Riding a wave of positive buzz,Thunderboltsexceeded the industry’s expectations in its global box office debut. The Marvel superhero movie might have come in underCaptain America: Brave New World, but unlike that film, it showed an upward trend across its first three days of release. The word of mouth forBrave New Worldwas quite concerning, and this was reflected in its eventual performance.Thunderboltsis a riskier bet, presenting audiences with an entirely new team of characters. But thisfreshness in approach seems to have worked in its favor.
With $76 million domestically in its opening weekend and another $86 million from overseas markets, themovie’s global debut stands at $162 million. By comparison,Brave New Worldgrossed $180 million in its worldwide debut earlier this year. Directed byJake Schreier,Thunderbolts*unites characters from past Marvel Cinematic Universe projects such asBlack WidowandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier. LikeBrave New World, which eventually made over $400 million worldwide, the movie was produced ona reported budget of $180 million.
This is on the lower end of the spectrum for Marvel movies. Most of them cost over $200 million these days. For instance, the pandemic-era MCU filmEternals, whichThunderboltsoutperformed this weekend, also cost over $200 million to produce, as did the firstGuardians of the Galaxymovie over a decade ago.Thunderboltshas a lot in common with that film, which also injected the franchise with a creative shot in the arm after a largely formulaic first wave of hits. The movie holds an 88%Rotten Tomatoes scoreand an even more encouraging 95% audience rating on the aggregator platform.
‘Thunderbolts*’ Tees Up Major MCU Movies
StarringFlorence Pughas Yelena Belova, the movie also featuresLewis Pullman,Sebastian Stan,David Harbour,Wyatt Russell, andHannah John-Kamen.Thunderboltstees up the upcomingThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, which, in turn, will pave the way for next year’sAvengers: Doomsday. In recent years, the world’s most successful film franchise has had its first brush with box office failure; movies such asThe Marvels,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, andBrave New Worldall failed to live up to the brand’s high benchmark.Deadpool & Wolverine, however, shattered all expectations last year. It’ll be interesting to observe whereThunderboltssettles as the franchise restructures.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Thunderbolts*
