Over the last month, Captain America: Civil War has been seen by critics and some fans at special screenings, and it even opened up in many international territories last week. Last night, it finally premiered across the United States to the general public, and commercially, it got off to a great start, drawing in $25 million overnight. That’s impressive by itself, but some of that money also went towards breaking the Marvel IMAX record for a Thursday night.
As part of last night’s haul, Captain America: Civil War earned $3.1 million in IMAX screenings, which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, surpassed Avengers: Age of Ultron, which drew in $3 million through IMAX on its opening Thursday. However, the third Captain America installment failed to overtake Avengers: Age of Ultron’s overall draw of $27.6 million in previews, but still, these numbers are nothing to balk at. 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier earned $10.2 million when it opened on Thursday nights, so clearly two years later, more folks were eager to see Captain America’s latest adventure as soon as possible. No doubt the movie having so many Avengers and other heroes helped with that, including favorites like Iron Man and Spider-Man.
Clearly Captain America: Civil War is off to a great start, but that was just one night. There’s still the entire opening weekend that remains to be determined, but the THR article speculates that it could go on to earn close to $200 million in its North American debut, which would place in one of the top five best openings of all time domestically. That exclusive tier already includes fellow Marvel entries The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron. As of yesterday, Captain America: Civil War already earned over $261 million in various other countries, so the movie has had an impressive showing overseas. Critically, it’s earned many positive reviews, currently ranking at 92% among critics at Rotten Tomatoes based on 248 reviews.
Kicking off Marvel’s Phase Three slate of movies, Captain America: Civil War follows Steve Rogers and many other MCU heroes clashing over new legislation directed at enhanced beings following an international incident involving the Avengers that resulted in collateral damage. While some, like Tony Stark, believe superheroes need to be regulated, others, like Steve, believe they need to operate unimpeded. This leads to two sides clashing over their ideological differences, all while Steve is trying to reach out to his old friend, Bucky Barnes. Meanwhile, the movie’s main antagonist, Zemo, has his own sinister plan against the heroes in motion.
You can head to your local theater now to check out Captain America: Civil War, and if you have already seen it, head to our spoiler-filled discussion to give your thoughts on the latest MCU entry.
