The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has dominated the box office for over a decade. However, 2023 has seen a dip in its usual golden touch, with recent releases like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels falling short of expectations.
Amidst these stumbles, a surprising hero emerges in the form of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, a 2023 action-adventure video game, which has become a beacon of hope for the franchise. This has become the fourth best-selling game of 2023 so far in the U.S., behind only Hogwarts Legacy, Modern Warfare 3, and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Box Office Setbacks for Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels
Despite the MCU’s track record of delivering blockbuster hits, the release of Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels fell short of the sky-high expectations associated with Marvel films.
While reasons for their lackluster performance can be debated – franchise saturation, formula fatigue, or simply underwhelming narratives – their box office stumbles undoubtedly cast a shadow over the MCU’s immediate future.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Disney’s superhero threequel, made with a production budget of $200 million and a marketing spend of at least $100 million, only managed to gross $476.1 million worldwide, becoming a disappointment.
Following the same path, even worse, The Marvels earned the unexpected tag of officially the lowest-grossing installment in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The $220 million-plus budgeted movie earned just $83 million in the domestic market and under $120 million in the international market. Combined, The Marvels has generated $202 million worldwide. And again, MCU got a disaster.
Enter Spider-Man 2: The Savior of Marvel Franchise
While the MCU stumbled on the big screen, Spider-Man 2 swung onto the scene, delivering a breath of fresh air for the franchise. The game, developed by Insomniac Games, became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studio game ever, exceeding 2.5 million copies sold within 24 hours of launch.
The follow-up to the 2018 game Marvel’s Spider-Man and 2020’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales features iconic supervillains including Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Lizard, and more from Marvel’s rogues’ gallery.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s success signifies that the audience’s appetite for Marvel stories remains strong, but it also highlights the importance of innovation and quality storytelling. While the MCU films may be facing temporary hurdles, the passion and excitement for the brand are evident in the overwhelming response to Spider-Man 2.
Also Read: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: Insomniac Confirms That New Game Plus Is Coming in 2024
