’Captain America’ dives in second weekend, ’The Monkey’ adds to Neon’s successes

Captain America: Brave New World soared on opening weekend, but crash-landed in its second go-around with audiences

Captain America: Brave New World soared on opening weekend, but crash-landed in its second go-around with audiences.

Brave New World, the latest sign that the Marvel machine isn’t quite what it used to be, remained No. 1 at the box office in its second frame with $28.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. But after a debut of $100 million over four days and $88 million over three days, that meant a steep drop of 68%.

While blockbusters often see significant slides in their second weekends, only two previous MCU titles have fallen off so fast: 2023’s The Marvels, which fell 78%, and 2023’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which dropped 70%.

The Anthony Mackie-led Captain America instalment has been slammed by critics, and audiences also have graded it poorly, with a “B-” CinemaScore. Brave New World, which fans had hoped would right the Marvel ship, has been largely met as another example of a once impenetrable brand struggling to recapture its pre-Avengers: Endgame aura of invincibility.

Still, Brave New World has quickly grossed $289.4 million worldwide, with international sales nearly reaching $150 million. And with few big-budget offerings arriving in theatres in the coming weeks, it will have scant competition through much of March.

The biggest new release of the weekend was Oz Perkins’ The Monkey, the director’s follow-up to his 2024 horror hit, Longlegs. Adapted from a Stephen King short story, The Monkey opened with $14.2 million for Neon, the second-best debut for the indie distributor. The best? Longlegs, which launched with $22.4 million.

Neon had much to celebrate over the weekend. Its top awards contender, Anora, by Sean Baker, continues to gather momentum into next Sunday’s Academy Awards. The best-picture favourite added wins at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday.