Captain America: Brave New World is entering its second weekend in theaters but Neon's The Monkey is proving to be stronger competition for the latest Marvel Studios blockbuster than expected.
The horror movie starring She-Hulk: Attorney at Law star Tatiana Maslany is set to nab the indie distributor's second-highest opening ever with an estimated $12 million - $14 million haul following a $5 million Friday. That means it will debut at #2 with Captain America: Brave New World remaining at #1.
As things stand, the blockbuster grossed $7.5 million on Friday for a weekend likely to be somewhere between $25 million - $30 million. That's a little lower than estimates from earlier this week but those are always a little off one way or the other.
Should Captain America: Brave New World end the weekend with around $29 million, that will be a -67% decline for a running 10-day total of $142 million in North America. We're still waiting on updated international numbers.
The mixed reviews for the movie have done it no favours (49% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- CinemaScore) and, in an interview with Esquire, filmmaker Julius Onah shared a response to those.
"All I’ll say is that we were working very hard and are very passionate about the movie we made," he said. "We told the story in a way that I feel very excited about and very satisfied with."
"Every single one of these movies [receives criticism]—and maybe because it was so out-there in terms of some of the conversation, people perceiving certain things, certainly—but I don’t think that is the truth of the reality of it," Onah added. "The really important thing for me is the experience the audience gets to have: enjoying the story."
What will you be watching in theaters this weekend?
In Captain America: Brave New World, after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam Wilson finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
The movie stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The movie is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.
"Flawed but functional, Captain America: Brave New World's many problems are largely forgotten any time Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford electrify the screen," we said in our review. "And when Red Hulk shows up, the movie reaches new heights of awesome."
Captain America: Brave New World is now playing in theaters.