The final numbers are in for Captain America: Brave New World's opening weekend over the four-day Presidents' Day holiday and, as expected, the latest Marvel Studios movie debuted with a mighty $100 million in North America.
While current estimates point to a four-day $192.4 million global bow, its three-day total was $180.9 million. That's right where the majority of analysts predicted it would land, meaning the movie neither exceeded nor fell below expectations.
Captain America: Brave New World has been named the #1 movie in the world (the MPA views it as such because it had a wide release) but didn't actually make the most money. In China, Ne Zha 2 earned a massive $279.6 million to bring its worldwide total to over $1.6 billion. So, technically, it opened at #2.
The highest-grossing Chinese and non-English film of all time has been a runaway success in the Middle Kingdom, with the result being that Captain America: Brave New World made less there than expected. Also not helping matters was the runaway success of Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy in the UK ($15.5 million vs. $8 million).
With a successful opening now in Captain America: Brave New World's rearview mirror, all eyes are on its second weekend. We're still a couple of days away from estimates dropping, but the movie needs to avoid an Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania-style drop if it hopes to be a hit and make back a combined production/marketing budget that may have ballooned to upwards of $300 million.
Fans appear to have enjoyed Captain America: Brave New World far more than critics, though the movie serves as a sequel not just to The Falcon and The Winter Soldier but to Eternals and The Incredible Hulk as well.
Liv Tyler, who starred in the latter movie, returns to the MCU for Captain America: Brave New World following a five-year break from acting. Talking at the world premiere, The Lord of the Rings star revealed, "I got a phone call saying, '[Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige wants to speak to you.'"
"I said, 'Well, doesn't he want to see me? It's been a long time!' So they asked me to come back. Just the whole thing," Tyler continued. "I've taken a break from acting for the past few years, and I've been home with my children. And it was just such a lovely way, after COVID and everything, to come back to something so special."
"The family, and the character — it was sort of a perfect way to lure me back into remembering how much I love acting," she concluded.
What are your predictions for Captain America: Brave New World's second weekend box office haul?
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 opens in U.S. theaters on February 14, 2025.