“Captain America: Civil War” poised to reach $1 bn at worldwide box office

PanARMENIAN.Net - Disney-Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” will reach $1 billion at the worldwide box office by this weekend — the 25th movie to do so, Variety reports.

The tentpole has become the highest grosser of 2016 after taking in $10 million on Wednesday, May 18 to raise its worldwide total to $981.9 million. Disney’s “Zootopia” had been the year’s top title with $971 million since its March launch while Warner Bros.’ “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is third with $871 million.

The domestic total has hit $310.5 million after 13 days while the international cume has reached $671.4 million since April 27, led by China with $164.2 million and South Korea with $60.7 million.

“Captain America: Civil War” will be the sixth superhero movie to gross more than $1 billion worldwide after “The Avengers ($1.52 billion), “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($1.41 billion), “Iron Man 3” ($1.22 billion), “The Dark Knight Rises” ($1.09 billion) and “The Dark Knight” ($1.04 billion). “The Avengers” is the fifth-highest worldwide grosser of all time, trailing “Avatar,” “Titanic,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Jurassic World.”

“Captain America: Civil War,” which sees Chris Evans’ titular hero facing off against Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, is showing plenty of traction in the U.S. It’s expected to be in a tight three-way race this weekend at the domestic box office against the openings of Sony’s “The Angry Birds Movie” and Universal’s “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” with all three titles set to top $30 million.

On the foreign front, “Captain America” will see a serious challenge from Fox’s launch of “X-Men: Apocalypse” in most markets — a week ahead of its May 27 opening in the U.S.