‘Thunderbolts*' Eyes Low To Mid-$70 Million Opening At Weekend Box Office

Forbes

03-05-2025

Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell and David Harbour in ... More "Thunderbolts*."
Disney-Marvel's Thunderbolts* appears to be heading to a $70 million to $75 million opening weekend at the domestic box office to kick off the 2025 summer movie season.
The estimated weekend tally for the film projected by Deadline on Friday falls lock-step with the trade publication and Variety's forecasts for the film from earlier this week.
The good news is — so long as the estimate holds — those figures advert the low end of the tracking numbers released by The Hollywood Reporter on April 10, which pegged a $63 million to $77 million opening weekend take in North American theaters.
The not-so-good news is that Deadline's $70 million to $75 million weekend projection falls short of Box Office Pro's lofty projection on Wednesday of an $80 million to $90 million opening for *Thunderbolts.
The latest chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is opening in 4,330 North American theaters.
By contrast, Disney's MCU movie — Captain America: Brave New World — had a three-day opening tally of $88.5 million at the domestic box office from 4,105 theaters in mid-February. Since the film's release fell on Presidents' Day weekend, a healthy Monday tally of $11.5 million helped propel the film to a $100 million four-day bow.
Back to the projected take of Thunderbolts*, most studios would be celebrating a $70 million opening. However, Disney, per Variety, also had a $180 million production budget for Thunderbolts* and $100 million marketing spend, so the film still has a way to go before reaching profitability.
As this for this weekend, Thunderbolts* can claim bragging rights for being the new No. 1 film in North America, knocking the vampire thriller Sinners from the box office belfry after two weeks.
Another big positive Disney can hang onto is that not one, but two films — Warner Bros. A Minecraft Movie and Sinners — both defied opening weekend projections in April as well as their second-weekend estimates.
Given the positive buzz that the film has going into the weekend — including an 88% 'fresh' rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics and a 95% 'fresh' Popcornmeter rating from RT users — it is certainly in the realm of possibility that Thunderbolts* can defy box office projections as well.
Thunderbolts* marks a departure for the MCU since it concentrates on the adventures of a group of antiheroes — Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) — instead of superheroes.
Michael B Jordan plays twins in director Ryan Coogler's vampire thriller "Sinners."
Director Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which opened with $48 million two weeks ago at the domestic box office and had a stunning second weekend hold with $45.7 million, is projected by Deadline to earn anywhere from $30 million to $35 million from 3,347 North American venues this weekend to take the No. 2 spot.
If Deadline's estimate holds, it will boost Sinners' running domestic take to anywhere from $176.6 million to 181.6 million. A Minecraft Movie, meanwhile, is projected by Deadline to earn $13 million from Friday to Sunday from 3,571 theaters to up its domestic tally to $397.5 million.
Also, the trade publication projects Amazon MGM Studios' The Accountant 2 will earn $11.2 million from 3,610 theaters through Sunday to boost its 10-day take to $41.6 million; while it pegs a $3 million weekend for Sony Pictures Entertainment's Until Dawn from 3,055 venues. If the estimate holds, it will boost the horror thriller's running tally to $13.8 million.
Note: This box office report will be updated throughout the weekend with the most current numbers as they become available. The final numbers for this weekend's box office will be released on Monday.