The Disney domination flexes its box-office muscle again.
Disney/Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War,” the third film in the franchise, opened to $181.8 million domestically this weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Final numbers are due Monday.
And with that, “Civil War” cracks the top-5 domestic debuts ever (not adjusted for inflation). Four of those five films are Disney properties, and three of those five involve the Avengers.
Ahead of “Civil War” on that list are only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($248 million), Universal’s “Jurassic World” ($208.8 million), “The Avengers” ($207.4 million) and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($191.3 million).
“Civil War” also put up the top North American superhero opening of the year, ahead of Warner Bros./DC’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” ($166 million) and Fox’s “Deadpool” ($132 million). Forthcoming superhero films on the 2016 docket — including May’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” and August’s “Suicide Squad” — will have a tall order trying to top “Civil War’s” debut.
The Captain America franchise has now grossed nearly $620 million domestically and nearly $1.8 billion globally — buoyed by “Civil War’s” $678-million worldwide take.
In terms of global gross, Disney also has three of the top five films of the year: “Zootopia” ($956 million), “The Jungle Book” ($776 million) and “Civil War,” according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
Those films — plus the 2016 receipts for last December’s “The Force Awakens” — have helped propel Disney toward several records, hitting $1 billion gross domestically in just 128 days, and already topping $2 billion overseas and thus more than $3 billion globally, reports Variety.
