. Though it fared well in certain countries like Italy and South Korea, Eternals only grossed $402.1 million worldwide on a mammoth $236.2 million budget. Unsurprisingly, Eternals 2 is nowhere to be found.
[RELATED – Deadpool & Wolverine Was a Box Office Hit: Here’s How Much It Actually Made Disney]
3) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s TV spots promised audiences that this particular Marvel Cinematic Universe entry would feature the start of “a new dynasty.” Rather than getting audiences stoked for more MCU features involving Kang the Conqueror, Quantumania quickly became one of the most derided and bloated entries in this entire franchise. While the first two Ant-Man movies were modestly budgeted treats, Quantumania cost $388.4 million to make. Under the best of circumstances, it would’ve had to become a Multiverse of Madness or Civil War-level hit to become a hit. With a movie this poor, it’s no surprise Quantumania fell way short of making a profit.
4) The Marvels
The Marvels made something abundantly clear for future MCU features: directly intertwining this franchise’s movie and TV worlds is asking way too much of the audience. This Captain Marvel sequel also followed up on major plot threads from Ms. Marvel and WandaVision. Unsurprisingly, this impenetrable feature wasn’t a widely appealing smash hit. Costing $307.3 million to produce, The Marvels only grossed $206.1 million worldwide and failed to clear $100+ million domestically. It was eventually estimated that this production lost an eye-popping $237.3 million for Disney and Marvel Studios. Less accessible movies make less at the box office, who knew?
5) Captain America: Brave New World
Reportedly, Captain America: Brave New World needed to make at least $425 million globally to break even for its financiers. With a worldwide gross of just $415 million, Brave New World, though a better overall performer than Eternals and The Marvels, still lost money for Marvel Studios. Another MCU project hampered by an over-reliance on impenetrable mythos, Brave New World came in way behind the worldwide box office hauls of the previous two solo Captain America movies. Its steep domestic declines after opening weekend, meanwhile, mirrored the incredibly front-loaded nature of Quantumania and The Marvels. While Black Panther and The Avengers stuck around in theaters for months, titles like Brave New World were old news after just one weekend. No wonder Sam Wilson’s first solo theatrical film failed to break even.
Captain America: Brave New World is now available for rental or purchase from digital retailers.
