Now that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever provided the final chapter to the Marvel Cinematic UniverseIn phase four, let’s look at how installments stack up based on opening weekend box office earnings.
For the purposes of our list, we will focus exclusively on domestic opening weekend box office receipts, as films can sometimes be subject to censorship in other countries, which would necessitate comparing them as from apples to oranges. We will also exclude reissues for simplicity.
Without further ado, here’s every MCU Phase Four movie ranked from lowest to highest in opening weekend box office earnings.
seven. Eternals – $71,297,219
Eternals faced a perfect storm of challenges that ultimately culminated in the lowest domestic box office opening weekend of our entire list, according to Box Office Mojo. Despite Shang Chi come out a few months before – in the fall of 2021 – and show a glimmer of recovery for the film industry amid the coronavirus pandemic, Eternals failed to reach the same high line. Additionally, its reputation as the only “rotten” entry in the MCU according to review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, and the introduction of a roster of 10 superhero characters unknown to the public, has proven to not pay off. service to the film in terms of complementing a healthy box. overall office performance. Still, Chloe Zhao’s direction brought a unique and philosophical vision to the MCU that we truly respect. Eternals.
6. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – $75,388,688
From a critical point of view, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is among the finest achievements of the MCU’s Phase Four. Which is why it’s all the more surprising that the movie starring Simu Lieu that gave audiences an adrenaline rush of hand-to-hand martial arts in the MCU for the first time doesn’t rank higher. on our list. However, with the film’s release amid the coronavirus pandemic, the box office dollars it’s managed to pull in are staggering, all things considered. In fact, the film became the highest-grossing movie since the pandemic began when it was released in September 2021, according to Entertainment Weekly.
5. Black Widow – $80,366,312
If any movie on this list deserves to be rated on a curve, it’s probably Black Widow. Indeed, the film was released in early summer 2021 at a time when COVID-inspired social distancing protocols were still in full effect in many parts of North America. Not only that, but the small box office profits that could have been squeezed out of the situation were arguably undermined by Black Widowon the Disney Plus streaming service, a move that inspired star Scarlet Johansson to sue House Mouse for breaching her contract. Critically, the film was a useful enough action spy thriller, but the fact that it was a prequel undermined some of the film’s tension since audiences have already seen Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff’s ultimate fate will be played out in the events of Avengers: Endgame. It’s such a shame because was the movie released around the time of the original Captain America trilogy, in the mid-2010s, this could have been a benchmark release that served as an important piece of the puzzle in the run-up to the showdown with Thanos. Johansson certainly deserved a standalone movie in the MCU, we just wish Disney wasn’t so late to release.
4. Thor: Love and Thunder – $144,165,107
Thor: Love and Thunder was Taika Waititi’s highly anticipated sequel Thor: Ragnarok, which is considered by many to be one of the best MCU movies of all time. What we have with love and thunder was a typically joke-soaked and colorful Marvel adventure, but offered little else to innovate the formula. While Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher was fantastic in the role, he had surprisingly few scenes. The same could be said for the brief appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy. But at the end of the day, the very welcome return of Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman’s Thor as Jane Foster proved to appeal enough to audiences not to make the film a total flop. In reality, love and thunder recorded an even higher domestic opening weekend and overall gross than Ragnarok.
3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – $181,339,761
In some ways it is surprising Black Panther: Wakanda Forever wasn’t a bigger hit considering the original film had an opening weekend north of $200 million. Yet, at $181 million, wakanda forever marked near the debut of its predecessor. When all the dust has settled, the film directed by Ryan Coogler wakanda forever probably won’t be as big a box office hit as Black Panther, globally. But it still delivered plenty of notable achievements for a sequel that had plenty of adversity stacked against it. Notably, Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman sadly passed away after a years-long private battle with colon cancer before wakanda forever could go into production. Love it or hate it, there’s little doubt that wakanda forever is a loving tribute to Boseman’s King T’Challa, who is a character who also died of an illness in the film world. Now, there’s even considerable buzz at the Oscars for Angela Bassett’s performance as Queen Ramonda, which turned out to be the crown jewel of the film, overall.
2. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness – $187,420,998
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may not be a perfect movie, but the return of Spider Man director Sam Raimi behind the lens of a Marvel movie, the first MCU feature to be firmly rooted in the horror genre, and a few jaw-dropping character cameos were enough to make the film a massive hit to the public. With cameos like Jon Krasinski’s Reed Richards and Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier, and the overarching plot crossing the multiverse, the film gave MCU fans everywhere an exciting glimmer of what might be in store for the future of franchise. Additionally, the film’s spring 2022 opening date, a time when many sections of the United States and Canada left COVID-inspired shutdowns mostly in the rearview mirror, proved a release window. lucrative.
1. Spider-Man: No Coming Home – $260,138,569
Did you expect another movie to top our list? other than the third highest-grossing national film of all time, Spider-Man: No Coming Home (by Box Office Mojo)? That’s right, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker Trio, which also featured a few other Peters from other universes, earned the No. 1 spot on our list thanks to its quarter-billion-dollar box office this weekend. opening in the United States. and Canada. This is a major achievement, especially for the timing of its release, near the end of most major COVID-inspired social distancing protocols in December 2021. Indeed, many theatergoers still had to wear a mask or social distancing when viewing. the movie, depending on the region you were in at the time.
