Captain America: Brave New World's box office performance is proving challenging. While the film has grossed approximately $289.4 million globally, a significant 68% drop in domestic revenue during its second weekend raises concerns about its profitability.
According to Deadline, the film's $180 million production budget necessitates a global box office gross of around $425 million to break even. The initial strong opening weekend, exceeding expectations with a $100 million domestic haul, was followed by a considerably weaker second weekend, earning only $28.2 million domestically. This steep decline mirrors the performance of 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which ultimately failed to recoup its production costs.
While the film currently boasts $141.2 million in domestic and $148.2 million in international revenue, Variety quotes Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, noting that this significant second-weekend drop reflects a less enthusiastic audience response than typically seen with Marvel films. Deadline projects a final global gross of approximately $450 million.
The film's release coincided with generally unfavorable reviews, including a 5/10 rating from IGN, which criticized the film's lack of originality and innovation despite strong performances from the cast.
Marvel Studios and Disney are hoping for a substantial box office rebound to counteract the recent underperformance of several MCU films (excluding the successful Deadpool & Wolverine). The success of Captain America: Brave New World is crucial for building momentum leading into the releases of Thunderbolts in May and The Fantastic Four: First Steps in July.
