The Black Widow box office saga continues, as the latest Marvel movie looks to end its theatrical run. After a solid opening weekend following its July 9, 2021 debut in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access, the Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson-led film faltered in what was referred to as the “most stunning crash” in Marvel Cinematic Universe history.
The first film in the MCU’s Phase 4 — previous Phase 4 entries include streaming series WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki — Black Widow was a prequel film set between the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
It served as the origin story for Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, giving Marvel fans their first real glimpse at her childhood — and at how she became a deadly Russian assassin trained in the Red Room.
Although some moviegoers were disappointed by the “low stakes” film, others applauded Pugh’s performance as Yelena Belova, and look forward to what the intriguing post credits scene could be setting up moving forward.
Now, we have details about Black Widow’s final box office take, which looks as though it will rival early Marvel Cinematic Universe movies — but will fall dismally below blockbusters like Infinity War and the Infinity Saga finale, Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Twitter user Gitesh Pandya noted:
Different movie world for #BlackWidow but it looks to end its domestic #boxoffice run in same $175-180M neighborhood as the first Captain America, Ant-Man and Thor movies. Ticket prices were less back then, but they also didn’t have to deal with a pandemic or at-home streaming.
Different movie world for #BlackWidow but it looks to end its domestic #boxoffice run in same $175-180M neighborhood as the first Captain America, Ant-Man and Thor movies. Ticket prices were less back then, but they also didn't have to deal with a pandemic or at-home streaming.
To put it in perspective, as of March 13, 2021, Avengers: Endgamehad amassed $2,797,501,328 — that’s nearly $2.8 BILLION — at the global box office. Meanwhile, its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity Wargrossed $2,048,359,754 worldwide during its initial theatrical run.
Marvel Studios’ earlier films did not enjoy the same virtual guarantees at the domestic box office as some of its more contemporary releases, prior to the pandemic. For comparison, 2008’s Iron Man grossed $318,604,126 over its lifetime in U.S. theaters, The Incredible Hulk, which released shortly after, saw $134,806,913; Iron Man 2 earned $312,433,331, Thor earned $181,030,624 and Captain America grossed $176,654,505. Black Widow has thus far earned $132,012,671, domestically.
In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller “Black Widow,” Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down [Taskmaster and Dreykov (Ray Winstone)], Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha/Black Widow, Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour portrays Alexei/The Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz is Melina. “Black Widow” — the first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — is directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige.
What do you think about Black Widow’s dismal box office?
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Credit: Marvel Studios
