Thunderbolts – New Avengers continues bombing hard as it suffers the fourth-worst box office for a first Thursday in the entire history of the MCU.
It’s been a similar story all week, the flick is sharing company with Kevin Feige’s other bombs including Quantumania, Captain America: Brave New World, and The Marvels.
The possible good news is that Thunderbolts – New Avengers may have bottomed out, as it didn’t see much of a drop from Wednesday to Thursday.
What is the Thunderbolts – New Avengers Thursday box office?
Thunderbolts – New Avengers brought in $4.2 million on Thursday, a drop of 1.3% from Wednesday which saw a massive drop of its own from Tuesday.
Feige’s other Thursday bombs include Shang-Chi’s $3.9M ($4.6M adjusted for inflation), Quantumania’s $3.8M, Captain America: Brave New World‘s $3.2M, and The Marvels’ $1.3M. Disney recently confirmed in its investor report that Cap 4 is a big failure along with Snow White.
What about Black Widow, which introduced Florence Pugh and Yelena? $5M back in 2021 for its first Thursday, which is equivalent in today’s dollars to nearly $6M. The flick was also released at the same time in theaters and on Disney+ amid a “pandemic.”
Thunderbolts – New Avengers: Slowest to $100M
While Thunderbolts – New Avengers is currently outpacing Captain America: Brave New World, that film had a much stronger opening and reached $100M domestically in just four days.
In contrast, Thunderbolts is on track to cross $100M on Friday—its eighth day in theaters, including previews—making it one of the slowest MCU films to do so, alongside Eternals (9 days). The Marvels never reached that milestone, topping out at $86M domestic.
In Wednesday’s box office report, I went over what happened, which I believe is due to poor creative decisions on the part of Kevin Feige.
Big test in weekend two
This weekend will be a big test for Thunderbolts – New Avengers, as there isn’t much competition before next week hits with Final Destination: Bloodlines, followed by Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch, which will crush everything in its path and Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible.
If Thunderbolts – New Avengers can stay within the 50% drop percentage, that’s a win, but I think anything above 60% is a continued sign that things aren’t going well. Even if it only has a 50% drop, Thunderbolts – New Avengers will still be lucky to hit $400M. With a mammoth budget of around $300M, Thunderbolts – New Avengers looks to be another MCU bust from Feige. When will the bleeding stop?
Friday update: Trades are reporting a $9M Friday (fourth-worst Friday in the MCU before Cap 4, The Marvels, and Quantumania) and estimating a 53% drop from opening weekend, with a $35M second weekend. If it holds, that would give Thunderbolts – New Avengers a domestic box office of $130M by Sunday.
Update: The second weekend has underperformed.
Cap 4 brought in $7,282,666 for its second Friday ($28.1M second weekend), and The Marvels $2,756,659 ($10.1M second weekend). Quantumania also brought in $8,329,121 for its second Friday and only made $31.9M in its second weekend.
For the record, Shang-Chi‘s second Friday brought in $9,628,206 for a $34.7M second weekend gross. If Thunderbolts performs similarly, it’s more like around a $32M weekend, a 55.96% drop. Eternals also brought in $7,839,828 for its second Friday, which in today’s dollars is around $9.21M, and its second weekend grossed $26.85M, or $31.69M in today’s dollars. Black Widow? $9.44M in today’s dollars.
Thunderbolts box office as of Thursday:
- Domestic (52.5%):$95,354,195
- International (47.5%): $86,236,966
- Worldwide: $181,591,161
Weekend:
- May 2-4: $74,300,608
Daily:
- May 2 Friday (includes Thursday previews): $31,813,091
- May 3 Saturday: $24,683,098 -22.4%
- May 4 Sunday: $17,804,419 -27.9%
- May 5 Monday: $5,008,275 -71.9%
- May 6 Tuesday: $7,463,926 +49%
- May 7 Wednesday: $4,318,188 -42.1%
- May 8 Thursday: $4,263,198 -1.3%
