It’s official, Captain Marvel has now grossed more at the worldwide box office than every Batman film. The film stars Brie Larson as a Kree warrior named Vers who struggles to remember her previous life on Planet C-53 (otherwise known as Earth) while stuck in an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. The film was met with praise from critics and audiences alike, and Captain Marvel is now gearing up for a fight alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the upcoming superhero epic Avengers: Endgame.
Marvel’s first female-led solo superhero film has already gone higher, further, faster in theaters by breaking box office records and shattering glass ceilings along the way. During the film’s opening weekend, it grossed $456 million globally, making for the biggest opening weekend for a female-led film. The movie then went on to make over $1 billion at the box office in its first month of release, setting the record for the highest-grossing female superhero movie of all time. Now, Carol Danvers is giving Bruce Wayne a run for his money.
According to Box Office Mojo, Marvel’s intergalactic adventure has grossed $1.089 billion at the worldwide box office, surpassing Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, which grossed $1.084 billion at the worldwide box office. This now makes Captain Marvel the 9th highest-grossing superhero film ever and the 25th highest-grossing film of all time. With international box office numbers taken out of the equation, The Dark Knight Rises takes the lead domestically with $448 million, whereas Captain Marvel remains at $400 million domestically. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting accomplishment for a female-led and female-directed film.
These numbers also bode well for one of the film’s directors, Anna Boden. Previously, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman held the record for biggest opening weekend of any film from a female director domestically and, at the time, worldwide. Now Captain Marvel’s worldwide box office numbers have skyrocketed past Wonder Woman’s, making for major milestones domestically and internationally for both women as female directors in the industry. While the numbers obviously show that audiences want to see these movies, it’s also been proven that female-led films out-earn their male counterparts at the box office, which encourages studios to make more female-led and female-directed films in the future.
Captain Marvel’s success says a lot about the direction in which the industry is heading. Record-breaking numbers prove to studios that audiences long to see female-led films and actually enjoy seeing them as well, as seen from glowing critical reviews. By allowing women to direct these films as well, it opens up the door for other women who want to work behind the camera, allowing for much-needed diversity amongst directors. Following Carol Danvers’ successful origin story, along with Black Panther’s mega-successful theater run last year, Marvel’s president Kevin Feige has stated that diversity both in front of and behind the camera will be its gold standard moving forward. Hopefully more Hollywood studios will take on Marvel’s now gold standard to help advance the process of diversification. Representation matters, and it’ll only strengthen the film industry in the future.
Next: Did Captain Marvel Reveal How Thanos Got The Mind Stone?
Source: Box Office Mojo
- The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26 spider-man homecoming 2 Release Date: 2019-07-02
