May is here, and so is the summer movie season, starting with Thunderbolts. Marvel’s newest movie isn’t just a hit with audiences and critics, it’s also taking off financially.
Domestically, the film has opened to $76 million at time of writing, per the Hollywood Reporter. That’s slightly past expectations pegging it in the $70-75 million range, and puts it over the 3-day openings for Shang-Chi ($75.4 million) and Eternals ($71.3 million), and a bit behind Black Widow’s ($80 million). Its international take was $86.1 million, resulting in a total of $162.1 million globally.
Marvel’s been marketing Thunderbolts like mad over the last few months with trailers, ads, and cereal box stand-ins promising a dysfunctional team-up between fairly recent and somewhat older MCU antiheroes. That, combined with the mystery over the asterisk’s place in the title and the team’s place in Avengers: Doomsday, did a lot to court audience interest. It also doesn’t hurt that Marvel was openly proud of this one; there were pre-release IMAX screenings and assurances that this was going to be a Real Movie and not something disposable.
With Marvel in play, Sinners fell to second place in the domestic box office. This weekend, it made $33 million, down 28% from the previous weekend. Its total is now $179.7 million domestically and $236.7 million globally. That number will likely grow when it comes back to IMAX for a few days beginning Thursday, May 15, and analysts think it’ll end its theatrical run in the $330-400 million global range. Minecraft, Warner Bros.’ other spring hit, is now at $873.4 million thanks to Japan’s Golden Week, and it might end up at $1 billion if that hold stays strong.
Speaking of staying strong, Until Dawn’s managed to hold out since its late April release. Domestically, it made $3.8 million—a 52.5% drop from last weekend, but its international take was $6.4 million, a somewhat better decline of 36.6%. It’s now made $34.8 million total and could have a solid run when all’s said and done.
Next in May, our genre flicks include Clown in a Cornfield (May 9), Final Destination Bloodlines (May 16), the Memorial Day one-two of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Lilo & Stitch (May 23), followed by Karate Kid: Legends (May 30).
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
