Thunderbolts* Box Office Numbers Are In And It’s Bittersweet

Summary

Thunderbolts* opened with $76 million domestically, meeting industry projections.
Despite being the highest among mid-tier MCU films, it’s the lowest summer kickoff ever for the franchise.
The global tally is at $162.1 million, with China as the largest foreign market, but opening weekend figures can’t match Suicide Squad.

The numbers are in, and Thunderbolts* delivered an unsurprising opening. However, in the grand scheme of box office stats, the taste of these opening figures can be appropriately described as “bittersweet.”

Thunderbolts* rode into theaters on May 2, flanked by a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (among the highest-rated movies in the MCU) and an A- on CinemaScore. Going in, the story about a Suicide Squad-like mash-up of antiheroes—Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’ Bucky Barnes, David Harbour’s Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, and Lewis Pullman’s Sentry—was predicted to open between $70-75$ million domestically. Thunderbolts* Thursday preview numbers suggested an even bigger figure.

Thunderbolts* Review: Marvel’s New Team of Misfits Star In An Appropriately Emotional But Rushed First Outing

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Thunderbolts* Opened With $76 Million Domestically At The Box Office

It’s Noble, But Still An All-Time Low Among MCU Summer Flicks

According to Variety, Thunderbolts* performed almost exactly in line with industry analysts’ projections, topping the North American box office charts with $76 million—$11.5 million of which came via Thursday previews—and leaving second-place Sinners with “just” $33 million. It’s an opening that parries well with Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings ($75 million) and Eternals ($71 million), both laden with mid-tier characters. However, it’s still the lowest ever summer kick-off for an MCU movie; Iron Man did $98 million during the same period 17 years ago.

Thunderbolts*’s global tally stands at $162.1 million, with $86.1 million from international markets. Unsurprisingly, China is the film’s largest foreign market, accounting for over $10.4 million—including previews —with the United Kingdom ($7.7 million), Mexico ($7.3 million) trotting behind. Much like Thunderbolts*’s domestic story, there’s a “but” here. Per analyst Luiz Fernando on X, the film’s pure three-day $5.6 million Chinese opener finished behind Studio Ghibli’s remastered re-release of the Japanese anime film, Princess Mononoke ($6 million), and is the lowest ever for a comic book movie.

Any urge, no matter how tempting, to compare Thunderbolts*’s opening weekend figures to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad must be quelled. The latter film may have debuted with $133 million both domestically and overseas nine years ago—and that too without a Chinese release—but it was clad with an ensemble whose star power was potent enough to rival the Avengers. A film with characters such as the Joker & Harley Quinn and actors such as Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, & Viola Davis is a recipe for box office success. In the case of Thunderbolts*, only Sentry and The Winter Soldier could be considered A or B-tier figures… maybe U.S. Agent, if you’re feeling generous.

It goes without saying that the box office is a realm that favors marathon over sprint, which means that word-of-mouth is superior to fandom and star power. Thunderbolts* set Disney back $180 million and $100 million in production and marketing costs, respectively—a figure pessimists will be quick to quote when discussing profitability, but there’s a consensus among analysts that the one thing the film won’t be is a financial flop. Disney’s commercial hopes for Florence Pugh and her team are not as high as, say, Captain America: Brave New World or The Fantastic Four: First Steps.