Box Office: ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Aims for $95 Million Opening Over President’s Day Weekend

Paging Sam Wilson! “Captain America: Brave New World” flies to cinemas over the weekend, and Marvel’s latest adventure hopes to thaw an icy box office.

“Captain America: Brave New World,” in which Anthony Mackie’s Avenger takes over the star-spangled shield from Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, is targeting $80 million to $85 million over the traditional weekend and $90 million to $95 million through the President’s Day holiday. The $200 million-tentpole is landing in roughly 4,100 North American theaters.

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The film is expected to add another $110 million at the international box office, though it’ll contend in China with “Ne Zha 2,” which has become the highest-grossing release in the country’s history with $1.1 billion and counting, and “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” which is going straight to Peacock in the U.S. but playing theatrically in the rest of the world.

Considering there’s been no stateside competition, “Captain America” will easily notch the biggest domestic debut of the year. Those projected ticket sales are somewhere in the middle of post-pandemic outings in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. They are above 2021’s “Eternals” ($71 million to start), “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75 million to start) and 2023’s “The Marvels” ($46 million to start) — which were commercial disappointments by MCU standards — but below the franchise’s recent bright spots like 2022’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($144 million to start), “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” ($187 million to start) and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($181 million to start), and 2023’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($118 million to start).

Other than “Deadpool & Wolverine,” last year’s billion-dollar, R-rated comic book smash that featured two of the most popular comic book characters, the MCU has been struggling at the box office. The third “Guardians” entry triumphed with $845 million globally but fellow 2023 releases, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels,” were embarrassing misfires — and the rare installments to lose money across the sprawling 35-film franchise. Superhero films, once a sure-thing in theaters, have been in a slump. Marvel Studios has two other tentpoles on the calendar over the next few months: “Thunderbolts” on May 2 and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” on July 25.

“Captain America: Brave New World” picks up after the events of the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and “Avengers: Endgame,” which ended with Steve Rogers going back in time and forgoing his superhero duties in favor of aging gracefully with the love of his life. A while after Sam Wilson picks up the mantel, he finds himself at the center of an international catastrophe after Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) is elected as president of the United States. Julius Onah (“The Cloverfield Paradox”) directed the film.

Cap isn’t the only newcomer to movie theater marquees. Sony’s “Paddington in Peru,” the third tale about the marmalade-loving bear, also opens on Friday. The film is aiming for $15 million to $17 million over the four-day holiday frame. It’s playing on 3,700 North American screens.

“Paddington 3” already opened at the international box office, where the film has grossed $103 million to date. The first two films in the “Paddington” series, based on the children’s series by British author Michael Bond, have been bigger commercial successes abroad, and the third installment looks to continue that trend.

Paul King, who led the first two films, passed directing duties to Dougal Wilson in his feature filmmaking debut. The story, which we hope it’s no spoiler to say, brings Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) to Peru. He goes to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton), who now resides in the Home for Retired Bears. Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Antonio Banderas and Olivia Colman round out the live-action cast.

StudioCanal developed and fully financed the $90 million threequel with Sony handling distribution in select territories such as the United States, Canada and Latin America. Reviews for “Paddington in Peru” have been beary positive, with Variety’s Guy Lodge praising the film as “fast and buoyant and disarmingly sunny.”

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