Debuting overseas in a handful of markets was Walt Disney’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film earned a rock-solid $75.2 million since opening on Wednesday, March 26th, including $2.8m in 98 IMAX screens alone. Marvel has been doing the overseas debut about a week prior to its domestic debut since Iron Man 2 back in 2010. For comparison’s sake, varying numbers of international markets and varying release dates aside, Iron Man 2 earned $100m on its first overseas weekend just prior to its domestic debut, while Thor: The Dark World earned $109m, The Avengers earned $185m, and Iron Man 3 earned $195m just prior to their respective domestic debuts. The first Thor had a slower international roll-out so the comparison doesn’t work as well. Obviously Captain America isn’t as broadly popular a property around the world, and it’s opening well outside of the prime blockbuster season, so this still counts as a big win for the sure to be well-liked action thriller (my mixed-positive is basically the equivalent of an F compared to the critical consensus). The film opens in America, China, and elsewhere next week.
Thursday Update: Captain America: The Winter Soldier got off to a strong start on Thursday night. The movie earned $10.2 million, which is a noticeable improvement over Thor: The Dark World's $7.1 million.
In comparison, Iron Man 3 took in $15.6 million, while The Avengers banked $18.7 million. For all three of these titles, Thursday shows accounted for eight to nine percent of the weekend gross; if Captain America follows this pattern, it will wind up between $110 million and $120 million for the three-day frame.
come post what you think of it when you've watched it!
