Marvel Studios' Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set to break the previous April opening record set by Fast Five in 2011 thanks to its estimated opening day gross of $37 million from 3,938 North American theaters (2D, 3D and IMAX 3D), after opening on Thursday night.
With solid reviews and word-of-mouth buzz, the movie brought in $10.2 million from Thursday night previews and fans of Marvel's movies continued to pour into theaters on Friday, giving it an "A" CinemaScore, showing that they liked what they saw.
As far as comparisons, Fast Five took in $34.4 million on its opening day in late April 2011 before setting a record for the month with its $86.2 million weekend, and more recently, Marvel Studios' Thor: The Dark World opened with $31.9 million on its way to $85.7 million its first weekend. Cap's opening day is still a far cry from the $68.9 million Iron Man 3 took in when it kicked off the summer of 2013, while Warner Bros.' Man of Steel grossed $44 million its opening Friday (with an additional $12 million of Thursday previews separated from that number).
Again, it will depend on how well Cap holds up on Saturday to determine whether it becomes the first $100 million opener of 2014, joining the likes of Marvel's "Iron Man" movies, The Avengers, The Dark Knight and its sequel and Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies in that esteemed group.
Check back tomorrow for the full box office report!
