‘Thunderbolts’ tops North American box office with $76 million debut

Marvel’s latest superhero film ”Thunderbolts” stormed to the top of the North American box office over the weekend, pulling in an estimated $76 million, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations. The strong opening marks a solid start to the summer movie season.

Starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, and David Harbour as a team of unlikely antiheroes, the film also features Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a sinister CIA chief. With favorable reviews and strong audience feedback, analysts expect the film to perform well globally.

“This is a very good opening for a new superhero story,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian echoed that optimism, calling ”Thunderbolts” a strong kickoff for an “epic month of May” at the movies.

Slipping to second place was ”Sinners”, Ryan Coogler’s period vampire thriller starring Michael B. Jordan. Now in its third weekend, the film still brought in a robust $33 million.

Warner Bros.’ ‘A Minecraft Movie’, featuring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, climbed to third place with $13.7 million in weekend earnings. With a domestic total of $398.2 million and $475 million internationally, it remains the top-grossing film of the year with $873.2 million worldwide.

In fourth place was The Accountant 2 from Amazon MGM Studios, earning $9.5 million. Ben Affleck reprises his role as a math genius with a criminal past, alongside Jon Bernthal as his hitman brother.

Sony’s horror video game adaptation Until Dawn landed in fifth, taking in $3.8 million.

Elsewhere, Alec Baldwin’s controversial Western ”Rust” opened in limited release, earning only $25,000 from 115 theaters. The film became widely known after a tragic on-set incident involving the fatal shooting of its cinematographer.

Rounding out the top 10:

6. The Amateur – $1.8 million
7. The King of Kings – $1.7 million
8. Warfare – $1.3 million
9. Hit: The Third Case – $925,000
10. The Surfer – $675,000