Superhero epic Captain America: Civil War is on course to post the biggest opening of 2016 at the key US box office next month, according to experts.
Tracking for the Marvel film, which will see Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man emerge on different sides of a high-stakes battle, suggests it will take between $175m (£122m) and $200m on debut. The higher figure would place the Russo brothers’ movie in North America’s top four openings of all time, behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248m), Jurassic World ($208.8m) and Avengers: Age of Ultron ($207.4m).
Captain America: Civil War has been buoyed by strong reviews, with a 94% “fresh” rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes suggesting it could be the best-received Marvel film since 2008 series opener Iron Man. Hype has also been generated by a recent trailer showing the debut of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the Disney-owned studio’s popular superhero cinematic universe.
Captain America: Civil War debuts in US cinemas on 6 May. UK filmgoers will be able to view the film a week earlier, from 29 April.
In other Marvel news, Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon has expressed regret about comments made about the film and his relationship with the studio last year. Speaking at the Tribeca film festival, in an on-stage appearance with Avengers star Mark Ruffalo, Whedon said he was proud of his 2015 movie.
“There were things that did not meet my expectations of myself and then I was so beaten down by the process,” said Whedon, in comments first reported by Deadline. “Some of that was conflicting with Marvel, which is inevitable and a lot of that was about my own work and I was also exhausted, and we right away went and did publicity.
“I created the narrative – wherein I’m not quite accomplished at – and people just ran with: ‘Well it’s OK, it could be better, but it’s not Joss’s fault’. And I think that did a disservice to the movie, and to the studio and to myself. Ultimately, it wasn’t the right way to be because I’m very proud about it.”
Added Whedon: “The things about it that are wrong frustrate me enormously, but I got to make an absurdly personal movie about humanity and what it means in very esoteric and bizarre ways for hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact that Marvel gave me that opportunity twice is so bonkers and beautiful and the fact that I come off as a miserable failure is also bonkers, but not in a cute way.”
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator, who also oversaw Avengers Assemble, told Deadline that he might be interested in returning for future Marvel films.
