Sadly, it was very easy to predict what would happen at the box office for Julius Onah's Captain America: Brave New World this weekend. When the new Marvel Studios movie debuted last week, it performed modestly well (albeit while failing to hit nine-figures domestically), but there were a number of signs that pointed at a sizable fall on the horizon. Seven days later, we are seeing numbers that reflect that predictable outcome.
Following a pattern that we've seen play out with Marvel Studios releases far too commonly since 2021, Captain America: Brave New World suffered a sizable dip in its domestic numbers this weekend – but the positive news for the industry is that the blockbuster's faltering has coincided with a solid debut by Osgood Perkins' The Monkey, based on the short story by Stephen King. Check out the results in the Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Captain America: Brave New World | $28,200,000 | $141,205,738 | 1 | 4,105 |
2. The Monkey* | $14,200,000 | $14,200,000 | N/A | 3,200 |
3. Paddington In Peru | $6,500,000 | $25,254,000 | 2 | 3,890 |
4. Dog Man | $5,900,000 | $78,784,000 | 4 | 3,179 |
5. Ne Zha 2 | $3,000,000 | $14,800,000 | 5 | 800 |
6. Heart Eyes | $2,850,000 | $26,760,000 | 3 | 3,003 |
7. Mufasa: The Lion King | $2,500,000 | $245,389,183 | 6 | 1,925 |
8. The Unbreakable Boy* | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 | N/A | 1,687 |
9. One Of Them Days | $1,410,000 | $46,004,000 | 8 | 1,104 |
10. Love Hurts | $1,100,000 | $14,520,000 | 7 | 2,419 |
Captain America: Brave New World Suffers A Big Fall Weekend-To-Weekend, But It Manages To Hold On To The Number One Spot
In its first three days of release domestically, Captain America: Brave New World didn't put up record-breaking numbers, but it did alright. The $88.8 million it brought in stands as the best debut for a film in 2025 thus far, and movie-goers purchased tickets despite the release not exactly garnering great acclaim (I stand behind my two-star CinemaBlend Captain America 4 review). Unfortunately for the new Marvel feature, long term success at the box office requires positive buzz and word of mouth, and without it, a bad second weekend was inevitable.
According to The Numbers, that bad second Friday-to-Sunday has played out as expected, with Captain America: Brave New World seeing its ticket sales plummet 68 percent weekend-to-weekend. The film added just $28.2 million domestically over the last three days, bringing its total in the United States and Canada to date up to $141.2 million. Needless to say, it's not the result for which either Marvel Studios or the theatrical industry at large was hoping.
If we're trying to soften the news here, it isn't the worst weekend-to-weekend fall a Marvel Studios feature has experienced, but it also needs to be pointed out that this isn't an outlier. These results aren't quite as bad as what we saw happen to Nia DaCosta's The Marvels in 2023 when ticket sales cratered a crazy 78 percent, nor does it match what happened to Peyton Reed's Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (which saw its domestic ticket sales fall 70 percent). It does, however, match what happened to Taika Waititi's Thor: Love And Thunder in 2022 and the results of Cate Shortland's Black Widow from 2021 (though in that case, the film got a day-and-date streaming release).
So what caused this? It's not hard to figure out. The Marvel Cinematic Universe still has a strong legion of fans who are going to go out and see any new film from the franchise as soon as it arrives on the big screen... but a title needs to have hype behind it if its going to attract folks with only a modest level of interest, and that didn't happen. While there are plenty of historical examples of audiences loving a movie that critics didn't, this isn't one of those cases, as evidenced by the "B-" grade that Captain America: Brave New World got from CinemaScore surveys.
Without everybody leaving the theater during the opening weekend telling all of their friends and family members that they should see the new film, interest in the title has dried up quickly. Those who thought about seeing the movie on the big screen are now thinking that they can wait a few weeks to catch it on digital or via their Disney+ subscription. There exists no urgency to see the movie in order to be a part of a larger pop culture conversation, and a natural result of that is tanking box office numbers.
The Hollywood Reporter says that Captain America: Brave New World was made with a budget of $180 million (not counting publicity and marketing costs), and that price tag doesn't look great right now. The film has only made $120.2 million thus far domestically, and ticket sales abroad bring its gross worldwide to just $268.4 million. To provide some comparison, Shawn Levy's Deadpool & Wolverine made $824.1 million in that same amount of time when it came out last summer.
This isn't the foot that Marvel Studios wanted to start out on for 2025, but the good news is that there are two other upcoming Marvel movies set to come out in the months ahead to try and balance the scales: Jake Schreier's Thunderbolts* (which is arriving on May 2) and Matt Shakman's Fantastic Four: First Steps (scheduled for July 25). By the end of the summer, there is still a chance that conversation surrounding the MCU will experience a total 180 from where it is now.
The Monkey Takes Second Place With Plenty Of Buzz
Last summer, Osgood Perkins' Longlegs turned out to be one of the biggest success stories of the season, and it started with the film making $22.4 million in its first weekend. The writer/director's follow-up wasn't able to do quite as well during its theatrical debut, but The Monkey was able to sell enough tickets to already be considered a success.
The newest Stephen King adaptation (one of at least five set to debut this year) was made with a modest $10-11 million budget, and it has already made $14.2 million domestically after just three days. It's the second best opening weekend for a feature released by Neon – the aforementioned Longlegs holds on to the record – and a solid win for the horror genre, which looks set up to be big in 2025. The gory, funny film has been earning hype for weeks, with reviews starting to roll out in early February, and it will be interesting to see how word of mouth treats it in the weeks ahead.
Looking ahead to next weekend, the box office will be injected with some different energy thanks to Alex Parkinson's based-on-a-true-story drama Last Breath starring Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu, and I'll be here on CinemaBlend next Sunday to report on how everything shakes out in the Top 10. Be on the lookout for my column, and in the meantime, you can get start planning all of your own future cinematic adventures with out 2025 Movie Release Calendar.
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