The Marvels has started off its box-office run with a meh $6.6 million in Thursday evening previews, well behind the $20.7 million grossed by Captain Marvel in 2019. …

The movie has been slipping in tracking, an unusual situation. Three weeks ago, major research films showed Captain Marvel debuting to $75 million-$80 million at the domestic box office.

Now, however, the female-fronted superhero pic may only clear $60 million-$65 million in what would mark one of the lowest starts ever for Kevin Feige‘s storied Marvel Studios. And at least one service, The Quorum, is predicting south of $60 million. Marvel and Disney remain hopeful that interest and awareness will pick up, and that The Marvels will see a boost from some kids being out of school Friday because of Veteran’s Day (the actual holiday is Saturday).

[If the kids are out of school today, it means that they had plenty of time yesterday evening to turn out. At the very least, that level of box-office receipts amply demonstrates that there isn’t too much excitement around this premiere. THR posits that this may be due to superhero fatigue rather than the project itself, and I’d bet that’s a major factor too. But the original film was not well received, even with its good box office, and that may have something more to do with it. — Ed]