By Janet H. Cho

Walt Disney's Marvel has the biggest movie debut of the year so far as Captain America: Brave New World, starring Anthony Mackie, is on pace for $100 million in domestic box office sales for the holiday weekend running through Monday.

Already, Brave New World has sold $88.5 million through Sunday, and sold $40 million when it opened on Valentine's Day, according to Comscore. It has sold an average of $21,559 a theater, surpassing expectations despite some initial underwhelming reviews.

Brave New World is expected to sell another $92.4 million tickets internationally, for a total estimated weekend take of $192.4 million, according to Comscore.

The fourth Captain America film and the 35th from Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, the PG-rated action adventure puts Captain America in the middle of an international incident and an evil global plot after meeting the newly elected president played by Harrison Ford.

So far in 2025, moviegoers are outpacing last year's domestic sales. For the industry, the weekend's box office totaled $153.3 million through Sunday, bringing sales for the year so far to $867.8 million, 22% higher than at this point in 2024, Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.

"Given that next few weekends offer little in the way of direct competition, Captain America: Brave New World will most certainly benefit from its perfect Presidents weekend release date," he told Barron's in an email. "Marvel films have historically found this holiday weekend to be a great launch pad for some of the biggest films in the brand's history, so it should enjoy solid staying power in the coming weeks."

A $100 million domestic Presidents Day weekend would put Brave New World in fourth place behind Black Panther's $242.2 million in 2018, Deadpool's $152.2 million in 2016, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's $120 million in 2023.

Compared with other Marvel movies, Brave New World has a 51% average on Rotten Tomatoes, and a grade of "B-" from CinemaScore.

Sony Pictures' Paddington in Peru, the third film based on the beloved bear from the British children's books, hauled in $13 million in its opening weekend and is expected to sell $16 million through Monday, according to Comscore.

Sony's R-rated comedy horror Heart Eyes came in third place this weekend with $10 million in domestic sales through Sunday and an expected $11.1 million through Monday. Its cumulative domestic take is $22.5 million since opening Feb. 7.

CMC Pictures' Chinese animated fantasy film Ne Zha 2 opened in fifth place with $7.2 million domestically, but a per-theater average of $10,926 despite screening in only 660 theaters. Variety said it has grossed more than $1 billion in China and is expected to be among the top movies of 2025.

Ne Zha 2 and Captain America: Brave New World helped give IMAX a $43 million weekend, its second highest since the $52.3 million it sold in 2018, when the start of Lunar New Year coincided with the Friday of Presidents Day Weekend and the global opening of Disney Marvel's Black Panther, Dergarabedian said.

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 16, 2025 15:21 ET (20:21 GMT)

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