Box Office: ‘Thunderbolts*’ Makes $11.5 Million in Previews

There’s a new Marvel team in town — and no, they’re not the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men or even the Eternals. “Thunderbolts*,” starring Florence Pugh and a handful of other Marvel anti-heroes and villains, is opening this weekend at the box office.

The superhero movie, directed by Jake Schreier, has made $11.5 million in previews so far. It’s expected to make between $70 million to $75 million in its opening weekend domestically, and worldwide it’s projected to end up with $160 million to $175 million.

“Thunderbolts*” is on pace to open a little behind this February’s earlier Marvel adventure, “Captain America: Brave New World.” The fourth Cap movie made $12 million in previews and opened to $88 million over the weekend, $100 million through the extended Presidents’ Day holiday weekend and $192.4 million globally. It ended its run with $414 million globally, which came in at an overall loss. “Thunderbolts” cost $180 million to produce and approximately $100 million to market, so it’ll need to stick around in theaters longer than “Captain America” did to turn a profit.

Since the pandemic, only three Marvel movies, besides “Captain America: Brave New World,” have opened to less than $100 million: 2021’s “Eternals” ($71 million), “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75 million) and 2023’s “The Marvels” ($46 million).

In addition to Pugh, “Thunderbolts*” stars Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman and more. In their debut Marvel team-up, the Thunderbolts must learn to work together to face a new deadly villain.

Also this weekend, director Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” is on track to make $35 million in its third weekend, just a 20% drop from last week.