Notably absent from the release calendar so far has been a blockbuster hit – last year had Black Panther, which took a huge £50.6m after being released on Feb 13 – but that could change this weekend with the release of Disney’s Captain Marvel.
According to Screen sources, the film has already sold a hefty 460,000 tickets in pre-sales at an average ticket price of £11.77, equating to £5.4m in advance bookings.
For comparison, the recently-released How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World sold 85,000 tickets in the same period of pre-sales, and then opened with £5.3m. The Lego Movie 2 sold at 90,000 tickets in pre-sales, opening with £4m.
Those numbers indicate that Captain Marvel will far surpass its pre-sales figure with its overall opening. The film is set to play at more than 20,000 UK screens this weekend.
The film will come up against other entries in the Marvel cinematic universe that have focused on introducing a singular character. Those include Thor (opened with £5.4m in the UK and ended on £14m), Captain America (£3m and £10.4m), Doctor Strange (£9.3m and £23.2m), Deadpool (£13.7m and £37.8m), and Black Panther (£18m and £50.6m).
Comparisons will inevitably be made to thethe success of Wonder Woman, part of the rival DC series of superhero films, for its focus on a female superhero. That film underperformed in the UK, opening with £5.8m and ending on £20.3m. Captain Marvelis expected to perform significantly better.
The film may also benefit from being the penultimate entry in “phase three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the release teeing up the much-anticipated conclusion in the Avengers trilogy, Avengers: Endgame, on April 25. The previous entry, Avengers: Infinity War, posted all-time box office high for a Marvel film (and in fact any superhero film), taking a huge £70.8m last year. This made it the 10th highest-grossing film of all time in the UK. Captain Marvel will look to tap into that hype.
