The latest Marvel origin story Captain Marvel brought in $456 million at the box office in its first weekend. Brie Larson, who plays Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, was at the center of social media controversy due to ‘feminist’ quotes when discussing diversity in the press pool.
When discussing the mixed reviews of Ava Duvernay’s movie A Wrinkle in Time, Larson was quoted saying via USA Today “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time,” Larson said. “It wasn’t made for him! I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color.”
When scheduled to be interviewed by Marie Claire, the 29-year-old actress requested to be interviewed by Keah Brown, a journalist with cerebral palsy, who noted that the interview was her biggest opportunity and “nobody usually wants to take a chance on a disabled journalist.”
When Brown asked Larson the reason for requesting her, the Captain Marvel actress explained: “About a year ago, I started paying attention to what my press days looked like and the critics reviewing movies and noticed it appeared to be overwhelmingly white male.”
Larson then said a study at the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative confirmed a lack of diversity in the press pool. The actress decided to make her press tour more inclusive.
Many took her feminist quotes out of context and misinterpreted it to mean Brie Larson hates white men.
FOX 5’s Kevin McCarthy spoke with Brie Larson and the actress further clarified her stance on diversity.
“All that I know is, what I’m looking for is to bring more seats up to the table. Nobody is getting their chair taken away.”
It appears the effort to ‘review bomb’ Captain Marvel has not had an effect at the box office. The latest addition to the Marvel franchise brought in $153 million domestically and $455 million worldwide in its opening weekend.
It is also the seventh largest opening for a Marvel movie domestically and the fourth largest non-sequel launch in history. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel is currently the second highest-grossing film of 2019.