Weekend Estimates: ‘Captain America: Civil War’ Claims Fifth Largest Domestic Opening Weekend of All-Time with $181.8M

Disney’s tremendous year at the box office continued this weekend as Captain America: Civil War debuted with an estimated $181.79 million.  The blockbuster superhero sequel starring Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. registered the fifth largest opening weekend performance of all-time (without adjusting for ticket price inflation).  The film also claimed the third largest May debut ever (behind only 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers and last year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron).  Captain America: Civil War opened just 5 percent below the $191.27 million start of Age of Ultron and 4 percent ahead of the $174.14 million debut of 2013’s Iron Man 3.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently responsible for the third (The Avengers), fourth (Age of Ultron), fifth (Civil War) and sixth (Iron Man 3) largest debuts of all-time.

Due in part to its stronger critical reviews and massive online pre-sales, Captain America: Civil War had been expected to open ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron.  While Civil War didn’t quite reach the opening weekend heights of Age of Ultron, it is expected to display stronger holding power going forward than Age of Ultron did last year.  Also of note is that Civil War opened 9.5 percent ahead of the recent $166.01 million debut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a very impressive 91 percent ahead of the $95.02 million launch of 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Captain America: Civil War started out with $75.25 million on Friday (which included an estimated $25 million from Thursday evening shows), decreased 19 percent on Saturday to gross $61.09 million and is estimated to decline 26 percent on Sunday to take in $45.45 million.  That places the film’s estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio at 2.42 to 1.  Civil War displayed less front-loading over opening weekend than Age of Ultron (which had an opening weekend to Friday ratio of 2.27 to 1).  That is a good sign for Civil War going forward, as is the apparent strong word of mouth for the film.  Civil War received an A rating on CinemaScore (though it should be noted that Age of Ultron also received an A rating on CinemaScore) and currently has a Flixster audience score of 92 percent.

The audience breakdown for Captain America: Civil War skewed towards male moviegoers (59 percent) and towards moviegoers over the age of 25 (57 percent).  Family audiences represented 20 percent of the film’s overall audience.  Captain America: Civil War grossed an estimated $16.0 million from IMAX locations, which represented 8.8 percent of the film’s overall gross this weekend.

Disney also claimed second place this weekend as The Jungle Book took in an estimated $21.87 million.  The blockbuster live-action computer animated hybrid declined a sizable 50 percent from last weekend, as the film took an obvious hit from the launch of Captain America: Civil War.  In all likelihood, The Jungle Book will re-stabilize next weekend thanks to its strong word of mouth and not much being expected from either of next weekend’s two wide releases (Sony’s Money Monster and High Top’s The Darkness).  The Jungle Book has grossed $284.99 million through 24 days of release.  That places the film 44 percent ahead of the $198.37 million 24-day gross of 2013’s Oz: The Great and Powerful and just 3 percent behind the $293.53 million 24-day take of 2010’s Alice in Wonderland.

On the heels of its modest start last weekend, Open Road’s Mother’s Day held up extremely well this weekend to place in third with an estimated $9.01 million.  The ensemble comedy featuring Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts was up 8 percent over last weekend.  Mother’s Day clearly received a boost from the Mother’s Day holiday this weekend and the film also appears to be going over far better with moviegoers than it has with critics.  The ten-day total for Mother’s Day stands at $20.73 million, which places the film 16 percent behind the $24.72 million ten-day start of 2011’s New Year’s Eve.  Whether or not Mother’s Day will be able to continue to hold up well after the Mother’s Day holiday remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Universal’s The Huntsman: Winter’s War and Warner’s Keanu claimed fourth and fifth place with respective estimated grosses of $3.58 million and $3.08 million.  In the face of Captain America: Civil War, The Huntsman: Winter’s War was down a very sharp 63 percent from last weekend, while Keanu was down an even sharper 67 percent.  Respective total grosses stand at $40.36 million for The Huntsman: Winter’s War in 17 days and at just $15.10 million for Keanu in ten days, as both films are performing below pre-release expectations.

Overseas Update:

Captain America: Civil War continued to dominate overseas with an estimated $220.0 million from 55 territories.  The film’s second weekend of overseas release was highlighted by its $95.8 million launch in China.  Captain America: Civil War has already grossed $496.6 million overseas and $678.4 million globally.  Key grosses to date for individual markets include the mentioned $95.8 million take from China, $53.9 million in Korea, $40.4 million in the United Kingdom, $34.3 million in Mexico, $25.2 million in Brazil, $17.9 million in Australia, $17.0 million in Japan and $16.6 million in France.

The Jungle Book took in an estimated $24.1 million from 52 territories.  That brings the film’s overseas total to $491.2 million and global haul to $776.2 million.  Total grosses to date for individual markets include $147.3 million in China, $53.4 million in the United Kingdom, $36.3 million in India, $22.0 million in Mexico, $21.5 million in France, $20.2 million in Australia and $19.9 million in Russia.

Fellow Disney release Zootopia claimed $5.7 million from 36 territories.  Respective current overseas and global totals for Zootopia stand at $628.8 million and $956.4 million.

The Huntsman: Winter’s War grossed an estimated $4.2 million from 63 territories.  The film has grossed $105.9 million overseas and $146.3 million globally to date.

Fellow Universal release Neighbors 2 started its overseas launch with an estimated $9.0 million from 16 territories.  Key debuts for the comedy sequel starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron included $2.8 million in the United Kingdom, $2.0 million in Australia and $1.7 million in Germany.  It should be noted that Neighbors 2 opened significantly lower than its predecessor did in each of the three mentioned territories.   Neighbors 2 will be released domestically on May 20.

Domestic Weekend Studio Estimates for Friday, May 6 – Sunday, May 8, 2016:

Wide (1000+)

# Title Gross % Locations Average Total Week Distributor
1 Captain America: Civil War $181,791,000 4,226 $43,017 $181,791,000 1 Disney
2 The Jungle Book (2016) $21,873,000 -50% 4,144 103 $5,278 $284,985,265 4 Disney
3 Mother’s Day (2016) $9,006,141 8% 3,141 106 $2,867 $20,725,831 2 Open Road
4 The Huntsman: Winter’s War $3,580,000 -63% 2,901 -901 $1,234 $40,363,620 3 Universal
5 Keanu $3,080,000 -67% 2,681 23 $1,149 $15,100,937 2 Warner Bros. / New Line
6 Barbershop: The Next Cut $2,700,000 -56% 1,734 -576 $1,557 $48,768,843 4 Warner Bros. / New Line
7 Zootopia $2,677,000 -50% 2,077 -410 $1,289 $327,624,990 10 Disney
8 The Boss $1,750,000 -59% 1,933 -890 $905 $59,102,460 5 Universal
9 Ratchet & Clank $1,462,000 -70% 2,895 4 $505 $7,095,633 2 Focus / Gramercy
10 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $1,045,000 -73% 1,593 -737 $656 $327,250,133 7 Warner Bros.

Limited (100 — 999)

# Title Gross % Locations Average Total Week Distributor
1 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 $513,000 -54% 640 -452 $802 $58,155,665 7 Universal
2 Eye in the Sky $512,259 -44% 419 -195 $1,223 $17,251,406 9 Bleecker Street
3 A Hologram for the King $479,303 -49% 400 -123 $1,198 $3,401,612 3 Roadside Attractions
4 Sing Street $422,000 31% 153 49 $2,758 $1,113,697 4 Weinstein Company
5 Green Room $343,570 -63% 470 0 $731 $2,063,976 4 A24
6 Hello, My Name Is Doris $311,664 -31% 285 -121 $1,094 $13,314,880 9 Roadside Attractions
7 Criminal (2016) $280,000 -79% 517 -1061 $542 $14,249,295 4 Lionsgate / Summit
8 Miracles from Heaven $240,000 -55% 301 -359 $797 $60,068,188 8 Sony / Columbia
9 Deadpool $230,000 -47% 335 -74 $687 $362,192,266 13 Fox
10 Papa: Hemingway in Cuba $181,209 -62% 208 -117 $871 $844,988 2 Yari Film Group
11 Compadres $170,000 -74% 212 -156 $802 $2,730,328 3 Lionsgate / Pantelion
12 Miles Ahead $131,361 -62% 141 -249 $932 $2,254,373 6 Sony Pictures Classics
13 The Divergent Series: Allegiant $110,000 -62% 210 -200 $524 $65,722,466 8 Lionsgate / Summit
14 Everybody Wants Some!! $110,000 -71% 131 -311 $840 $3,253,929 6 Paramount
15 10 Cloverfield Lane $105,000 -64% 176 -129 $597 $71,449,392 9 Paramount

Platform (1 — 99)

# Title Gross % Locations Average Total Week Distributor
1 The Meddler $294,307 79% 53 29 $5,553 $613,943 3 Sony Pictures Classics
2 The Man Who Knew Infinity $220,800 175% 40 34 $5,520 $328,795 2 IFC Films
3 A Bigger Splash $110,000 5 $22,000 $134,067 1 Fox Searchlight
4 The Family Fang $104,880 623% 52 51 $2,017 $124,948 2 Starz Digital
5 Meet the Blacks $43,084 -34% 86 -6 $501 $8,937,234 6 Freestyle Releasing
6 Gods of Egypt $28,000 -52% 87 -20 $322 $31,137,432 11 Lionsgate / Summit
7 Dheepan $22,760 2 $11,380 $22,760 1 IFC Films / Sundance Selects
8 Dark Horse (2016) $14,674 3 $4,891 $14,674 1 Sony Pictures Classics
9 Being Charlie $13,650 4 $3,413 $13,650 1 Paladin
10 L’attesa $11,750 107% 7 5 $1,679 $20,177 2 Oscilloscope
11 Louder Than Bombs $8,215 -65% 5 -35 $1,643 $145,467 5 The Orchard
12 Embrace of the Serpent $7,500 -61% 8 -7 $938 $1,305,377 12 Oscilloscope
13 Elstree 1976 $3,000 14 $214 $3,000 1 FilmRise
14 Lolo $1,500 1264% 1 0 $1,500 $21,972 9 FilmRise