Having played in theaters for nearly two months, Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World is all set to bow out. It’ll do so with a box office total that warrants neither celebrations nor obituaries. The superhero movie under-performed. Of that there is no doubt. But did it under-perform to a level where it can be called a bomb? Probably not. After spending five weeks in theaters, the film passed what could be its final global box office milestone. In doing so, it has now overtaken another Marvel misfire, while setting its sights on an MCU movie that was largely embraced at the time of its release.
With $401.8 million at the worldwide box office, Brave New World has now overtaken the lifetime haul of Eternals, which debuted theatrically in 2021, when the theatrical marketplace was still in the middle of an existential crisis because of the pandemic. Only a few months before Eternals, Disney had released Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which concluded its run with $432 million worldwide. Both Shang-Chi and Eternals made more than $70 million in their domestic debuts, which was a tremendous result given the context. Brave New World, on the other hand, made nearly $90 million in its first weekend, but fell like a brick subsequently.
It’s also important to point out that both Eternals and Shang-Chi introduced new characters, while Brave New World brings back Anthony Mackie, an actor who has been a part of these movies for over a decade. Granted, this is his first theatrical outing as Captain America, a role that he took over from Chris Evans, but audiences have been aware of this switch for five years. Produced on a reported budget of $150 million, Shang-Chi earned mostly positive reviews. It seemed, for a while, that a sequel would be fast-tracked. Instead, star Simu Liu will reprise the role for the first time in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, which entered production this week.
‘Brave New World’ Earned Disappointing Reviews
Like Brave New World, Eternals didn’t quite excite critics. It remains a costly misfire, despite the involvement of A-list talent like Angelina Jolie and the Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao. Directed by Julius Onah, Brave New World is among the worst-rated MCU movies of all time, with a 48% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The movie was produced on a reported budget of $180 million, and is still the second-lowest-grossing installment of the Captain America series. You can watch the film in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
