Chris Evans, Captain America: The First Avenger
Directed by Joe Johnston, and starring Chris Evans in the title role, Captain America: The First Avenger grossed $65.82 million at 3,715 locations — including approximately $4 million from midnight screenings — at the North American box office this weekend (July 22-24), according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. Approximately 40% of Captain America’s box-office take came from 3D venues. Those 3D surcharges helped to boost the Marvel adventure’s per-theater average to a respectable $17,719.
Even while excluding its Thursday midnight screenings, Captain America was only less than 1% up on Saturday. Yet, Paramount predicted a quite modest 17% drop on Sunday. If the studio’s "positive expectation" turns out to be correct, Captain America will have barely beaten Thor’s $65.72m to become 2011’s biggest superhero at the North American box office. Else, Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Chris Hemsworth, will remain no. 1. (Note that both superheroes will be featured in next year’s The Avengers.)
For comparison’s sake: Matthew Vaughn-James McAvoy-Michael Fassbender-Jennifer Lawrence’s X-Men: First Class opened with $55.1m in early June, while Martin Campbell-Ryan Reynolds‘ Green Lantern collected $53.17m upon its mid-June debut.
Internationally, Captain America added $2.8m from one single territory, Italy — quite a bit below Thor’s $4.19m opening. A few more comparisons with recent 2011 debuts: John Lasseter’s Cars 2, which is partly set in Italy, opened in that country with $3.87m; Rob Marshall-Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with $7.52m; Michael Bay-Shia LaBeouf’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon with $3.49m; and X-Men: First Class with $1.4m.
Also in the Captain America: The First Avenger cast: Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Hugo Weaving, Richard Armitage, Dominic Cooper, and Toby Jones.
Photo: Captain America: The First Avenger (Jay Maidment / Marvel / Paramount)