Overseas, where Captain America: Civil War, from Marvel Studios and Disney, opened in some territories last week (see "'Captain America: Civil War' Boffo Overseas with $202.2 Million"), the film earned $220 million more for an overseas total of $496.6 million and a current global total of $678 million, making it extremely likely that Civil War will become the first 2016 film to earn over $1 billion at the box office.
With its plethora of Marvel characters, Civil War is much more like an Avengers movie (indeed the cast of the Avengers is at the heart of the film) than a typical standalone Cap film like Winter Soldier, so it is no surprise that Civil War opened with almost twice big as Winter Soldier ($95 million). The big question is, will Civil War have the “legs” of a typical Marvel Studios film, which generally have multipliers ranging from 2.4x (Age of Ultron) to 2.7x (both previous Cap films) to 3x (Iron Man, Avengers)—meaning that the films’ final domestic tally is that many times its opening weekend gross--or will it fall victim to the Batman v. Superman effect, which saw business fall off steeply after a strong beginning?
The opening weekend audience for Civil War skewed male (61%) with 57% over 25. Caucasian’s made up 48% of the crowd with 19% Hispanics, 18% African-Americans, and 16% Asian. They gave the film a solid “A” CinemaScore (with those under 25 giving it an “A+), which coupled with the film’s strong critical reviews (91% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), should prevent a wholesale box office drop-off.
Civil War’s strong debut didn’t leave a lot oxygen in the room for the holdovers. Disney’s Jungle Book suffered its biggest domestic decline yet, 50%, a modest figure that is a testament to how popular the live-action adaptation has been and remains. The Jungle Book earned $21.9 million to bring its domestic total to $285 million, and it continues to do well overseas (it was #2 behind Cap this week) where it has earned $491.2 million for a worldwide total of $776.2 million.
Garry Marshall’s event day ensemble comedy Mother’s Day, which fizzled in its debut last weekend, proved to be effective counterprogramming this time around as it actually beat its opening weekend total by 7.6%, earning $9 million and bringing its total to $20.7 million. But don’t necessarily expect this trend to continue next weekend when the film will have to fend for itself without the aid of its eponymous holiday.
The floundering action fantasy Huntsman: Winter’s War (down 63%), the action comedy Keanu (down 67.4%), Barbershop: The Next Cut (down 56%), the R-rated comedy The Boss (down 59.2%), and the animated Ratchet & Clank (down 70%) all suffered major declines with Civil War taking 78 cents out of every dollar spent at the box office.
In the bottom half of the top ten only Disney’s Zootopia, which fell just 49.8% in its 10th weekend as it added $2.7 million to bring its domestic total to $327. 6 million, fared well. Worldwide Zootopia has already earned $956.4 million. It is now the sixth biggest animated film of all time (not adjusted for inflation), and this week it creeped ahead the domestic total of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which tumbled 73%, earning just $1 million and bringing its domestic total to $327.2 million.
Be sure and check back here next week to see how Captain America: Civil War fares in its second frame, when it will face competition from the supernatural horror film The Darkness, which stars Kevin Bacon, and from the Jodie Foster-helmed Money Monster, which stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts.