Walt Disney’s Captain Marvel isn’t due out until next month. But it’s already looking to live up to its name.
According to Deadline, early tracking data suggests the Brie Larson-helmed superhero film is heading toward a $100 million opening-weekend haul at the box office. That would make it one of the highest-grossing Marvel-movie openings of all time, and put it close to the $103 million earned by DC’s Wonder Woman film during its first weekend in 2017.
The $100 million estimate is an extraordinary figure for a movie whose titular hero—played by Oscar-winning Room actor Brie Larson—has so far been a low-key figure in the on-screen Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU. The existence of Larson’s character, a nineties-era pilot named Carol Danvers, was briefly hinted at during last year’s Avengers: Infinity War. But unlike Black Panther, who debuted in the Captain America franchise before headlining last year’s smash hit, there’s been no major on-screen build-up for Captain Marvel.
Of course, it’s not surprising that yet another Marvel movie is heading toward box-office domination. Black Panther, which is up for a Best Picture statue at this year’s Academy Awards, earned more than a billion dollars worldwide for Disney. Infinity War, meanwhile, doubled that, making $2 billion around the globe. Even a relatively smaller Marvel release, like last summer’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, easily zipped past the $500 million-mark.
That all bodes well for Captain Marvel, which opens in the United States on March 8.