{"id":37750,"date":"2025-04-04T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/?p=37750"},"modified":"2025-04-13T09:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T13:17:08","slug":"long-range-forecast-can-thunderbolts-give-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-a-much-needed-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/long-range-forecast-can-thunderbolts-give-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-a-much-needed-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Range Forecast: Can THUNDERBOLTS* Give the Marvel Cinematic Universe a Much-Needed Boost?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Subscribe to our&nbsp;<strong><em>FREE<\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;email newsletters to be notified of our latest updates in pre-release tracking, box office analysis, and industry news.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/share.transistor.fm\/e\/5bc15ff9\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-long-range-forecast-may-2-2025\">Long Range Forecast \u2014 May 2, 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-thunderbolts-disney-marvel-studios\"><em>Thunderbolts*<\/em> | Disney \/ Marvel Studios<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-domestic-opening-weekend-range-65m-85m\">Domestic Opening Weekend Range: $65M &#8211; $85M<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Following a quasi-rest year in which Marvel Studios released only one title theatrically\u2014<em>Deadpool &amp; Wolverine<\/em> ($211.4M domestic opening, $636.7M domestic total), now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/the-top-10-movies-of-2024-at-the-domestic-box-office\/\">the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time<\/a>, domestically and globally\u2014the MCU has gotten off to a rocky start in 2025, debuting <em>Captain America: Brave New World <\/em>to a modest $88.8M over the three-day President&#8217;s Day weekend (4-day domestic opening: $100M). In subsequent weeks, the title failed to pick up steam, grossing $188M domestically in the first five weeks in release\u2014a period in which no other movie opened above $50M, meaning competition for chase week audiences has been all but non-existent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thunderbolts*<\/em>, an anti-hero team-up film featuring familiar characters from Marvel Studios film and TV properties, will have more competition over its first month than <em>Brave New World<\/em> did, with <em>Mission: Impossible &#8211; The Final Chapter<\/em>, <em>Lilo &amp; Stitch<\/em>, and <em>Karate Kid <\/em>all opening later in May. After its opening weekend, premium format real estate will be harder for<em> Thunderbolts* <\/em>to come by\u2014as could ticket sales to more casual MCU fans who may want to catch up on the film in chase weeks should positive word-of-mouth develop. The lifting of review and reaction embargoes will give more insight as to the film&#8217;s potential performance in that regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given <em>Captain America: Brave New World<\/em>&#8216;s modest performance\u2014and given the fact that Marvel&#8217;s ensemble movies have struggled since the 2019 release of <em>Avengers: Endgame<\/em>\u2014<em>Thunderbolts*<\/em> opening weekend is not, at this point, likely to open over $100M, per our panel of forecasters. On the positive side: <em>Thunderbolts*<\/em>, unlike November 2021&#8217;s <em>Eternals<\/em> ($71.2M domestic opening, $164.9M domestic total), features an ensemble of characters for the most part already familiar to avid Marvel Studios audiences. On the negative side, many of those characters were villains\/supporting players last seen either in movies several years old (Taskmasker and Alexei from 2021&#8217;s <em>Black Widow<\/em>; Ghost from 2018&#8217;s <em>Ant-Man and the Wasp<\/em>) or on one of Marvel Studios&#8217; Disney+-exclusive shows (Yelena in <em>Hawkeye<\/em>; John Walker in <em>The Falcon and the Winter Soldier<\/em>), which could tamp down interest among the non-MCU-superfan contingent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Should <em>Thunderbolts<\/em>* fail to deliver upon expectations, Disney\/Marvel will have another shot at things prior to <em>Avengers: Doomsday<\/em> with the July release of <em>Fantastic Four: First Steps<\/em>, which represents something of a fresh start for the MCU as the debut (aside from a cameo for an alternate-universe Reed Richards in the <em>Doctor Strange <\/em>sequel) of their version of &#8220;Marvel&#8217;s First Family.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-mcu-theatrical-releases-post-avengers-endgame\">MCU Theatrical Releases, Post-<em>Avengers: Endgame<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Release Date<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Title<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Domestic Opening<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Domestic Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2\/14\/25<\/td><td><em>Captain America: Brave New World<\/em><\/td><td>$88.8M<\/td><td>$197.5M (as of 4\/4)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7\/26\/24<\/td><td><em>Deadpool &amp; Wolverine<\/em><\/td><td>$211.4M<\/td><td>$636.7M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11\/10\/23<\/td><td><em>The Marvels<\/em><\/td><td>$46.1M<\/td><td>$84.5M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5\/5\/23<\/td><td><em>Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3<\/em><\/td><td>$118.4M<\/td><td>$358.9M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2\/17\/23<\/td><td><em>Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania<\/em><\/td><td>$106.1M<\/td><td>$214.5M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11\/11\/22<\/td><td><em>Black Panther: Wakanda Forever<\/em><\/td><td>$181.3M<\/td><td>$453.8M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7\/8\/22<\/td><td><em>Thor: Love and Thunder<\/em><\/td><td>$144.6M<\/td><td>$343.2M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>5\/6\/22<\/td><td><em>Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness<\/em><\/td><td>$187.4M<\/td><td>$411.3M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>12\/27\/21<\/td><td><em>Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/em><\/td><td>$260.1M<\/td><td>$814.8M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11\/5\/21<\/td><td><em>Eternals<\/em><\/td><td>$71.2M<\/td><td>$164.8M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9\/3\/21<\/td><td><em>Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings<\/em><\/td><td>$75.3M<\/td><td>$224.5M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7\/9\/2021<\/td><td><em>Black Widow<\/em><\/td><td>$80.3M<\/td><td>$183.6M<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>7\/2\/2019<\/td><td><em>Spider-Man: Far from Home<\/em><\/td><td>$92.5M<\/td><td>$391.3M<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"ABSOLUTE CINEMA | MARVEL STUDIOS\u2019 THUNDERBOLTS* | MAY 2\" width=\"798\" height=\"449\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bqnRzjPfb5A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-tracking-updates-as-of-april-4\">Tracking Updates [as of April 4]<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Release Date<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Title<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Opening Weekend Range<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Distributor<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/4<\/td><td><em>A Minecraft Movie<\/em><\/td><td>$85M &#8211; $100M<\/td><td>Warner Bros.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/11<\/td><td><em>Warfare<\/em><\/td><td>$12M &#8211; $18M<\/td><td>A24<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/11<\/td><td><em>The King of Kings<\/em><\/td><td>$8M &#8211; $12M<\/td><td>Angel Studios<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/11<\/td><td><em>Drop<\/em><\/td><td>$10M &#8211; $15M<\/td><td>Universal<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/11<\/td><td><em>The Amateur<\/em><\/td><td>$10M &#8211; $15M<\/td><td>Disney \/ 20th Century Studios<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/18<\/td><td><em>Sinners<\/em><\/td><td>$35M &#8211; $45M<\/td><td>Warner Bros.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/25<\/td><td><em>The Legend of Ochi<\/em><\/td><td>$6M &#8211; $10M<\/td><td>A24<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/25<\/td><td><em>The Accountant 2<\/em><\/td><td>$30M &#8211; $40M<\/td><td>Amazon\/MGM<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>4\/25<\/td><td><em>Until Dawn<\/em><\/td><td>$8M &#8211; $12M<\/td><td>Sony<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Subscribe to our&nbsp;FREE&nbsp;email newsletters to be notified of our latest updates in pre-release tracking, box office analysis, and industry news. Long Range Forecast \u2014 May 2, 2025 Thunderbolts* | Disney \/ Marvel Studios Domestic Opening Weekend Range: $65M &#8211; $85M Following a quasi-rest year in which Marvel Studios released only one title theatrically\u2014Deadpool &amp; Wolverine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":37770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/dfac7ee9-acf9-449e-b214-8115882b64d6"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,25],"tags":[1256,5731],"class_list":["post-37750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-forecasts-tracking","category-numbers","tag-marvel-studios","tag-thunderbolts-2"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}