Following a relatively divisive release, all eyes are now on Captain America: Brave New World‘s box office performance both worldwide and domestic as it strives to make headway as an important MCU installment. Following a relatively fallow year in 2024, with ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine being the MCU’s only cinematic release but one that broke records as Marvel Studios’ latest billion-dollar movie, Captain America: Brave New World is the first of three MCU movies in 2025. Whether it continues the momentum of 2024’s success, however, remains to be seen.

Captain America: Brave New World was already subject to a certain measure of controversy as a subset of MCU fans struggled to reconcile with the fact that Steve Rogers is not embodying the eponymous role. Instead, this is Sam Wilson’s solo cinematic debut, launching his tenure as Captain America four years after embracing the mantle in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier​​​​​​. The trepidation surrounding his cinematic debut has threatened to harm the movie’s box-office success, compounded by an initial smattering of mixed reviews for Captain America: Brave New World.

Captain America: Brave New World’s Total Box Office (So Far)

Captain America: Brave New World Started Strong

At the time of writing, The Numbers reports that Captain America: Brave New World has grossed over $88 million domestically and $92 million internationally, combining for a total of $180 million globally. This is expected to increase substantially on the Presidents’ Day holiday, Monday, February 17. This also means that Captain America: Brave New World has soared past its production budget, though it would need to earn $360 million globally to break even when accounting for post-production costs like marketing, which has been especially active for this Captain America sequel.

While reviews for Captain America: Brave New World are mixed, it’s safe to say that a strong marketing campaign has been relatively fruitful for Marvel Studios. Additional factors to its early success include the star power of Harrison Ford, who portrays President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in lieu of the late William Hurt. There also seems to be a gulf forming between the opinions of critics and audiences, as Rotten Tomatoes displays a 51% critics’ score and an 80% audience score for Captain America: Brave New World, at the time of writing.

Captain America: Brave New World’s Opening Weekend Box Office

Captain America: Brave New World Made Its Production Budget Back

In the lead-up to its worldwide release, Captain America: Brave New World was projected to open to $94 million domestically and $190 million globally in a report from ᴅᴇᴀᴅline. Now that the opening weekend is drawing to a close, these projections have proven to be accurate, as ᴅᴇᴀᴅline reports a $100 million domestic projection from Disney over the 4-day Presidents Day weekend. Worldwide projections, meanwhile, sit at $192 million, meaning both have come in slightly above what was expected. With the movie reported to have cost $180 million, it has already recouped its production budget in one weekend.

A strong opening doesn’t mean that Marvel is out of the woods yet, however. While it is plausible that generally favorable reviews from casual audiences could help keep this momentum going, its B- CinemaScore is the lowest ranking ever received by an MCU installment. This means that word of mouth could go either way, either causing it to tank in its second weekend similarly to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, or see it exceed the $360 million required for it to be considered a profitable MCU installment.

What is clear, however, is that it will capably pᴀss the MCU’s lowest-grossing movie yet, The Marvels, which ended its theatrical run with just shy of $200 million globally against a reported budget of $270 million. It would have to rake in another $100 million, meanwhile, to exceed the global box office of the MCU’s second-lowest-grossing movie, The Incredible Hulk – a 17-year-old movie that turned out to be required viewing for Captain America: Brave New World. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opened to a similar $106 million domestically, but lost momentum to finish with $464 million globally.

How Captain America: Brave New World’s Box Office Compares To The First Two Movies

Captain America: Brave New World Could Be As Successful As Steve Rogers’ Debut

Despite its close ties to The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Brave New World is ostensibly a sequel to other Captain America movies as well as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which streamed on Disney+ in 2021. Given Captain America: Civil War was practically an Avengers movie in disguise, it is unreasonable to suggest that Captain America: Brave New World could match its $1.1 billion global box office. Instead, Captain America: Brave New World is most similar in scale and tone to Cap’s first two movies, Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

It’s reasonable to expect that Captain America: Brave New World could at least match the worldwide gross of Captain America: The First Avenger, which ended at $371 million, making it the MCU’s third-lowest-grossing movie. Hitting Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s $714 million, meanwhile, is a much taller order considering this is often considered one of the greatest MCU movies ever made. A somewhat shaky response to Captain America: Brave New World certainly suggests that it might struggle to achieve the same trajectory, despite opening to around the same amount.

What Captain America: Brave New World’s Box Office Means For The MCU

Box Office Failure Could Herald Big MCU Changes

Much of the criticism leveled at Captain America: Brave New World centers around it retreading old ground. While the tried-and-tested formula has worked for some audiences, others have expressed fatigue at a perceived lack of innovation from Marvel Studios. Should this lead to a substandard box office result, it could greatly impact the MCU and its future installments. Such consequences have already been seen in the wake of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s substandard performance, which preceded the removal of Kang as the Multiverse Saga’s arch-villain and his replacement with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom.

Re-casting the MCU’s flagship actor has been perceived by some as a cynical attempt to reignite the magic of the Infinity Saga, relying on RDJ’s star power to recoup the losses ᴀssociated with the Multiverse Saga’s slate of lesser-known faces. This could be compounded by a second substandard box office, though whether Marvel’s gambit will pay off remains to be seen. Alternatively, the criticisms leveled at the cookie-cutter narrative of Captain America: Brave New World specifically might push Marvel Studios to make bolder moves down the line. ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine‘s R-rating proved to be immensely profitable new territory, after all.

It could also lead to Anthony Mackie’s tenure as Captain America being cut short, or at least see him suffer the same fate as the Hulk and only feature in Avengers movies. On the other hand, if Marvel Studios is satisfied with the box office results of Captain America: Brave New World, then it may see potential in developing more sequels with Mackie at the helm. Either way, any changes brought about by Captain America: Brave New World‘s performance aren’t likely to be seen until after the Multiverse Saga concludes.

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Sources: The Numbers, Rotten Tomatoes & ᴅᴇᴀᴅline