“Captain Marvel” from Marvel Studios may be, to more hardened naysayers, either an insufficient attempt to copy the success of the DCEU film “Wonder Woman” in 2017, or a superhero film that will be hampered by a clunky feminist message. The fact that the character of Carol Danvers has been divisive in recent storylines over at Marvel Comics helps little.
But tell that to the analysts that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, are tracking the film for an opening weekend of at least $100 million when it premieres this coming March.
“Captain Marvel” starring Brie Larson as Carol Danvers will open the 2019 batch of MCU films and prep fans for “Avengers: Endgame” in April.
MCU film predicts ‘giant’ opening
The tracking for the 21st movie of the MCU franchise has been looked at by several film studios that rival Marvel and its parent company Disney. Much to their concern, metrics for the impending premiere of “Captain Marvel” are so huge that they could only describe it as “giant,” in terms of audiences coming to watch out of pure interest and its recently-received PG13 rating.
To compare these predictions with the MCU Movies of 2018, “Black Panther” in February had a domestic opening weekend of $202 million; this was followed in April by “Avengers: Infinity War” with $257.7 million, and then “Ant-Man and the Wasp” in July which earned $75.8 million.
Box office observers with an eye on the Brie Larson starrer even venture that there will be enough of an enthusiastic word of mouth for “Captain Marvel” that might push the tracking for $100 million to an even better $120 million on opening weekend.
Captain Marvel wants ‘Ms. Marvel’
Brie Larson has been rumored to have signed a contract with Marvel Studios that would secure her for a seven-movie deal similar to earlier stars of the MCU. She has her own ideas on the direction Carol Danvers will take on prospective “Captain Marvel” sequels and team-up movies.
According to Comic Book Resources, she's invested in including a recent addition to her character’s mythos, the current iteration of “Ms. Marvel.” Readers of the comics know that Danvers, who first appeared in 1968, initially became Ms.
Marvel in 1977 before taking the Captain name in 2012, in honor of the original (male) one.
Both "Captain" and “Ms." Marvel monikers have passed through several users in the comic books over the years. Just as Danvers became the Captain, an empowered Pakistani-American high-schoolgirl and fan of hers named Kamala Khan became the new Ms. Marvel in 2014. Larson is interested in having Kamala show up soon in the MCU’s “Captain Marvel” follow-ups.
“Captain Marvel” arrives in cinemas March 8.