“The Marvels” did not go greater, additional or sooner throughout its opening weekend in theaters.

The most recent entrant within the Marvel Cinematic Universe hauled in an estimated $47 million domestically over its debut weekend, the bottom in franchise historical past.

Preliminary predictions noticed the movie opening at between $75 million and $80 million domestically, however these figures shrunk to a variety between $60 million and $65 million forward of Friday’s opening.

Internationally, “The Marvels” garnered $63.3 million in ticket gross sales, bringing its international haul to $110.3 million.

“Regardless of posting the bottom home debut for the MCU, ‘The Marvels’ proved as soon as once more the significance of the worldwide market for the Marvel model,” stated Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “The movie will now depend on Thanksgiving vacation hall moviegoing to assist transfer the large finances superhero movie nearer to profitability and assist to find out the movie’s final success on the field workplace. “

Whereas critics have been lukewarm on “The Marvels,” giving the flick a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences have been extra receptive with an 85% rating. Nonetheless, Disney had an uphill battle drawing moviegoers to theaters for its thirty third MCU movie.

After 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which wrapped up many storylines and character arcs, Marvel Studios’ theatrical and streaming content material has been hit-or-miss with audiences. It has additionally had a tough time advertising and marketing its new tasks to audiences, because it seeks to hit nostalgic notes but additionally push its storytelling ahead.

“Marvel has merely set a really excessive customary for themselves,” stated Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “When a brand new movie or collection is launched, they’ve extra strain to face on their very own whereas additionally pushing the universe ahead.”

To not point out, the studio inundated Disney+ with collection in an effort to pad its platform, making some followers really feel like they needed to slog by means of hours of tales in an effort to perceive what was taking place within the movies.

“Increasing the MCU model previous the goldilocks zone of balanced publicity with out feeling like homework to the informal viewers has created a problem for the franchise to start correcting for,” Robbins stated.

That’s maybe why “The Marvels” landed the second-lowest opening day for a MCU movie, securing simply $21.5 million on Friday. This determine contains $6.6 million from Thursday night time previews. The one movie to snare fewer ticket gross sales on its first day in home theaters was 2008’s “The Unimaginable Hulk.”

Robbins was fast to underscore that this field workplace stumble doesn’t suggest that audiences are prepared to surrender on the MCU. In any case, the franchise has generated almost $30 billion since 2008.

“Actually, this underwhelming field workplace efficiency happens on the identical time ‘Loki’s’ second season is, paradoxically, drawing reward as one of many few Disney+ Marvel collection to resonate positively with a giant a part of the fan base,” he stated.

To make sure, a $47 million opening, isn’t dangerous for any movie, however compared to the excessive highs that Marvel has achieved within the final decade, it’s seen as a disappointment. It may additionally act as a catalyst for management on the studio to rethink its future launch plans.

Already, Disney CEO Bob Iger has stated he’s trying on the firm’s total theatrical and streaming technique to pare down how a lot content material it makes.

“On the time the pandemic hit, we have been leaning into an enormous enhance in how a lot we have been making,” CEO Bob Iger stated throughout Disney’s earnings name final week. “And I’ve all the time felt that amount could be really a unfavorable on the subject of high quality, and I believe that is precisely what occurred. We misplaced some focus.”

Moreover, Marvel Studios is going through an uphill battle with actor Jonathan Majors, who it selected to tackle the position of Kang, the subsequent massive dangerous within the MCU. Majors is embroiled in authorized troubles stemming from allegations of assault and abuse.

“If any IP has the depth and functionality to try this, it is Marvel beneath the management of Kevin Feige and his groups,” stated Robbins. “That is actually a crossroads second from a artistic and enterprise standpoint. Maybe the relative slowdown in Marvel content material subsequent yr will present a wholesome and essential buffer for the studio, for Disney, and for audiences.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the guardian firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes.