New Reports of Empty Theaters at Captain Marvel Add to Movie’s Controversy
New reports of empty theaters for Captain Marvel’s weekend showings are the latest in the movie’s ongoing controversy.
A number of Twitter users indicated there were empty seats at a number of Captain Marvel showings over the weekend.
The #CaptainMarvel report from my local theater is SHOCKING. Out of 22 showings on Thurs, Fri, Sat, there were >570 EMPTY SEATS from advance ticket buyers WHO NEVER SHOWED UP, while on Sunday there were only 4 no-shows for the movie ALL DAY. 😵@DDayCobra @YellowFlashGuy @Timcast https://t.co/s2VcO9c2b5
— Just Pelé 🇺🇸 (@Just_Pele) March 12, 2019
The manager claimed he’d never seen anything like this in >20 years. 100s and 100s of tickets were purchased online but the buyers never arrived to watch the film. AFAIC, the box office totals for #CaptainMarvel are fake, with Disney, or a partner, padding the numbers. @Timcast
— Just Pelé 🇺🇸 (@Just_Pele) March 12, 2019
I went Thursday night and the theater was a little over half full.
— Comix Division (@ComixDivision) March 12, 2019
What is going on here? pic.twitter.com/K2DNllrlxx
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 10, 2019
We spoke with a movie theater manager who asked for anonymity. He told us they had “exactly 25 no shows for every showing of Captain Marvel on Thursday through Saturday.”
The manager told us this was definitely abnormal, “It’s definitely not normal. People usually show up when they pay for tickets…I’m not sure what it is, we’ve seen big groups not show up before, but they get refunds.”
I asked whether or not these tickets were purchased in bulk, but that information isn’t available, “I’m not sure if they were bought all at once because Fandango doesn’t give us that information, but exactly 25 no shows for every show is probably statistically impossible.”
The manager would add, “I would say it’s someone trying to make the ticket sales look better than they really were.”
He would also indicate he saw significant drop offs in ticket sales from Sunday at his theater, “Sunday for Captain Marvel wasn’t good and Monday and Tuesday were terrible. They were like a 75% drop off from Sunday.”
Box Office Mojo reports Captain Marvel’s Sunday take was only $38.8 million at the domestic box office. A drop of over 26% from Saturday. On Monday, the decline was even worse. The film dropped nearly 72% bringing in less than $11 million putting its total gross at over $164 million so far.
Captain Marvel has been mired in controversy. One America News Network’s Jack Posobiec called for fans to avoid seeing Captain Marvel and instead see Alita: Battle Angel following Brie Larson’s comments insinuating she wanted less white men covering her on the press tour and reviewing the movie.
What do you make of these reports of empty theaters? Do you think people were trying to prop up Captain Marvel during its opening weekend?
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