Will "Thunderbolts*" have lasting power at the box office?

"Thunderbolts*" made $76 million domestically (and $86.1 million in the rest of the world) in its first weekend. That's a ton of money for a movie to make, to be sure, though of course some blockbusters in this day and age will pull in $100 million or more. 

The comparison point being used for "Thunderbolts*," though, has been a "Shang-Chi" or a "Eternals," since those movies were establishing new characters in the MCU. That's not fully fair, given that "Thunderbolts*" is built upon bringing together a bunch of established antiheroes, and popular actors like David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, and Florence Pugh headline the cast. However, it is true that Marvel's answer to the Suicide Squad is an "original" in that it is not a direct sequel and none of those characters have gotten their own movie in the past. And, yes, this film did make more than either "Shang-Chi" or "Eternals."

The curiosity now is if "Thunderbolts*" has "Sinners"-style legs. What this film has that other recent MCU movies have not is good word of mouth and positive reviews. Anthony Mackie's debut as Captain America on the big screen was met with lukewarm reception pushing Disney into a "please come see Harrison Ford be Red Hulk" panic after, like, two days. Do you even remember "The Marvels" If you do, you kind of wish you didn't, right? "Quantumania," in addition to heavily featuring the poisonous presence of Jonathan Majors, was dunked on for its visuals extensively.

All of these films helped further the MCU fatigue out there, but maybe some people who skipped "Thunderbolts*" will hear it's good and get out there to see it. There's basically no way the movie can keep as much of its box office as "Sinners" did, but a strong second weekend would bode well for "summer movie season," and also perhaps the upcoming "Fantastic Four" movie.

(h/t Variety)