Captain Marvel could soar past early projections to hit $150 million U.S. opening

The start of the spring box office is in Carol Danvers’ hands, and thanks to the pre-Avengers: Endgame buildup to Marvel’s first-ever female superhero film, it looks like they’re more than capable.

Already projected to hit $100 million when it crashes to Earth this weekend, Captain Marvel could even end up approaching a $150 million opening in U.S. theaters, and as much as $350 million worldwide, according to Deadline. The setup for Danvers’ role in next month’s final conflict with Thanos already was on track to vie with Wonder Woman’s $103.3 million opening weekend, and is reportedly outpacing the pre-sale pace of other major Marvel movies like Captain America: Civil War, according to the report.

The arrival of Captain Marvel, and with it the first truly huge movie weekend of 2019, can’t come soon enough for theaters, where this year’s box office has so far lagged well behind last year’s record-setting haul. Deadline notes that 2019’s ticket sales, so far, are about a quarter behind what they were this time last year — but Danvers’ 1990s origin story is only the first in a series of huge movies that could change all that. 

Six weeks after Danvers gets her meteoric date with that Blockbuster Video store, what’s left of the Avengers will arrive for an April 26 return that’s projected to compete with, well, themselves for the title of biggest-ever U.S. opening. One analysis late last month forecast Endgame to collect $282 million in its debut weekend, and if that comes to pass, it’ll handily outstrip Infinity War’s $258 million start, as well as second-place all-time opener Star Wars: The Force Awakens at $248 million.

Speaking of series finales and Star Wars, the end of the Skywalker saga is another huge factor in how the 2019 box office will turn out. The still-untitled Episode IX arrives on Dec. 20, and between then and now, theaters will be busy, busy places. In addition to Captain Marvel and Endgame, there’s a slew of mostly Disney-made films jockeying for relative position among the year’s projected top ticket-sellers, including Toy Story 4 (June 20), Aladdin (May 24), Sony's Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 5), The Lion King (July 19), Frozen 2 (Nov. 27), and Sony’s next Jumanji sequel (Dec. 13).

It all begins this weekend, when the box office, like Nick Fury, will be paging Carol Danvers to the rescue. Captain Marvel opens in theaters everywhere on March 8.