Captain Marvel Earns Largest Opening Weekend for a Film Featuring A Leading Lady
Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson, is defying all odds and has already seen huge success despite only being out for a couple of short days. In fact, it’s already raked in a whopping $455 million worldwide, and $153 million in North America during it’s very first weekend at the box office.
As it turns out the global launch of Captain Marvel ($455 million) is the biggest ever for a film starring a female in the lead role, taking over the top spot previously held by Beauty and the Beast which earned 357 million. It may have helped that Disney and Marvel released the film on International Women’s Day too. Additionally this global launch has also marked the second-largest for any superhero film, for which Avengers: Infinity War still maintains the top spot with $640.5 million.
And in North America, Captain Marvel earning $153 million breaks the previous record held by DC’s Wonder Woman ($103 million) for a comic book adaptation featuring a leading lady. And so how does it stack up against other Marvel titles? It’s become the seventh-biggest weekend opener in North America, behind Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War and Iron Man 3. Officially Captain Marvel also has taken over the second biggest domestic launch for a superhero movie starring a brand new character, the top spot which is currently held by Black Panther. Disney’s Distribution Chief Cathleen Taff had this to say about the incredible success so far, “Marvel Studios once again proves that stories combining diverse perspectives and different experiences make great movies that play to everybody. People crave representation. Higher, further, faster, baby.”
This huge international box office opening showcases the fact that movies featuring a female lead can hold their own, despite those who suggest they just can’t compete with other movies in the industry. So far Captain Marvel is pulling in more money internationally than any superhero movie introducing a new character touching down in almost every major market worldwide, except for Japan. Further to this Imax theaters contributed $36.1 million of the revenue so far, a record for a non-sequel movie.
It’ll be interesting to see the final numbers from this weekend, as it’s not quite over yet. Have you watched Captain Marvel? Are you planning on it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to keep it locked for updates!