Box Office: ‘Thunderbolts’ Kicks Off Summer Movie Season With $76 Million Debut

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The movie “Thunderbolts” kicked off the summer movie season impressively, earning an opening domestic gross of $76 million.

The Thunderbolts movie, focusing on less renowned Marvel characters like Deadpool, Wolverine, and Thor, takes a more subdued approach to its earnings. Typically, Marvel films earn at least $100 million from the get-go, but Thunderbolts’ opening sales are expected to be more akin to Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings ($75 million) and Eternals ($71 million), which both introduced new protagonists in the Marvel universe. Critics and audiences seem to appreciate the film, with an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A-” CinemaScore. This could boost its performance following a series of less favorably reviewed movies such as Captain America: Brave New World, Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels.

According to David A. Gross, who heads up Franchise Entertainment Research, this opening for a new superhero tale is quite strong. It’s not quite at the top tier of all superhero debuts, but it surpasses the ordinary in this genre. In other words, what might be considered average in this case is actually quite significant.

Worldwide, the movie “Thunderbolts” concluded its weekend with earnings of $162.1 million, with $86.1 million coming from international box offices. Directed by Jake Schreier, this action-packed film assembles an unconventional group of protagonists consisting of Sebastian Stan’s character Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian. These antiheroes are compelled to join forces on a dangerous mission.

The movie titled “Thunderbolts” has an estimated production cost of $180 million, with approximately $100 million spent on marketing. Its critical reception and buzz among audiences could keep it running in theaters (and validate its high budget). Disney anticipates that “Thunderbolts” will mark a resurgence for their superhero genre. They’ve had success with established characters like Deadpool, Wolverine, Thor, and Black Panther, but introducing new characters has been challenging for Marvel Comics lately. Recent releases such as “The Marvels” and “Eternals” underperformed at the box office. In July, Marvel will present “The Fantastic Four: First Footsteps” on the 25th, while Warner Bros. and DC will premiere “Superman” on the 11th.

Coming in second place, “Sinners” devoured another substantial sum of $33 million during its third weekend, experiencing only a 28% drop compared to its previous showing. This R-rated vampire thriller directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan has managed to maintain exceptional box office performance in the U.S. due to overwhelmingly positive audience feedback. To date, it has accumulated a total of $181 million domestically.

Over the weekend, “Thunderbolts” was the sole fresh nationwide premiere. As a result, movies that had previously been showing, or ‘holdovers,’ dominated the North American box office charts.

In its fifth week at the cinema, “The Minecraft Film” secured the third spot, earning $13.5 million. To date, this movie based on the popular Warner Bros. video game has accumulated an impressive $398 million within North American territories.

In its second week, Ben Affleck’s action thriller “The Accountant 2” slid down to fourth place, earning $9.45 million – a significant 61% decrease from its opening weekend. This film, produced by Amazon MGM, has made a total of $41 million in the U.S. The R-rated sequel comes with a hefty $80 million production cost, which means that with the split of ticket sales between studios and theater owners, “The Accountant 2” might find it challenging to turn a profit during its cinematic release.

In the fifth position, Sony’s R-rated horror movie “Until Dawn” earned approximately $3.8 million across 3,055 cinemas, marking a 53% drop compared to its initial weekend earnings. This gruesome survival thriller, which carries a production cost of around $15 million, has garnered a total of $14.3 million in North America and $34.7 million worldwide.

More to come…

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2025-05-04 18:16