'Captain Marvel' Flying Toward $130 Million Opening In North America, Eyeing $350 Million Worldwide

Much to the chagrin of a small group of angry and confused fanboys, it looks like Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel is about to make a whole lot of money at the box office.

New tracking numbers suggest that the film could earn around $130 million domestically in its opening weekend and might even hit $350 million worldwide. That's tens of millions more than the initial estimates, so it looks like Brie Larson's Carol Danvers is quickly going to quickly join the club of Marvel Studios superheroes who prove to be a reliable draw at the box office.

Deadline says the film is "hoping" for a $150 million opening, but later in their article, they admit that "tracking does show a $120M-$140M start" for the superhero origin story. These box office tracking numbers are never exact anyway, but for now let's pick the middle ground and say it's aiming for a $130 million opening knowing that some wiggle room is expected. Interestingly, the outlet also points out that this movie will also have the widest IMAX opening of all time, hitting 1,360 screens globally.

Even if Captain Marvel slightly under-performs, it should a big step up from Marvel's most recent film, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which only opened with $75 million last summer. Still, it's unlikely it will experience the same massive success as Black Panther (which opened with $202 million domestically) or Avengers: Infinity War ($257 million).

The film, which is the first Marvel movie to be fronted by a solo female hero and the first to be – at least partially – directed by a woman (Anna Boden co-directed with Ryan Fleck), experienced a spectacular wave of buzz after its earliest screenings. The premiere was held last night in Hollywood, and reviews arrived online this morning – including our own. The reception has been a bit more mixed, but still largely positive; as of this writing, Captain Marvel sits at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Captain Marvel stars Oscar winner Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, a top-tier fighter pilot who's also one of the most powerful figures in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's set in the 1990s and co-stars a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg, as well as actors like Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Rune Temte, Algenis Perez Soto, Mckenna Grace, Annette Bening, and Jude Law. The film opens in theaters this Friday, March 8, 2019, and early screenings begin at 6pm on Thursday.