Captain America: Brave New World Officially a Box Office Disappointment for MCU

Marvel’s 2025 did not get off to a rousing start, as Captain America: Brave New World has proven to be a box office disappointment. Now roughly a month into its theatrical run, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is poised to be one of the franchise’s lowest earners. In a preview of this weekend’s box office, Variety notes that Brave New World is projected to earn about $5 million domestically. As of this writing, the film has grossed $177.2 million in the U.S. and $371.8 million worldwide, which “isn’t nearly enough to offset its massive $180 million price tag,” according to the outlet.

Variety says that once Brave New World‘s time in theaters is over, its global total will be in the same ballpark as Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which grossed $402 million and $476 million worldwide, respectively. As of this writing, Brave New World is the fourth-lowest-grossing MCU film of all time, ahead of only Captain America: The First Avenger, The Incredible Hulk, and The Marvels.

Debuting in mid-February, Captain America: Brave New World posted the year’s biggest opening weekend so far, grossing $100 million over the extended Presidents’ Day weekend. However, that was a fairly soft debut, trailing what Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania earned during the same window back in 2023. From the start, Brave New World was plagued by poor word of mouth, and those mixed reviews hurt its box office prospects.

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Captain America: Brave New World did not have strong legs commercially, enduring a steep 68% drop in its second weekend. It didn’t pass The First Avenger‘s totals ($176.6 million domestic, $370.5 million worldwide) until after its fourth weekend in theaters. Brave New World held onto the top spot on the charts for three consecutive weeks before losing last week to Mickey 17.

While Captain America: Brave New World was never envisioned as a record-breaking blockbuster, Disney and Marvel were definitely hoping for stronger results than this. Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson is poised to be a prominent figure in the MCU moving forward, leading the Avengers in the upcoming Doomsday and Secret Wars. Brave New World was designed to establish Sam in that role and get audiences excited about the character’s future. Those who have seen Brave New World agree Mackie delivers an enjoyable performance, but the overall film clearly didn’t land with the desired intent. It’s especially troubling that Brave New World hasn’t recouped its production costs yet; its budget was smaller than other recent Marvel movies.

This development puts extra pressure on Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps to perform very well at the box office this summer. Fortunately, there are signs that will happen. The former is currently in the midst of a unique marketing campaign that makes the film feel like a fresh entry in the larger shared universe, while the latter’s debut trailer racked up an impressive amount of views in its first 24 hours. Of course, this doesn’t guarantee Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four will be sizable draws, but it shows there’s still an opportunity for the MCU to rebound this year.