When will The Marvels land on Disney Plus - and why is it performing badly at the box office?

It's not even been out at the cinema for a week, but superhero fans are already counting down the days to when The Marvels lands on Disney Plus.

Part of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), The Marvels sees Brie Larson return as Captain Marvel after Avengers: Endgame, alongside Teyonah Parris as WandaVision's Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani as Ms Marvel. Hollywood legend Samuel L Jackson also resumes his role as Nick Fury, hot on the heels of TV series Secret Invasion.

The latest instalment in the ever-expanding MCU franchise has Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel, successfully retrieving her identity from the oppressive Kree forces after having meted out her revenge against the Supreme Intelligence. Yet unforeseen repercussions compel her to bear the weight of a universe thrown into turmoil.

As her responsibilities lead her through an anomalous wormhole associated with a Kree uprising, her abilities intertwine with those of two other superheroes, giving rise to the emergence of The Marvels - Captain Marvel, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani); and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris).

While The Marvels may appear to have all the ingredients for a box office blockbuster, it appears to have got off to a bad start with cinemagoers, attracting a mere £38m in its first weekend in the US. And while this may sound a lot, it makes it the lowest opening of any film in the MCU so far.

The movie has a so-so 6.2 rating on IMDb and has received mixed reviews from critics, with the New York Times saying "you've seen this movie 32 times before" and the Guardian calling it "superheroes to zeros in tepid franchise addition". Variety called it a "skittery sequel loaded down with MCU baggage".

At a brief 1 hour 45 minutes long it is also the shortest film in the MCU canon so far, a record previously held by 2008's The Incredible Hulk and 2013's Thor: The Dark World, which both clocked in at 1 hour 52 mins.

Analyst David A Gross told the BBC: "This opening is an unprecedented Marvel box office collapse", before suggesting that the increasing popularity of streaming services may be denting cinema revenue, along with the recent actors' strike, which meant The Marvels' stars couldn't do any promotional work for the movie.

Forbes' Dani Di Placido wrote earlier this year that superhero films just 'don't feel essential any more', adding; "Marvel Studios seems to be suffering from the same issues the comics did, releasing too much, too soon, resulting in a confused, fatigued audience."

When will The Marvels be released on Disney Plus?

While there's no official release date yet, Disney does appear to be following a similar formula and time frame for almost all its exclusive streaming releases in the past few months.

Films from The House of Mouse have an exclusive theatrical run of at least 45 days, before they can then be bought or rented digitally. After then it is usually around a month before it is streamed to Disney Plus subscribers. As such, it is possible you could be watching The Marvels during the Christmas holidays, and it would be available to stream to Disney Plus subscribers around January 24.

However this 'formula' is never a guarantee, with Disney confirming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and its companion documentary -Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford - will launch on the streaming platform on Friday, December 15 - more than five months after its theatrical release.