‘Thunderbolts*’ Off To Solid Start With $11M Previews

EXCLUSIVE: Disney and Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* is off to a very good start with around $11M tonight we hear from non-Disney sources. Always know that forecast can swing higher or lower by the time late night monies come in Friday AM. Hopefully tonight’s previews are an indicator to better days at the summer B.O.; that the current momentum from A Minecraft Movie and Sinners keeps up.

Marvel had to postpone last year’s summer kickoff pic, Deadpool & Wolverine, to late July due to the impact of the strikes.

Not only does the Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan Thunderbolts* have a solid start, but it’s also winning fans over tonight with a 96% Rotten Tomatoes audience score after its 88% certified fresh rating with critics. That’s better than the MCU’s Captain America: Brave New World from February (48% critics, 78% audience) which saw an $88.8M 3-day, $100M 4-day over the Valentines Day/President Days weekend which translated to $200.2M stateside and $414.8M global take.

Tonight’s previews are roughly a million under Captain America: Brave New World’s $12M, but they’re also ahead of 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings ($8.8M) and Eternals ($9.5M). The weekend projection yesterday for the ragtag superhero movie which is sort of a sequel to Disney+ series The Falcon and Winter Soldier and Hawkeye, as well as the movie Black Widow, was $70M-$75M stateside at 4,300 sites and $175M on the high end of its global start. Thunderbolts* (not to be confused with Thundercats) has all the premium ticket upcharges in Imax, Dolby, ScreenX, 4DX, etc.

We told you in the past week that previews/presales for Thunderbolts* are behind Captain America: Brave New World. However, Presales for the Jake Schreier directed MCU title continue to be ahead of 2021’s Shang Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings ($75.3M) and Eternals ($71.2M opening).

We’ll have more intel on Warner Bros’ Sinners‘ third weekend tomorrow, however, some rivals are estimating that the Ryan Coogler directed, Michael B. Jordan starring period vampire movie is headed to a 3-day of $35M, which would be a remarkable dip of -23%. Forecasts had Sinners easing -25% to -30% in its third weekend for $32M-$34.2M yesterday.