The summer movie season has officially begun!
Captain America: Civil War got off to a fantastic start, as expected, pulling in $75.3 million on Friday (that includes $25 million from Thursday night). While huge, that does trail the $84 million Friday of last year's Avengers: Age of Ultron, as well as The Avengers' $81 million opening Friday and to the other movie's temporary boasting, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($81.6 million). However, is this a sign of superhero movie fatigue? Not even hardly.
Civil War did have the challenge on opening over Mother's Day Weekend, which previous Marvel films didn't have. Plus, considering its' not specifically an "Avengers" movie (though really, it is), that could explain the slight drop-off. However, Civil War has been given fantastic reviews (91% on Rotten Tomatoes), and an "A" CinemaScore. Plus it won't have to deal with a boxing match on Saturday, so its holding power will be a bit stronger than Ultron over the weekend.
I'm thinking around $60 million on Saturday, then another $45 million on Sunday. That would set up for a strong $180 million opening. That would edge out Iron Man 3 ($174 million) for the 5th-biggest opening weekend in history. While Age of Ultron pulled in $191 million, there's absolutely no way this number can be called a disappointment.
The strong audience behind Civil War caused most of the rest of the films in the list to lose attention. Another Disney-released blockbuster, The Jungle Book, added another $5.6 million on Friday, off 45% from last week. It should end up around $20 million this weekend. One notable exception to all the 45% or higher drops was Mother's Day, which is benefiting from the titular holiday this weekend. The Garry Marshall comedy was off just 31% from last Friday to $1.9 million, and with a likely boost on Sunday should end up around $7 million or perhaps closer to its $8.3 million debut last week.
Weekend report coming tomorrow night.
