'Captain Marvel' Breaks 'Batman v Superman' Box Office Record

Marvel's Captain Marvel is ready for its big opening weekend in theaters - and it's going to be a [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

Marvel's Captain Marvel is ready for its big opening weekend in theaters - and it's going to be a record-setting opening, right from the start!

Heading to the first preview night showings, Captain Marvel is already helping Marvel Studios shatter a record set by its DC/Warner Bros. competitor: Captain Marvel is being shown in 4,310 theaters on opening weekend, beating the record 4,242 theater opening set by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's March opening in 2016.

To be fair, this is nice little record for a studio trying to push for maximum exposure for a film's launch; it's also a great way to star a flame-war within the DC and Marvel camps. After all: Batman v Superman's massively big opening weekend push certainly generated some impressive upfront numbers ($166 million opening weekend), but the film also provoked some infamously bad word of mouth, which resulted in some literally historic drop-offs in business, including a the worst Friday-to-Sunday decline since the Fantastic Four reboot (58% drop), as well as one of the worst Friday-to-Friday declines (81.2%), and overall second week declines (68.4%).

Needless to say, Marvel Studios wants *no parts* of that shameful legacy. So far, Captain Marvel has been shaping up to be one of the hardest Marvel Cinematic Universe to call, in terms of performance. The film is already gearing up for a massive international opening, while also selling the most presale tickets since Avengers: Infinity War. And yet, with all those positive indicators of yet another breakout MCU success story, Captain Marvel has also stirred a lot of controversy, as self-proclaimed anti-SJW fans (aka trolls) have 'reviewed-bombed' the film on aggregate sites in attempt to lower mainstream viewer interest. If that wasn't enough, star Brie Larson has been attacked on multiple fronts - be it over her performance (seen in full, or not); her outspoken progressive views about the industry; or the eye-rolling stereotype that she doesn't smile enough.

With those two conflicting factors, it will be interesting to see if Captain Marvel can do what Batman v Superman couldn't, and crack open all those thousands of box offices it's opening in, and walk away with some big profits.

Captain Marvel is now in theaters. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.

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