THUNDERBOLTS* Gets A Boost From Positive Word Of Mouth Heading Into Thunderous Opening Weekend

THUNDERBOLTS* Gets A Boost From Positive Word Of Mouth Heading Into Thunderous Opening Weekend

As expected, positive reviews from fans and critics have seen Thunderbolts* electrify the box office, but how will it fare in theaters this weekend? You can find all the latest updates right here...

By JoshWilding - May 02, 2025 03:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Thunderbolts
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Thunderbolts* has gone down a storm with fans and critics alike; as we write this, the movie has an 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with 96% on the fan-voted Popcornmeter. 

That Audience Score places it behind only Spider-Man: Far From Home/Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (98%) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (97%), so yes, the MCU is so back. PostTrak exit polls have seen audiences give it a phenomenal 4.5/5 (we'll have a CinemaScore for you tomorrow morning). 

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Thunderbolts* slightly exceeded expectations with $11.5 million from Thursday preview screenings. It's currently eyeing a $70 million - $73 million domestic debut and a $160 million - $175 million bow globally. The movie cost $180 million to produce. 

This positive word of mouth could see the Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier follow-up come in higher than expected; crucially, it will likely have a much better hold heading into its second and third weekends than Captain America: Brave New World

Hopefully, it will be a hit because Marvel Studios needs to be making more movies like this. 

"Thunderbolts* redefines superhero storytelling to deliver a moving and powerful story that does for the 'Multiverse Saga' what The Avengers did for the 'Infinity Saga' in 2012," we said in our review. "These heroes have earned their place on a Wheaties box."

Next up for Marvel Studios is The Fantastic Four: First Steps; then, heading into 2026, we have Avengers: Doomsday as the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga kicks off with the return of the Russo Brothers. 

Check out another new TV spot for Thunderbolts* below. 

In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes - Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?

The cast of Thunderbolts* will be led by Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Lewis Pullman as "Bob."

Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters.

THUNDERBOLTS* Poster Spotlights Sentry/The Void; Florence Pugh Shares New Behind-The-Scenes Photos
Related:

THUNDERBOLTS* Poster Spotlights Sentry/The Void; Florence Pugh Shares New Behind-The-Scenes Photos

THUNDERBOLTS* Makes A Baffling Decision When It Comes To A Certain Character - SPOILERS
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THUNDERBOLTS* Makes A Baffling Decision When It Comes To A Certain Character - SPOILERS

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CyberNigerian
CyberNigerian - 5/2/2025, 3:37 PM
Snowball marketing

Well deserved.
CaptainAwkward
CaptainAwkward - 5/2/2025, 3:44 PM
A very fun movie.
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 5/2/2025, 3:58 PM
Make people care about the characters and they'll show up, who knew.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2025, 4:22 PM
@Spidey91 - I mean , it seems people come to really care about most of these characters if not all in this film from what I’m hearing so one must first see it before to do that..;).

I think it’s moreso WOM has been very good which peaks people’s interest and makes them think it might be worth spending money to see this in theaters rather then at home
Latverian
Latverian - 5/2/2025, 3:58 PM
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ShellHead
ShellHead - 5/2/2025, 4:01 PM
@Latverian - bro the hater culture is done. It's cringe. It's weird ass performance from the most annoying dude at the lunch table so they can chase clout on twitter and get a look from daddy trump. Weak shit.

Enjoying other people and getting out in the neighborhood is back dude
Rpendo
Rpendo - 5/2/2025, 4:03 PM
@Latverian - That guy is such a weak chickenhawk bitch, I swear…

Like, if you are a grown ass man in his forties who professionally whines about superhero/children’s movies, I am sorry, you are a loser.
Latverian
Latverian - 5/2/2025, 4:03 PM
@ShellHead -

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

The first step towards solving any problem is to acknowledge it, and I am neither willing nor able to pretend that this particular one has been resolved.

Vigilance, my friend. Vigilance.
Latverian
Latverian - 5/2/2025, 4:05 PM
@Rpendo -

So long as that "weak chickenhawk bitch" still has an audience, here too of all places, he needs to be dealt with accordingly.
Blergh
Blergh - 5/2/2025, 4:19 PM
@Latverian - not a reviewer I put any stock in. Used to follow him and saw him spiral into the pit of hater-culture. It's really sad how he's so super critical of Marvel trops and literally repeats them in his own movie.



For someone who claims to be tired of "the same old" he certainly embraces the tropes he likes, it's just culture war at this point. Disney is "woke" in eyes of dumbasses who don't get that companies have no souls and only cater to markets

mountainman
mountainman - 5/2/2025, 5:42 PM
@Latverian - Not that he’s a reviewer I care about, but what is your suggestion of how he should be dealt with?

Personally, I tend to just not watch the reviewers I don’t enjoy (like him), which seems like the best way to deal with reviewers you don’t like.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 5/2/2025, 5:49 PM
@Latverian - That grifter should just pack it up and go home.
Latverian
Latverian - 5/2/2025, 6:10 PM
@mountainman -

Broken down to his most basic parts, understood, and addressed as to not only why he succeeded, but also why he never should again.

Th3Birdman is an excellent channel that breaks down why grifters like Drinker and Nerdrotic are a plague and how exactly they take root in the feeds of many viewers, which are sadly the majority nowadays.

Other than that, telling him to go f#ck himself might also work.
mountainman
mountainman - 5/2/2025, 6:28 PM
@Latverian - You certainly have every right to tell him how you feel about him via the methods you have available to communicate with him.

As far as your first goal, good luck. He seems to have quite a large viewer count on any of his videos that are shown to me on YouTube. Not sure how you’d accomplish that.

I’ve always found that the best antidote for speech you don’t like is to put out better speech and allow the competing marketplace of ideas to sort it out.

Personally I don’t find accounts like Drinker or Nerdrotic any more annoying that the ones that are overly positive (even for bad projects not speaking to this movie as I haven’t seen it). I have Drinker and Nerdrotic both muted on YouTube now so they don’t show up. I also have New Rockstars and some of those accounts muted as I find them annoying too. You can save yourself a lot of stress by just blocking out the people you don’t want to hear from.
Latverian
Latverian - 5/2/2025, 6:34 PM
@mountainman -

That's the very definition of ostrichism. Call it masochistic, but I find it essential to inveest just as much time in voices that I agree with as I do in those that I tend not to; if not even more so.
mountainman
mountainman - 5/2/2025, 6:38 PM
@Latverian - You do you man! Keep fighting the fight you want to.

We all have lots of things we agree and disagree with. But we don’t have an unlimited amount of is time. Prioritizing what you spend yours on is not ostrichism.

Good luck, I just don’t think you’ll achieve your goal and I was trying to help you to be less annoyed by things others say that you don’t like.
dragon316
dragon316 - 5/2/2025, 6:44 PM
@Latverian - I don’t enjoy watch his videos people want little kid sheep have strangers tell them what to see in life so be it
Latverian
Latverian - 5/2/2025, 6:53 PM
@mountainman -

I appreciate your concern, and I'll choose to keep the positive from this thread, of users here taking these assholes less seriously than I do.
mountainman
mountainman - 5/2/2025, 7:16 PM
@Latverian - As someone who largely hasn’t liked a lot of recent Marvel and Star Wars output, a person could assume that I was a big fan of his and watched all his content. But even I have found these channels to just be constant complaining in recent years. I feel like these channels don’t impact the box office totals much, and apparently looking at the audience review score for this, there can’t be any claims of review bombing like we’ve seen with other projects.

The best thing to do with voices like these is let them fade into their corners. They will have relevance to their audience, but less so with the overall culture.

And side note, despite me not liking a lot of post Endgame MCU, this is actually a project I am looking forward to seeing in theaters and will within the next week or so. For some of us like me, it’s more about good projects than anything else.
RealTurner
RealTurner - 5/2/2025, 10:50 PM
@Blergh - I mean, he put it out there, and you'd think the end result being a confusing, boring mess that relies almost entirely on clieches for you to even hope to understand what's happening would make him better respect the effort that goes into actually making something work. But hey, I guess not.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 5/2/2025, 4:07 PM
THUNDERBOLTS Gets A Boost from Positive Word of Mouth Heading into Thunderous Opening Weekend.


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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2025, 4:21 PM
Sweet , great to hear the positive WOM and read about the nice box office returns so far…

I hope it’s able to have legs since there’s little to no competition in front of it until MI and Lilo & Stitch come out on the 23rd so fingers crossed it has the rewatchability factor to it.

Also I have been reading that people wish this movie had happened earlier but I’m a big believer in things ultimately work out for the best which I think works here aswell…

You need the foundation of Black Widow or Falcon & The Winter Soldier for example to understand what the likes of characters such as John ,Yelena & Alexei are going through in this since it ties into that and builds off their prior history and development imo.

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Scarilian
Scarilian - 5/2/2025, 4:22 PM
"It's currently eyeing a $70 million - $73 million domestic debut"

Captain America 4 did $88 million domestic debut.

"The movie cost $180 million to produce"

No, it didn't. They'll claim $180m and then we'll know the exact figure in a few years time and it'll probably be around $250m.
Oberlin4Prez
Oberlin4Prez - 5/2/2025, 4:34 PM
@Scarilian - I actually don't disagree with the possibility of a 180 million projected budget. It didn't have the massive amount of reshoots like Captain Falcon did. It may be more than that , only time will tell when the true numbers come out, but this has a better chance of breaking even than the other movie assuming those numbers are true.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 5/2/2025, 4:44 PM
@Scarilian - Iron Man Worldwide = $585,796,247 and Iron Man 2 Worldwide = $623,933,331

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) = $955,775,804

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) = $859,208,836

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) = $760,928,081

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) = $1,921,407,902
Batmangina
Batmangina - 5/2/2025, 6:42 PM
@AllsGood - Spidey and Iron Man are the only worthwhile movies on that list and on any level rewatchable.

The rest are 31 Flavors of Hot Garbage - you were quiet AF as Captain Falcon underwhelmed the earth and now some positive news on Thunderbolts has you acting like the MCU has a prayer of limping past this year in profitability mode.
EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 5/2/2025, 6:56 PM
@Batmangina - Sifting through "31 Flavors of Hot Garbage" and yet still continuing to come back for more will always look worse on the consumer.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 5/2/2025, 7:09 PM
@Batmangina - Don't matter if the Haters and you Like them or not. All these movies were successes for Marvel.

I think all these MCU movies are Successes and Hits. Including Black Widow Rotten Tomatoes 79% with Audience Score of 95%.

Marvel Studios Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings Rotten Tomatoes Score 92% and Audience Score of 98%
Batmangina
Batmangina - 5/2/2025, 7:23 PM
@EskimoJ - The question is - are the consumers REALLY coming back?

No MCU movie has sniffed a billion dollars since DP&W and it was a cameo fest fanjob - which I endorse but that's not a business model.

This one won't get past the halfway mark and might break even or turn a slight profit.

Long way from that Phase 4 glory.
Batmangina
Batmangina - 5/2/2025, 7:28 PM
@AllsGood - Are you really using Black Widow and Shang Chi as a flex?

Black Widow was 10 years too late and Shang Chi was MID AF
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/2/2025, 4:39 PM
I think it could do $80-$85 million. I wouldn't be surprised if it hits $90 million.
BrainySleep
BrainySleep - 5/2/2025, 4:43 PM
Good movie, really enjoyed it
JurassicClunge
JurassicClunge - 5/2/2025, 5:27 PM
I'm going on Sunday!
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/2/2025, 5:49 PM
That's still way less than BNW, which flopped.

spin me baby. lie to me. tell me everything's fine.
mountainman
mountainman - 5/2/2025, 6:41 PM
@ObserverIO - Reportedly lower budget so it can turn a profit more easily.

But really whether this is actually good news for the movie or not will have to wait until second weekend numbers.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/2/2025, 6:43 PM
@mountainman - Both movies have the exact same budget: $180 million.
mountainman
mountainman - 5/2/2025, 6:57 PM
@ObserverIO - A lot of us didn’t believe the Cap 4 budget due to extensive reshoots. If they are both accurate, then that one probably only lost a little bit based on how much it earned.

Still need to see what this one’s legs look like. Better WOM, but it’ll have bigger competition starting in 2 weeks when Final Destination Drops, then several even bigger ones the weeks after that. If it also ends up around $400 million, it won’t be a big hit.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/2/2025, 8:03 PM
@mountainman - Yeah it's kinda got cinemas all to itself for a little while. But then so did BNW.
Batmangina
Batmangina - 5/2/2025, 6:39 PM
"Thunderbolts* redefines superhero storytelling

GET. THE. [frick]. OUT. OF. HERE.
dragon316
dragon316 - 5/2/2025, 6:46 PM
@Batmangina - thunderbolts does same story telling as any other comic book movies
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