Disney/Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Brave New World” is kicking off a critical 2025 for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, earning $12 million from Thursday previews.
For comparison, the last February Marvel film, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” earned $17.5 million from Thursday previews en route to a $120.3 million 4-day opening. “Brave New World” has been projected by trackers for a 4-day opening of $90-95 million.
That would be a solid start for Anthony Mackie’s first theatrical lead role in the MCU, but the bigger question is whether “Brave New World” will succeed in drawing in non-hardcore fans or if it will suffer a big second weekend drop like “Quantumania.” The film has left critics lukewarm with a 52% Rotten Tomatoes score, while the early audience score is coming in at 81%.
Also opening this weekend is Sony/StudioCanal’s “Paddington in Peru,” which made $600,000 in Thursday previews. The third film in the “Paddington” series has been widely praised by critics with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and is currently tracking to match the unadjusted 4-day opening of “Paddington 2” in 2018 with a $15-17 million launch.
“Captain America” and “Paddington” will be joined this weekend by another sequel from China: “Ne Zha 2,” the historic hit from Chengdu Coco Cartoon that is set to cross $1.5 billion in global grosses after its third weekend in Chinese theaters. By the end of next week, it will pass “Inside Out 2” to become the highest grossing animated film ever and will become the first non-American production to crack the top 10 on the all-time global box office charts.
