'Thunderbolts*' starts strong at the box office, but 'Sinners' remains 2025's biggest success story

Marvel's Thunderbolts* looks to top the box office this weekend, bringing in $31.5 million on its opening day.

That opening gross puts the MCU antihero team-up movie on track for a domestic opening weekend total somewhere between $70 million and $75 million. While sizable, that's still on the lower end of Marvel openings. It's also not as much as this year's other MCU offering, Captain America: Brave New World, which drew an $88 million opening weekend before grossing a disappointing domestic total of $200 million overall.

A smaller opening may not be a problem for Thunderbolts*, though. The movie's grab bag of heroes may not have the same name recognition as Captain America: Brave New World, but stronger reviews than recent MCU projects and more positive word of mouth could propel it to longer legs. (Thunderbolts* currently has an audience Cinema Score of A-, compared to Captain America: Brave New World's B-.)

Speaking of legs, Ryan Coogler's Sinners continues to kill it at the box office, raking in $9.5 million on Friday, May 2, a 27% fall from the week prior. That puts it on track for a $33 million third weekend, even after losing IMAX screens to Thunderbolts*.

If Sinners continues to perform at this level, it won't be long before it takes Captain America: Brave New World's spot as the second-highest-grossing film at the domestic box office. A Minecraft Movie still comfortably sits in the number one domestic spot, while the Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 is the highest-grossing film globally (Sinners currently ranks fifth globally).

Still, the fact that an original, R-rated film continues to hold strong at the box office even without premium screens proves that Sinners is on track to be 2025's biggest box office success story.