After a month at the box office, Captain Marvel has had a record-setting run that has so far totalled $1.037 billion. Following a massive opening weekend, the movie has enjoyed steady business from hardcore Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and casual audiences alike. Though the early trailers may have struggled to pitch the movie effectively, Captain Marvel stood out as the first female-fronted superhero in the MCU, and also as a lead-in to Avengers: Endgame, and positive reviews and word-of-mouth carried it the rest of the way to box office success.
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as Vers, a soldier in an elite Kree military team who has no memory of her previous life. However, when a scrap with enemy alien race the Skrulls brings her to Planet C-53 (a.k.a. Earth), she realizes that she had a life there once as Carol Danvers, a pilot in the US Air Force. Carol and her old friend, Maria Rambeau have a motto, “Higher, further, faster,” and Captain Marvel’s box office performance has certainly lived up to that.
Here are all the records that Captain Marvel has broken at the box office, both for women in Hollywood and for the superhero genre in general.
Captain Marvel Sets Worldwide Opening Record For a Female-Led Movie
Captain Marvel broke the record for biggest worldwide opening weekend for a female-led movie, grossing $456 million globally in its first few days. “Female-led” is defined as a movie with a female lead character front and center, as opposed to two-handers like Ant-Man and the Wasp or ensemble movies like Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Captain Marvel far outstripped the previous record-setter, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, which scored a $273 million worldwide opening weekend. However, domestically The Hunger Games: Catching Fire still has the biggest opening weekend for a female-led movie with $158 million to Captain Marvel’s $153 million.
Captain Marvel Sets Worldwide Opening Record For a Movie From a Female Director
In 2018, the percentage of female directors for the top 250 grossing movies dropped to 8%, down from 11% the previous year. The number of female directors in Hollywood has remained frustratingly stagnant for decades, but over the past decade women have been setting records behind the camera. Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman scored the biggest opening weekend for any movie from a female director, both domestically and worldwide, upon its release in 2017, and still holds the former record. However, Captain Marvel’s greater popularity overseas (foreign box office makes up 64% of its worldwide total, compared to Wonder Woman’s 50%) helped it score the biggest worldwide opening for any movie from a female director.
Captain Marvel Sets Worldwide Opening Weekend Record For a Solo Superhero Movie
Last year, Black Panther smashed through box office records, setting many high scores that were hard to beat. However, one record that T’Challa wasn’t quite able to break was the worldwide opening for a solo superhero movie, falling just behind Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, and Spider-Man 3. Captain Marvel, however, far outstripped those three and currently has the biggest worldwide opening weekend for any superhero movie except (you guessed it) Avengers: Infinity War.
Captain Marvel Set the Record for Highest-Grossing Female Superhero Movie
Until recently, the competition for the title of highest-grossing female superhero movie wasn’t exactly fierce, with studios reluctant to green light such projects after early flops like Supergirl and Elektra. However, in 2017 Wonder Woman came along and set the bar a lot higher, grossing $821 million worldwide by the end of its run. Domestically Wonder Woman still holds the record with its total of $412 million, but at the worldwide box office Captain Marvel has flown higher, further, and faster with $1.037 billion after a month in theaters.
Captain Marvel is the First Female Superhero Movie to Pass $1 Billion
On its way to setting the above record, Captain Marvel also enjoyed a first for the superhero genre, becoming the first female superhero movie to pass the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office. Thus far only 38 movies have ever grossed more than $1 billion, and seven of those are MCU movies. Of those, Captain Marvel and Black Panther are the only non-sequel solo movies to join the billion dollar party.
Captain Marvel is the Highest-Grossing Live-Action Movie From a Female Director
Captain Marvel couldn’t quite topple the might of Disney’s Frozen, from directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, which grossed a huge $1.276 billion upon its release in 2013 and became the highest-grossing movie from a female director. However, Captain Marvel did become the highest-grossing live-action movie from a female director. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have worked together for more than 15 years, collaborating on feature films like Sugar and Mississippi Grind before eventually landing the Captain Marvel directing gig.
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