“Captain America: Civil War” brought in an estimated $75.3 million on Friday from 4,226 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
Featuring a who’s who of the Marvel Universe, the sequel is getting a jet boost at the box office from Iron Man’s significant onscreen presence, along with the added draw of most of the Avengers and new additions Spider-Man and Black Panther.
Early tracking set “Civil War” in the range of $200 million for its overall opening weekend.
Disney’s latest estimates of $172 million to $178.8 million predict the film will come in just shy of that, though it could unseat 2013’s “Iron Man 3” for the fifth-best opening weekend of all time. That film opened at $174.1 million domestically.
“Civil War” likely won’t outperform last year’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which opened at $191.2 million (and went on to gross $459 million domestically).
The first “Avengers” had an opening weekend of $207.4 million. By comparison, “Captain America: Winter Soldier” brought in $95 million on its first weekend in theaters.
Centered around superhero infighting, the sequel, in theaters now, holds solid A grade among moviegoers surveyed by CinemaScore. It has a 91 percent Rotten Tomatoes score — making it the best-reviewed “Captain America” movie of the series.
Distributed by Disney, the film grossed $25 million during its Thursday previews, a total that ranks just behind that of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which earned $27.6 million.
The third installment in the Disney-Marvel franchise, “Captain America” stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., along with Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle and Elizabeth Olsen.