Captain America: Civil War (my review) cashed in this weekend, which should come as no surprise to anyone raised on planet Earth. Its estimated $181.8 million domestic opening was good enough for fifth largest of all time, third largest Marvel opening, and first largest Captain America opening (up 91.3% from Winter Soldier). Of course, Civil War was an Avengers movie in everything but name, and it wasn’t too far off the $191 million opening for Age of Ultron or The Avengers’ $207 million, which was an all-time record at the time (now third behind The Force Awakens and Jurassic World, not adjusted for inflation).
Disney actually held the top two spots this weekend (number two belonging to The Jungle Book), and is, not surprisingly, having a banner year. Disney passed $1 billion in domestic earnings in just 128 days, beating Universal’s 165-day mark from last year. In other news, it only took me two years in grad school to rack up six figures of debt so I guess we’re all doing pretty well.
Globally [Civil War] is now up to $678 million after launching internationally last weekend and bringing in an estimated $220 million from overseas markets this weekend. In fact, with $496.6 million internationally after just two weeks, it has already surpassed the lifetime international cumes of Captain America ($194M), Iron Man ($267M), Thor ($268M), Iron Man 2 ($312M), Ant-Man ($339M), Thor: The Dark World ($438M), Guardians of the Galaxy ($440M) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($455M). [BoxOfficeMojo]
In fact, Captain America: Civil War (“A” cinemascore, 91% on Rottentomatoes) did so well that its success seems to have trickled down to Mother’s Day. A rising tide raises some turds on occasion. Last week, we’d basically declared the ensemble mom-com a bomb, on account of it made only $8.3 million and everyone hated it (7% RottenTomatoes). But remember how I said it was dumb that no one was releasing any new movies this weekend? About how there’d probably be lots of people going to the theaters this weekend, and not everyone would want to see Civil War? Especially people like, say, moms? Remember how I said that? Is anyone paying attention around here?
Well, not for nothing, but Mother’s Day‘s box office actually increased in its second weekend, by 7.6%. How rare is that? Well, just compare it to the other wide releases in their second week this week. Keanu (my review) fell 67.4%, and Ratchet and Clank fell 70%. How to explain the discrepancy? Well, aside from the fact that this weekend was Mother’s Day and the film was called “Mother’s Day,” I would also suggest that there’s clear separation between the audience demo clamoring for Civil War and the audience demo a-clamor for Mother’s Day. Which isn’t as true of the others.
So, sure, being called “Mother’s Day” certainly helped, but can you imagine if, say, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 had opened this weekend? That Nia Vardalos would be a dang billionaire. (“Isn’t ethnicity kooky?!” is the “women be shoppin’!” of women who actually be shoppin).
Next week brings us The Darkness, which is actually a Blumhouse horror movie starring Kevin Bacon and not a novelty falsetto rock band whose songs still shred I don’t care what you say. And Money Monster, a financial thriller starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts directed by Jodie Foster. Which looks, like, mega serious. A veritable feast of furrowed brows, that one promises to be. I mean we’re talking Springsteen-singin’-in-the-trailer serious here. I just don’t know if I’m ready for that level of life affirmation.
| Film | Weekend | Per Screen | ||
| 1 | Captain America: Civil War | $181,791,000 | $43,017 | $181,791,000 |
| 2 | The Jungle Book | $21,873,000 (-50.0) | $5,278 | $284,985,000 |
| 3 | Mother’s Day | $9,006,000 (+7.6) | $2,867 | $20,725,000 |
| 4 | The Huntsman: Winter’s War | $3,580,000 (-62.8) | $1,234 | $40,363,000 |
| 5 | Keanu | $3,080,000 (-67.4) |
$1,149 | $15,100,000 |
| 6 | Barbershop: The Next Cut | $2,700,000 (-55.6) | $1,557 | $48,768,000 |
| 7 | Zootopia | $2,677,000 (-49.8) | $1,289 | $327,624,000 |
| 8 | The Boss | $1,750,000 (-59.2) | $905 | $59,102,000 |
| 9 | Ratchet & Clank | $1,462,000 (-70.0) | $505 | $7,095,000 |
| 10 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | $1,045,000 (-73.0) | $656 | $327,250,000 |
[Chart via ScreenCrush]
Vince Mancini is a writer, comedian, and podcaster. A graduate of Columbia’s non-fiction MFA program, his work has appeared on FilmDrunk, the UPROXX network, the Portland Mercury, the East Bay Express, and all over his mom’s refrigerator. Fan FilmDrunk on Facebook, find the latest movie reviews here.