Moviegoers outside of the U.S. have had the opportunity this weekend to see Captain America: Civil War a full week ahead of domestic audiences, who will get the chance to see it starting May 6. While fans in the U.S. have been sitting back and discussing the movie on social media as mostly positive reviews have rolled in, their namesake hero has been storming foreign box offices.
First day international box office earnings for Civil War fell slightly below those of Marvel’s previous team-up, Avengers: Age of Ultron, causing some concern that the movie might not be on track to gross as much as its predecessor. However, with the numbers for the rest of the weekend starting to come in, things are looking up for the battle between team Iron Man and team Captain America.
Variety reports that Civil War has crossed the $200 million mark in the 27 major territories it has opened in so far. Those territories represent roughly 63% of the international marketplace, so there is more money to be earned when the movie opens in the remaining territories and, of course, the U.S. The biggest contributors to the opening weekend earnings have been South Korea at $28.9 million, Mexico at $20.6 million, the United Kingdom at $20.5 million, Brazil at $12.3 million and Australia at $10.9 million. Variety points out that the openings in Mexico and Brazil set new records, as did the $7.5 million opening in the Philippines.
Civil War is expected to gross another $200 during its opening weekend in the U.S., which would put it well ahead of the $166.1 million opening weekend of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. That’s bad news for Warner Bros., but good news for the long-term viability of comic book movies. While Batman V Superman’s under-performance has some questioning whether superhero movies have finally reached their saturation point, a strong performance from Civil War would prove otherwise.
While next weekend will see Civil War opening in the U.S., it will also be opening in another one of the world’s biggest markets: China. Marvel’s kowtowing to the Chinese government with some of their movies, particularly in regards to how they’re handling the issue of the Ancient One’s connection to Tibet in the upcoming Doctor Strange, has not sat well with everyone. Still, box office earnings in China will likely make a large contribution to Civil War’s bottom line, just as they did with Age of Ultron last year.
When the dust settles and either Cap or Iron Man comes out on top, the real winner will be Marvel’s parent company Disney, who is already rolling in recent box office dollars thanks to the strong showing of Jon Favreau’s adaptation of The Jungle Book. Whether or not Favreau returns to Marvel in a creative capacity with a future project, Disney is no doubt happy to have both him and Marvel under their umbrella and earning them lots of money.
Captain America: Civil War opens in theaters May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – May 5, 2017; Spider-Man: Homecoming – July 7, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok – November 3, 2017; Black Panther – February 16, 2018; Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp – July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel – March 8, 2019; Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on July 12, 2019, and on May 1, July 10, and November 6 in 2020.
Source: Variety
