You’ll be able to watch The Marvels on Disney Plus very soon

The Marvels starts streaming on Disney Plus on February 7th, nearly three months after it had the lowest-grossing box-office debut in MCU history. This may give the Nia DaCosta-directed action-adventure film starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani a chance at a new life since it can tap into the built-in audience of other titles featuring its stars, including Ms. Marvel, WandaVision, and of course, Captain Marvel.

It grossed about $84.5 million domestically and $121.6 million internationally (for a combined total of $206 million), according to Box Office MoJo.

While that’s a pretty average post-pandemic box-office run for any other film, it’s not enough for the expensive MCU tentpole to break even: Variety reports the film had a combined marketing and production budget of $320 million. 

The lackluster performance of The Marvels has been pinned to everything from the SAG-AFTRA strike to general audience fatigue with the MCU universe. However, as Alex Cranz wrote, the film’s failure is tied less to its overall quality than to an even bigger problem within the MCU. “Disney’s been making garbage, which makes people less inclined to watch new stuff on the off chance it’s garbage, too.”

The Captain Marvel sequel has a solid audience score of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and seemed to be decently received by most critics. If The Marvels goes on to become a hit on streaming, it’ll be good for the film’s stars and creators. But as far as Disney’s bottom line is concerned, the damage is probably done.