Marvel Getting Beat At Box Office By Rom-Com Sleeper Hit

Lack of excitement and oversaturation was the case for The Marvels, which garnered lukewarm critical reception and not much interest in sales.

However, that cannot be blamed on assuming movie theaters as a whole are doing poorly, as other films continue to do well, such as the romantic comedy Anyone but You.

In fact, the low-budget comedy has officially surpassed the worldwide box office of The Marvels.

The latest returns on Anyone but You have it sitting at $207.2 million raked in globally so far. That is in comparison to The Marvels which was last counted at $206.1 million for its worldwide gross.

The Marvels also had over a month’s head start, coming out on November 10, 2023, meaning it is highly unlikely to earn much more.

Whereas Anyone but You came out on December 22, 2023, so the movie could still have some legs to earn a bit more before it departs theaters.

This is especially surprising seeing as how The Marvels is the follow-up movie to Captain Marvel, which just back in 2019 earned over 1.1 billion in the global box office.

Brie Larson was considered a bankable star after her first outing as Carol Danvers. Anyone but You certainly has some talented actors, such as its star Sydney Sweeney (known for her television work on shows like White Lotus, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Euphoria) but not anyone you would expect to be pulling in bigger box office returns than established Marvel movie stars.

Anyone but You has even already had its digital release, so for it to continue to do ticket sales of note is another impressive feat.

The film follows a couple that have an incredible first date, that quickly falls apart due to bad communication. Months later, the two wind up unexpectedly attending the same wedding in Australia.

Facing pressure from family members to give things another shot, they feign interest in one another to get meddlesome family off their backs. But eventually the act has them reconsidering the anger and hatred that had come between them as they consider genuinely giving things another shot.

It is a pretty classic romantic comedy kind of formula, so at first glance, Anyone but You does not seem like it should be toppling a film like The Marvels. However, critics say this is just yet another sign of superhero fatigue being real.

With caped heroes once having a stranglehold on theaters, perhaps moviegoers are simply so ready for something fresh that rom-coms are back in vogue.

Dune: Part Two is also off to a strong opening at the box office, so it seems like people are definitely still willing to show up for movies that interest them.

For a long time, declining ticket sales were blamed largely on Covid. While the pandemic and rising convenience of at home streaming are no doubt partial culprits, maybe people are simply voting with their wallets to say it is time to give superheroes a rest.

If Anyone but You can surpass a franchise that was bringing in over a billion dollars just a few years ago, that sounds like a pretty clear indication how audiences are feeling.