Highlights
- Director Nia DaCosta defends herself and The Marvels amidst behind-the-scenes drama and unprofessional conduct allegations, clarifying that her work on another project was already in motion due to frequent delays with The Marvels.
- The Marvels faces a plethora of issues that may harm its box office success, including negative exposure, incoherent filmmaking, and a poorly received trailer.
- MCU leadership’s decisions, particularly regarding the film’s release date and marketing, may be setting The Marvels up to fail, leading to speculation about Echo as a potential change for the MCU in 2024.
As The Marvels‘ theatrical release lies imminent, the film’s director, Nia DaCosta, has spoken out in defense of herself and the production in light of widespread discussions surrounding behind-the-scenes drama.
The Marvels stars Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel as the returning lead alongside Monica Rambeau, now portrayed as an adult by Teyonah Parris, reprising her role from WandaVision, and Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel. Despite the first film’s immense success and unique premise, several issues made it possible that The Marvels was headed for a box office crash
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Most recently, amid news detailing how The Marvels‘ reshoots and test screenings had gone awry, it was revealed that DaCosta had relocated to the UK to work on another project while reshoots and post-production were taking place to fix issues with The Marvels. In a recent interview clip posted to the Jake’s Takes YouTube channel, the director revealed the truth behind the confusing backstage situation. According to DaCosta, her work on a different project during post-production resulted from The Marvels‘ frequent delays.
They moved the date of the film four different times. So instead of being a two-year process, which I was deeply committed to, it became a three-and-a-half-year process… and they knew the entire time that I had an obligation, a greenlit movie with people that were waiting for me. By the time I left to go to London to start prep on my next film, everyone was so clear about what the film was, what we wanted. It really wasn’t this dramatic sort of thing people are thinking it is.
While DaCosta’s explanation of the situation explains her actions and clears up any misunderstandings about the timeline of her departure, there are still many issues with the project left up in the air and potentially fuelling the alarmingly low box office presales for The Marvels by MCU standards. The Marvels has consistently received negative exposure, from the allegations of behind-the-scenes scrambling to make the film coherent to the trailer for the sequel being one of the least well-received of any MCU project. The general feeling around the film is that it won’t be a critical triumph for the franchise or even make a statement at the box office like its predecessor did.
On the whole, it has seemed like MCU leadership is setting The Marvels up to fail as the long list of factors harming its potential success is seemingly topped by internal decisions, largely surrounding the film’s release date. In addition to the multiple moves made to push the release forward that DaCosta references, there’s also the more perplexing decision not to move it forward once more to allow for proper marketing despite the film’s target demographic not being the standard fare at superhero films.
While The Marvels releases in a matter of days, fans and observers are already talking about the probability of Echo starting a refreshing change for the MCU in 2024, taking the big-budget sequel film’s failure as a done deal. To what degree the project lives up to these devastating expectations remains to be seen.
The Marvels Is set for theatrical release on November 10, 2023.
The Marvels
Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau.
Source: Jake’s Takes/YouTube
