The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, March’s Captain Marvel, has been in theaters for over a month now and it has enjoyed massive, record-breaking success during its run. That run is slowly coming to an end as more new blockbusters are released, and Captain Marvel’s theater count continues to drop to make room at the multiplex. Yet despite being on fewer movie screens, Captain Marvel is still doing incredibly well.
Captain Marvel lost a whopping 598 screens last weekend as new releases like Little, Missing Link and fellow comic book movie Hellboy opened. Despite that huge drop in screen count, Brie Larson’s heroine still managed to hold on at the box office remarkably well week after week. According to Forbes, Captain Marvel pulled in $884,741 on Monday, which is up 2.2% from last Monday. It didn’t do quite as well on Tuesday, dropping 6.1% from the previous week to $1.297 million, then rebounded on Wednesday with an 8% jump over last Wednesday to $971,000.
That type of hold and box office performance is very impressive given that there were almost 600 fewer screens on which audiences could see Captain Marvel. It’s not like there’s no competition at the box office either. Both Shazam! and Hellboy are now out and are competing for largely the same audience’s superhero dollars.
The Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck-directed film will now pass $390 million at the domestic box office. When it does, Captain Marvel will pass Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s domestic performance to become #7 on the MCU’s domestic box office charts.
If Captain Marvel continues to have small drops in the coming weeks as it gives more ground to the start of the summer blockbusters, and receives a bump around Avengers: Endgame, it could pass the $400 million mark domestically and beyond. When it’s all said and done, it could surpass Captain America: Civil War’s $408 million and Iron Man 3’s $409 million to land in the MCU’s top 5.
Captain Marvel has made over $1 billion worldwide, so that it is doing well is no surprise, but the solid box office hold despite playing on fewer screens reflects something of an Avengers: Endgame bump. Black Panther enjoyed something similar with Avengers: Infinity War last year, and with about a week left until the first Endgame screenings begin, all eyes are on the concluding chapter in the MCU’s Infinity Saga.
So some MCU fans may be going back to see Captain Marvel again as part of their pre-Endgame MCU watch list. If you want to rewatch all 21 films, that means heading back to the theater to check out Captain Marvel before next weekend.
Given that Brie Larson’s character has been more prominent in the trailers than I think many suspected (she’s clearly not being saved as a third-act savior), it’s also possible that some who thought they could skip Captain Marvel are finally getting around to seeing it. Captain Marvel is also likely benefitting from kids being out of school for the Easter holiday.
You can check out Captain Marvel again in theaters now before Avengers: Endgame arrives to dominate on April 26.
