After being absent last year due to strike-related delays, Marvel Studios has returned to its traditional spot on the first weekend of May with “Thunderbolts,” which has earned a solid $76 million opening weekend from 4,300 locations.
While short of the $89 million 3-day opening of “Captain America: Brave New World,” this result is in line with pre-release projections for “Thunderbolts.” More importantly, “Thunderbolts” is earning considerably better audience reception than “Brave New World,” including an A- on CinemaScore compared to a B- for the most recent MCU installment. Demographic results for the film are 64% male and 61% under the age of 35, with ethnic breakdown coming out at 42% white, 24% Latino, 18% Black and 10% Asian.
Other reception scores include a 4.5/5 from general audiences on PostTrak, and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 88% critics and 94% audience. With the inconsistency in quality since “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel has had to follow the same rules as the rest of Hollywood, living and dying by word-of-mouth. With such high marks across the board, “Thunderbolts*” now has a chance to leg out and possibly convince some lapsed fans to give it a try.
If it is able to do that, “Thunderbolts*” could surpass the $200 million domestic run of “Captain America: Brave New World.” Overseas, the film added $86.1 million from 52 markets for a global start of $162.1 million The next two weekends before Memorial Day weekend, when Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible 8,” will determine the trajectory of the latest MCU film.
In second place with another incredible showing in its third weekend is Warner Bros.’ “Sinners,” which despite losing Imax screens to “Thunderbolts*” is projected by industry estimates to earn $33 million in this frame. That’s just a 28% drop from its $45 million second weekend.
“Sinners” is on pace to become the highest domestic grossing original live-action film since the $292.5 million North American run of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” back in 2010 and the $275 million run of Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” in 2013. It has blown away any questions about whether it would be profitable against its $90 million budget, and has set itself up for a lucrative post-theatrical run in a big win for Warner Bros. and film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.
“Thunderbolts*” and “Sinners” have also combined to push the current industry estimates for the first weekend of summer 2025 to $146.5 million. That’s roughly double the $74.6 million overall total of the same weekend last year, when strike delays left theaters without the traditional Marvel release and the film released in its place, “The Fall Guy,” flopped with a $27.7 million opening.
In third is Warner/Legendary’s “A Minecraft Movie” with $13.5 million in its fifth weekend, putting the year’s highest grossing film past $850 million worldwide and on the threshold of $400 million domestic. Looking to boost the film’s grosses after the Easter break, Warner announced a series of “block party” screenings in which the rowdy cheers and meme calls that had led to some complaints from opening weekend moviegoers are encouraged.
Amazon MGM’s “The Accountant 2” is in fourth with $9.4 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $41.1 million. After matching the opening weekend of the first “Accountant” released in 2016, the sequel has fallen to 13.5% behind the $47.5 million 10-day total of its predecessor.
Sony/Screen Gems’ “Until Dawn” completes the top 5 with $3.8 million in its second weekend, bringing its total to $14.3 million.
