‘Thunderbolts*’ Sets Solid Start with $76M at the BO!!

While it could be argued that it wasn’t able to beat Captain America: Brave New World’s opening weekend record, Thunderbolts* exceeded expectations in its debut, as it kick-started the summer movie season. The superhero movie has been riding a wave of positive buzz and is being credited for giving Marvel Studios the shot in the arm that it so desperately needed in the wake of a rather uneven phase at the box office. Thunderbolts* generated $76 million in its first three days of release domestically, narrowly missing the $88 million opening weekend haul posted by Brave New World earlier this year, but beating the opening weekend records of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals.

Eternals ultimately underperformed in its theatrical run and was barely able to scrape past the $200 million milestone thanks to poor reviews and a shrug of indifference from audiences. However, crowds and critics seem to be pleasantly surprised by Thunderbolts*. Directed by Jake Schreier, the movie holds an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score and an even better 95% audience rating on the aggregator platform. It also earned an excellent A- CinemaScore from opening day audiences, which bodes well for its future.

Thunderbolts* unseated the blockbuster hit Sinners from atop the domestic box office charts. Directed by Ryan Coogler, the vampire movie overperformed yet again, grossing an estimated $33 million in its third weekend of release, marking another minor drop. Sinners is now passing the $180 million mark domestically, and remains on track to generate more than $250 million during its run. If Warner Bros. holds off on releasing it on home video for longer than usual, there’s a chance that it’ll be able to hit the $300 million milestone as well. But it’s too early to tell.

‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is On the Verge of Passing a Mega Milestone

That being said, another W.B. blockbuster is all set to pass the $400 million mark in a few days. A Minecraft Movie has now completed a full month of release, as it grossed around $13 million in its fifth weekend. It’s now sitting at $397 million, thanks to a phenomenal run during which it emerged as the year’s biggest Hollywood release, and the second-biggest video game adaptation in box office history. The fourth spot was claimed by The Accountant 2, which added around $10 million in its second weekend. This takes the film’s running domestic total past the $35 million mark. The Accountant 2 is still trailing its predecessor by a wide margin, but was mainly aimed at home video audiences, much like Amazon MGM’s Red One.

The top five list was rounded out by Sony’s Until Dawn. The movie hasn’t exactly broken out at the box office, but has now recovered its reported $15 million production budget. Until Dawn grossed over $3.5 million this weekend, pushing its running domestic total to around $14 million. Globally, the film has passed the $34 million mark, but only just. Studio horror films have been having a difficult run this year. Sinners was an anomaly; bread-and-butter titles such as Wolf Man and The Woman in the Yard have both underperformed.