Captain Marvel looks set to light up the domestic box office with what will be the first truly heroic debut of 2019.
Per Variety, the female-fronted superhero flick is currently tracking for a $100M-plus opening in North America, with some independent analysts predicting a figure closer to $120M based on positive word of mouth. Excitement for Captain Marvel is palpable, so we fully expect those numbers to ebb and flow as we approach release day.
Either way, a $100M debut far exceeds that of Ant-Man and the Wasp, which earned $75M in its opening weekend off the back of the $2 billion dollar titan that is Avengers: Infinity War. But Captain Marvel heralds the beginning of a new franchise at Marvel Studios, and by all accounts, it looks as though Carol Danvers will be off to a flyer.
For the sake of perspective, and assuming the glass-half-full projection is on point, a $120M haul would place Captain Marvel in the company of Spider-Man: Homecoming ($117M) and Thor: Ragnarok ($122M), which is a pretty incredible achievement in and of itself. It’s also looking to soar past Wonder Woman, its DC counterpart, which earned just over $100M in its opening weekend two years ago.
Beyond box office forecasts and talk of ticket sales, we also understand that Captain Marvel is set to run for approximately 124 minutes. That’s significantly shorter than previous MCU entries – only Doctor Strange (115 minutes) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (118 minutes) have fallen below the two-hour mark in recent years.
The standalone Captain Marvel movie has officially been cleared for take-off. Its ETA? March 8th. And it seems as though actress Brie Larson already has one eye on the inevitable sequel.