Thunderbolts* ruled North American box office with an estimated $76m opening. While this does not sit among Marvel Studios stablemates in the ha
Thunderbolts* ruled North American box office with an estimated $76m opening. While this does not sit among Marvel Studios stablemates in the halcyon years, it nonetheless fared well ahead of the year-ago $27.7m launch of The Fall Guy to set summer on its way with a confident stride.
Playing in 4,330 locations, the recent release helped push box office to a 15.7% year-to-date lead over 2024, Thunderbolts* earned 90% of its money on 2D screens, with Imax accounting for $8.6m or 11.3%. This was the highest indexing Marvel Studios title in North America for Imax since Doctor Strange in 2016.
Males comprised 64% of the audience, and the largest age demographic was the 25-24 bracket on 30%, followed by the pure Gen Z 18-24 crowd on 21%. According to data service EntTelligence, the film drew approximately 4.7m ticket buyers.
Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Julia Luis-Dreyfus star in Jake Schreir’s action adventure about motley crew of Marvel Cinematic Universe characters who must confront their flaws as they rally to save the day.
Thunderbolts* opened in the region of 2021’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings on $75.4m, 2018’s Ant-Man And The Wasp on $75.8m, and 2021’s Eternals on $71.3m. While it deserves no distinction for exceeding the debuts of a handful of others including The Marvels’ $46.1m bow in 2023, this was still above the $55m average debut by a recent superhero title from Marvel Studios or DC Studios during the 2020-25 period.
And while this was not as high as the $88.8m debut by Captain America: Brave New World in February, that film earned a B- CinemaScore compared to A- for Thunderbolts*, which is a positive omen for play-through in the weeks ahead and the month-long runway to what looks to be a packed Memorial Day offering. That weekend’s two major releases, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, are tracking to open on more than $200m combined.
Warner Bros claimed second and third slots. Ryan Cooglers’ Sinners held well with a 28% drop in its third session on $33m for $179.7m, while Jared Hess’ A Minecraft Movie in third place dropped 40% to $13.7m for $398m after five weekends.
Amazon MGM Studio’s The Accountant 2 directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Ben Affleck fell 61% in its second weekend, adding $9.5m for $41.2m. The original finished on $86.3m in 2016. Sony’s genre release Until Dawn from David F. Sandberg rounded out the top five and stands at $14.4m after a solid 53% drop in its second session.
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