Don’t let the bad buzz fool you, Captain America: Brave New World isn’t doing as poorly as you might’ve thought. The much-delayed Anthony Mackie vehicle finally opened globally this Valentine’s Day, but it certainly wasn’t the beginning of a beautiful love story between Marvel and critics. Brave New World currently sports one of the worst Rotten Tomatoes score in MCU history. Even so, it seems audiences are much more infatuated… But will their fling with the film last?
According to the latest figures (via THR), Brave New World brought home an impressively round $100 million domestically across its opening weekend at the box office. As well as putting other recent MCU misfires to shame (commiserations, The Marvels), this gives it the second highest-grossing U.S. opening of all four Captain America movies. There was no topping the juggernaut that was 2016’s Civil War ($179 million), but it did just manage to surpass 2014’s The Winter Soldier ($95 million). The achievement is a little ironic, considering most critics are in agreement that BNW desperately tries to recapture the quality of TWS but fails miserably.
When you add on its international take since Friday, Captain America 4‘s total so far is a very healthy $192 million. That’s none too shabby considering that’s almost the entire lifetime cume of a certain other Marvel movie (again, real sorry, The Marvels). On the other hand, despite this early success, it might be too soon for the movie to yell “Nyah nyah nyah!” at critics just yet as further intel suggests director Julius Onah’s offering has a ways to go before it can be declared a surprise win for Marvel Studios.
Brave New World still has a long way to go before it can break even
As per Deadline, Brave New World has made about half of what it needs to in order to just about turn a profit. Officially, the film sports a budget of $180 million, with accompanying marketing costs expected to have swallowed up a further $100 million. Insider sources, then, claim that the movie needs to earn $425 million if it hopes to break even.
With half of that in the bank after just three days, such a number sounds eminently do-able, but the specter of Quantumania is hanging over Sam Wilson’s head here. Much like Cap 4, Ant-Man 3 had a super-strong opening weekend… before those who had gone to see it told their friends about how bad it was and it suffered a tough second weekend plummet. Quantumania ended up with a global haul of $475 million, which — due to its exorbitant budget — meant it can be classified as a bomb.
When you factor in the rumors that Brave New World‘s well-documented extensive reshoot period actually ballooned its own price tag to closer to $300 million, suddenly its robust opening weekend performance doesn’t pack quite the same punch as it seemed. With any luck, it’ll manage to steer its way clear to avoiding financial embarrassment as well as critical humiliation. Marvel will be hoping everyone who saw it this weekend keeps their lips sealed.
