Marvel’s Most Successful 2022 Movie Revealed, and It’s Not What You Think

in Marvel, Movies

Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Doctor Strange and the Muliverse of Madness

Credit: Marvel Studios

Since the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios has been near the top of the international box office. While people claim that the quality of the movies has been dropping off, the financial figures don’t necessarily reflect that.

natailie portman (left) as jane foster and chris hemsworth (right) as thor gazing at each other in thor: love and thunder
Credit: Marvel Studios

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Marvel Studios released three massive live-action films in 2022: Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of MadnessThor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While one movie was more well-received than the others, that’s not necessarily what a studio looks at for confirmation.

Instead, they look at a film’s profits, subtracting the cost to make the film and any fees owed to movie theaters from the worldwide box office. And surprisingly, a doctor made more money than anyone else.

Doctor Strange Magically Comes Out On Top

Doctor Strange and Wong
Credit: Marvel Studios

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Among the three Marvel movies released in 2022, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness edged out the competition with surgical precision and a net profit of $284 million, doubling the profit of the original  Doctor Strange (2016).

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was right behind the doctor with a $259 million profit. While this was impressive, it was nowhere close to the original Black Panther (2018), which had a profit of $476 million. Then again, Wakanda Forever didn’t have a $1.35 billion box office.

The one that underperformed the most was Thor: Love and Thunder. While Thor: Ragnarok (2017) was a surprising hit, its sequel didn’t live up to expectations. Only making $103 million, Love and Thunder’s profits were hit hard by a smaller box office haul and a $78 million cost increase.

While none of this information has been released for Morbius (2022), it’s probably safe to assume it is nowhere close to these other films.

Marvel Still Has the Advantage Over DC… For Now

Robert Pattinson's Batman in The Batman
Credit: DC/Warner Bros.

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While Marvel’s profit margins may not be as high as in the past, they are still leagues ahead of DC Studios. DC’s two major 2022 live-action releases were The Batman and Black Adam. While The Batman had a decent profit of $177 million, Black Adam did not fare nearly as well, with only $52 million.

That being said, The future does look bright for DC Studios. Both studios’ first outings of 2023 have performed poorly, and DC has three more movies coming out this year: The FlashBlue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. After this, we’ll see movies with James Gunn at the helm, so 2022 could have been the last year with Marvel at the top of the superhero box office battles.

Do you think these profits match the quality of the films? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!

in Marvel, Movies

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