Civil War leaves path of destruction at box office

What superhero fatigue? Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, the 13th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has strong-armed its way to becoming the fifth-highest domestic opening ever according to comScore estimates Sunday. The film grossed a massive $181.8 million (U.S.) this weekend, bumping Iron Man 3 out of the top five all time debuts. Civil War now ranks right below Marvel’s The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, which hold the third and fourth place spots.

It’s nearly double the opening of the previous Captain America film, The Winter Soldier, which opened to $95 million in April 2014.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Civil War sees an ideological showdown between Iron Man ( Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America ( Chris Evans) and is packed to the brim with Avengers old and new.

According to comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, Civil War is well on its way to becoming a $1-billion movie. The film cost $250 million to produce but has already far surpassed that thanks to a healthy international debut last weekend and a big bump from China this weekend.

Great reviews and word of mouth will surely distinguish Civil War from Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which, by comparison, opened to $166 million in late March but fell sharply over the subsequent weekends. That film has earned $327.3 domestically million to date and this weekend placed 10th with $1 million.

The rest of films on the box office charts looked paltry in comparison. The only big change was that Civil War effectively ended the three week first-place run of Disney’s The Jungle Book which came in second with $21.9 million, bringing its domestic total to $285 million.

“You couldn’t have a better lead in for the summer,” said Dergarabedian, who noted that U.S. Memorial Day weekend should also be quite significant with the release of Alice Through the Looking Glass and

X-Men: Apocalypse.

“Even though on paper it might not look as strong as last year, the summer of 2016 shouldn’t be underestimated.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday. 1. Captain America: Civil War, $181.8 million 2. The Jungle Book, $21.9 million 3. Mother’s Day, $9 million 4. The Huntsman: Winter’s War, $3.6 million 5. Keanu, $3.1 million 6. Barbershop: The Next Cut, $2.7 million 7. Zootopia, $2.7 million 8. The Boss, $1.7 million 9. Ratchet and Clank, $1.5 million 10. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, $1 million