‘Civil War’ Expects To Dominate This Weekend, Does Disney Proud

Captain America: Civil War has just come to theaters and already the film has made $25 million from Thursday night’s showing alone. Industry analysts predict that Civil War will bring in close to $200 million in box office sales in North America this weekend, CNN reports.

Appearing in over 4,225 theaters across the country this weekend, Marvel Studio’s Civil War has already made $316.2 million globally as the film was released oversees last weekend. The Avengers film does Disney proud as the company could have three of its properties in the top 10 list at the same time. Last week The Jungle Book was No. 1 and the animated Zootopia was still holding strong at No. 6.

CNN also reports that Civil War’s numbers are close to last year’s chapter in the Marvel universe, Avengers: Age of Ultron, which made $27.6 million last year during its first Thursday night showing. The Chris Evans/Robert Downey, Jr. film could open its first week with as much as $125 million and could become the biggest movie opening in theater history. (The current champ is Jurassic World from last summer).

“Even though box office projections aren’t as accurate as Iron Man’s targeting systems, it’s looking like Civil War has a real shot at bypassing Jurassic,” says CNN‘s Frank Pallotta.

ICYMI – My Captain America: Civil War review, it’s as good as they say it is: https://t.co/mpL56ycSoV pic.twitter.com/Qe1ZTnXyRh

— The Disney Blog (@TheDisneyBlog) May 6, 2016

“You’re not seeing the same old thing with Civil War,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore (SCOR). “Audiences are going to have an emotional response to the film not because it’s a good comic book film, but because it’s a great movie, period. It’s immune to superhero fatigue.”

Dergarabedian is referring to Warner Bros.’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is still playing in theaters but pales in comparison to Captain America: Civil War. Batman v Superman has a 28 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes compared to Civil War‘s 91 percent. The Marvel film appears to be a bigger hit with audiences as well. The former flick’s user score on the website is at 83 percent while Civil War matches the critic score of 91 percent.

“It’s impossible to avoid comparing Civil War with the all-too solemn Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice because they explore the same terrain,” says film critic Eli Glasner for CBC News. “…But while Batman talked himself into confronting Superman with logic flimsier than Clark’s forelock, the conflict in Civil War is the natural outcome of two characters’ back story…Captain America: Civil War is a potent reminder of Marvel’s greatest power — the human element beneath the suits of iron and spandex.”

Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A- rating. “Despite its stars-and-stripes title, Marvel’s latest billion-dollar-blockbuster-to-be, Captain America: Civil War, is essentially a third Avengers movie – it’s also the best one yet,” says Chris Nashawaty. He also goes on to say that the film has “a sense of fun and joy missing from that other recent superhero smackdown, Batman v Superman.”

While Warner Bros. and DC Comics have struggled to get the same fan reception with their recent films and has begun questioning the logic of presenting them with a PG-13 rating, Marvel continues to dominate the box office with family fare.

Captain America: Civil War just adds to Disney’s banner year. Picking up from last Christmas’ release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Mouse House has scored big with both Zootopia and The Jungle Book. But why stop there? More hits are coming down the pike including Alice Through the Looking Glass, Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Pete’s Dragon, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

[Image courtesy of Disney/Marvel Studios]