'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' once again demonstrates one of the great problems of Phase 4 of Marvel despite continuing to sweep the box office
It took just over a week for 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' to be among the 10 highest-grossing films of 2022. After its powerful start , it already occupies eighth place with 546 million dollars and is sure to climb more positions. The problem is that this weekend has also once again made clear one of the great problems of Marvel 's Phase 4 : how quickly its box office numbers are reduced.
First signs of decline?
To put it in perspective, the record for the largest drop from the first weekend to the second in the United States for a Marvel movie of the previous three Marvel phases was set by 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' with a drop of 62.2%. . And only three other films ( 'The Incredible Hulk' , 'Captain America: The First Avenger' and 'And-Man and the Wasp' ) had broken the 60% barrier. In Phase 4, just the opposite happens , all but one film has far exceeded that percentage.
'Black Widow' collapsed 68%, 'Eternals' 62%, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' 67%, 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' 67% and 'Thor: Love and Thunder' ' 68%. The only one that was saved was 'Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings' with a drop of 54%, but in return it did not have a particularly dazzling debut either.
In addition, it must also be taken into account that, with the exception of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home', they all fell short of expectations at the end of their run in theaters, and with 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' too It is practically impossible for it to exceed or be close to the numbers marked by the first installment , which totaled 1,346 million in 2018. In fact, its great objective to this day continues to be to overcome the mythical barrier of 1,000 million , something that until now only 51 movies have made it . 10 of them are from Marvel, but from Phase 4 only 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' has made it, and there were other key important factors in it.
This does not mean that the MCU has lost favor with the public, but it is clear that interest has eroded after the milestone that was 'Avengers: Endgame' . His films are still almost always big hits - it's hard to consider 'Black Widow' or 'Eternals' as such - but before it was practically impossible for anyone to stand up to them and now they run out of steam faster . For example, this year the two highest grossing movies are 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'Jurassic World: Dominion' . And also 'Avatar: The Sense of Water' is just around the corner...
