Captain America: Brave New World topped the box office a third week in a row, but its gross is a disappointment for the MCU.
Given how slow the box office is this Oscar weekend, it’s no surprise that Captain America: Brave New World was able to hold onto the top spot (as we predicted), with its only real competition being Focus Features’s low-key Last Breath. However, it’s becoming clear that despite being in the top spot for three weekends in a row, the MCU’s latest movie isn’t connecting with the large audiences Marvel used to take for granted. With a $15 million weekend and a 47% drop in week three (which isn’t all that bad), the movie now sits at $163.3 million domestically. The chances of it crossing the $200 million mark seem dim, and it appears like the pricey flick (whose budget was inflated by multiple re-shoots) won’t be able to turn a profit for the studio.
Granted, it’s not an all-out disaster like The Marvels, which probably lost hundreds of millions, but it’s clear MCU fans aren’t connecting with the new movies like they used to. The burden is now on Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four: First Steps to recapture some of the old MCU magic, lest people start saying superhero fatigue is proving to be the genre’s deadliest foe. I’m sure over at Marvel, they’re hoping the Russo Bros will be able to recapture the zeitgeist with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, especially given that Robert Downey Jr will be back in the fold – albeit as a villain this time.
Meanwhile, Last Breath (which we enjoyed) grossed a respectable $7.8 million opening. Woody Harrelson and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu star in this fact-based, deep-sea rescue thriller. While it was never going to be a blockbuster, this isn’t a bad opening for a niche movie, although it’s a bit of a surprise Focus opted to blast this out on over 3000 screens. Neon’s The Monkey, directed by Osgood Perkins, turned out not to be as front-loaded as everyone assumed, with it only falling 56% to $6.37 million for $24.6 million total. It should finish its run with a solid $35-40 million gross before moving on to streaming.
Paddington in Peru and Dog Man were neck-and-neck for fourth place, with the polite English bear edging it out by only $300k, grossing $4.5 million for a $31.3 million gross. It should be able to make just about the same amount Paddington 2 made domestically ($40 million). Dog Man made $4.2 million, with an $84 million domestic total, meaning I’d expect a Dog Man 2 in theaters before long.
Disney’s Mufasa managed to hang in there, with it ending up in sixth place with $1.9 million for a $248 million total. The Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 (which has already made an insane $2 BILLION overseas) made $1.7 million for a $17.8 domestic total. It’s now the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Sony’s Heart Eyes grossed $1.3 million for a domestic total just shy of $30 million (will that be enough to merit a sequel?), while Unbreakable Boy lost 60% of its audience to gross $1.2 million for a $4.5 million domestic total. That’s pretty bad for a movie with an A+ CinemaScore. The anime release, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX-Beginning, rounded out the top 10 with a 1 million dollar weekend.
Overall, 2025 is off to a rough start, as last year, by this point, we had Dune: Part Two in theatres, with Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Godzilla x Kong on the way. This year we have Mickey 17, which seems destined to underperform, and Disney’s Snow White, which has bad buzz. Will either be able to exceed expectations? We’ll have to wait and see.
