Marvel's 'Thunderbolts' Project Likely to Yield Large Monetary Losses, According to Report
In the cinematic universe where superheroes reign supreme, Disney's latest Marvel offering, Thunderbolts, is finding itself far from the hallowed halls of success. Lumbering into theaters this May, the film, also known as The New Avengers, has become the latest casualty in Disney's lineup, joining the ranks of financial disappointments.
Starring Florence Pugh, David Harbor, Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Thunderbolts follows a troupe of antihero misfits, reminiscent of DC's The Suicide Squad. The film earned a substantial $76 million in its opening weekend, ushering in the 2025 summer movie season. However, its success was fleeting, as ticket sales plummeted from there.
To date, Thunderbolts has taken in a domestic gross of $187.3 million and $190.6 million internationally, amounting to a total of roughly $378 million worldwide[1]. While this might sound impressive, it falls into the lower echelons of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe of movies, which kickstarted in 2008 with Iron Man.
Matters are worsened by the fact that Thunderbolts currently ranks 29th on the MCU list in terms of domestic gross, with only Captain America: Brave New World just barely edging it out[1]. Nonetheless, the film's production budget was reportedly $180 million, with another nearly $100 million spent on marketing[2].
Using industry standards, Thunderbolts needed to rake in approximately $425 million in global box office earnings just to break even[4]. Despite positive reviews, it appears that the film has fallen short of this target.
Luckily for Disney, Thunderbolts will have additional revenue streams once it hits home entertainment platforms. The question remains, however, whether these will be enough to offset the negative figures in their ledgers. On the brighter side, Thunderbolts is still playing in theaters, and there's always hope for a late surge in ticket sales.
Just remember, things could've been worse. Disney's Snow White didn't fare nearly as well, closing its theatrical run with a hefty loss[3]. So for now, Disney and their team of antiheroes can take solace in the fact that, although Thunderbolts may not have met expectations, it's by no means the box office disaster that was Snow White.
In the realm of entertainment and movies-and-tv, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film, Thunderbolts, has struggled at the box office, despite a star-studded cast that includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and others. Regardless, the film's performance places it towards the lower end of the MCU's domestic gross earnings, falling behind even Captain America: Brave New World.
