TAGGED AS: Box Office, comic, Comic Book
As Marvel properties go, Captain Marvel just broke into the top 25 best-reviewed entries with an 80% on the Tomatometer (Iron Man 3 and Captain America: The First Avenger are also at 80%), but there was no stopping its power at the box office this weekend. That sound you heard was Carol Danvers leading the charge to the 18th highest opening weekend in history.
(Photo by Marvel Studios)
Coming in right between other female-led hero movies (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Hunger Games) on the all-time chart, Captain Marvel scored a $153 million three-day haul, which included $20.7 million on Thursday. It was the 16th film to make at least $20 million from Thursday night previews; eight of which are comic book adaptations and five of which belong to Marvel. It was also the third highest opening ever in March behind Beauty and the Beast ($174.7 million) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million). But now comes the word-of-mouth test.
Only three films have ever opened to $150 million or more and failed to reach $400 million. They were Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Spider-Man 3, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. They were all sequels, though, so the Captain has a little history on her side. Wonder Woman opened to $103 million and nearly pulled off a 4x multiple with a final gross of $412.5 million. Captain Marvel already has a slight edge and we will continue to monitor its progress week to week on where it stands. Among Marvel films in the 70% range on the Tomatometer, Captain Marvel joins Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 2, and The Amazing Spider-Man.
(Photo by @ DreamWorks Animation)
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World dropped 51% to $14.6 million, joining a small collection of films to have between $119-120 million on their 17th day – Sex and the City, Hotel Transylvania 3, and San Andreas. Upping the total to the $121 million range, only the first Mission: Impossible film managed to climb to over $177 million, the haul for the second Dragon film. The third film currently looks to finish in the range of $160 million – or what Captain Marvel nearly did in just three days. It’s worldwide total stands at $435 million. A Madea Family Funeral had its expected 55% drop, but at the end of its second weekend, it is only behind four of Perry’s films – Madea Goes to Jail, Boo!: A Madea Halloween, Why Did I Get Married Too?, and Madea’s Family Reunion.
As for the so-called #AlitaChallenge urging people to boycott one female-led superhero movie owned by Disney for another under a company soon to be controlled by Disney, Alita: Battle Angel dropped 55% and now has a domestic total of $78 million and global tally of $382 million. Until that latter number leaps over $500 million, there is no sense talking about it being any semblance of a success story. Captain Marvel, meanwhile, has already grossed $455 Million worldwide. Speaking of space adventures though, Neon’s documentary, Apollo 11, continues to do strong business, grossing another $1.3 million in just 400 theaters, many of them IMAX. It has grossed $3.7 million to date.
(Photo by Walt Disney Pictures)
A Wrinkle In Time nearly gave Black Panther some competition, but by the end of the weekend its $33.1 million was not enough to best the $40.8 million of the now four-time champion. The horror sequel, Strangers: Prey at Night, mustered up $10.4 million for third, but The Hurricane Heist ($3.02 million) and Gringo ($2.72 million) were both dead on arrival. The Top Ten films grossed at total of $123.1 million and averaged 59.9% on the Tomatometer. This year’s Top Ten grossed an estimated $197.3 Million and averaged 72.4% in part thanks to the 100% approval of Apollo 11 as well as Fighting With My Family (92%) and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (91%).
(Photo by Paramount Animation)
A great number of limited releases will be spread out around the country include the sci-fi thriller, Captive State, Keira Knightley’s WWII drama The Aftermath, and Matthias Schoenaerts in the Sundance prison entry The Mustang. Falling behind the second week of Captain Marvel in wide release though will be Paramount’s animated amusement park comedy Wonder Park and Haley Lu Richardson in the sick-teen romance Five Feet Apart, neither of which are likely to be competing for the top spot at the box office.
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on WGN Radio with Nick Digilio as well as on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
