"Captain America: Civil War's" $181.8 Million Opening Continues Disney Domination

CBR

By Brendan McGuirk

Published May 8, 2016

The third "Captain America" movie bested the third "Iron Man" installment in a record weekend at the box office.

"Captain America: Civil War," the thirteenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's series of interconnected superhero blockbusters, proved to be a box-office smash over its first weekend in North American theaters, bringing in $181.8 million domestically. Along with a $220 million take overseas in its second week of international release, the film's worldwide gross stands at $678.39 million.

The $181.8 million U.S. take, which included a $75.3 million first Friday, is good for the fifth-biggest box office opening of all time, behind record-holders "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" with $248 million, "Jurassic World" with $208.8 million, and familiar team-ups "Marvel's The Avengers" with $207.4 million and "Avengers: Age of Ultron" with $191.3 million. "Captain America: Civil War" knocked off the third installment of Marvel's "Iron Man" franchise for fifth place in the all-time record books, which brought in $174.1 million in 2013 (per BoxOfficeMojo). The $166 million opening of Warner Bros.' "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" earlier this year is now good for eighth place among biggest domestic openings in Hollywood history.

Disney, which is now responsible for five of the biggest six box office openings of all time, was not only owner of the top spot at the U.S. box office this weekend, it also held second place, as Jon Favreau's "The Jungle Book" took in $21.9 million domestically, bringing its U.S. gross to $285 million in four weeks of release.

But the winner of the day was "Captain America," as the film's $60 million Saturday even bested the pace set late last year by "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which brought in $56.7 million on its first Saturday, per TheWrap.

Highly anticipated and critically acclaimed, "Captain America: Civil War" sees the culmination of long-simmering philosophical feuds between Chris Evans' Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, who come to blows after Rogers refuses to comply with government ordinance, and bring in his old war buddy the Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who also helmed the previous installment of the "Captain America" franchise and who have been tasked with the next two "Avengers" movies, "Civil War" unites previously seen Marvel heroes like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, Don Cheadle's War Machine, Anthony Mackie's Falcon, Paul Rudd's Ant-Man, and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany's Vision, both of whom were introduced in last summer's "Age of Ultron."

It also introduces audiences to Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther, who will see a solo feature in 2018 under the direction of "Creed" writer/director Ryan Coogler, and Tom Holland as the new Spider-Man, who will return in 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming," which will reportedly co-star Robert Downey Jr.

(per Variety, The Hollywood Reporter & Deadline)