Marvel’s recent releases fail to capture Indian audiences

New Delhi: In a surprising turn of events, recent films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a much-in-demand brand, including the likes of Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 3, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Eternals, have struggled to surpass the ₹100 crore mark in India and, in certain instances, even the ₹50 crore mark.

These recent additions have even failed to capitalize on the momentum generated by the release of Avengers: Endgame prior to the pandemic and Spider-Man: No Way Home shortly thereafter.

Despite attracting a sizable youth audience and outperforming many Hindi films, the latest Phase IV and V releases have failed to sustain the level of excitement associated with the brand in the country, said trade experts.

While some of these movies have seen better opening figures compared to their predecessors, and have managed to earn higher box office returns, the overall buzz surrounding them remains muted.

According to trade experts, the primary issue is the focus on relatively stray and obscure characters. Besides, the writing hasn’t justified the expense on visual effects, failing to resonate with the audiences.

Avengers: Endgame (2019) is the second highest grossing Hollywood film in India mopping up ₹373.22 crore. Spider-Man: No Way Home secured the fourth rank with collection of ₹218.41 crore. It was released in December 2021, coinciding with the easing of pandemic restrictions.

The recent release Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 3, which hit theatres in early May, fell short of expectations, raking in just ₹59 crore. However, it surpasses the ₹13.8 crore by a fair margin garnered by Vol 2, in 2017. That said, it lagged the franchise’s own standards.

Similarly, Ant-Man and the Wasp, released in February, recorded a modest collection of ₹43.69 crore, slightly higher than the ₹34.22 crore earned by its previous edition in 2018.

In comparison, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 has amassed $284 million in the US, while Quantumania has earned $214 million, declining from $389 million and $216 million achieved by their previous editions, respectively .

“Marvel films have seen a slowdown across the world. There is some fatigue factor with MCU and perhaps, the films haven’t been as compelling. In India, without the big stars, such as Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, new films have struggled as audiences do not know the actor or characters as well. This might course correct with time, once their brands are built, but right now, there is a bit of a tailing off,” according to Rahul Puri, managing director, Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas.

That said, films in general have struggled theatrically in India and MCU releases is only part of this trend, Puri said.

Its core Avengers brand always revolved around characters such as Captain America and Iron-Man but introducing smaller, and lesser known entities has not worked with fans in India.

“The benchmark set by MCU is very high and its core fan base is getting eroded with recent films as no one cares about the characters,” Vishek Chauhan, independent exhibitor, said.

To be sure, while the MCU falls under Walt Disney with the latter having acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009, the Spider-Man franchise is co-produced by Columbia Pictures (a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment) and Marvel Studios.

Sources close to Disney India point out that not all films can be tentpole titles like Avengers or No Way Home and all actors bring a different level of stardom to the table. “The mid-budget film genre, say those starring the likes of Ayushmann Khurrana has been deeply impacted in India and is not working at all. In such a scenario, a Rs. 40-45 crore box office is pretty good. Pre-covid, these films would’ve done much better but there is still growth with each instalment,” said a person familiar with developments at the company. Further, highly placed sources said that Disney has also realised that too many movies are hurting the overall value of the MCU and CEO Bob Iger has asked Kevin Feige (president of Marvel Studios) to reduce the number of titles and produce only tentpole films, which will keep the interest alive.

That said, industry experts continue to see great potential for the superhero genre in India, especially with the release of the new animated Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Across The Spider Verse in nine Indian languages on Thursday. “Every film cannot be an Avengers or Spider-Man but overall, the superhero category is growing in India. This isn’t the time for anyone to take audiences for granted and the idea is that every new film should not just be bigger, but better than the previous one,” said Shony Panjikaran, general manager and head of Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI), India, the company that will release the new Spider-Man film.