Thunderbolts* Gets More Encouraging Box Office Projections Ahead of Premiere

Aaron Fonseca
Apr 30
2 min read

The Marvel Cinematic Universe's final Phase Five film promises a thrilling climax as Thunderbolts* draws nearer to its anticipated premiere. The latest box-office projections for the superhero tentpole reflect the increased anticipation as forecasts are more encouraging heading into its opening weekend.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thunderbolts* is projected to make up to $73 million domestically and between $160 million and $175 million worldwide during its first three days in theaters. The domestic number is an improvement from previous projections, which had Thunderbolts* making $70 million in its opening weekend. The film will battle in its opening weekend with Ryan Coogler's acclaimed vampire film, Sinners, Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal's action thriller, The Accountant 2, and the year's second-highest-grossing film, A Minecraft Movie.

Though Thunderbolts* will likely have a less successful opening weekend than Captain America: Brave New World, Marvel hopes the film's positive buzz helps it beat expectations. Early reviews of Thunderbolts* have been encouraging, calling the superhero blockbuster one of the best MCU entries in recent memory. Thunderbolts* has an 88% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the best score for an MCU movie since 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* chronicles the titular group of antiheroes, including Yelena Belova/White Widow (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), fronted by de facto leader and U.S. Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Thunderbolts* sees the former villains forced to team up after being caught in a deadly trap by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). With no Avengers in sight, they must complete a dangerous world-saving mission to earn redemption for their past crimes. The film also introduces the Golden Guardian with a dark twist, Sentry/The Void (Lewis Pullman), to the MCU.

Though Thunderbolts* features connections to Black Widow (though Yelena and Red Guardian), Schreier insisted the film isn't a sequel to the 2021 Scarlett Johansson-led entry. However, Schreier confirmed Yelena is the focal point of Thunderbolts*, with the movie chronicling her trust issues and emotional state following the death of Johansson's Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow.

**Thunderbolts* Sets Up Phase Six**

Along with rounding out Phase Five, Thunderbolts* sets up the events for the highly anticipated Phase Six film, Avengers: Doomsday, where the new-look Avengers will battle Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom. Several Thunderbolts* cast members have been confirmed for Doomsday, which began filming in the U.K. on Apr. 28. Kurylenko and Louis-Dreyfus were notably left out of the recent casting announcements.