By Trey Barrett
Since the release of Iron Man sparked the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2008, Marvel Studios has released 31 films in its highly profitable franchise. Its most popular film, Avengers: Endgame, even became a cultural icon.
But how well has the MCU fared at the box office after the release of Endgame?
Background
After a steady release of 21 highly profitable films across 11 years, Marvel Studios released Avengers: Endgame, a culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), in 2019.
The film saw massive success, becoming a highly regarded movie amongst critics and the general audience while also becoming a cultural milestone for a beloved series.
The film became the highest-grossing film in the year of its release financially. According to Rebecca Rubin of Variety, Endgame amassed $2.7902 billion after spending three months in the theaters. Domestically, the film earned $853 million while it earned $1.9 billion internationally.
Before its release, Marvel Studios had not seen a film amass such strong financial success since the release of Black Panther the year before. Despite the film earning $1.346 billion at the worldwide box office according to Box Office Mojo, it was over $1 billion short of surpassing Endgame’s record-breaking numbers.
Endgame marked the end of the “Infinity Saga” of the MCU and concluded the arcs of major characters like Iron Man and Captain America. It not only set a precedent for what was next to come in the MCU but a precedent financially for the rest of the franchise.
Before the Saga Concluded
Iron Man, released May 2, 2008, in the United States, was the first film released in the MCU. According to Box Office Mojo, the film was made with an estimated budget of $140 million and made $585 million worldwide.
Despite the franchise start of the MCU, the film was a profitable beginning to the seventh highest-grossing media franchise in the world and sparked a series of equally successful films after it.
The Avengers, released May 4, 2012, in the United States, was the first major example of the franchise’s growing success in profitable films. On a budget of $220 million, it earned $623 million domestically and $1.518 billion internationally, becoming the first film in the franchise to cross the threshold in sales.
Profitable films continued afterward, most notably with the releases of Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.402 billion internationally) in 2015, Captain America: Civil War ($1.153 billion internationally) in 2016 and Captain Marvel ($1.128 billion internationally) in 2019.
In 2018, Black Panther’s introduction to the region of Wakanda amassed a domestic result of $700 million on a budget of $200 million. The film went on to earn $1.347 billion internationally and became the fifth highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada.
Two months after, Avengers: Infinity War set the record for the highest-grossing MCU film at a worldwide total of $2.048 billion. The film, earning $678 million domestically, became the fifth highest-grossing movie in the world and set a precedent for many of the massive team-up films that followed.
The MCU’s Infinity Saga amassed over $18 billion internationally and over $7 billion in the U.S. and Canada across 21 films. The frequency of profitable films crossing the billion dollar threshold was rampant before the release of Endgame, and it has been hard for the franchise to replicate since.
After the Saga Concluded
The MCU was continuing strong in its 2019 film slate with the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home July 2, 2019. The film, exploring the effects of Endgame on its titular character, amassed $1.131 billion and became the 28th highest-grossing film in the entire world.
The post-Endgame environment for the Marvel franchise was looking strong, but the start of the coronavirus pandemic later that year caused many complications for the film industry. Many productions had to close while others had to push their release dates back to accommodate the added complications of COVID-19.
For Marvel, this resulted in many of their films originally slated for a 2020 release being pushed back a year and caused a noticeable lack of Marvel-related content in theaters for almost two years. It also resulted in the creation of Disney+, an on-demand streaming service operated by The Walt Disney Co. that changed the prospects of MCU films greatly.
Black Widow, the first film pushed back due to the pandemic, premiered both in theaters and on Disney+ through Premier Access for an additional $30 charge.
Despite breaking pandemic box office records, the ability to stream the film online while it also premiered in theaters hindered the box office results of the film. Worldwide, the film earned $379 million. However, it became an unprofitable box office failure by failing to breakeven due to production costs estimating around $200 million.
The trends from Black Widow’s release continued into the release of Marvel’s next two films, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals.
Coupled with the fact that audiences could wait around 90 days after each film’s theatrical release, or in the case of Shang-Chi, 45 days, both films earned around $400 million at the box office on budgets in the $150 to $200 million range.
Recently, things began to look bright for the franchise with the releases of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2022.
No Way Home earned $814 million domestically, the second highest domestic earning in the franchise’s history, and became the seventh highest grossing film in the world. Wakanda Forever amassed $855 million internationally and $453 million domestically.
The Future
With many more films to go in its slate, the MCU’s decline in financial success has been apparent since the release of Endgame in 2019. Compared to the impressive results of pre-Endgame, the MCU has only earned over $6 billion internationally and $2 billion domestically.
While Marvel Studios continues to churn out new films in its upcoming slates of phases in the MCU, box office trends pale in comparison to the profitable glory of the 21-film slate before the “cultural reset” of the MCU.