Box office: Captain Marvel vaporizes record for female-led films with $455M worldwide

Captain Marvel, Marvel Studios' first female-led superhero movie, will dominate the domestic box office during its first weekend in theaters with an estimated $153 million.

Through the combined totals domestic and foreign sales, the feature has already soared to the tune of $455 million, a figure that shatters the all-time record for a female-led film's debut. The previous record holder was Disney's live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which nabbed $357 million during its first weekend in 2017. Internationally, Captain Marvel has the sixth-best opening of all time as well as the second best comic book opening for Marvel after Avengers: Infinity War.

In particular, the Chinese box office yielded $34.3 million on Friday night, the second-highest beginning for any Marvel movie in China after Infinity War.

In North America, Captain Marvel will nab the second-biggest opening for any comic book movie to introduce a new character. The No. 1 record is held by (you guessed it) Black Panther, which shattered all kinds of box office records last winter/spring. Moreover, Captain Marvel has defeated Wonder Woman, whose domestic debut of $103 million is no longer the benchmark for a superhero movie headlined by a woman.

 Captain Marvel also vaporized the seventh-biggest debut for any Marvel project after the first three Avengers films, Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, and Iron Man 3.

Directed by indie darlings, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Mississippi Grind), the movie centers on Carol Danvers (Room's Brie Larson), an amnesiac member of the elite Kree Starforce. After an encounter with the shapeshifting Skrulls (the mortal enemies of the Kree), Carol crashes to Earth and begins to piece her past together with the help of a young and two-eyed Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

Acting as a prequel to the MCU as we all know it, the film is set in the 1990s and is chock full of nostalgic beats like Blockbusters, Internet cafes, and Hole's "Celebrity Skin."

Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau), Jude Law (Yon-Rogg), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos), Annette Benning (Supreme Intelligence/Mar-Vell), Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), and Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser) make up the rest of the ensemble cast.

Credit: Marvel Studios/Disney

Ok, so Captain Marvel is obviously the biggest genre player at this weekend's box office, but there are a few genre holdovers from previous weeks still fighting for relevance.

For instance, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is all set to take second place during its third weekend with a modest $15 million. Domestically, the trilogy capper to the popular DreamWorks franchise has taken in $108.3 million. In foreign markets, the movie has yielded more than $280 million, bringing the international total to nearly $400 million.

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral will take the third spot, but The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and Alita: Battle Angel are taking fourth and fifth place respevtively.

With another $3.8 million coming in this weekend, The Lego Movie 2 has done ok in North America with $94 million, bringing in an extra $63 million overseas. Alita's heading for an extra $3.2 million, having done $78.3 million domestically and $285 million from foreign box offices.

(via The Hollywood Reporter, & Box Office Mojo)