Marvel’s latest superhero movie, Thunderbolts, is still going strong at the US box office, even though it faced some challenges recently. The movie, led by Florence Pugh, dropped from the top spot as Final Destination: Bloodlines took over the number one position on the domestic box office chart. Despite this, Thunderbolts continues to hold its ground in theatres and has reached an important milestone.
In its third weekend, Thunderbolts earned around $16.5 million at the US box office. That’s a solid number, especially considering it lost 370 screens across the country, including some IMAX ones. The film saw a drop of 48.9% compared to its second weekend, but it still performed better than other Marvel movies like Ant-Man (which made $12.8 million in its third weekend) and Captain America: Brave New World (which made $14.9 million in its third weekend).
According to Box Office Mojo, another Marvel film, The New Avengers, has now crossed $155.4 million in the US alone. Directed by Jake Schreier, this movie is expected to beat the total domestic earnings of Marvel’s Eternals, which made $164.9 million during its entire run in 2021. Despite Eternals featuring big names like Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, it didn’t do as well as expected at the box office.
However, even with decent earnings, Thunderbolts is facing challenges. The negative feedback from some earlier Marvel films seems to be affecting how people view the new releases. While critics and fans have praised Thunderbolts, the film still carries the weight of past disappointments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Looking ahead, things are about to get even tougher for Thunderbolts. This weekend, two big movies are hitting theatres — Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Disney’s live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch. These films are expected to attract large audiences and could take a major share of the box office earnings, putting more pressure on Thunderbolts.
Many fans are calling this clash the “Barbenheimer of 2025,” referring to the iconic weekend in 2023 when Barbie and Oppenheimer released on the same day and drew massive crowds. This time, Mission: Impossible and Lilo & Stitch are expected to blow away the competition, including ongoing films like Thunderbolts.
Despite the strong start, Thunderbolts might not reach the $200 million mark domestically. Current predictions suggest the film could end its North American run with somewhere between $195 million and $210 million, depending on how well it performs after the upcoming weekend.
Thunderbolts was released on May 2, 2025, and features a star-studded cast including Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The film is part of Marvel’s Phase 5 and brings together a team of anti-heroes in a bold new storyline.
While the film has shown strong legs so far, the coming weeks will be critical in determining whether Thunderbolts can remain a box office success or fade away under the weight of newer, bigger releases.
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