Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: Civil War is poised to ring in the summer box office in high style with a North American debut approaching, if not crossing, $200 million over the May 6-8 weekend.
Civil War is bigger in scope than the two previous stand-alone Captain America films, and sees the Avengers crew fractured into opposing factions when the government wants to intervene and control the superheroes. One group is led by Captain America (Chris Evans), the other by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.).
Spider-Man, played by newcomer Tom Holland, also appears in the film, which is tipped to score one of the top five openings of all time domestically, joining an elite club alongside Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million), Jurassic World ($208.8 million), The Avengers ($207.4 million), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($191.3 million) and Iron Man 3 ($174 million).
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It’s proving to be another victory for Disney, parent company of Marvel and Lucasfilm (home of Star Wars). Between those companies and its own live-action studio (The Jungle Book) and animation powerhouses, Disney Animation Studios (Zootopia) and Pixar, Disney is turning out one hit after another. On Monday, The Jungle Book roared past the $700 million mark at the global box office.
And this past weekend, Captain America: Civil War launched to a massive $200.2 million overseas. That doesn’t include China, where it is set to open day-and-date with the U.S. The pic earned another $23.9 million on Monday for a foreign cume of $224.1 million.
In some foreign markets, Civil War is pacing ahead of Ultron. It scored the biggest debut of all time for any film in Mexico ($20.6 million), Brazil ($12.3 million) and the Philippines ($7.5 million). All told, Civil War rolled out in roughly 63 percent of the foreign marketplace.
And in the U.S., the film ranks as Fandango’s No. 1 superhero title of all time in terms of advance ticket sales.
Civil War currently boasts a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (If that holds, it will be the best-reviewed Marvel film to date.)
Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, William Hurt and Daniel Bruhl also star.
No other movie is opening nationwide opposite Civil War.
