'Captain America: Civil War' Opens to Mighty $181.8M in U.S., Hits $678.4M Globally

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By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter

The superhero tentpole is assured of becoming the first title of 2016 to cross $1 billion, continuing Disney’s domination; elsewhere, Mother’s Day makes something of a comeback in its second weekend, timed to the actual holiday.

Marvel Studios and Disney’s Captain America: Cvil War launched to a mighty $181.8million in North America, kicking off the summer box office in high style and scoring the fifth-best opening of all time, as well as the top launch of 2016 to date.

Overseas, where it began opening last weekend, Civil War took in another $220 million for a foreign total of $496.6 million and worldwide haul of $678 million after just 12 days in release. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Civil War is all but assured of becoming the first release of 2016 to jump the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.

The critically acclaimed superhero film continues Disney domination, between Lucasfilms’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (the movie opened in late December but stayed a huge player in the first part of the new year), The Jungle Book and Zootopia.

More: All 45 Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best

In terms of opening-weekend rankings, Civil War shot past Iron Man 3 ($174 millino) to rank No. 5 behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million), Jurassic World ($208.8 million), The Avengers ($207.4 million) and Age of Ultron ($191.3 million), not accounting for inflation Put another way, Disney claims four the five top openings (Jurassic World was released by Universal).

Civil War is more Avengers-like in feel than the previous two standalone Captain America films, and it showed: Captain America: The Winter Soldier debuted to $95 million, while Captain America: The First Avenger opened to $65.1 million.

Civil War sees the Avengers fractured and forced to choose sides between Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) when the government tries to control the superheroes. Many of the other Avengers stars appear in the movie, including Downey, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner. Plus, new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) make their debuts.

Costing $250 million to make, Civil War is the 13th title in the MCU, and cost $250 million. In addition to being embraced by critics — it currently shows 91 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a strong number for a popcorn movie — it also won over audiences, who gave it an A CinemaScore. And moviegoers under the age of 25 gave it an A+. The tentpole skewed male (60 percent).

Heading into the weekend, Disney tried to keep expectations in check by suggesting a domestic debut in the $175 million range. Many box-office analysts were more bullish, saying it had a shot of crossing $190 million, on par with Age of Ultron. Still, the movie did not have Avengers in the title, and it’s initial performance is considered a huge win by analysts and rival studios.

More: All 45 Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best

Elsewhere, Garry Marshall’s ensemble holiday comedy Mother’s Day seemed to get a huge boost from the actual holiday, falling a scant 8 percent in its second weekend to $9 million for a domestic total of $20.7 million. That’s a major comeback after debuting to a troubled $8.4 million. Open Road Films is releasing the movie.

Mother’s Day placed No. 3 after Civil War and Jungle Book, which remained a formidable force in its fourth weekend, grossing $21.9 million for a domestic total of $285 million. Internationally, it grossed another $24.1 million mark as it races for the $500 million mark, finishing Sunday with a foreign cume of $491.2 million. Worldwide, Jon Favreau’s film has grossed $776.2 million.

Universal’s The Huntsman: Winter’s War followed at No. 4, but continued to fall steeply in North America, taking in $3.6 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $40.4 million. Overseas, it’s fairing better, grossing $105.9 million but its global total of $146.3 million is still considered a major disappointment.

Disney Animation Studios’ blockbuster Zootopia rounded out the top five in its 10th weekend, earning $5.7 million for a domestic total of $327.6 million — edging out Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($327.3 million). Overseas, Zootopia has earned $628.8 million for a rousing global cume of $956.4 million.