Deadline’s Blockbuster tournament took place and the verdict is in… and it’s Marvel who wins the trophy for the film that lost the most money in 2023! Here are the results.
In its latest Blockbusters tournament, Deadline analyzed the income, expenses and profits of blockbusters released in 2023. On the earnings side, the site took into account both the results of films at the cinema but also their income from streaming and broadcasts on television, as well as their revenues at the Home Entertainment level (sales of Blu-ray, DVD and others). On the expense side, the publication took into account production costs, advertising, residual revenue and other distribution costs, as well as other interest and overhead costs.
And if we stick to the superhero genre, here are the films that lost the most money last year.
The Marvels
You would have thought that a sequel to a $1.1 billion female superhero film marking the return of Brie Larson would have done better and yet The Marvels is indeed the superhero film that lost the most money last year. If its predecessor, Captain Marvel (2019), had benefited from being released between Infinity War and Endgame, at a time when the craze for films in the genre was at its peak, The Marvels was released in a more difficult context, notably because of the actors’ strike which also had a major impact on the promotion of the film.
The feature film also tried to draw inspiration from the plots of Disney+ series such as Ms. Marvel. This strategy, however, showed its shortcomings because Ms. Marvel has not been widely adopted by MCU fans, unlike series like Loki or WandaVision.
His total income from The Marvels amounts to $218 million. But against total expenses of 455 million… The result is a net loss of 237 million dollars for Marvel!
The Flash
In second position, we find The Flash on the DC side. Although the film was released well before the actors’ strike, it doesn’t help when your main Star is on the front page of the tabloids… Ezra Miller was thus left out of the promotion of the film, and even the return of Michael Keaton as Batman was not enough to save the project – he himself having promoted the film in limited doses, perhaps hesitant to face the press not wanting to answer questions about Miller.
D.C.
The total income of The Flash thus amounts to 250 million dollars. And again, against total expenses of 405 million, the result is a net loss of 155 million dollars for DC.
For comparison, behind The Marvels And The Flash, we find no less than four Disney films (apart from the superhero genre) which also did not shine in 2023: Indiana Jones and the Clock of Destiny with a net loss of 143 million dollars, Wish – Asha and the Lucky Star which lost a total of 131 million dollars net and The Haunted Mansion which lost 117 million for its part. Disney is therefore not doing much better.
And what about the best then?
In the superhero genre (and not only that), no one has been able to match Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in 2023. With its revenues of 598 million dollars and its expenses of 270 million, the film made a profit of 328 million dollars – and ranks third in Deadline’s rankings, all genres combined. As for Guardians of the Galaxy 3: 674 million in revenue, 550 million in expenses and the film made a profit of 124 million.
Note that Deadline has not (yet?) included in its list Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Shazam! The Rage of the Gods or Blue Beetle. To be continued.
Another superhero film, of sorts, also emerged in 2023 but it comes neither from Marvel nor from DC but from Paramount this time. We’re talking about Ninja Turtles: Teenage Years, which was a surprise at the box office last year – and which ranks fourth in Deadline’s general rankings with a total profit of $204.5 million, ahead of Oppenheimer’s $201.9 million. .
The publication has not yet revealed the first two places in its ranking of the most profitable films of 2023 but we know that it is between Super Mario Bros, the film and Barbie. The answer very soon.
