Captain America: Brave New World is preparing to soar into theaters, with the big screen debut of Sam Wilson as Captain America. With it just around the corner, early box office estimates are starting to settle upon tracking for the tentpole film. Directed by Julius Onah, Captain America: Brave New World sees Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson continue holding the mantle of Captain America after the events of Falcon And Winter Soldier. However, he gets wrapped up in a conspiracy ensnaring him and the United States president by an unseen mastermind, trying to bring down what Captain America represents. 

Early estimates have the film taking on a $90 million gross over its weekend, which is slightly extended thanks to Presidents Day. Accounting for overseas, the next installment in the Captain America series could see a $200 million total on its opening weekend. 

Hollywood Reporter drew a comparison between Brave New World’s gross and that of past MCU title Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Both titles were released right around the Presidents’ Day timeframe, and the domestic gross of Ant-Man’s opening weekend was around $120 million, a little higher than Brave New World. Similarly, Black Panther made its debut around this timeframe as well in 2018, opening to a whopping $200 million. It would eventually go on to make a historic total of $1.3 billion, with $700 million of that coming from domestic territories. 

With the premiere around the corner and the recent political climate, fans questioned the cast and crew if there would be any influence on the film as a result of the 2024 American elections. The studio, cast, crew, and the stars Mackie and Ford gave a firm response of no. The film had already finished filming prior to the election results and was far along in its post-production.

“I hope, as a country, we’re tired of all the political jousting. Let’s just go to the movies and chill the f**k out. We could’ve made this motherf***er yellow and it would’ve been a problem.” Mackie said, Ford also shared his stance as he plays the center character at the heart of the question.

“I would not taint any movie with the reality of the world we’re living in right now. This isn’t a movie about a good or bad president, but in this film, the president is part of the story. This isn’t an instruction manual for the current president. It’s simply a story about a group of people in tight suits who can fly, as part of the wonderful imagination that the Marvel Cinematic Universe provides. It’s primarily an escape from reality”

Captain America: Brave New World opens in theaters this Friday. 

-Additional reporting by Vanessa Winders