Captain America 4’s Thursday Box Office Below Quantumania (but Beats Winter Soldier)

Thursday box office numbers for Captain America: Brave New World are in, with the film earning around $12 million domestically from preview screenings, according to Deadline. On the positive side of the spectrum that figure is higher than what Captain America: The Winter Soldier grossed from its preview screenings back in 2014 ($10.2 million). However, Brave New World could not match the Thursday gross of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which opened in the same February window back in 2023. Ant-Man 3 managed to bring in $17.5 million domestically from preview screenings, setting the stage for its $120.3 million debut over Presidents’ Day weekend.

Captain America: Brave New World is now projected to gross around $80 million domestically over the traditional three-day weekend, and $94 million over the extended holiday weekend. That figure ranks as one of the lowest box office debuts for a Captain America film, ahead of only 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger ($65 million). Even The Winter Soldier‘s three-day start ($95 million) is higher than Brave New World‘s projected four-day haul, and Captain America: Civil War posted one of the best openings ever with $179.1 million in 2016.

Ahead of its theatrical debut this weekend, box office projections for Brave New World actually dropped slightly. In January, early estimates indicated it would gross between $86-95 million during the three-day weekend and $100+ million over the holiday. Still, Brave New World will easily post the highest opening weekend of 2025 so far, as the box office has gotten off to a relatively sluggish start this year.

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Captain America: Brave New World received a mixed reception, with a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 52% (the lowest for a Captain America movie). While reviews praised the performances from stars such as Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, some found the story to be bland. Brave New World also recently made some unfavorable headlines thanks to a report detailing its troubled production history, which included expensive reshoots.

At first glance, Brave New World being unable to outperform Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is concerning, as Ant-Man 3 ranks among Marvel’s more notorious misfires. However, it’s important to keep in mind one notable difference between the two films: the production budget. Quantumania grossed $476.1 million worldwide against a very costly $330.1 million budget. Brave New World had a budget of $180 million, lower than most recent Marvel movies. That means Brave New World didn’t have to break records in order to turn a profit. Despite the uneven response to the film itself, it should go down as a commercial success — especially since it won’t face much competition over the next few weeks.