It doesn’t matter who wins the slugfest that underlies this weekend’s Captain America: Civil War, Marvel Studios is the real winner as the film opens with a domestic box office take of $181.8 million. Coupled with the film’s overseas box office – $496.6 million since it opened last weekend – places the picture’s total take at $678.4 million is just twelve days of release.
Civil War‘s weekend domestic gross places it at number five on the list of biggest film debuts, right behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million), Jurassic World ($208.8 million), The Avengers ($207.4 million) and Avengers: Age of Ultron ($191.3 million). All grosses are not adjusted for inflation.
The $181.8 million domestic take also almost doubles the opening for the previous Captain America film – 2014’s The Winter Soldier – opening weekend gross of $95 million. The first Captain America film opened with $65 million in domestic box office receipts. Disney’s expectations for the film were reportedly in the $175 million range, while some box office forecasts were projecting a take of closer to $190 million.
Civil War has proven to be a strong favorite with both critics and audiences. The film has a 91% “fresh” rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and an A CinemaScore grade from audiences.
The film is the first in Marvel Studios’ Phase Three of set of movies, with another eight films being releasedd between now and 2019.
It should have no problem both crossing the $1 billion dollar mark, which would certainly place it well what it needs to earn in order to earn back its reported $250 million budget. The film should have a clear run at the box office top spot for at least one more week. It is possible that it may encounter some resistance the weekend of May 20 with the opening of the comedy Neighbors 2 and the action comedy The Nice Guys. The next big comic book film, X-Men: Apocalypse will premier the following weekend, May 27.